12 Ways to Be More Secure Online

Follow these tips to protect the security of your devices, your data, your internet traffic, and your identity.

- By Neil J. Rubenking & Jill Duffy

When a big company with lax security suffers a breach that exposes your personal data, passwords, or profile pics, there’s not much you can do about it. That doesn’t mean you’re powerless to protect yourself, though: You can strengthen your security and guard your privacy at home. You don’t want to lose the novel you’re writing to ransomware or let a banking Trojan siphon off all your cash, right? Fortunately, you can mount a local defense against these local problems.

Making your devices, online identity, and activities more secure really doesn’t take much effort. In fact, several of our tips about what you can do to be more secure online boil down to little more than common sense.

Whether you’ve chosen a simple antivirus or a full security suite, you’ll need to renew it every year. Your best bet is to enroll in automatic renewal. With some security products, doing so enables a malware-free guarantee. You can always opt out later if you get the urge to switch to a different product.

One more thing. If your antivirus or security suite doesn’t have ransomware protection, consider adding a separate layer of protection. Many ransomware-specific utilities cost nothing, so you could try a few of them and select the one that suits you best.