It is recently reported by the online media that some high-profile celebrities have been caught by a photo hack, which is a kind of online hacking trap. They have suffered a lot of public humiliation due to what hackers did to their personal files. But it is not only limited to celebrities rather everyone of us is under threat and thus we need to keep our vital information and files protected. If you know how to keep your sensitive data protected, then you need not worry about anything. Given here are some simple rules to follow to ensure your data privacy.

Device Settings

All those who have installed a cloud app like iCloud, Dropbox and Google+ need to understand that their pictures get uploaded automatically. It is an alarming concern for which you need to be careful while you are busy clicking and saving pictures. You also need to understand that when you delete a picture from your device then don’t assume that it is erased from cloud as well. It is just a scratch on the surface of stuff. If you want to remove it from there then you need to login to your Cloud account and get rid of it from there manually.

Data Encryption

Data encryption goes a long way when it comes to data privacy and security. All your files get saved locally but when you share them then you require encryption. There are numerous ways to encrypt a file; given here are three most popular data encryption methods.

Using 7-Zip

The most popular medium of encryption is 7-Zip that helps encrypt files that are in an archive. A passphrase is used to protect archived items. If you are using Windows 7, then you can download it easily. After downloading it the menu of 7-Zip will be added to your File Explorer and from here, you encrypt your files.

• For encrypting multiple files, select a file and right-click, then select 7-Zip, and add it to archive

• Name the archive folder along with a passphrase to protect it, now your file gets encrypted

• You can perform it on the cloud as well as your e-mail

BitLocker

BitLocker is yet another tool for encrypting your drives. The feature of TrueCrypt enables in encrypting sets of files as a container. For Linux users they can use Tomb for this purpose, and then your complete hard drive is going to get encrypted. It comes handy for local storage of your system. This program is available for free if you would want more out of it then you will need to go for the paid version.

PGP Encryption

PGP or Pretty Good Privacy is the most effective data encryption tool. You can create and manage your files with it by using gpg4win for Windows 7 users. If you are a Mac OS X user, then you can use the GPG tools by using GnuPG.

PGP, however, helps in two ways by providing a private and a public key that helps in encrypting your messages and files. If you want to encrypt a file for another user then use the public encrypt key but if you want to decrypt a file then use the private key.

Utilizing these tree encryption programs, you will be able to protect your pictures and other sensitive data from hackers. You can enjoy sharing stuff online without having to bother about privacy issues anymore.