Introduction
Livestreaming has become a profitable career for many, and even for those who don’t aim to make a profit from it, live streaming offers a fun, interactive experience. Whether you’re walking around town with a camera or competing in an eSports tournament, live streaming offers a way to stay social and practice public speaking. VPN is used by many streamers out there but the real question that arises is, should streamers use a VPN? Read all about it on Cyber Waters to know more.
And with live streaming becoming available to anyone with an Internet connection and a decent PC, there are millions of people who were, are, and will be attempting streaming. However, not every one of these people is well-versed on how to set up a stream and worse, not many of these people understand the security risks that come with streaming.
When streaming, you open yourself up to security risks, such as DDoS attacks and IP leaks. However, there are ways in which you can protect yourself and your data, and I want to share these tips with you today. These could save you a lot of headaches in the future, so pay close attention.
Keep Your Identity Under Wraps
While you may look at this tip and think to yourself, “Of course!”, keep in mind that there are many streamers who reveal much of their personal information without batting an eye.
This may be fine if you’ve become somewhat of a popular public figure since not many hackers or cybercriminals are scared to attack well-known figures, but smaller streamers need to show great care in how much information they reveal and what type of information they’re revealing.
For example, stating the state you live in won’t do much, but naming the town you live in can be dangerous if you have a decent following. Overall, be careful about what you’re sharing with the Internet.
Use a VPN While Streaming
Depending on how fast your Internet connection is, your Livestream may benefit from a VPN. Now, using a VPN while live streaming won’t protect you from certain programs leaking personal information, but it can prevent viewers from picking up your IP address.
For example, many streamers play video games with viewers, and this practice allows these lucky viewers to attempt the nabbing of the streamer’s IP address. With a VPN, you can reduce the chances of this happening, so don’t be afraid to buy a VPN. After all, it’s your safety we’re talking about.
Be Aware of What You’re Doing on Stream
I feel like this tip is important enough to distinguish itself from the first tip, no matter how similar they both are in the nature of their contents. When you’re streaming, you can’t afford to slip up. If someone obtains your personal information, including your IP address, they can DDoS you, or even SWAT your house, and that’s entering the life-threatening territory.
Whenever you’re streaming and showing your computer screen to your viewers, don’t click on anything that may contain any personal information about you. For example, you won’t want to go into your User files on your Windows desktop, since your name can potentially be shown.
Really, treat streaming like you would a shady email. It’s fine to open the contents, but you need to be aware of the risks involved and knowledgeable enough about what is and isn’t safe to do.
Conclusion
As I said at the beginning of this article, live streaming can be a fulfilling hobby and a profitable career, but they’re definitely risks involved with it, so you need to treat the hobby like it’s your normal Internet perusal.
What I mean by this is that you need to be extra cautious of anything that comes your way, what’s on the screen, and the things you (and others) say while streaming. All it takes is one piece of information to bring down the whole operation, and the last thing you want is for your account to be hacked and/or your house to be swatted and investigated because one viewer thought it would be funny.