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Many of us do not think about our privacy nearly as often as we should. We seem to have resigned ourselves to being tracked and controlled by our devices, and while that is fine when it is our choice, there are many bad actors that are just waiting to exploit any vulnerability in our digital network to take advantage of us. One of the easiest ways you can prevent that from happening is to disconnect your Wi-Fi when you leave home or are within range of an insecure network.
It is usually a choice made out of ease, this way we do not have to waste precious mobile data (even if most of us are in unlimited data plans) and then our device will just connect automatically back to our home network when we walk through the door. Easy peasy and no harm no foul. But this inaction can easily leave us vulnerable to hacking, as it will automatically connect to any open networks that we find, giving unscrupulous individuals access to our most important information. After all, we all hold our lives in our phones.
Why is disabling Wi-Fi and other forms of tracking so important
We are all find of routines, whether or not we know it. We have a favorite route to work, coffee shop, supermarket and we tend to live our lives in a very scheduled manner. Sometimes there are changes, but more often than not we are quite predictable. While this can work in our favor when it comes to optimizing our routines (knowing the fastest routes, when there are less people around to shop, etc) it can work against us when someone is using our data to track our movements.
While changing routines every once is a while is not the worst thing you can do to help yourself be less traceable, it is a lot easier to turn off your Wi-Fi when you are not using it. Another thing you can do is eliminate all the public networks that you have connected to in the past to ensure that your phone will not accidentally connect to them in case you forget to disable it altogether.
Other things you should also disable in your phone when not in use are Bluetooth and NFC readers, as they also work to communicate information between devices and can be used as weak points in your cybersecurity. If you have an Apple device, disabling airdrop will not just protect your privacy, but it will also protect you from unsolicited pictures or messages being sent to you in a public setting.
Disabling location on your phone as well as in other apps that use it is also a good set to avoid being tracked if your device is hacked. The least information you leave in the open, the harder it will be for someone to take advantage of your vulnerable spots and dismantle your life. Now, we know that this seems excessive, after all technology is everywhere and we have pretty much signed our lives away every time we accept the terms and conditions for any app or the cookies for any website. So, why is it so worrisome to have others track us is privacy is all but a myth?
The difference lies within the fact that companies and websites are regulated, however loosely, and so there is limited actions they can take with access to our data. Most of them cannot drain our bank accounts, steal our identity or commit fraud in our behalf, and if they do, they are liable and will face consequences. Individuals however can do whatever they please with whatever they find and they are very hard to prosecute, so avoid putting yourself in vulnerable online situations.
