With so much of our lives on the Internet, it’s difficult not to be afraid of getting hacked. These days, we use Twitter, Facebook and more as if it were second nature. So naturally, there is a lot of our personal data online. It’s this personal data that we need to protect. Not only can being hacked lead to social mishaps and stress, it can also hurt your business. Here, we’re going to talk about some general ways you can prevent getting hacked and how you can keep your data safe.

First of all, you need to get out of the mindset that “It’s just the Internet”. In the last 5 – 6 years, we’ve piled vast amounts of personal data into Internet services. Facebook knows more about you than you think and Twitter can be used to do some terrible things. Keeping on top of all your data is super-important. You might think that losing access to your Facebook account isn’t a big deal. When that account leads to others it can be the start of something awful. If you use the same password for Facebook as you do for Amazon, then you could end up paying with your wallet. Whether or not you’re active on social media and the Internet, you need to protect yourself.

Let’s say you run a custom dining room furniture company and you’re active on social media to bring in local custom and promote your brand. It would be terrible if somebody got access to your Facebook or Twitter accounts. Instead of promoting your new line of amish dining room sets your accounts could be revealing personal details about your staff. Or worse, they could be spreading profanity and insults throughout your networks.

There are a few ways in which you can prevent this sort of thing happening. Most of these things revolve around proper passwords and general common sense. Here are some of the key things to remember:

• Let no computer but your own remember your passwords; if any.
• Make sure you have a different password for each and every account.
• Your passwords shouldn’t relate to any info that’s publicly online; like your name or your birthday.
• Change your passwords regularly, this way you’ll begin to take security seriously.
• Don’t sign into your accounts on a friend’s smartphone and don’t hand out your smartphone so casually.

One of the easiest ways to prevent yourself from getting hacked is to use common sense. If you’re Facebook account is logged in on a myriad of laptops and computers – it can’t be that safe, can it? Also, imagine if you had your Amazon password remembered on laptops that aren’t under your control? Keep things to a minimum, make it easy to backtrack your steps and only have one computer – if any – remembering your passwords. Make sure to use a password that is completely irrelevant to your online profile. Something that isn’t a dictionary word and something that features digits, again make sure they’re not your birthday.

Getting hacked, or losing control of your personal data can be a nightmare. If you follow the above guidelines, you’ll be one step closer to leading a safe and happy life online.

-Guest post by Courtney Gordner. Courtney is a journalist/blogger with a passion for…everything! Read more from her on her own blog, www.talkviral.com