In the olden days, online users had placed their confidence on privacy protection service providers to provide a certain level of privacy on all the pieces of information they supply to different sites. With the evolution of the Internet and the hacking capabilities of some geeks who do not know where to re-channel their special skills, your personal data could fall prey to the data mining and exploitation of the wrong people and websites. To avoid being victimized by cyber squatters and thieves, here is a list of some simple ways to protect your privacy in the World Wide Web.

Make sure that you browse using secured connection. Check if your web address starts with “https” and if a padlock symbol is present. This means that your Internet connection is secured. Also, block cookies to prevent sites from collecting your data without you knowing it.

Avoid supplying your full birth date on social sites. Keep off those identity thieves by just putting your birth month and day on your account.

Go easy on downloading Facebook apps. Since these collect your personal data, try to be more careful in downloading games and other interesting things on the site.

Make sure you have several usernames and passwords. When using the social networking sites, e-mail and online shopping, make separate usernames and passwords to protect your privacy.

Check out how much of your personal data are accessible to the public. Try searching for your data on the Internet and make the necessary adjustments to make it more private. Delete the intimate details and avoid putting everything on your sites.

Be careful about geo location services of smartphones and other gadgets. Sure, it is cool to let your friends know about your whereabouts, but lest you forget, other people can also access the information and use it to stalk or plan some evil schemes against you.

Make the most out of your privacy settings. To keep your privacy, make sure to employ all the necessary features and services offered by social networking sites.

Remove yourself from “people search” sites. As much as possible, do this on every site to make yourself free from identity thieves and personal data collectors.

Get rid of your old accounts. make sure to shut down your previous unused accounts to deprive other people of meddling with them and messing with your life.

It is important that you become proactive in protecting yourself whilst surfing the web. Doing the aforementioned tips will help you avoid becoming a victim of identity theft as well as other forms of cyber crimes.