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?
Proton VPN is free if you sign onto it. So are some others. Such as Urban VPN Proxy
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From AI search>>>>>>
Yes, Proton VPN offers a free plan with unlimited data usage. This makes it stand out among free VPN services, as most others impose data caps or other restrictions13.
Key Features of Proton VPN Free
Unlimited data: Users can browse, stream, and download without any bandwidth restrictions13.
No ads: Unlike many free VPNs, Proton VPN’s free tier is completely ad-free3.
No logs: Proton VPN maintains a strict no-logs policy, which has been independently verified through audits3.
Basic security features: The free plan includes a kill switch, DNS leak prevention, and encrypted servers2.
“‘trust this computer’ but I would only do that with a desktop, never with a laptop that would leave the house.”
Yes...my biggest fear is losing the phone, but getting into the phone requires facial recognition. And, if the phone is gone, then I can erase it remotely.
I’ve got the same concern about the computer. I take it with me on trips. It uses fingerprint security, so I should be protected. But I watch it like a hawk.
I use Apple’s “Find My” to track the known location of the iPhone, iPad and Mac.
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That is a very interesting table. Thanks for posting it.
I use complex, long passphrase for the most important things. My LastPass passphrase with mixed numbers and punctuation is 23 characters long, so it looks like I am safe for more than 26 trillion years!
Of course, Google’s quantum computer breakthrough is going to change all of this at some point.
The big problem I have is my wife who has almost zero tolerance for complexity. Getting her off “abc123” was hard (just kidding). I got her to use a short passphrase and append some numbers and characters. But she just cannot grok number/letter substitutions like using a “3” for letter “E” or using “@” for letter “a.” If a passphrase has three letter “a” in it, I’ll use the “@” substitution in just one or two of them. That randomization adds more complexity.
I remember when the auto manufacturers were moving to encrypted keys and they calculated how much computing power it would take a thief to crack the encryption and how long to crack it. They set the bar just high enough such that a car thief would have to invest a lot in computers and take a long time.
Of course, Kia never thought about that.
“I no longer allow passwords to be saved via browser either.”
I’ve always denied that. I only trust my passwords to two places: Apple’s “Passwords” and to LastPass. As somebody pointed out above, LastPass got hacked but no passwords were lost. (I think an employee fell for a social engineering scam, IIRC). Passwords are hashed.
I'm 73, wife is 72. We are both VERY wary and sharp now, but am concerned about the next 10 - 20 years (if the Good Lord blesses us that way).
Iw@sborninDecember1985onthe15th — 31 characters and easy to remember after a few practices. I always toss in four to six letter/puncutation/numeral substitutions for good measure.
1 = !
@ = a
7 = T
0 = O
3 = E
It takes a few minute to master it, but using an English passphrase base helps a lot.
“D0n@t3ToFRe3RepublicToday” would be a good one.
How does FileVault work on a Mac? If you store sensitive information on your Mac—for example, if you carry your company’s financial data on your Mac laptop—you can use FileVault to protect your files and keep someone from accessing or copying sensitive data."The only hacks that have affected me are the ones where someone stole credit card info from the credit card companies or credit bureaus."If you have a Mac with Apple silicon or an Apple T2 Security Chip, your data is encrypted automatically. Turning on FileVault provides an extra layer of security by keeping someone from decrypting or getting access to your data without entering your login password.
Look into CapitalOne "Virtual Credit Cards." Every merchant you buy from gets a unique credit card number. They all roll up to your main number on your statement. If you have a lot of auto-pays set up, you only have to change the one CC number if it gets hacked; you don't have to change all of your auto-pays to a new cc number.
I read a study that said some people are just “scam fallers”. They are usually repeat offenders and it starts early. I blame push technology like television. They are used to believing everything they are told because analysis is hard.
Better yet, use your router's firewall AND turn on your router's "Threat Protection" to protect everybody in your household using wifi and your router. My router has "Safe Access" and "Threat Prevention," two different approaches to network security.
Safe Access is DNS- and IP-based. It uses integrated external databases (such as Google Safe Browsing) to identify domains and IP addresses associated with malware, phishing, botnets, command and control servers, social engineering, and other threats. Devices on the network that attempt connections to banned destinations are denied access.
Threat Prevention is signature-based and uses Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to monitor incoming and outgoing traffic. Malicious packets are discovered in real-time and dropped automatically. You can enable it to alert you to Internet attacks and inappropriate user behaviors.
Safe Access and Threat Prevention do not conflict with each other. Both packages operate silently in the background.
Or you could just use “Y0u@reNu7$”
Th4t_Freep_paccwerd
Most hackers know l33t
“I read a study that said some people are just “scam fallers”. “
Makes a lot of sense. I have fallen for just one scam in my life. I was in Spain about 30 years ago on a business trip and fell for a guy’s pitch for a special woman’s perfume called “Nada” (pronounced “natha” in Spain so I didn’t pick up on it.”) He got a few bucks from me, but he bought me a beer and we had a nice conversation (LOL).
Getting ripped off like that changes your whole attitude toward security.
OK, you got me with “Most hackers know l33t”! Huh?
Search:
how to turn off all windows 11 telemetry
how to prevent certain Windows Updates
how to permanently turn off prevent disable windows updates [not recommend)
how to Completely Uninstall OneDrive
Meanwhile, to customize a Linus distro the way I can rather easily (mostly, and includes saving certain .reg file hacks) - if possible, has never warranted the time and energy (and I have installed all major and most leading minor distros.
Getting the spouse to move to Mac or Linux won’t be easy.
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I put wife on Linux Mint from W10. She has had no problems with the switch and I don’t have to “fix” her machine anymore.
Mail, web browser, recipes.
Yikes!
Linux Mint, FreeBSD. For the supremely paranoid OpenBSD.
Passwords are in a file but the entries are memory ticklers. Trying the entry doesn’t work.
DO NOT click on email links. Just got one the other day, checked with the vendor through other means and I’m up to date. The fake looked good too, proper doctor name and address. Go figure....
Consider cranking down hard on the firewall in your router. Usually some basic capability is provided.
Substituting numbers and symbols for letters was called “1337” or leet code back in the 90’s.
“If you answer calls from unknown numbers or do call back, you are ripe for the picking.”
That’s something I never do because they’ll leave a message if necessary. Only exception is if I’m expecting a critical call that day and then I’ll answer.
If I do happen to answer an unknown number, I never say “hello”. I’ll ask, “Can I help you?” With a weird accent. They (bots, I assume) hang up. It might the be that their algorithm is programmed to respond to “hello”, and anything else causes confusion.
Also never answer a question with a simple “yes” or “no”. Have heard that your voice speaking those words can be “spliced” into things for nefarious purposes.
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