The Internet is very much the wild west when it comes to your information, with large companies and data brokers trying to squeeze every last penny out of your data. At first you may wonder “how your data is worth anything to begin with?”
Here are multiple different ways that companies Profit from your information:
- Selling your Browsing, Shopping, Viewing, and even financial data to advertisers so they can keep your attention for a longer span. More views, more money.
- Collecting your data to be used to train “AI” systems, if your on any of the top rated Social media sites that means you. your Family photos, your offensive meme’s.
- “The algorithm” the better it knows you and your piers, the more effective it is a keeping you hooked.
The Point:
Any and all services you are using that is free of charge, you are paying in your data.
What can I do?
- De-Google your life. This may be a stretch for a lot of individuals. Google is regularly the #1 most used site on the internet and they harvest the most. Not to mention, the Federal and Local governments have direct access to your information in google without a warrant.
- Amazon has similar deals where Alexa enabled systems as well all Ring Doorbells are directly accessible to local law enforcement.
- Use Security systems that store your footage locally, and if you must back up to the cloud, use a trusted provider.
- Pay for your E-Mail, Zoho, Proton Mail, have great paid alternatives that will give you almost all of the functionality that you are looking for.
- This is for the serious “do it your self” kinda person, Self Host your own media! Find more information below*
What about Threat Actors AKA Hackers?
These days, social engineering is where its at when it comes to trying to gain unauthorized access to an account. What should we be looking for you might ask, and I would be lying if i didn’t say, Allot…
- Email Phishing: Always check the senders address to verify they are who they say they are, Turn off auto downloading attachments, and never click any link you are not certain is legitimate.
- Phone Spoofing: This is more complicated because you don’t need to have a compromised device and if you did, you have much more to worry about. Ensuring you are adding the full Country code and area code to all of your contacts can ensure you always see if the caller is legit and can also help prevent Man in the middle attacks where calls are forwarded and recorded without user consent. Ex: “+1 804-234-5678”
- AI Voices and Video: This is relatively new and we will see more of this, Due to how sophisticated these services have become it only requires 30 seconds of audio to fully and accurately recreate your likeness. You might as well just let it go to voicemail.
- Microsoft, Apple, Google, QuickBooks, and any other large tech company DOES NOT WANT TO TAKE YOUR CALL. If you are prompted to reach out in what is referred to as a “Call to action”. They manifest themselves as annoying popups that take up the whole screen and the computer is probably yelling at this point, Just hit Alt+F4 at the same time, and when you re-Launch your Browser, do not re-open the previously closed session. These are mainly scam call centers located in India.