Locally, on a day-to-day basis with the PC, we work with innumerable files and folders that we create, delete or copy between disk drives. Usually this does not pose any risk to the stored data, especially if we are the only users of the equipment.
However, things change substantially in the event that we plan to share these files and their corresponding content over the Internet. Our privacy and security are at much higher risk here than when we work locally. This is something that we must be fully aware of in order to take the appropriate precautions or measures. All this becomes especially important in the event that we are going to work with sensitive or especially private information and we need to transmit it securely.
Next, we are going to talk about some interesting measures so that nobody can see the content of the files in the event that you are going to share them online . We must bear in mind that there are many attackers and cybercriminals lurking on the Internet hunting for this personal and private information. Therefore, the most advisable thing is that we take some previous precautions to complicate things for them.
Encrypt and compress any file
One of the most common measures that we can carry out on our computer locally before sharing those files is to encrypt them . For this we have the possibility of using certain applications specially designed for these encryption tasks. In this way, even if the file falls into the wrong hands, they will not be able to access its content if they do not have the relevant encryption password. There are many programs for this, among which we can highlight VeraCrypt or AES Crypt .
In addition, surely many of you have been using the usual file compressors and decompressors for a long time. You must bear in mind that these programs have advanced greatly over time, increasing their functionality. Right now they are no longer just used to save space on disk drives . At the same time, most of these software proposals allow us to assign our own password to the file before compressing it. We can use applications like WinRAR or WinZip .
Protect office files from Office
On many occasions, whether in personal or professional environments, we are forced to send Office documents through email. This is something that can be extended to programs like Word , Excel or PowerPoint . Well, if you find yourself in this usual situation, you have to keep in mind that the programs in the Microsoft suite have an integrated function to also add a password. This is a feature that we find in the Save As function to protect these files before sharing them.
Share with temporary links with password
It is interesting to know that we can share those files that we mentioned to you through temporary links with a password . This means that what we really send to the recipients is an Internet link corresponding to a compatible platform that gives them access, by means of a password, to those files. A clear example of all this can be found in the WeTransfer online service.
Share through a Torrent file
Another way to protect our files that we are going to share with other users connected to the Internet is through a Torrent file . We must bear in mind that when creating these files and adding their corresponding contents, we can establish them as private in the client that we use in their creation.
In this way we will have much greater control over those who will have access to those files through P2P networks and protect the content . It is worth mentioning that from here we can also establish a password to access the Torrent file that we are talking about.
