With the evolution of information and communication technologies, an exponential amount of data circulates every day. We browse sites or applications on a daily basis which, most of the time, wish to collect a certain amount of our personal data, for the operation or improvement of their service.
As a result, many users find it difficult to trust, particularly with the recurring data leaks that make headlines and scare Internet users.
However, there are applications that offer you security and confidentiality through their service. Overview !
1. Encrypted messaging applications: Signal in the lead.
You probably don't want strangers to be able to view your conversations. To avoid prying ears, use the free Signal messaging app (for Android and iOS) on your phone. It uses a strong encryption protocol that encodes all your messages, meaning that even if someone intercepts them, they won't be able to read them.
Like a standard messaging app, Signal supports voice and video calls, group chats, GIFs, and emojis. However, the encryption remains active at all times and, if you really don't want a conversation to leave any traces, the app can even make your sent messages disappear from the recipient's phone, Snapchat-style.
2. VPN apps: OperaVPN.
To protect the rest of your information outside of email, you can use a virtual private network or VPN app. The latter encrypts all the data that your phone sends around the world. This makes it harder for anyone, whether it's your Internet service provider, government agencies, or hackers, to access your communications.
Free VPNs tend to be slower and less efficient than paid VPNs. However, Opera VPN (for Android and iOS) is an exception. Simple to set up and use, this app not only encrypts your activity, but also prevents ads from tracking you across the web and lets you change your location to somewhere else in the world
Good to know: discover the best free firewalls for windows 10 !
3. Password management: LastPass
Passwords are the first line of defense for your online accounts. For maximum security, you should have a different one for each account, from your bank to your email. But in reality, who can remember all these individual codes? Password managers can.
This type of application stores all of your account information – as well as other sensitive data, like your credit card information – under a single username and password, allowing you to protect your different connections without having to memorize several. The manager can even generate strong, random passwords for each account.
Good to know: Do you use Google Authenticator but have lost your credentials? Go see our article “ How to recover Google Authenticator on mobile ”
LastPass stores and protects your information for free. But if you upgrade to premium, you get a few more options: allowing family members to share your account information, processing accounts protected by two-factor verification (which require an additional code in addition to the password password), and log in to applications and online accounts.
4. Secure mobile banking app
Mobile banking is booming today, for many reasons, including convenience. In reality, mobile banking services are more secure than traditional online banking. Indeed, accessing the mobile version of your bank's website or using the dedicated application is intrinsically more secure than using a computer.
For what ? Computers are prime targets for cyberhackers . Most PCs run on the most attacked operating system, Microsoft. They usually contain a large amount of data and they are vulnerable to viruses created by cybercriminals. Over the past decade, they have learned how to operate online banking services through customers' computers. The desktop computer has thus been hacked in every way possible, making the computer, and the data it contains and transmits, particularly vulnerable to fraud.
Mobile banking, on the other hand, is newer. Operating systems vary, viruses and other malware are not as prevalent, and the technologies of the handsets themselves are more diverse from manufacturer to manufacturer. Computers are therefore the preferred target, while mobile phones are more spared.
Mobile carrier networks are also harder to hack than the wireless network at your home or local coffee shop. Mobile networks, such as 3G and 4G, have a much higher level of encryption and are not as open.
