Weak internet connection at home brought me to a nearby coffee shop in Antipolo City, Rizal. For the same reason, college students with their laptops and study materials crowded the place. I chose to spend most of my days at the coffee shop because of its relaxing ambience, delicious beverages, and most importantly, free and fast Wi-Fi.
While it is accessible, budget-friendly, and convenient for a student like me, availing public Wi-Fi has its own cost. According to a report published by Ars Technica, Wi-Fi connections — particularly Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) — are vulnerable to cyber criminals because of its insecurity. Hackers, with their advanced skills, can easily insert themselves and intervene in the transmission of information from the user to the connection. If an individual’s personal information falls into the wrong hands, their safety and privacy will be compromised.
Red-tagging, cyber libel, and other democratic attacks have been rampant on online platforms nowadays. As college students who use the internet all the time for academic, entertainment, and other purposes, it is today’s necessity that we safeguard our online identity. It is important that we become wary of linking our devices to various network connections and leaving our digital footprint.
Here’s a list of things you can do for free to secure your safety while you browse the web.
VPN Comes In Handy
Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a secure and anonymous private network and web browsing solution that protects your online data from hackers by providing another layer of connection between your device and Wi-Fi, acting as proxies, and hiding your location. It gives its users anonymity while they use the internet. Since you also use other countries’ networks, it makes tracking, hacking, unencrypting, and decoding data a lot more difficult for digital criminals.
Most of these VPNs offer free services which allow you to connect to multiple servers worldwide. But again, nothing is 100% safe. A 2016 study by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization of Australia found that only 28% of free VPN software applications did not track their users’ activities. Some were also found to have malware in their systems. That is why it is important to use a trusted and established VPN.
Hotspot Shield and NordVPN, two of Security.org’s most recommended VPN providers worldwide, give free and paid services. Prices start at P680 and P790 per month respectively. However, their no-payment-needed offers are just what you need as a student.
For free, you can:
Connect to multiple networks worldwide in just seconds
Browse websites safely
Stay anonymous and cover your digital tracks
Access numerous additional online resources and contents that may be unavailable to your country
If you’re worried about VPNs tracking your activities even when you’re not using the software, both Hotspot Shield and NordVPN have a “kill switch” which automatically disconnects your device to their network server due to inactivity.
Stop Oversharing on Social Media
We get it, nasa Starbucks ka, pero need pa bang picturan?
We, online users, can’t stop ourselves from posting personal info, pictures, statuses, and locations every now and then. In a 2015 study by Buzzetto-More, Johnson & Elobaid, modern technologies are embedded in college students’ daily lives. Young adults have grown accustomed to these developments that play a huge role in the formation of their identity and expression of the self.
However, careless disclosure of private information may put our safety at risk. Cyber criminals may track us down from whatever we post–as simple as reverse-searching pictures and tracing pinned locations. Most individuals who fall victim to invasion of privacy, unauthorized disclosure of personal information, inappropriate self-disclosure, internet addiction, cyber-bullying, stalking, scams and hoaxes, identity theft, and defamation are from the younger demographic.
We’ve heard this time and time again: limit what we share online. But it is of paramount importance now more than ever. Avoid disclosing private information such as your full name (which you use on official documents), birthdate, address, passwords, bank and other financial details, contact number, etc. online. If you were to share photos or statuses of your whereabouts, it would be better to post them once you have left the vicinity.
Know your limits!
Think Before You Click Links!
We often receive various links from emails and mailing lists. Most of which are promotional offers and some may even be too good to be true. Make sure to double — triple if you can — check the authenticity of the links embedded in the message before clicking on it. Read the URL and see if it matches the website you’re familiar with. Fraudulent sites may ask or steal your personal information and infect your device with computer virus.
Back It Up!
Google Drive, MediaFire, and Dropbox are only some of the online data storage applications which you can use to back up your data without having to pay for them or buy a costly hard drive — unless you have one, then good for you. But for my fellow frugal students, let us make the most of what is accessible and convenient.
Now, as I sit back, drink my favorite matcha latte, and connect my device to the cafe’s public Wi-Fi, I know that my data and online identity are mostly safe from cyber predators with these simple — and free — steps.
Try doing these too and you won’t regret it.
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