Be Less of a Cyber Target Using These Tactics

With the internet being almost everywhere and easy to access (airports, cafes, restaurants, even throughout some downtowns), you need to be careful about how you connect and your online presence.

VPN for all of your online devices

A common attack is a MITM (Man-in-the-middle) attack, which essentially is someone in the middle of you and the internet, collecting and/or altering your data, without you knowing. Sometimes this is accomplished easily just by you connecting to their open internet connection. Without getting too technical, a way to fight against this is by using a VPN (Virtual Private Network). When connected to a VPN, all your data is encrypted from your computer (or phone, or tablet) to the VPN. Never use a free VPN, as they are probably collecting data to sell to make their money. I’m currently using MULLVAD VPN and PROTON VPN on all of my devices. Easy to setup and use. Both have their PROS.

Multiple Email addresses

You never know what company that you give your email address to will turn around and sell it. Then you start getting all sorts of spam email. Best way around this is, if you’re giving an email for a one off time, try using a disposable temporary email address like Guerrilla Mail. Besides that, you should have 2 email addresses. One for important personal items like banking, school, family etc, and another one for everything else. For the important email address, consider an email account that encrypts your emails and is big on privacy, like Proton Mail. For the “everything else” email, something like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail etc. would be sufficient.

Password Manager

An annoying part of being online is all the passwords you need to have and remember. So people end up using very easy passwords, with a lot of the time using the same password for all of their password needs. This can be very bad, for obvious reasons. I suggest using a Password Manager, like 1Password, Enpass or Bitwarden. You only need to remember one password for all of your passwords, allowing you to have different, very complex passwords no one could crack. Easy to setup and use.

Online Photos, and Social Media

You can get a lot of intel from photos. Things like, but not limited to, geolocation, the date and time, type of camera used, and of course, what you can visually see in the photo. Be conscious of your surroundings in the background of your photos. Make sure there isn’t anything you don’t want people to see. If on vacation, maybe post all your pictures when you get back, as to not tell everyone your house is empty. If you are posting often where you are, it shouldn’t be hard to find you. Make sure only those you want to see your posts, are (check your privacy settings). Careful what you post and when.