Everyone loves shopping on Amazon as it is convenient and time-saving. Recently, everyone has joined the bandwagon of Amazon Alexa to ask a question or do a task. But deep down, no one knows how much user data is going on Amazon’s collection list.
From Alexa recording to purchase history and browsing history, Amazon can easily create user data to target specific customers not to lure into buying more, but Amazon collects private information too. No one can deny the fact that fraudulent cases have been going up day by day, and authentic online shopping portals have not been spared too.
No wonder, Amazon security team is leaving no stone unturned to tighten security; users must know some settings to enhance it a bit more. So, if anyone is concerned about security or privacy issues, then this is the right place for them.
Here are the Ways to Tighten Security and Privacy on Amazon Service
This article mentions different approaches to enhance privacy and take it to the next level. The article also follows Amazon’s security by enabling two-factor authentications.
1 Enable Two-Step Verification on Amazon
Log in to your Amazon account and then head over to “Your Account” by clicking on “Accounts and Lists”. Then, click on Login and Security. Users will find that there is an Edit option. Click on to access “Two-Step Verification”. Next, click on “Get Started”.
Now users will have to enter a mobile number and type “One Time Password” that will be received on users’ mobile numbers. Now every time users want to log in from a non-trusted device; an OTP will be asked to enter for accessing an Amazon account. This method not only enhances privacy but also security against con purchases will be shielded on.
2 Manage Public Profile
The most surprising yet disappointing feature of Amazon is it creates a public profile for everyone by default. It resembles social media profiles. If users are adding something to the wishlist or buy, then all user data may go to the public domain. Therefore, it is necessary to change the public profile to a private one using the following methods.
Open “Your Account” and move over to “Profile” from Ordering and shopping preferences. If one is looking to hide purchase history on Amazon, click the three-dot menu and select “Hide on my public profile”.
On the left side, there will be a wishlist. Similarly, users need to make sure that it is “set to private”. If it is public, then click on “More” then “Manage List”. After that, select “Privacy” and set “Privacy to Private”.
Now it is time to check how the Amazon account shows on the browser. Users need to click on “See what others see”. One will be able to find if personal information is being shown or not. If such happens, then select “Edit Your Public Profile” and make the necessary changes as needed.
3 Prevent Amazon from Collecting Browsing History
Open Amazon accounts, then head over to the “Recommendation page”. Now, select “Manage History”. Then click on “Remove all items from view” for deleting the entire collected data. However, if anyone wants to disable browsing history permanently, then toggle off “Turn Browsing History on/off”.
4 Delete Alexa Voice Recordings
It is hard to find who is not a voice assistant aficionado. Any voice assistants are like 24/7 helping hand to assists working faster and even better. Amazon Alexa is such one, but voice recordings can harm because phishing always larks loom. However, removing this from the app will do help.
Using the Amazon Alexa App, users can remove Alexa Voice Recording on iOS and Android. Both applications are free and easy to use. So, the first installation is necessary. Next, log into Amazon profile and head over to More, then Settings. Now, users need to find Alexa Privacy and click on it.
After opening this page, select “Manage Your Alexa Data” and toggle on “Automatically delete recordings”. One can also switch on “Enable deletion by voice”. It is perhaps an easier option and safe too.
Now scroll down and toggle on “Use of Voice Recordings” and “Use Messages to Improve Transcription”. This feature makes account holders that Amazon does not dive into users’ personal recordings and messages that users access through Alexa.
Last but not the least, if anyone wants to delete entire Alexa voice recordings, then return and navigate to “Review Voice History”. From here, users will be able to change “Date filter” to “All history” and then click on “Delete all of my recordings”. This is indeed the safest option because one will not know where voice recordings are left. However, this is not always possible and Alexa will need new commands to understand that is not so convenient.
Bottom Line: Improve Privacy and Security on Amazon
These are the ways to ensure there are no loopholes in the Amazon account. One should opt for all the mentioned settings change to ensure a peaceful, sleepy night, or else there will be a nightmare of data steal. What surprising is lots of security features are there, but everything is turned on by default on Amazon. The developers of Amazon need to look into this.
Hopefully, these settings are useful for beefing up privacy and security. Two-step verification works a lot better than the rest of the settings. Also, users need to make sure that PC and Mobile are virus and malware-free, plus there are no cookies, junk, and residual files. These can be potential threats too.
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