Posted on 12/23/2024 10:23:41 AM PST by Mean Daddy
With everything going on in the world, I wanted to reach out to see what other Freepers are doing online to protect yourselves, whether its subscribing to a monitoring service for activity under your name, using VPN (which one & why), password managers, multi-factor authentication etc.
What else should a person consider?
1. Windows 11 2. LastPass Password Service 3. www.propertyfraudalert.com shows activity on registered property 4. Considering getting ProtonVPN subscription
2. LastPass Password Service
3. www.propertyfraudalert.com shows activity on registered property
4. Considering getting ProtonVPN subscription
5. Multifactor authentication on all accounts that offer them
It seems like most businesses are going to multi-factor authentication now, whether you want it or not.
I use a hard to guess algorithm based on an obscure set of words and numbers that I already had memorized that few would know and fewer would guess. I haven’t gotten on the vpn train yet. no Facebook, Google accounts, Tic Tock, Twitter.
Social Media is a good one. I have a FB under an assumed name with no friends. I use if for their marketplace.
I use 1Password, in large part because LastPass was breached. My employer wants everyone to use our LastPass licenses, but only 1/3 do. I wouldn't touch LastPass. I manually cut and paste my passwords from 1Password into Brave or DuckDuckGo browsers.
Windows 11 is a privacy nightmare. I have it, but prefer Linux Mint for browsing.
I don't have a property search service, but I do get credit change updates for free from several credit cards.
I would like to know what other people think of property title protection like ‘Home Title Lock’. I’ve heard different opinions about it.
I use a unique password for my money, and have extremely limited ways in which anyone or anything can access my money. The password is not electronically stored anywhere.
Every three years or so someone hacks my one credit card and I replace it. I’ve never lost a dime; U.S. Bank covers those minor losses.
Unplugging your machine every night might help.
Some will let you ‘trust this computer’ but I would only do that with a desktop, never with a laptop that would leave the house.
And I’d never put a banking type app on my phone. That’s generally going to put access + your multifactor in a single place that you could easily lose control of.
Here is my list of safeguards:
1. Linux... Dump the MS spy machine. Linux by nature is much more secure.
2. FireFox with custom detailed security settings.
3. “NoScript” script blocker.
4. “Ghostery” ad blocker.
5. Use a Virtual Machine to containerize. Or run Linux from an isolated external USB stick.
6. Use VPN for important data transfers.
7. Use a remote email service and not open any locally.
8. NEVER register with any services or sites that do not actually require it if they still let you use it.
9. Prudence in use.
I agree. I don’t do business of any kind on a phone (which is becoming a problem, because so many companies what to ‘text’ you); and while I have a laptop for emergency, I’ve never used it.
Yes...
A combination of mispelled Klingon swear words and numbers
I believe in security by obscurity and revealing that information would be a violation of security by obscurity. 😉
The leap in the brute force time going from 11 character passwords to 12 character passwords is huge, especially for passwords with numbers, lowercase and uppercase letters. Even without the special characters, the increase is from 10 months to 53 years.
In my TRIED & TRUE opinion it is the BEST because it has NEVER FAILED me to date, and is by far, the LEAST INTRUSIVE, smoothest integrating, COMPLETE software protection ever written for any PC operating system.
One last comment... NO ONE PAID ME to say this.. nor am I connected to MALWAREBYTES in any way, other than being a long time customer.
Windows 11 is indeed a nightmare. Linux Mint would be a good first step. Yeah, it could be a steep learning curve, but well worth it in the long run.
I don't normally run a VPN, but I do have ExpressVPN for times when extra security calls for it.
A good internet security program would be good but finding a good simple one to use is a nightmare. Most of them are so complicated, and so hard to configure, and very intrusive themselves, that they almost aren't worth the effort. I still have Windows 7 so I use a simple version of Comodo. But since I don't use W7 most of the time I find it's a good one. W10 and Linux are my go-to O/S's for most things and their security is ok to utilize.
Just my two cents.
Generally speaking, I use 14 digit, random passwords with the mix of upper/lower, numbers and special characters. A Cyber expert I work with recommends the same but ONLY written down a piece of paper. I no longer allow passwords to be saved via browser either.
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