Celebrate Data Privacy Day Today

January 28, 2019

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost encourages Ohioans to protect their personal information in conjunction with Data Privacy Day today, when organizations around the world promote data protection and cybersecurity.

To help Ohioans protect their personal information, Attorney General Yost encourages individuals to take five steps:

1. Review your privacy settings. Take time to locate the privacy setting on all of your accounts, especially your social media accounts, and decide how much you want to share with others. Update the settings as needed to limit or control what others see about you and your family members.
2. Read privacy policies. Before entering your information to win a prize, receive a discount, or get notifications from a company, check its privacy policy. Privacy policies generally explain how your information will be used, including whether it will be shared with or sold to third parties or used for marketing purposes.
3. Update your passwords. To help prevent intruders from accessing your personal information, use long, strong passwords or passphrases, and change them regularly. Use a different password for each program, website, or application you use. Consider using a reputable “password manager” to handle some of these functions. Also, disable automatic login functions on websites, and do not allow your browser to “remember” passwords.
4. Protect your home network. Use tools like firewalls, router and network passwords, encryption, and anti-virus programs to protect your home Internet connection and ensure that only you and your family have access.
5. Be careful when using free public Wi-Fi networks. If you use free public Wi-Fi, assume everyone can see what you are doing. Avoid disclosing personal information, such as logins, passwords, or credit card numbers, when using public Wi-Fi. Also, verify the specific network name with the store, coffee shop, or other Wi-Fi location before connecting to the network.