"I have nothing to hide."
It's a common refrain when people are confronted with questions about the security measures they take to protect themselves online, as if only criminals need to protect their online identities. You are far more likely to have your identity stolen than your house robbed, yet billions of dollars a year are spent on protecting homes from would be invaders while most people spend pennies on online safety. Indeed, the false sense of online security, the "I have nothing to hide" defense, is so prevalent that people voluntarily put surveillance devices made by large tech corporations into their homes, opening themselves up to hackers and cyberthieves.
A quick Google search on home invasions leads one to a host of misinformation about the threat of burglary, including one that claims one in five homes "encounter a violent home intrusion or burglary." We'll file that one under "extreme lying." You can scroll through pages and pages of articles written by home security companies trying to scare people into buying their products.
The reality is that 0.4% of Americans are victims of burglary, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Contrast that with the number of Americans who are victims of online theft. According to a 2018 report by NortonLifelock, there are 27 cybercrime victims every second and 117 million identity theft victims. That is more than one third of the population of the United States, which is twice the global average.
You don't need an expensive program to protect yourself online. VPN encryption can help hide your information from would be thieves. In fact, you can use SumRando VPN for free. Get 1 GB free per month or unlimited data starting at $6 US per month.
A quick Google search on home invasions leads one to a host of misinformation about the threat of burglary, including one that claims one in five homes "encounter a violent home intrusion or burglary." We'll file that one under "extreme lying." You can scroll through pages and pages of articles written by home security companies trying to scare people into buying their products.
The reality is that 0.4% of Americans are victims of burglary, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Contrast that with the number of Americans who are victims of online theft. According to a 2018 report by NortonLifelock, there are 27 cybercrime victims every second and 117 million identity theft victims. That is more than one third of the population of the United States, which is twice the global average.
You don't need an expensive program to protect yourself online. VPN encryption can help hide your information from would be thieves. In fact, you can use SumRando VPN for free. Get 1 GB free per month or unlimited data starting at $6 US per month.