Personal Data Privacy

When we talk about Personal Data, it includes IC number, phone number, address, private sms, private videos, private photos, email address, bank account, password, private conversation and etc...

Refering to this...
Text message snaging: child's play or cloak and dagger
Text Messaging Privacy

This has been a big issue over the world.
In US, Detroit's Mayor Kwarne Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty.
In HK, Edison and his "girl friends".
In Malaysia, our infamous Dr. Chua and Lingam Scandal.
In SG, Tammy NYP.
and many more to come.

Why are those personal data exposed to the public?
There is a lot of answer for this question, you just need to google it.

This post is more to the ways that you can use to protect yourself, or I would say, basic protection against data stealing.

Handphone
1. Always put a password for your handphone (SIM/Memory card or the phone itself).
2. When you want to sell your phone, please do a master reset on your phone. ( This reset don't really clear your physical data or I would call it, deleted data.)
3. When you send your phone to repair, remember to remove SIM and Memory card from your phone. Besides that, always check whether you have left any data in the built-in memory of your phone.
4. Private videos or photos should be kept somewhere else. Not in your handphone.
5. Never allow others to access your phone without your consent.
6. Never send important or private data through mms, sms, or anything that can be kept. Verbal disclosure would be better. Face to face communication will be another choice too.
That's all I can think for Handphone at the moment.


Computer
1. Always use password for your computer. For windows login or accessing private data.
2. Always delete your history in your browser when you don't use it.
3. Clear your recent used document in your windows.
4. There's always ways to recovery deleted data in your hard disk, if it is possible never allow your hard disk be access by others.
5. Never save your password in your computer. When the website ask you whether you wanna save the password, say no. Never ever allow password saving in your browser.
6. Never save your personal data in your computer, burn it out.
7. Always clear your IE data. Sometimes, there's personal info saved in the folder.
8. Always restart the computer and delete anything that is in the cybercafe's computer history, cache, internet files and etc. Above statement is also usable for cybercafe's computer.

Network
1. Always put password for your network ( wifi, local network, wan, lan and etc.. )
2. Never allow unidentity user to access your network.

Email
1. Never ever send private data through email. there's cases where the email was hacked and all the data is leaked out.
2. Never ever save your private data in your email. for example, draft, sent email and etc.
3. Company internet access is always monitored. Do what is suppose to do during work.

Messenger
1. Always clear your history of conversation if possible.
2. Never save your password in the messenger, hacker can access it.
3. When there's a link send to you, please ask your sender about the link.
4. Never click on an unknown link.
5. Exposing your private data on messenger is a big no no. Always remember, you don't know the person behind the nick, check out the movie "Perfect Stranger" and you will know why. Still, normally i just tell them my asl. that's all.

The best way to prevent data being steal, is to think as if you're a spy. A spy that only you yourself know who you are and what you are. totally bourne addicted.