How to maintain and protect your online privacy

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October 11, 2023

If you are reading this, there’s a strong likelihood that you are worried about maintaining and protecting your online privacy.

Or perhaps you are someone who constantly frets over the possibility of negative online feedback from customers?

Or maybe you’re part of a big team or handle sensitive personal information that’s intertwined with emotional family connections?

If any of these situations ring true, it’s about time you gave serious thought to how you disclose your personal information on the internet.

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Rethink how you share your personal information online

The internet makes it easy to find just about anyone you want to locate. What if you want to remain private? You have the right to keep your personal information away from strangers who might bother you or invade your privacy.

You can’t always hide your work-related details, such as your professional email, work phone number, or LinkedIn profile. Although, you can protect your personal details, such as your cell phone number, home address, personal email address, and other basic information.

To keep your personal information safer, follow these steps:

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Photo of a laptop on Google with a privacy graphic over it.

Keeping your information private is a way to keep it safe. ( )

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Steps to maintain your online privacy

Make your social media accounts private

Be sure to recheck and switch any social media accounts, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and any others you may use, to private.

Change your profile photo to a non-identifiable one

Once your accounts are private, if you really want to maintain anonymity when it comes to strangers online, change your profile photo to a non-identifiable one.

Use a photo where you can’t see your face, and don’t use a picture of you with your family – that makes it even easier. Many people change their Facebook cover photo to a family photo and never change it again. Cover photos are automatically set to public for the world to see, so use a photo you’ve taken of some scenery while on a trip – something that isn’t identifiable to you.

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Woman changing her social media profile photo to a non-identifiable one. ( )

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Change your name on social media

It is shockingly easy to find people online, especially on social media, if you have their full name. Be sure your (private) Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts don’t display your full name. Maybe opt for your first and middle name, initial, or nickname.

On Facebook, make sure you’ve changed both your name on your account and your username. Your username is the URL when you’re on your Facebook profile, and many people don’t remember that their username contains their full name.

How to change your name on Facebook

Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook
Select Settings & privacy, then click Settings
Click Name
Enter your name and click Review change
Enter your password and click Save changes

How to find your username on Facebook

Log in to your Facebook account
Click your profile picture and name at the top left
Your username will be shown in the address bar of your browser

How to change your username on Facebook

Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook
Select Settings & privacy, then click Settings
Click Username
Enter your new username and your password, then click Save changes

Make sure across all platforms, you change both the display name and your username if that’s an option.

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Update your software

If your browser, operating system, or apps are out-of-date, the software might not be safe from hackers. To help protect your account, keep your software updated.

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Invest in data removal services

If you want to protect your online privacy and security, you might consider using a removal service that can help you delete your personal data from hundreds of sites and prevent hackers from exploiting your information.

While no service promises to remove all your personal data from the internet, having a removal service can be effective if you want to constantly monitor and automate the process over a longer period of time.

Check out my top picks for personal data removal services here

Use strong and unique passwords

Create strong passwords for your accounts and devices, and avoid using the same password for multiple online accounts. Consider using a password manager to securely store and generate complex passwords. It will help you to create unique and difficult-to-crack passwords that a hacker could never guess. Second, it also keeps track of all your passwords in one place and fills passwords in for you when you’re logging into an account so that you never have to remember them yourself. The fewer passwords you remember, the less likely you will be to reuse them for your accounts.

Get more details about my best expert-reviewed Password Managers of 2023

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Kurt’s key takeaways

In today’s digital age, you must reassess how you share personal information online to protect your privacy. By making social media accounts private, updating privacy settings, using non-identifiable profile photos, and considering name changes, you can maintain anonymity. Investing in removal services can also help automate the process of removing personal information from the internet, reducing the risk of unauthorized access.

How do you currently protect your personal information online, and are there any additional steps you plan to take after reading this article? Let us know by commenting below. Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact

For more of my tech tips & security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter

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Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

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Penn State’s James Franklin takes issue with question about offense: ‘My skin is curling’

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Reporters News Wire

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October 11, 2023

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Penn State entered the seventh week of the college football season undefeated and ready to take on UMass as the No. 6 ranked team in the latest Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin prepares meticulously for anything opposing offenses and defenses throw at him on the football field. On Tuesday, however, it did not appear that Franklin was ready for the question he received during his media availability.

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James Franklin of the Penn State Nittany Lions is seen during the game against the Illinois Fighting Illini at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 16, 2023 in Champaign, Illinois. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

Franklin was asked whether he considered having quarterback Drew Allar take a shot deep to get more comfortable with those scenarios instead of checking the ball down to make a safer play.

“I don’t really understand what you’re saying because we would never, like my skin is curling when you say just drop back and chuck it deep no matter what,” Franklin said. “That is like, I don’t even know what you’re saying. Like, you’re speaking from Mars.”

The reporter clarified by asking whether Franklin would give a receiver a chance to make a play on the ball even if he “might be covered 30 yards down the field maybe you think he’d be open 45 yards down the field” like other wide receivers from Penn State’s past have done.

Drew Allar, #15 of the Penn State Nittany Lions, throws a pass against the Northwestern Wildcats during the first half at Ryan Field on Sept. 30, 2023 in Evanston, Illinois. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

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“Like you’re speaking Japanese. We have never done that. Just throw the ball up and maybe he’ll be open and maybe he’ll catch it,” Franklin explained. “You’re making me uncomfortable. I don’t know what you’re talking about. So yeah, we would not do that.

“We’ve never thought about doing that — as a head coach, as an offensive coordinator, as a receivers coach. When I coached the receivers I didn’t want them to do that. So no. No. Strong no.”

Penn State is 5-0 this season. Allar has 1,092 passing yards and nine touchdown passes this season.

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James Franklin celebrates with players after a touchdown against the Delaware Fightin Blue Hens during the first half at Beaver Stadium on Sept. 9, 2023 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

Keandre Lambert-Smith leads Penn State with 25 catches for 372 yards and three touchdowns. Tyler Warren has 14 catches for 115 yards and four touchdowns.

Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.

JPMorgan debuts tokenization platform TCN with BlackRock among key clients: Report

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Reporters News Wire

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October 11, 2023

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American banking giant JP Morgan debuted its in-house blockchain collateralization platform called Tokenized Collateral Network (TCN) on Oct. 11, reported Bloomberg. TCN settled its first trade for asset management giant BlackRock.

Tokenized Collateral Network is an application that allow investors to utilize assets as collateral. Using blockchain technology they can transfer collateral ownership without moving assets in underlying ledgers.

The TCN network in its first public collateralized trade between JP Morgan and BlackRock turned shares of one money market fund into digital tokens, which were then transferred to Barclays Plc as security for an over-the-counter derivatives exchange between the two companies.

The first internal test of TCN was conducted by JPMorgan in May 2022 and has a pipeline of other clients and transactions now that TCN is live. JP Morgan’s tokenization network was launched with the aim to streamline and scale the process of settling traditional settlements on a blockchain. The use of decentralized technology made the process faster, more secure and more efficient.

According to Tyrone Lobban, head of Onyx Digital Assets at JPMorgan, the new TCN platform unlocks capital that has been locked up and allows it to be used as collateral in ongoing transactions, the technology would boost efficiency at scale. The platform makes it possible to create, transfer, and settle tokenized traditional assets. The tokenization platform allows for the movement of collateral nearly instantly as opposed to other methods used earlier.

The blockchain platform makes way for clients to access intraday liquidity through a secured repo transaction using tokenized collateral, rather than depending on expensive unsecured credit lines. External clients who agree to the blockchain trade have their own node using which they can settle the trade and access other reports.

The American banking giant has come a long way from its early days of criticism for the decentralized world and is currently actively involved in testing and launching various blockchain and crypto-centred services amid growing demand. The bank used a blockchain-based solution to settle trades with Indian banks in June earlier this year.

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