How to ensure the privacy of your data?

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Privacy, as a concept, has evolved a lot over the years. Its meaning can vary, depending on factors such as culture, religion, social group or generation of the interpreter. The reality is that, if we ask different people what they consider to be "privacy", we will hardly get the same answer. However, according to the Portuguese dictionary, "privacy" refers to "the right to the confidentiality of personal information, to private life" and, therefore, "a state or condition free from public attention" .

Technology at the service of security

Our lives and our data have never been so exposed. Thirty years ago, to find out information about a person you would almost have had to hire a private detective.
Nowadays, on the contrary, anyone can calmly and anonymously sit behind a kuwait whatsapp number database connected to the Internet and find out information about an old friend, collect data about a potential job candidate, learn about a competitor's strategy, etc. All it takes is a quick and easy access to social networks. With just a few clicks and in just a few minutes, it is possible to collect an impressive amount of detailed information about practically anyone.
Our lives are more "datafied" than ever. The digital footprint we leave has the potential to provide, with an extraordinary level of detail, relevant data about various aspects of our lives, for example: where and with whom we have been or are, where we live, who our family members are, what our email address or phone number is, our habits and routines, academic and professional data, photos and videos, among many other pieces of information.

GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation

Thus, in response to technological advances, it was necessary to create tools, frameworks, laws and regulations to guarantee the protection of personal data and people's privacy.

The GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation , introduced in the EU in May 2018, was one of the most important steps towards ensuring the protection of our data , providing answers to questions such as: who accesses our data? For what reasons? With whom is it shared? What protection mechanisms are in place?

This Regulation imposed a specific set of rules on companies based in Europe, with a view to protecting citizens' personal data. This was an essential measure for building a relationship of trust with consumers. However, the responsibility for ensuring best practices in protecting privacy lies with us, the users. Among these practices, four stand out:

1- Privacy and security awareness
• Raise your awareness levels on privacy issues;
• Ask yourself about the data you provide to different entities;
• Know how your data is kept safe;
• Only share what is absolutely necessary.
• Know your social media friends and don't trust "friends" you don't know.

2- Protect yourself
• Get used to using strong credentials/passwords that do not contain personal information;
• Use multifactor authentication methods;
• Have a password manager ;
• Activate and customize notifications and privacy and security settings in the different applications you use;
• Never share credentials on different websites or services, much less with other people; • ALWAYS
lock your computer, cell phone or device when it is not in use; • Avoid accessing and entering credentials on public Wi-Fi networks such as hotels.

3- Keep all software up to date
• Ensure that the software on your computer and all your devices is always up to date;
• Always use an antivirus program;
• Remove yourself from online services that you no longer use;
• Uninstall applications and services on your computer or mobile phone that you no longer need, for example Bluetooth.

4- Always be suspicious
• From emails that request credentials;
• Be careful with links/URLs that require you to install software ;
• Be suspicious if you have unfamiliar taskbars in your browser or random and frequent pop-ups
; • Investigate performance degradation on the disk, CPU , slow Internet or installed applications that you do not recognize;
• Be careful with bank transactions, especially low-value ones;
• Be careful with purchases on websites that are not familiar to you;

I could give you over 100 measures to protect your data and I would never give you a 100% security guarantee. The aim of the measures mentioned here is to reduce risk and, above all, to make it harder for "attackers" to do their job, making your data less attractive and making them give up.