Online tools are becoming increasingly powerful, especially for business. SaaS solutions and other providers enable small teams to gain massive leverage over their target markets and make inroads quickly, which is especially handy for startups.
If you’re signing up for new online services, you need to be careful. Security and safety issues abound, and many scammers are now using data to train bots and exploit your identity via APIs. What can you do to protect yourself before you sign up for online services?
Harden your identity
Companies should start by hardening their identity. This means making it as challenging as possible for attackers to get any leverage over your systems or online persona.
The best place to start is with email aliases. These are a great way to hide your emails so you can create unique addresses for every service. If you start getting spam on a particular email address, then you’ll know exactly who sold your data.
If a service asks for ID verification, prioritize those that use alternative methods (for example, bank confirmation is better than document uploads). Ideally, you want to avoid uploading documents where possible, because these reveal some of your personal data that could then be sold on. If you have a burner phone number, that’s even better. This can be used as a masking service for SMS verification and to prevent SIM-swapping attacks.
Use authentication?
Another powerful approach in 2026 is to use authentication. Simple passwords are becoming more vulnerable to AI-driven brute force, which is why many businesses now prefer passkeys over passwords. Passkeys use biometric and hardware keys that are more phishing-resistant because it becomes difficult for hackers to steal them. Nobody can steal your fingerprint unless they have your finger on a fingerprint scanner, which is unlikely.
Also, be careful of SMS-based two-factor authentication; it’s no longer secure enough in 2026. Always use multi-factor authentication, and then leverage authenticator apps by Google or Microsoft. If you can get phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication for high-stakes accounts like your banking or primary email, make sure they obey FIDO2/webauth compliance.
Use privacy settings
Where possible, try to keep as much of your online data as private. Don’t just click “Accept all” when there are privacy laws that protect you and give you more control.
For example, if you enable the GPC signal in your browser, it acts as a master switch, telling websites not to share your data. You can also go on social media sites and get them to restrict who can access your information.
When signing up via a mobile app, deny permission for Bluetooth contacts and location. Apps that can access these can then see all of your data and send it to third parties, even though the information isn’t necessary for the app to function.
Check known scams
Another powerful strategy in 2026 is to actively check for known scams. Many business owners visit this site to see which scams are currently active and verified.
These online tools are helpful because they provide real-time updates on methods for scamming individuals and businesses. Understanding how scammers are operating and where they are hosting their scams is helpful because it provides a central repository of information that can be checked every time you sign up for new services online. It’s another stage in your due diligence that you should adopt.
Use the three-month rule
Savvy companies use something called the three-month rule to improve their data hygiene. This means deleting dormant accounts that you haven’t used in three months. The best way to do this is to delete the account entirely, not just the app. When you delete the account, it scrubs all of your information and settings from the host servers, including your login information and passwords.
Deleting this is critical because it prevents hackers from accessing previous passwords and then attempting to use them on your new accounts. You need to be careful, because once hackers know your password, they can then attempt to access other accounts using your information.
Also, periodically search your email for keywords like “password” or “tax.” Download these into an encrypted local drive and then delete the emails. If you don’t do this, hackers that gain access to your email account could potentially compromise your financial security by gaining access to intimate information about your personal affairs that only you should know.
Finally, you’ll want to set your email trash and spam folders to auto-delete every 30 days. If you don’t do this, hackers could access them and find verification codes and receipts inside them that they could use for scamming you out of money.
Look for agentic AI scam
In 2026, artificial intelligence scams are becoming more sophisticated because AI is able to direct its own actions. Many autonomous bots can scan for vulnerabilities in your defenses in real time.
For example, don’t trust any business or online service that is trying to create a sense of urgency inside you. For example, if you sign up for a new service and then it tells you that your email account has been compromised, treat it with suspicion. Usually, this is an attempt to extract more information from you.
Always go to the company’s official site first, especially when signing up for new accounts. Remember, many scammers use look-alike domains, even if a site has a padlock on it. Check the spelling of the URL to make sure that it is exactly what you need.
As a final note, if you are signing up for any free service, ask yourself how the operator is making money. Usually, if there is no subscription or product, they are making money out of you, or more specifically, your data. That is why you have to be particularly careful whenever you sign up for anything.
Make sure you harden your identity and use authentication apps in 2026. Passkeys are preferable to passwords, and enabling privacy settings on all of the apps you use is critical. Go through these steps methodically, making sure you protect yourself as much as you can for each service you use.
