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Privacy Apathy Is Real, and You Probably Have It

Sakege November 2, 2024

Navigating the digital landscape today can, frankly, be a nightmare. It seems that every page you access requires you to accept cookies, enter personal information, or create an account in order to use the site properly.

On top of this, data breaches are at an all-time high and stories of people’s personal data are leaked every day.

With the sheer amount of digital noise we have to deal with every day, it’s no surprise that people feel exhausted by it all. This exhaustion leads to risky cybersecurity behaviors and even potentially dangerous cyber situations, even though we are constantly encouraged to use privacy software such as best vpn.

There is only one way to describe this and that is with the phrase “Privacy Apathy.” Read on to find out in more detail what privacy apathy is, why it’s so dangerous, and what steps you can take to combat it in your daily life.

What is privacy apathy?

Privacy apathy is exactly what it sounds like: being so exhausted and fed up with the various procedures you have to carry out to exist online that you simply become apathetic about your own online privacy.

Privacy apathy can manifest itself in different ways, including:

Reuse passwords for multiple accounts
Accept cookies instead of rejecting them
Enter your personal information on the sites
Not caring if your data is exposed in data breaches

It’s important to note that what I describe as “privacy apathy” is not just a lack of education or a misunderstanding of how to stay safe online, it’s knowing what can keep you safe but choosing not to do it as is, it’s true. , much easier.

Furthermore, with the magnitude of data breaches these days, it’s no wonder that people view their data breach as a “when, no, if” situation. In 2023, data breaches increased by 35%, with More than 17 billion personal records were leaked. during the year.

One of the clearest examples of this comes from the password manager. LastPass Password Psychology Reportwhich found that although 89% of people surveyed acknowledged that reusing passwords or using variations of the same password is risky behavior, only 12% of respondents used unique passwords for all their accounts, and 62% admitted reuse and/or use variations of the same password across all your accounts.

Other Forbes Advisor research has shown that more than a third (35%) of people admit that they believe they were hacked due to a weak password, and one in three people say they believe they were hacked due to repeated use of the same password.

In addition to this, Everything about cookies has been found that 38% of Americans “blindly accept all” cookies, even though more than one in four (27%) know that sites can’t store or sell user information if they reject cookies.

One thing is clear; Despite knowing what to do to stay safe, we simply aren’t doing it.

Frustrated looking black woman using a laptop

(Image credit: Getty Images)

How can I combat privacy apathy?

A big driver of privacy apathy is simply that it’s easier to reuse passwords, accept all cookies, ignore alerts to change your password, etc.

So how do you combat this? Simple. It makes it easier to take the cyber safe option and stay safe.

Use a password manager

If you’re guilty of reusing passwords, and you probably are, then the only way to stop this is to make creating a new password easier than simply reusing an old one.

Get yourself one of the best password managers That will not only save all your passwords, but will generate unique and secure passwords for each of your accounts.

You won’t have a hard time remembering or finding passwords, and you’ll eliminate the possibility of several of your accounts being compromised if one of your passwords is leaked.

Reduce digital noise

Accepting all cookies can be much easier than rejecting them all, especially if you have to manually uncheck third-party cookies in the “legitimate interest” section. However, this allows companies to track you and your data.

To reduce the appeal of the “accept all” button, simply reduce this digital noise with a cookie and an ad blocker.

VPN like NordVPN has additional features that can block cookies on websites automatically so you don’t even have to consider them. Another great VPN, surfer sharkhas a feature called clean website which blocks all ads and cookie consent pop-ups, as well as alerting you about malware and data breaches.

It is important to note that cookies are used for personalization, tracking and marketing, so if you block/reject all cookies, your experience on certain websites may be affected.

look at the data

While data breaches seem inevitable, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to protect your personal data anyway. One way to recognize the seriousness of this situation is to look at how much of your personal data is available online.

HaveIBeenPwned.com is a useful checker that allows you to check if your email address or phone number has been compromised in a data breach. This will give you an idea of what you need to protect best to prevent your accounts from being hacked.

If you are concerned about the amount of personal data that legitimate companies have about you that could be leaked in a data breach, consider using a data erasure service. Data deletion services Contact companies that have your data in your name and get them deleted.

At least remember this: If your email address or phone number has been leaked, you’re likely to see an increase in annoying scam or spam messages, and no one wants that.

Ourladyoftheassumptionparish

Ourladyoftheassumptionparish

Privacy Apathy Is Real, and You Probably Have It

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Privacy Apathy Is Real, and You Probably Have It

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