Today, almost every aspect of human life has been touched by digitalisation. Starting from the very general such as chatting with other people, to the very personal such as savings or investments. In the process of digitisation, it is necessary to verify the identity of personal data. This process will certify that a person is the legal owner of an account, be it on social media, banks, jobs, and so on.
In the identity verification process, a person will go through various stages to get an account. Starting from filling in personal data, such as name, phone number, address, and so on, to uploading photos and certain files. This depends on what institution or application you are signing up for. For example, the identity data required to register for a social media account is certainly different from a taxpayer account.
The above process also serves a positive purpose for the company owner, to ensure the account is not misused by other parties. For example, a bank would not want to lend money to a person with an address that does not match the registered account. On the other hand, you as the account owner also want your personal data to be protected by the company, meaning that it is not used for other purposes.
However, it is not uncommon to see news of personal data leaks that can be traded illegally or fraudulent acts by fake apps. This is a risk that can occur if you are not careful in providing personal data.
So what actions can be taken to prevent these risks? Here are some tips on keeping personal data safe:
1. Understand the application
Learn about the app you're going to use. For smartphone apps, double-check the manufacturer and reviews from other users. Avoid apps that are suspicious or have bad reviews.
2. Avoid suspicious links or hyperlinks.
If you want to sign up for an account over the internet, avoid suspicious links.
3. Check the URL address
Before uploading data, check the URL address again. You don't want to upload your data to the wrong site.
Those are 3 simple tips that can be done before giving personal data to other parties. Give personal data if it is really necessary or must be done. Remember that privacy is one of the human assets, which needs to be preserved and protected as best as possible.
