New Report: Protect your privacy if you want to reduce your risk

According to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC), research shows the risk to New Zealander’s privacy is on the rise but there are ways that people can protect themselves.

According to Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster, New Zealanders love the internet, but that comes with risks.

“Every webpage we visit, every item we put in our online shopping baskets, and every time we upload an image to social media, if we haven’t actively protected it, we are risking our personal information.”

OPC recently released a report looking at five areas where New Zealanders are most at risk online, including online scams and fraud, social media, online tracking, children’s safety, and biometrics and AI.

“With the use of internet at saturation levels, and after three years where most of us have spent more time online than ever before, our dependence on the internet has grown exponentially,” said Mr Webster.

One of the downsides of this can be seen by the fact that more than 60% of serious privacy breaches reported to the OPC are happening in the digital world.

This is reflected in the top six concerns for New Zealanders using the internet, as found in InternetNZ’s 2022 annual survey. These concerns include ‘security of personal data’, ‘threats to privacy’, and ‘identity theft’.

The report, Protecting Your Privacy in the Digital Age, contains tips on how to protect your privacy, including:

Some tips to help you secure your personal information:

• Use two-factor authentication to protect your accounts.

• Keep your devices, such as your phones, tablets, and computers, updated.

• Use varied and strong passwords on each of your accounts.

• Set your privacy settings in your social media accounts to only friends and family, and only add/ accept people you know.

Some tips for social media settings:

• Get to know the privacy settings for each of your social media accounts.

• Think about who you would like to see your profile and what kind of information you want them to see.

• Check your settings regularly, as they’re often updated.

• Use two-factor authentication to protect your social media accounts.

Tips on how to avoid tracking cookies on your computer:

• If there is an obvious choice, REJECT ALL third-party cookies when prompted.

• Use your web browser itself to help protect against tracker cookies.

• Clear the cookies you collect.

• Look at adding “extensions” to your browser to help protect yourself.

Some tips on how to protect your children’s privacy online:

• When your child uses a new device or software, check the device settings to make sure the privacy settings are where you want them.

• Use settings to create groups of real friends to play with.

• Keep devices in shared family spaces.

• Set up accounts for different members of your family, each with their own settings to ensure online safety.

• Install the community applications for consoles like PlayStation and Xbox.