Fellow Humans

We haven't forgotten about you.

Want to be secure online? Private? Anonymous? So do we. Unfortunately, big brother and his friends have made that incredibly difficult, if not impossible. Nevertheless, there are many ways you can help keep your private information, or location, from prying eyes. If nothing else, you can make it so difficult for them they may not even try.

For general topics, check out our General Abstracting page. We are just getting started with this new site, but we will add topics periodically. Be sure to check them out!

Abstracts

Local Security

Let's get our machine prepared first.

Local Password

The first step to making unauthorized access to your device a Windows 8-level nightmare is a good password. By good, we mean ten or more characters using a combination of capitol letters, lower-case letters, numbers, and special characters, like this one! <--

Um, don't use a stupid password. Unless, of course, it's $+uP|d_p@$sW0Rd. That one would probably do the trick, but you'll likely suffer an aneurysm trying to remember it. Instead, make your potentially dumb password brilliant by changing a few things. Instead of password, try !*p@SSW0Rd*!. Still pretty easy to remember, but far more difficult to crack. Obviously, don't actually use the word 'password'. That was only an example.

Employing these guidelines for your operating system password is a must, but we should really have two. One will be used to access our desktop and the other to allow the system to boot. To accomplish the latter, check out the second security step detailed below.

Full-Disk Encryption

Don't be intimidated by the term 'encryption'. It is simply the organized scrambling of your information so that someone who accesses it without the decryption key will see a mass wasteland of [seemingly] random nonsense. Fret not, computers are smart and free software exists to help make this a breeze. In fact, Windows 10 Pro and above has an encryption program built-in. It is called Bitlocker and it is extremely easy to use. Simply type 'bit' in the windows search and you will see "Manage Bitlocker Settings" appear in the suggestions. Activate Bitlocker and choose the full-disk encryption option. The process takes place in the background and should only only take around thirty minutes in most situations. Once the process is complete, you will be required to print a recovery key or save it to a flash drive. Save it to a flash drive and DO NOT LOSE IT. After this, you can choose to require a PIN or password at startup. If you choose a PIN, be sure it is a number known only to you and is a minimum of eight digits long. For help setting up a PIN or password in Bitlocker, click the image to the right. Linux users, you already know what's up; LUKS out. Mac users, check out FireVault 2 here.

Partial-Disk Encryption

If you are like us and don't really trust our technology overlords, you will want to create an encrypted volume using different software, which you may use as a data vault. For this, we use VeraCrypt. VeraCrypt is a free and open-source encryption software that is available on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. It is a continuation of the now-defunct TrueCrypt. We trust it because it is open-source and highly regarded. That's not to say it's perfect, but it will do as well as any for our purposes. In addition to being able to encrypt your entire disk using the latest encryption methods, it also allows you to create partial-disk volumes, encrypt external drives, and even lets you create decoy volumes in case you are forced by someone to decrypt your drive. Pretty awesome stuff, but for this purpose we will simply want another encrypted volume that exists within our current operating system to use for sacred content. If you would rather just have one encryption protocol on your system, we choose VeraCrypt over Bitlocker or FireVault for full-disk encryption. Whichever you choose, instructions lie behind the image to the left.

Antivirus Protection

If you have ever heard of a computer, you may have also heard of antivirus software. With malware becoming so prevalent and sophisticated, a proper AV suite is absolutely necessary. If you are using Windows, like most, you already have one called Windows Defender that runs by default. While Defender does pretty well with identifying and blocking malware, the features pretty much end there. If that is good enough for you, you're covered (kind of). However, if you would like real-time online protection, spam filtering, vulnerability assessments, webcam and microphone protection, password vaults, and a bunch of other useful tools that vary somewhat by provider, then you will need a different solution.

There are so many options to choose from, it can be overwhelming. We currently use Bitdefender. It's not perfect, but it always scores well in tests, is very reasonably priced, and offers everything mentioned above then some. If Bitdefender is not your cup of green tea, there's always Norton and McAfee, which are legendary in their own rights, but lesser-known Avira might be the ticket. In any case, do some research and don't forget about your smartphone, especially Android. Click the image to the right to get started.

*We have no agreement with any software vendor to market their products nor do we receive any compensation for referrals.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

A trustworthy VPN is becoming increasingly more essential for data protection. Not only will it obscure your network traffic; it will also will encrypt it ensuring no one else is able to decipher it. This is extremely important, especially on open networks (access points that do not require a password) typically found in coffee shops and fast food restaurants. Open networks transmit data in clear text, which means someone can "sniff" the network traffic using software such as Wireshark and read it as they would a news article. Imagine anything you submit through your web browser such as passwords, bank account information, social security numbers, and phone numbers, to name a few, being available for anyone to see. Not good. For this reason we strongly recommend a quality VPN for your computer, tablet, and phone. There a multitude of options to choose from, but only a few are worth using. There is no point using a product that is going to bleed your information everywhere. Look for a service that runs entirely on RAM and has a strict no-logging policy. For help narrowing your search, click the image to the left.