If you have ever thought that someone is spying on you, or that your government has a secret program to watch over you, it’s probably true. It’s also possible that your computer is already infected with spyware and has been sharing your information with the perpetrator for some time now. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at the different ways you could be being spied on right now.

Mass surveillance

It is almost certain that your government or a foreign intelligence agency has been watching you from your footprints on different channels of communication. In the U.S. for example, the National Security Agency (NSA) has been legally collecting private data in the following ways:

Data from Facebook, Microsoft, YouTube, Google, Yahoo, Skype, and other personal services such as messages and emails.
Tapping Internet traffic which goes through undersea fiber-optic cables. The NSA does this in partnership with other governments.
Collecting up to 5 billion cell phone location signals of foreign countries outside of the States.
The U.K. is another prominent example of an aggressive surveillance government, where the Tempora Program partnering with the NSA and UK’s telecom companies intercept internet traffic for surveillance purposes.

Keeping in mind that these programs came to light from whistleblowers leaks, it’s highly likely that more has been spying on us.

Facebook’s private user data problems

Cambridge Analytica, which became embroiled in a scandal when it was revealed that the company received around 50 million Facebook users’ data through improper channels without their permission.

This information was used by the company to build a prediction algorithm in an attempt to influence voters’ behavior to boost Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. elections.

Weak security of your internet connection

You might already be using a firewall and security software and have an authenticated connection to your ISP. However, can you be sure that the path your data is taking while it is being transmitted over the internet is secure?

If you are not using a VPN service, then the answer is no.

When you receive or send data packets, you may be aware when they reach their destinations. However, whether it passes through a secure network or not, is something you can never be certain of. Your data might well be intercepted in an eavesdropping attack it’s on its way to its destination and you’ll never know. Data interception or rerouting is extremely hard to detect, especially when it does not slow your transmission lead time significantly. That’s how third parties and governments might be spying on you right now if your internet connection isn’t secure.

Malware

There is also the possibility that you are being spied on if your laptop has malware (malicious software) for the benefits of advertisers, hackers, and thieves. You should always watch out for these:

Adware – it tracks your browsing history and sends it to third parties who use it for targeted advertising.
Keyloggers – they record and send any keystroke you make to third parties which use it to track your activity on the internet and steal valuable info, for example, your credit card numbers.
Spyware –a software which claims to provide a useful service while also stealing valuable data such as bank details, account credentials, chat logs, and many more.
Tracking cookies

Each time you open your web browser and see an ad on a web page, the web advertising distributor will collect a cookie. This is a problem as your cookie will provide data such as IP addresses and your browser’s unique identifier which can be used to identify you.

Big ad distributors can gather a greater amount of your cookies as they can display their adverts on more sites. This helps them to track you better and target their ads towards you in a more effective way.

Almost all commercial website will give you a warning that they use cookies in order to improve the experience of the users. You can decide based on your own perspective whether this is spying or not but tracking someone’s cookies is undoubtedly a sneaky a violation of privacy.

How to fight back

Knowing about the ways you might be monitored already gets you halfway there. Anti-spying tips are ubiquitous online, and here are a few to get you started:

#1: disable your third-party cookies on the browser you use, such as Chrome, Internet Explorer, or Firefox.

#2: install security software to protect your laptop or any devices you use from malware. Be sure to keep it up to date.

#3: get a VPN service as it can encrypt your internet traffic so no one can see your data packets, even if they are able to intercept them.

You can never be too careful where third parties have so much to gain from stealing your data and monitoring your digital behaviour. Privacy protection is not a one-time job, it’s a habit that practice form. Always look out for unknown software that might be leaching on your devices, and read up on journals frequently to keep yourself up to date on the latest threats and technological pitfalls.

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