The Bad News: Nobody's Safe
- No matter how safe you think you might be, something bad can always happen.
- The only way to ensure your private information always remains private and in your control is if it never leaves your own head.
The internet and reality aren't much different, in that sense. There is plenty of, if not more, risk in the real world than there is on the web, but we're just more accustomed to dealing with it. The online world is still very young and so we're learning to protect ourselves as we go along. Nonetheless, like with anything, there is no surefire protection. The web is imperfect. We are imperfect. Ultimately, no site is un-hackable. A person or group with enough knowledge and determination can bring nearly any site down. That said, we can certainly try our best to protect ourselves and be prepared for worst-case scenarios.
Create Strong, Resilient Passwords
There are several ways to keep remarkably strong passwords, but every strategy has a point of weakness and a level of inconvenience that you're going to have to accept. We're going to go over a method that we feel is all-around the best way to go, but include a few variations along the way so you can decide what suits you best.
Create Strong, Secure Passwords that Even You Don't Know
But what about creating a secure master password?
While all the passwords LastPass (or your other password manager) will generate will be about as strong as they can be, you want to have a strong master password as well. While your password manager can generate one for you, often times it's going to be too hard to remember and too inconvenient to type (especially on a mobile phone). If you don't mind the extra work for the extra security, your best bet is to have the most secure password you can have. If you want something you're sure you won't forget, Mozilla offers an easy way to create a strong password you'll be able to remember:
If you're not in the mood for a cute strong password public service announcement, the concept goes something like this:
- Pick a phrase you can remember with a number in it, like "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
- Change that number (in this case, "two") to its numerical equivalent: A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush
- Condense the phrase by only using the first letter of each word: Abithiw2itb
- Add some special characters you can remember: #Abithiw2itb!
While we recommend generating complex passwords with your password manager, you can use this same technique to create unique passwords for individual sites. You can take the password and add a suffix specific to each web site. Sticking with out example, let's say you wanted to use this password for Lifehacker. Just add :L1feh@cker, :Lh, or whatever you'll be able to remember to the end of the password: #Abithiw2itb!:Lh. This way you can type your complex password as you normally would and just append your abbreviation for the site you're logging into. This method is a little easier, but it's not impossible for someone to figure out. Ideally you'll want to let your password manager handle your password generation for you, but if that's just not for you then this method is a reasonable alternative.
Keep Your Other Information Protected
Your passwords are not the only kind of important information you don't want floating around the internet, and chances are you have a few gadgets you wouldn't want to fall into the wrong hands. Fortunately there are quite a few ways you can
Protecting Your Credit Cards
Keeping Your Mobile Technology Secure
One of our favorite tools is Prey, which is a free tool (for up to three devices) that can help you track and (potentially) recover your stolen laptop or Android smartphone. If you're looking for a solution for your iOS device, Apple now offers find my iPhone for free. If you're not using an iPhone 4, it is still possible to enable the free Find My iPhone, but it'll take a little bit of extra work. Once you get it up and running, you'll be able to remotely locate your iPhone, send it a message, and wipe your personal data. To get started, you can download Find My iPhone in the iTunes App Store. Despite the name, it'll work with any iOS device (but GPS and 3G service certainly help).
That just about wraps it up for guide to online security. With so many options out there, it's hard to cover the entire spectrum. If you feel we've missed something or have some good tips, please share them in the comments. Thanks for reading, and stay safe!