Once you become active online…and especially once you become “connected” with a smartphone…your privacy will be in sizzling hot demand—and in fact, you can bet that as you read this, it is already being invaded in ways that you couldn’t possibly imagine. Here are some of those ways, provided by wired.com:
- Someone could be collecting information on you via a keylogger: It’s a little tool that records your keystrokes, that someone secretly inserts into your computer. A keylogger, however, can also be deposited by malware that you unknowingly downloaded.
- Tracking technology that retailers use. You are in a large department store and must pass through several departments to get to the one you want. Your smartphone is connected during this time. The tracking technology scans your face (or maybe it doesn’t) and connects with your phone, identifying you as a potential customer for the goods that are in the departments you are passing through or near to. Next thing you know, you are getting hit with ads or e-mails for products that you have no interest in.
- Video surveillance. This is old as far as the technology timeline, but it is still a favorite among all sorts of people including those with twisted minds. Video cameras can even be hidden in your front lawn. They can also be found at ATMs, placed there by thieves, to record users’ PINs as they punch them in.
- E-mail monitoring. Your e-mails could be being monitored by a hacker who has remote viewing capabilities of your computer (because you unknowingly let in a virus).
- Personal drones—those small-enough-to-by-held-by-a-child aircraft that are remote controlled; they can be equipped with cameras to take pictures of you, and they can even follow you around.
- Public WiFi. Snoops and hackers can eavesdrop on your unsecured WiFi internet with the right hardware and software. Use Hotspot Shield to encrypt your data.
- And in addition to these ways your privacy could be invaded, a hacker could be spying on you through the little Webcam “hole” above your computer screen (a piece of masking tape over it will solve that problem).
- Peeping Tom. And of course, there is the old fashioned way of intruding upon someone’s privacy: stalking them (on foot or via car), or peering into their house’s windows.
- Reverse peephole. A person could tamper with a peephole on a house’s front door, apartment door or a hotel door, then be able to see what’s going on inside.
- Remote access technology can be malware installed on your device designed to extract all your sensitive data. Make sure to keep your devices security software updated.
Robert Siciliano is an Identity Theft Expert to Hotspot Shield. He is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen See him discussing internet and wireless security on Good Morning America. Disclosures.
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