Privacy

Judging from the number and magnitude of incidents involving Facebook over the past few years, that the social media giant is playing fast and loose with user data is probably an understatement. While it is now putting extra effort into user privacy, it has a long way to go, and you should do everything in your power to protect your data. One of the easiest paths for your private information to leak out is through third-party apps that have permissions to your account.

Many websites and third-party apps will ask for permission to access your Google account for a variety of reasons. They will request different levels of access, ranging from basic profile info used to "sign in with Google" (similar to sign in with Facebook) up to full access to view and edit all data and even create content, which is a scary prospect. It should be obvious by now that you need to take great care regarding your data privacy, so you should know how to see who you've given access to, and how to revoke it if need be. Here's how to do it from your iPhone or iPad:

Unless you have been living in a cave since the early 90s you know that cyber security is a huge issue and that you should protect your data as well as you possibly can. If you are sending private information in documents and spreadsheets over the internet via email, Dropbox, iCloud or any other service, it becomes vulnerable, regardless of how secure you think the medium is. And who knows how the recipient will handle the info?

A long time ago, the Apple ID was like any other username. But nowadays Apple requires all Apple IDs to be verifiable email addresses. Since everyone's Apple ID is an email address, many of these have been found in data breaches and leaked online. While your actual iCloud or iTunes accounts may not be compromised, the email address you use for your Apple ID could have leaked along with billions of other account records.

iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners have been warned about a FaceTime bug that was recently discovered, which could affect privacy. In a nutshell, FaceTime callers can hear audio through your iOS device's microphone while it's ringing. The would-be eavesdropper has to follow a few steps to unlock the bug, however anyone receiving an incoming FaceTime call could be at risk, before the call is answered.