5 tips on how to protect your privacy online, from the NPC

About 1.1 million Filipino Facebook users are possibly affected by Facebook’s data breach, Unang Balita reported on Thursday.

Citing Facebook, Unang Balita added there were 558 Filipinos who downloaded the test ‘This is Your Digital Life’, allowing the app to obtain information from their accounts, including their friends list.

According to a report by The Guardian, the data harvested turned the users into easy targets for political ads.

In the same Unang Balita episode, National Privacy Commission (NPC) Cyber Security Expert Atty. Francis Acero reminded the public to please be extra careful when taking online quizzes.

“[Facebook] is free and pag free ang isang bagay, ibig sabihin ang pinangbabayad mo sa site na yan is your data. Kahit anong app man yan, kahit anong platform pa yan ugaliin na tingnan kung saan napupunta ang data natin” Acero explained, before giving out 5 tips on how to protect yourself online.

1. Have different passwords for your different social media accounts. Make it difficult for anybody looking to "profile" and steal your information from your various accounts by having different pass codes. 
2. Make it alphanumeric – letters, numbers, and special characters.  Make it doubly harder by having complicated passcodes.  
3. Use a memory aid to help remembering your complicated pass codes. This could be a line from your favorite song, the birthday of your significant other, a line from his favorite song. The idea is for you to remember your complicated passcodes.
4. Use a two-factor authentication. Think biometrics, password scanners, rotating pins. 
5. Don’t post your boarding passes, IDs, and similar documents. “Your ID can contain data that can be used against you,” Atty. Acero reminds. “The barcode from your boarding pass is infrared-readable meaning, information is actually stored there like your passport number, that they can use.

And as always, please allow GMA to give you a friendly reminder: Think before you click. — LA, GMA News