Since the social media boom happened, people were attracted to it like a moth to fire. We never paid much attention to the personal data that we were sharing and now it has reached a point where these data are available to everyone who is connected or not connected with us.

Internet became a vulnerable place in the last few years when cybercrime related to data theft cases were seen rising. The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica case was one among the many data theft cases that were reported around the world.

According to a study by Experian, only 18 percent of US adults use a paid credit monitoring product to protect their identities, and 13 percent use one to monitor their credit and finances. Additionally, 81 percent stated they rely on their banks and credit card companies to take responsibility for thwarting identity theft.

Data theft or identity theft is broadly defined as all crimes against individuals, where personal and financial data is illegally obtained by fraud or deception, usually for a financial gain.

Once somebody’s personal or financial data is stolen, it can be used to apply for credit cards or loans in your name, withdrawing funds from your bank account, obtain insurance, etc.

How To Protect Yourself From Data Theft?

According to Sunil Sharma, managing director – sales, India & SAARC, Sophos, enabling the multi-factor authentication wherever it is possible is one way to curb data theft. A multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a method in which a computer user is granted access only after successfully presenting two or more pieces of evidence to an authentication mechanism, such as knowledge, the possession that only the user is aware of. This adds an additional layer of protection against someone trying to access your personal accounts.

Make sure you are using complex passwords for your email address, social media as well as your devices on which you use them. Ensure that the login for your laptop and mobile phone have complex passwords that you change often.

"Passwords are an important aspect of computer security - they are the front line of protection for user accounts in a very wide variety of services and systems. Unfortunately, people are not changing factory default passwords, which cybercriminals are counting on to carry out their attacks. Building strong, unique passwords and using a password manager to keep track of them is a best security practice everyone should use in this digital age,” Sharma said.

While we are eager to explore the app store and download an app for our respective use, make sure you are checking the permissions an app is asking for before you download it to your personal device. It is also imperative to delete the apps from the device that you no longer use.

We love sharing memes, posts, images, videos on social media and most of us do it without paying much attention to what we are actually sharing on the platform. However, check your privacy settings on the social media platform that you are using which enables you to actually control who can see your posts. Lock down your accounts as much as possible.

Practice caution while you send sensitive data to someone over email or share sensitive posts on social media. Think about the implications if someone was to access the information.