Doesn’t a strange feeling of fear always accompany you when surfing the Internet? The fear of what you’re even allowed to click on. Viruses and other malware lurk on almost every website – and you receive e-mails, supposedly from your own bank, asking you to change your PIN or even issue TANs.
In addition, one is followed everywhere by annoying advertising banners. Just an example: If you are looking for hair loss remedies, your Internet browser will shortly thereafter often show you advertising around stair lifts and sexual enhancers. But that is only the obvious and superficial problem. Because if you don’t protect yourself, literally let down your data pants every time you go online. And it’s dangerous, too.
Somebody is Spying Every Time You Visit The Internet
What only experts know: While surfing, you will be inconspicuously and permanently followed every step of the way. Numerous data collectors (so-called trackers) monitor every action on every page you visit – no matter which device you use. Like detectives following you everywhere, lying over your shoulder and writing everything down in minute detail – from the movement of the mouse to entries in online forms.
These mini-sniffers do not wear a trench coat, however, but hide in invisible pictures in the background. Your mission is to spy on you and diligently deliver information to data collectors. Because they earn money with your data: middlemen collect user profiles, enrich them, tie them up to large packages and sell them on. Be it your financial status, how it is ordered around your health or which party you choose: All this personal and sensitive data ends up in your user profile.
The Best 7 Tips For More Privacy On The Web
The good news: You can protect yourself. Just a few measures are enough to put a stop to sniffing companies, protect your privacy and ward off dangers in general. eBlocker gives the best tips so that you can be on the Internet without worries:
Tip 1: Using Multiple Internet Browsers
Use different Internet browsers for your daily excursions and searches on the Internet. Browsers are computer programs for displaying websites on the Internet. One browser is best used for things that require you to use your real name, such as shopping on the Internet, online banking, cloud services and social networking. The other is then used for anonymous tasks, such as browsing pages and web research. In this way you decouple a large amount of data from your person to a browser and make life much more difficult for data collectors. The best way to do this is to bookmark the pages in both browsers on all devices you use to access the Internet. After a short adaptation period, you will quickly get used to the dual system.
Tip 2: Bet On The Right Browser
More and more internet users are using the internet browser Chrome when it comes to trips to the worldwide data network. From a data protection point of view, however, this browser should be used with caution. Because Google creates a Chrome user’s surfing profile when they use a Google Account in Chrome, for example to activate an Android device. After all, Google’s business model consists of collecting user data and making a profit from it.
But there are alternatives: For example the browser Firefox. Unlike Chrome and Microsoft’s Edge, this is a non-profit organization, not a profit-oriented company that is keen on user data. On top of that, the browser has recently caught up technically. And with version 57, which will be released shortly, the developers are aiming for a further big step towards more speed and better operation. Chromium”, a Chrome clone freed from Google services, also offers better data protection than Chrome.
Tip 3: Banish Google Search
It doesn’t always have to be Google. Finally, there are numerous search services that do not store and evaluate the search terms of their users. Good recommendations are for example startpage.de and metager.de. Startpage, for example, delivers just as good results as Google, but does not transfer your personal user data. The DuckDuckGo.com search engine also uses various measures to protect your privacy on the Internet.
The service promises to completely refrain from collecting personal user data, to neither collect cookies nor location data and not to pass on search terms to the site operators. This should make it impossible for clicked pages to find out what you were looking for. You can even use DuckDuckGo as your default search engine in Firefox: To do this in Firefox, click on the upper right and then on Search. In the “Default Search” section, click Google and then DuckDuckGo in the drop-down menu.
Tip 4: Protect Yourself From Dangerous Emails
Alleged winnings, reminders for invoices or reminders to change your password: Such e-mails cause your mailbox to overflow and usually come from tricksters. The ideas of the so-called “phishing mafia” know no bounds. With phishing e-mails, online thieves literally want to “fish” their login data, for example from an online bank account.
The dangerous thing here is that they can hardly be distinguished from “real” news. To do this, criminals send fake e-mails that look like they come directly from your bank or a payment service such as PayPal. The scammers try to lure you to fake Internet sites, where you should then type in account numbers, passwords, PINs or transaction numbers (TANs) “for verification”. Step into the trap, the scammers clear the account or go shopping with it.
Tip: Just assume that banks, payment services and other companies simply never ask for passwords, login data or other personal data by e-mail. Therefore, never click on the links provided there or reply to the e-mails. Instead, delete such messages as quickly as possible and do not put them in the trash.
Tip 5: Choose Unique, Long Passwords
It is very convenient: But storing passwords in the browser is not a good idea for security reasons. Attackers can read this information with malware because the passwords are not sufficiently protected. Weak” passwords such as “123456” are also taboo.
Illegal special programs crack such combinations in seconds. Consider your access data best as your personal safe keys to your Internet safe, which you also do not pass on to strangers: You protect your e-mail inbox, the account in your favourite online shop and your online bank account from unauthorised access. They are therefore a worthwhile target for hackers. Therefore, renew your insecure passwords for all your Internet accounts now. Or do you always leave your front door open?
For each account you set up a new, unique password with at least eight digits – better more. Apart from simple sequences of numbers and common terms, names of relatives, acquaintances, pets, celebrities and one’s own address are taboo. Experts recommend creating very long passwords and whole sentences that make no sense or contain spelling mistakes, for example “GiraffesSquintUnderTheJupiter” is better suited as a password than 8Uzr5&e.
Tip 6: Installing The Correct Adblocker
Exaggerated online advertising is not only annoying, slows down the page layout and generates unnecessary data traffic, it is also dangerous. Because advertisements rarely come directly from the server of the site operator, but from completely different corners of the Internet. Accordingly, they are not subject to the editorial control of the website operator. Cyber criminals and data collectors make use of this fact and integrate pests or trackers into their advertising.
Adblockers promise remedy. The small additional browser programs connect to the browser on request and reliably filter out the advertising, so the providers’ promise. But not all Adblockers are the same. The widespread “Adblock Plus” makes exceptions for financially strong companies.
The better alternative is therefore “uBlock Origin”. The open source code makes the program completely transparent – so there are no backdoors. The installation in Firefox is done quickly: In Firefox, click Find Add-ons and Add-ons in the upper right corner. Use the search window at the top right to search for Ublock Origin and press the Enter key. In the hit list, click Install to the right of the correct add-on. After a few seconds the ad blocker is ready to use, a restart of Firefox is not necessary.
Tip 7: Surfing Safely Made Easy
The simple solution to protect yourself against all these dangers that lurk on the Internet is the eBlocker. Thanks to this small device, you don’t need to be an expert to effectively block annoying ads, malware and fraudulent emails. The eBlocker takes over these tasks for you.
Simply connect the small device to the router via cable and supply it with power – ready. The eBlocker immediately prevents the collection of your personal user data and the creation of user profiles, reliably blocks any form of Internet advertising and protects you from attacks via Internet browsers. Thanks to the innovative “browser protection”, the eBlocker also puts a stop to fraudulent attempts to enter personal data, such as passwords, via fake websites.
This protection works on all devices connected to your Internet router, so you don’t have to install cumbersome software. With just a few clicks, you’re safe on the Internet.