In 15 minutes, you can protect your online identity

1. Never give up your genuine email address to a website that seems strange or that you don't trust. Use a service to get a temporary email account.
   
   
2. Never provide personally identifiable information (PII) to a website that does not employ HTTPS encryption.
   
   
3. Block third-party cookies in your browser by following the instructions in this article.
   
   
4. Install a service that allows you to communicate anonymously, such as TOR. You may utilize a VPN (Virtual Private Network) on top of this for more security.
   
   
5. Passwords should be replaced by passphrases. These are sentences with 16 or more characters that are simple to remember but extremely tough to brute force. Never use the same password across many websites.
   
   
6. Either delete your social media accounts or make them incredibly secret, so that only your closest friends and family may see them. It will be much harder for others to discover your profile if you change your last name to something else (or even use your middle name instead).
   
   
7. Keep an eye out for phishing emails and never click on things you're not confident about.
   
   
8. Use an antivirus software to scan any files whose origin you don't know. Some antivirus software scans your computer with over 30 anti-virus scanners and alerts you if harmful files are found.
   
   
9. When two-factor authentication is available, utilize it.
   
   
10. Of course, never give out your real phone number on the internet; instead, go to 10-minutes-sms and get a free temporary phone number!