Web User - UK (2019-11-13)

Stop leaking your identity

COVER

FEATURE

13 - 26 November 2019 43

ARE YOU SHARING TOO MUCH DATA?

T

he answer to the above question

is pretty much guaranteed to be a

resounding “yes!”, although

there’s a good chance you won’t know

exactly how much data you’re sharing.

Browseradd-ons,mobileappsand

websitesroutinelyrequestallsortsof

permissionsandmostpeopleblindly

wavethemthroughbecausedenying

themcancreateobstacles.If yousay

notoa permissionrequestedbyanapp,

forexample,thenit maynotworkas

intended,ormightnotworkatall.

Sometimes,though,thesepermission

requestsarespuriousandusedto

gatheruserdataforadvertising–

orevenmalicious– purposes.

Findoutwhichapps

canaccessyourdata

If youhaven’tdonesorecently– or

indeed,ever– it’sworthrunningan

audittoseewhatdatayou’resharing

andrevokeaccesstoanythingyoudon’t

likethelookof.MyPermissions

(mypermissions.com) is a freeprivacy

cleanerforAndroidandiOSthataimsto

showyouwhichappsareaccessing

yourpersonaldata,andwhat

permissionstheyhave.Recentreviews

havebeenratherscathingaboutthe

app’seffectiveness,however,soanother

optionworthconsideringis aSpotCat–

PermissionCheckerforAndroid(bit.ly/

aspot488).

Preventunwantedaccess

toyouraccounts

PrivacyCleanerforChrome(bit.ly/

priv488), alsofromMyPermissions,

scansmajorservices,including

FacebookandTwitter,forthird-party

toolsthathavebeengivenpermissionto

accessyourprivateinfo,soyoucan

revokeunwantedpermissions.Likethe

mobileapp,we’vefoundit tobea bithit

andmiss,butit managedtouncovera

coupleofunwantedserviceswhenwe

usedit,soit’swortha try.

ForFirefoxusers,there’sProject

Insight(bit.ly/insight488), whichshows

youthepermissionsgrantedtoyour

installedadd-ons,aswellasthe

domainstheyareallowedtoaccess.

Onceinstalled,justclickthetoolbar

buttonin yourbrowserandit willcheck

allyouradd-onsandsearchsites

(includingthelikesofeBay,Wikipedia

andAmazon)withrequested

permissions.Inmanycases,websites

willappearin thelistpurelybecause

theyareallowedtorunin Private

BrowsingMode.

Discoverwhichwebsites

aretrackingyou

Who’sWatchingYou(bit.ly/

watching488) doesn’tcheckwhich

permissionsyouexpresslygranted,but

ratherlooksintotheprivacypoliciesof

someoftheweb’sbiggestcompanies

• includingFacebook,Google,Amazon,
  Instagram,LinkedInandTwitter– tosee
  whatdetailstheytrack.Justclickoneof
  theiconstodisplaya breakdownofthe
  sortofthingsthatsiterecords.Youcan
  filterthelistofsitestoseewhichones
  trackyourlocation,ignoreDoNotTrack
  requests,haveaccesstoyourmessages,
  recorddeviceinformationandusage,
  andactivelyengagewiththird-party
  sites(suchasFacebookwithits
  ubiquitousLikebuttons).

Tightenyourprivacysettings

onFacebook

Inthewakeoflastyear’sCambridge

Analyticascandal,Facebookearneda

reputationfornotcaringaboutuser

privacyandhasbeentryingtowinback

trustbygivingusersmorecontrolover

theirdata.Onethingyoucannowdois

runFacebookSecurityCheckup(bit.ly/

fbcheck488), whichletsyouseeunused

appsandbrowsersthatyou’velogged

intoandgivesyouthechancetologout

ofthem.YoucanenableLoginAlerts,

whichwillcauseFacebooktoletyou

knowif youraccountgetsloggedinto

fromanunrecogniseddeviceand

browser,andyoucanalsogetsometips

onpasswordprotection.

If youscrolldowntothebottomof

thewindow,youcanopenyourSecurity

Settingsand,fromhere,seewhere

you’recurrentlyloggedin from,change

yourpassword,enabletwo-factor

authentication(2FA)andaccessprivacy

settings.Thislastoptionletsyoucontrol

whocanseeyourposts,seeyourlistof

friendsandviewyouremailaddress.

Reviewthesecurity

ofyourGoogleaccount

Googlealsooffersa SecurityCheckup

tool(bit.ly/gcheck488), whichshows

youalldevicesthathaveaccessedyour

Googleaccountin thepast,andletsyou

reviewanyrecentsecurityevents,in

casethereis causeforconcern.Google

is usuallyverygoodatalertingyouvia

emailwhena neworunknowndevice

accessesyouraccount.Youcanalso

enable2-stepverificationhere,see

whichthird-partyappshaveaccessto

yourdataandremoveanyyou’re

unhappywith,andviewandmanage

blockedemailaddresses(andother

‘sensitive’settings)in Gmail.

Run an audit of the data you’re sharing

using the MyPermissions app

Scan your accounts to see which third-

party tools can access your data

Ensure unknown apps and devices aren’t

accessing your Google account

Facebook’s Security Checkup helps you

tighten your privacy settings