Knobull.com's CEO Suggests Steps You Should Be Taking To Protect Your Internet Privacy

Lynn Bentley says, "These are the simple things you should be doing to keep intruders from invading your privacy. We plan to launch our secure Internet search engine later this year which should eliminate the need for users to carry out most of these actions."

1. Password protect your devices: your smart phone, your iPad, your computer, your tablet, etc. Some open Booker's say it's annoying to take two seconds to type in a password before they can use their phone. Choosing not to password protect these devices is the digital equivalent of leaving your home or car unlocked. If you're lucky, no one will take advantage of the access.

2. Put an Alert on your name. This is an incredibly easy way to stay on top of what's being said about you on line. It takes less than a minute to do. Enter your name, and variations of your name, with quotation marks around it.

3. Sign out of Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc. when you're done with your emailing, social networking, tweeting, and other forms of communications. Not only will this slightly reduce the amount of tracking of you as you surf the Web, this prevents someone who later sits down at your computer from loading one of these up and getting intrusive.

4. Don't give out your email address, phone number, or zip code when asked. Obviously, if a stranger asks for your phone number, you say no. But when the asker is a uniform-wearing employee, many a consumer hands over their digits when asked. Stores often use this info to track you.

5. Encrypt your computer. The word œencrypt may sound like a betrayal of the simplicity promised in the headline, but this is actually quite easy to do. Encrypting your computer means that someone has to have your password (or encryption key) in order to peek at its contents should they get access to your hard drive. On a Mac, you just go to your settings, choose œSecurity and Privacy, go to œFileVault, choose the œTurn on FileVault option. Boom goes the encryption dynamite. PC folk need to use Bitlocker.

6. Emailers, turn on 2-step authentication in Email. This simple little step turns your phone into a security fob ” in order for your Email account to be accessed from a new device, a person (hopefully you) needs a code that's sent to your phone. This means that even if someone gets your password somehow, they won't be able to use it to sign into your account from a strange computer.

7. Pay in cash for embarrassing items. If you don't want a purchase to be easily tracked back to you.

8. Change Your Facebook settings to œFriends Only. You'd think with the many Facebook privacy stories over the years that everyone would have their accounts locked down and boarded up like houses before a hurricane.

9. Clear your browser history and cookies on a regular basis. When's the last time you did that? If you just shrugged, consider changing your browser settings so that this is automatically cleared every session. Go to the œprivacy setting in your Browser's œOptions. Tell it to œnever remember your history.

10. Use an IP masker. When you visit a website, you leave a footprint behind in the form of IP information. These are simple tips for basic privacy; if you're in a high-risk situation where you require privacy from malicious actors, check out EFF's surveillance self-defense tips.

Bentley concludes, "We plan to support the 'Secure Mobile Search For Entertainment and Education' Market and target the young, user segment of the population. The upgraded platform will initially serve students at a New England college and then be expanded to campuses in highly populated regions in the U.S.



We welcome your reactions and/or expressions of interest in learning more about our technical team member opportunities by tweet @bizcoaches or linkedin: lbentley@organizationtransitionsinc.com."