MADISON, Wis. (WRN) — As the number of data breaches rise and more people’s information is released to the dark web it’s important to limit what criminals can find out about you.
UW-Madison information researcher Dorothea Salo says having a robust ad blocker on your PC or device can put a stop to companies tracking your online searches and browsing.
“Right now, web advertising is a leading way of spreading malware to your devices. So you are actually protecting yourself not just from your data going hither and yon, but from some hacker invading your device,” Salo said.
Salo says you should also be wary of the amount of data a company wants from you, and if you really need to hand out a name and birthdate just to get a little discount on an order. That sort of data can pile up into online profiles to track you.