How Strong Is Your Online Security?
Here's a free, open document on how to improve your personal online security
One of the things I like to do with my free time is to build things. Sometimes those things are useful, and sometimes, they’re just for fun. In the case of this example, I have been hearing something again and again from friends and family and I decided to take some quick action.
Actually, I’ve been trying to help family and friends with online security for a while, but I didn’t think to build a resource document until I saw this video:
What a great wake-up call.
It seems like most people have trouble keeping their information private and secure online. Some people don’t know they’re at risk. Some people know they’re at risk but don’t know what to do about it. And some people know they’re at risk but don’t really care or maybe they just don’t realize how much risk they’re taking on.
You might fall into one of these categories:
Unconscious incompetence. Conscious incompetence.
Of course, we’d like to move everyone to conscious competence, but that’s going to take some work from others. In the meantime, I’ve started putting together this Personal Online Security Document to help friends and family navigate this world.
Obviously, it’s a totally free and public Google doc—like most things that I build for the world.
This means anyone with this link can view and comment on the document.
I’d love to put this in your hands. If you feel it’s useful, please let me know. If it makes you take action, let me know. If it makes you want to share it with others, yes, I’d love to hear that it helped.
I’d also love to hear about what it’s missing. It’s brand new and definitely needs to be more comprehensive and more concise. If there’s something I can do to make it more useful to you, just reply and I’ll make it so.
If you know someone in the privacy or cybersecurity world who should see this, please share it with them.
The more we are aware of changing security issues online, the more we can protect each other from them.
I know this isn’t a “rah-rah” motivation post or a profound insight, but no matter what you’re doing with your work or life, you’re spending time online. If you’re a human these days, you need to have this information and support. And the truth is that we can’t even talk about productivity, mission, science, or your work if you’re hacked or if your identity is stolen.
This might be for you if you’ve been using the same password for all your bank accounts (baloney1!), hooking up all your lightbulbs to your router, asking Alexa what the weather will be like today, or using public wifi at the airport.
I hope this is useful for you.
Thanks for sharing this, Chris