In my previous blog post, I shared tips and tricks to increase your online safety on Twitter. In case you missed it, you can read it here.
As previously mentioned, online safety is very important, as scammers can (and do!) access your information easily and steal your identity or your money, unless you take some simple precautions. Preventative measures are not only possible but strongly encouraged.
Scammers only need a few pieces of key information in order to steal your identity, so making sure that your online accounts are locked down is really important.
In this post, we will cover Google.
Let’s walk through this process step by step:
- Log into your Gmail account
- Click on your photo
- Select Manage Your Google Account
On this page, you will see some options on the main page, as well as some in the left-hand menu.
Run the Security and Privacy Checkups. Next, click Manage Your Privacy and Personalization. These are all found on the main portion of the page.
Continue your way down the menu on the left-hand side and go through each section.
Repeat for any other Google accounts you may have.
What to know about each section:
PERSONAL INFO
Make sure you review ‘What Others See About Me’.
DATA & PERSONALIZATION
Ensure that you run through the ‘Privacy Checkup’ if you haven’t already. Review the ‘Business Personalization’ section, especially if you’re using your Google account for business purposes.
SECURITY
Spend some time reviewing this area, paying special attention to ‘Third-party Apps With Account Access‘. Be sure to remove any third-party apps you no longer use or don’t recognize. Consider setting up a PIN number and two-step verification.
PEOPLE & SHARING
If you haven’t already, be sure to review the ‘Choose What Others See’ area.
PAYMENTS & SUBSCRIPTIONS
Check that there isn’t anything listed here that you don’t recognize or haven’t authorized.
In Summary
It’s probably a wise idea to perform this exercise at least once a month. By doing so, you’ll rest easy knowing that your account is as secure as possible and no one can leach any of your personal information.
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