Monday, November 15, 2021

Some steps to protecting your digital life


Although probably a losing battle, 
Ars Technica  has some suggestions.

Even those who consider themselves well educated about cyber crime and security threats—and who do everything they’ve been taught to do—can (and do!) still end up as victims. The truth is that, with enough time, resources, and skill, everything can be hacked.

The key to protecting your digital life is to make it as expensive and impractical as possible for someone bent on mischief to steal the things most important to your safety, financial security, and privacy. If attackers find it too difficult or expensive to get your stuff, there's a good chance they'll simply move on to an easier target.

Part 2  lots of specifics 

You can do a number of things to reduce the risks posed by data breaches and identity fraud. The first is to avoid accidentally exposing the credentials you use with accounts. A data breach of one service provider is especially dangerous if you haven’t followed best practices in how you set up credentials. These are some best practices to consider:

  • Use a password manager that generates strong passwords you don’t have to remember. This can be the manager built into your browser of choice, or it can be a standalone app. Using a password manager ensures that you have a different password for every account, so a breach of one account won’t spill over into others. (Sorry to again call out the person reusing letmein123! for everything, but it's time to face the music.)
  • When possible, use two-factor or multi-factor authentication ("2FA" or "MFA"). 
Part 3  focusing on smartphones 
Criminals are using smartphone apps and text messages to lure vulnerable people into traps—some with purely financial consequences, and some that put the victims in actual physical jeopardy...
text message phishing scams that target personal data—especially website credentials and credit card data. Sometimes called "smishing," SMS phishing messages usually carry some call to action that motivates the recipient to click on a link—a link that often leads to a web page that is intended to steal usernames and passwords

… applications are presented as free but feature in-app payments—including subscription fees that automatically kick in after a very short "trial period" that may not be fully transparent to the user. Often referred to as "fleeceware," apps like this can charge whatever the developer wants on a repeating basis. And they may even continue to generate charges after a user has uninstalled the application.

To be sure that you're not being charged for apps you've removed, you have to go check your list of subscriptions (this works differently on iOS and Google Play)—and remove any that you aren't using.

Wednesday, November 03, 2021

Layers of reality


Lee Camp lays out the allowable discourse.

Why do we have private property?
It’s just the way it is….