How are you exposed to online risks?

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

You’ve been warned over and over that you’re at risk while online, but what are those risks exactly? Let’s go over how you’re vulnerable online and how you can fix it.

How You’re Vulnerable

There are a lot of ways you’re leaving yourself wide open to attack by online criminals and the manipulation of marketers. Some of them aren’t under your control: for example, events like the Dropbox Sign data breach couldn’t have been prevented by regular users. That’s all on the service you’re using.

However, there are ways in which many people are practically inviting online cybercriminals to do their worst. Below are the most common.

Weak Passwords

One of the ways we unintentionally make things easier for cybercriminals is by using weak passwords, or worse, reusing them across different accounts. Weak passwords are particularly risky because they can be easily cracked through a dictionary attack, where hackers try common password combinations until they find a match.

Reusing passwords is even more dangerous, as it increases the risk if a breach occurs. If your password gets exposed in one breach, that account is compromised. But if you’ve reused that same password elsewhere, those accounts become vulnerable as well. While a breach might not be your fault, maintaining good password hygiene is crucial for your online security.

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Tracking

Another way you’re exposed online is through tracking. While some of this is done by cybercriminals, much of it comes from more legitimate sources, such as big tech companies and, in the U.S., your internet service provider (ISP).

This tracking happens in various ways. ISPs can monitor all the traffic you generate, while websites use tools like tracking cookies or browser fingerprinting. The data collected is then used to build a profile of you, which is sold to advertisers for targeted ads. Though the process isn’t highly complex, it generates significant profits for tech companies.

How to Protect Yourself

These risks are certainly serious, but there are steps you can take to protect yourself. Some precautions are straightforward, such as limiting your use of social media and being mindful of the sites you visit and the data you store. Additionally, there are tools available to enhance your security; let’s explore three types.

Password Managers

Fixing your weak passwords is the biggest issue, so let’s deal with it first. You need to create strong passwords that can withstand dictionary attacks. This means that they need to be random, use different kinds of characters, and need to be long. This increases what’s called password entropy, or the strength of a password.

Of course, remembering these passwords is next to impossible for most people. This is where password managers come in. These programs generate, store, and autofill passwords for you. They effectively replace your memory with their own, meaning you no longer need to remember passwords and can use strong passwords for all your sites. The very best password managers will even alert you if you’ve duplicated passwords.