Kaspersky Explains Several Proactive Steps To Protect Personal Data

Illustration - Antivirus. Kaspersky. (Between/Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin)

JAKARTA - In an era where large amounts of data are continuously collected and analyzed, the risk of data breaches, identity theft, and privacy violations becomes greater than ever before.

Some countries have even considered limiting the use of certain applications, such as the United States which limits access to TikTok because it is considered collecting personal data of its users that will be provided to the Chinese government.

But users are not always willing to let go of their favorite apps. Therefore, it is not uncommon for some of them to use other alternatives to access content, such as installing replacement or pirated applications.

According to Kaspersky, many of these apps tend to disappear after a while for various reasons such as insufficient number of users, meaning sensitive data may fall into the hands of third parties.

To avoid such unpleasant scenarios, Kaspersky experts shared some tips:

Hurry up looking for alternatives may jeopardize your information, as this type of pirated service application or copy doesn't care enough about the security of users' personal data. So before installing the app, consider the pros and cons first.

The best way to start is to learn more about your country's policies that regulate customer rights and personal data processing. Also make sure you can contact customer service and ask them to delete personal information.

It is much better to minimize the amount of data the application collects about you because there is an accidental disclosure risk or misuse of personal data due to inadequate data security. To prevent this problem, consider limiting access to photo feeds, contacts, and locations only on applications that can function without it.

Modern security solutions can block apps from accessing personal information, alert users if phone numbers and other data leak, and warn users if malicious files have been downloaded.