Online Security and Then Some

Question: Can you trust anyone online?

The govt. in the States is monitoring all of our communications. Despite this, millions of us keep working and posting stuff online 24/7. The rationale being, if you have nothing to hide, then why worry? It's all to protect you from "terrorists". Whatever that means.

As for trauma survivors, this means that you have to cover all of your tracks for a variety of reasons. Aside from not wanting to be outed, you have to think about personal security as well. Without giving it away, it is possible to find someone with just a few items to start with.

How then do you protect yourself? Here are some steps. Excuse us if you know these already:

Never leave obvious clues in your online content that someone can connect.

Change your password at least once a week. Make them as complicated as possible. Why? Because many people fall back on easy ones. If someone wants to hack you, make them work for it.

If necessary, use fake IP addresses. You can use these to cover your tracks online.

Use encrypted email. It's free and very useful. Does the govt. need to read ALL of your mail? No they don't.

If you have a high volume of calls, why not get an 800 number? It's a cheap and easy way to have your calls screened for you. If Bill Murray can do it, you can too.

These are just some ideas that could be helpful. Nobody is going to protect your positive balance, your home or your life. Not to make anyone paranoid about this. But just take as many reasonable steps as possible.

Do you really need to give out your main email address to everyone? No. Build up a rotating collection of addresses to use for various purposes. All perfectly legal and very useful.

If you know of more steps, please comment.