Tips for Digital Safety
If you’re living in an unsafe situation and are worried about your online activities being monitored, there are steps you can take to hide your digital tracks. While we can’t guarantee that all of your Internet activity won’t be noticed, here are some simple things you can do to reduce the chances of someone finding out what you’ve been doing by looking through your phone, tablet, or computer.
Browse in Private
Google Chrome
Click on Menu and choose
New Incognito Window
Edge
Click on Safety and go to
InPrivate Browsing
Firefox
From the menu, choose
New Private Window
Safari
Click Safari and then
Private Browsing
Clear Your Search History
Google Chrome
- At the top right, click More
- Click History -> History.
- On the left, click Clear browsing data. A box will appear.
- From the drop-down menu, select how much history you want to delete. To clear everything, select “All time”.
- Check the boxes for the info you want to clear, including browsing history.
- Click Clear data.
Edge
- Select the Favorites button (star icon).
- Select the History tab, and choose how you want to view your history by selecting a filter from the menu. To delete specific sites, right-click a site from any of these lists and then select Delete.
Firefox
- Click the Library button, click History and then click Clear Recent History.
- Select the time range to clear to choose how much of your history to clear.
- Check all of the check boxes.
- Click the Clear Now button.
Safari
- On iPhone or iPad: go to Settings > Safari, and tap Clear History and Website Data.
- On Mac: Choose History > Clear History, then click the pop-up menu. Choose how far back you want your browsing history cleared.
Other Important Digital Security Tips
Hide Your Email Tracks
Be sure to delete any outgoing and incoming emails and change your email password often. Also consider using an email account that only you know about. If you can, print all threatening and harassing emails to use as evidence of criminal activity and be sure to keep them in a secure place.
Text Message Safety
Text and direct messages (DM) are not safe or confidential ways to talk to someone. If needed, delete any chat threads.
Change Passwords
If you feel it’s safe to do so, change your computer, tablet and phone passwords often to lessen the chances of someone looking through your devices when you’re not around.
