January 28 is Data Privacy Day

While you should constantly be in control of your digital footprint and take precautions to protect your privacy on a daily basis, UB's Information Security Office seeks to reinforce these practices by calling attention to Data Privacy Day. We encourage you to follow the tips below to properly safeguard your personal data.

• Use long and complex passwords or passphrases. These are often the first line of defense in protecting an online account. The length and complexity of your passwords can provide an extra level of protection for your personal information.
• Take care what you share. Periodically check the privacy settings for your social networking apps to ensure that they are set to share only what you want with whom you intend. Be very careful about putting personal information online. What goes on the Internet usually stays on the Internet.
• Go stealth when browsing. Your browser can store quite a bit of information about your online activities, including cookies, cached pages, and history. To ensure the privacy of personal information online, limit access by going "incognito" and using the browser's private mode.
• Using Wi-Fi? If only public, unencrypted Wi-Fi is available, restrict your activity to simple searches (no banking, for example) or use a VPN (virtual private network). The latter provides an encrypted tunnel between you and the websites you visit. Remember, UB Secure and eduroam are UB’s encrypted network and therefore safe to use.
• Should you trust that app? Only use apps from reputable sources. Check out reviews or other trusted sources before downloading anything that is unfamiliar.