Maintain Your Data Privacy

Graphic for National Data Privacy Day


DATA PRIVACY AND YOU

Everything we do online generates data. There’s data about our activities, behaviors, and interests. Then, there’s personal data, like our social security and driver’s license numbers. There’s even data about our health.  It’s easy to feel a lack of control over the information collected online.  However, there are steps we can take to learn about the types of data we’re generating, and how it’s collected, shared and used.


Follow these steps to better manage your personal information and make informed decisions about who receives your data.

 

Steps to take:

Make informed decisions about whether or not to share your data with certain businesses by considering the amount of personal information they are asking for and weighing it against the benefits you may receive in return.  Be thoughtful about who gets that information and wary of apps or services that require access to information that is not required or relevant for the services they are offering.  Delete unused apps on your internet-connected devices and keep others secure by performing updates.

 

Manage your privacy

 

Once you have decided to use an app or set up a new account, check the privacy and security settings on web services and apps and set them to your comfort level for information sharing. Each device, application or browser you use will have different features to limit how and with whom you share information. Get started with NCA’s Manage Your Privacy Settings page to check the settings of social media accounts, retail stores, apps and more.


Protect your data

Data privacy and data security go hand in hand. Keep your data secure by creating long, unique passwords and storing them in a password manager. Add another layer of security by enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA) wherever possible, especially on accounts with sensitive information. MFA has been found to block 99.9% of automated attacks when enabled and can ensure your data is protected, even in the event of a data breach.