These are a collection of posts about how I took charge and greatly strengthened my online security. Although this topic may seem odd for this website, it really is an extension of reducing risk and doing the best you can with incomplete information. With online security, the goal isn’t to become invincible, but to be a much more difficult target and to contain the damage should one of your accounts becomes hacked.
I’m not a security expert. These posts were researched and assembled using advice from security professionals. Security is an ongoing battle. I expect as the years progress, the tactics we use to defend our accounts will change.
Photo by Lok Leung
Scan, Encrypt, Store, Delete, Shred: Going Paperless! – For my entire adult life, I’ve had this box of papers. On those papers were accounts, account numbers, tax returns, and my Social Security Number. I imagined those papers being destroyed or stolen and I got chills. So I did something about it.
My Online Password Strategy (2014) – I used to not have a clue how many accounts I had online and I had trouble recalling which password I used for which site. Not anymore. Now I know I have 268 online accounts and each one has a unique password that even I don’t know.
The Mad Libs Method of Creating Secure Passwords – Long and memorable is the key to secure passwords. This is my method.
Even More Security – Mobile security and how to increase your response time should one of your accounts be hacked.
Securing My Email Inbox – This post addresses reducing risk should someone malicious gain access to your email account. Part 2 has some more ideas that add additional layers of security to your most sensitive accounts, including how to set up those security questions banks ask you in a way nobody knows the answer.
Change Your Security Question Answers – The bad guys not only already know your Mother’s Maiden Name, but the answers to many of the security questions banks ask you.