7 Easy DIY Steps to Drastically Improve Your Online Privacy Today

In our hyper-connected world, our personal information is scattered across countless websites, apps, and databases. From social media profiles to online shopping accounts, our digital footprint is larger than ever, making us vulnerable to data breaches, trackers, and unwanted attention. Many people feel that protecting their online privacy is a task reserved for cybersecurity experts, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. With a few easy-to-follow DIY steps, you can take back control and build a formidable digital fortress around your personal life.

You don’t need to be a tech genius to protect yourself. Think of it as digital home improvement; a series of small, manageable projects that drastically enhance your security and peace of mind. This guide will walk you through seven essential online privacy tips, providing clear, step-by-step instructions that anyone can follow. It’s time to stop feeling helpless about your data and start taking empowered, proactive steps to safeguard your digital identity.

Why Your “Insignificant” Data Matters

A common misconception is, “I have nothing to hide, so why should I care about online privacy?” But privacy isn’t about hiding wrongdoing; it’s about controlling your own narrative and protecting yourself from manipulation and risk. Seemingly harmless pieces of information—your location history, your shopping habits, your political leanings—can be collected, combined, and used to build an incredibly detailed profile of you. This profile can be sold to advertisers, stolen by hackers, or used to influence your opinions. Securing your data is about securing your autonomy.

Your 7-Step Digital Privacy Makeover

Here are seven proven projects to dramatically boost your online privacy, starting today.

1. Master Your Passwords with a Password Manager

Reusing the same password across multiple sites is the digital equivalent of using the same key for your house, car, and office. If one gets compromised, they all are. The human brain can’t remember dozens of unique, complex passwords, but a password manager can.

Why It Works: A password manager creates and stores incredibly strong, unique passwords for every single one of your accounts. You only need to remember one master password to access your entire vault.
How to Do It:
1. Choose a reputable password manager. Highly-rated options include Bitwarden (great free option), 1Password, and Dashlane.
2. Install the app on your computer and phone, along with the browser extension.
3. Create a very strong, long, and memorable master password. This is the most important password you have—make it good!
4. Start by saving the login information for your most critical accounts (email, banking). Then, over time, use the password generator feature within the manager to change the passwords for your other accounts to unique, strong ones.

2. Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) Everywhere

Two-Factor Authentication is one of the most powerful online privacy tips you can implement. It acts as a second layer of security, even if a hacker steals your password. It requires you to verify your identity with a second device—usually your phone.

Why It Works: To log in, a criminal would need not only your password but also physical access to your phone. This simple step thwarts the vast majority of automated login attacks.
How to Do It: Use an authenticator app like Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, or Authy. Go into the security settings of your important accounts (email, social media, banking, Amazon) and look for the “Two-Factor Authentication,” “2FA,” or “Login Verification” option. Follow the on-screen instructions to scan a QR code with your authenticator app. Now, when you log in, you’ll need to enter your password and the 6-digit code from the app.

3. Conduct a Social Media Privacy Audit

Social media platforms are designed to encourage sharing, but they often default to settings that are far too public. It’s crucial to manually review and lock down these settings.

Why It Works: This limits who can see your posts, personal information (like your birthday and location), and friend list, significantly reducing your public attack surface.
How to Do It:
- Facebook: Go to “Settings & Privacy” > “Privacy Checkup.” Go through each section to limit your audience for future posts to “Friends” and review who can see your profile information.
- Instagram: Consider making your account private. Go to “Settings” > “Privacy” and toggle on “Private Account.” This means only followers you approve can see your content.
- X (Twitter): Go to “Settings and privacy” > “Privacy and safety” > “Audience and tagging.” Here you can “Protect your posts,” which has a similar effect to a private Instagram account.

4. Review and Limit App Permissions (Mobile & Browser)

We often grant apps and browser extensions far more access to our data than they actually need to function. A weather app doesn’t need access to your contacts, and a simple browser extension shouldn’t need to read data on every website you visit.

Why It Works: By revoking unnecessary permissions, you stop these apps from collecting and potentially sharing data that is irrelevant to their core purpose.
How to Do It:
- On Your Phone (iOS/Android): Go to your phone’s “Settings” and find the “Privacy” section or “Permission manager.” Here you can review permissions by type (e.g., Location, Microphone, Contacts) and see which apps have access. Revoke access for any app that doesn’t absolutely need it.
- On Your Browser (Chrome/Firefox): Review your installed extensions. Right-click on an extension’s icon and look at its permissions (“This can read and change site data”). If it’s set to “On all sites,” consider changing it to “When you click the extension” or “On specific sites.” Remove any extensions you no longer use.

5. Use a Privacy-Focused Web Browser

Mainstream browsers like Google Chrome are built around a business model that involves tracking your activity. Privacy-focused browsers are designed to block trackers and ads by default.

Why It Works: These browsers automatically prevent third-party cookies and other tracking technologies from following you across the web, making it much harder for companies to build a profile of your online habits.
How to Do It: Download and install a browser like Brave or Firefox. Brave has a built-in ad and tracker blocker that is very aggressive by default. Firefox has excellent “Enhanced Tracking Protection” features that you can set to “Strict.” For an even more private experience, you can change your default search engine from Google to a privacy-respecting alternative like DuckDuckGo.

6. Understand and Use a VPN (Virtual Private Network)

A VPN is a powerful tool that encrypts your internet traffic and hides your IP address, which is like your home address for the internet.

Why It Works: It prevents your Internet Service Provider (ISP) from seeing which websites you visit and protects you when using public Wi-Fi (like at a café or airport), where hackers can easily snoop on unsecure connections.
How to Do It: Choose a reputable, paid VPN service (free VPNs often have questionable privacy practices). Services like Mullvad, IVPN, or ProtonVPN are highly regarded. Subscribe, download the app to your phone and computer, and connect to a server. That’s it. All your internet traffic is now encrypted.

7. Perform Regular Digital Cleanups

Over the years, we accumulate dozens of accounts for services we no longer use. Each of these old, forgotten accounts is a potential security risk waiting to be part of a data breach.

Why It Works: Deleting old accounts removes your data from company servers, reducing the number of places your information can be compromised. For a deeper dive into this, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) provides excellent guides.
How to Do It:
1. Search through your email for phrases like “Welcome to,” “confirm your account,” or “unsubscribe” to find old services you signed up for.
2. Visit these old sites and look for the option to “Delete Account” or “Close Account” in the settings (it’s often buried in the “Security” or “Data” section).
3. Use a service like JustDelete.me, which provides direct links to the account deletion pages for hundreds of websites to make the process easier.

Your Privacy is a Project, Not a Product

Improving your online privacy is not a one-time fix but an ongoing practice. By integrating these seven DIY steps into your digital life, you are building strong habits and a resilient defense against the vast majority of common privacy and security threats. You don’t have to be perfect overnight. Start with one or two of these projects this weekend. Each step you take is a powerful move toward a safer, more secure, and more private digital future.