Andrew Lisy's Blog

Locking down your digital stuff is more important today than it's ever been. Tracking is easy, data breaches are coming up every day (today it's PBS, Lockhead Martin and RSA), and we do everything online. Lately, I've been looking a lot into ways to get better security on my mobile, desktop, and browser. Here are 8 relatively easy ways you can turn your security up a notch without driving you crazy jumping through hoops.  

1. Use LastPass to create super-strong passwords. LastPass is a password manager that lets you create different passwords for every site that you use. Those passwords are then stored encrypted both online and on your local computer (which means that even if the LastPass servers are hacked, your info is safe). Whenever you want to log into a site, simply type your master password, and LP fills in the rest for you. It's far better to use strong, unique passwords across the web than to use fluffybunny1 on everything. LastPass works with everything -- browsers, phones, desktops -- so it's super-easy.
   
2.  Install BugMeNot (Firefox, Chrome extensions) to give you quick throwaway accounts. BugMeNot lets you log into many sites that require registration by providing you with a dummy account, so you don't give them any info.
3. Clear out your Adobe Flash cookies and user data. Flash stores a bunch of information about you that doesn't get nuked when you clear our your cookies and history. Get rid of it by going to Adobe's Privacy Settings panel, and setting all the options to 'never'.
   
    
4. Use AdBlockPlus (Firefox, Chrome extensions) to fend off tracking and behavioral cookies, as well as hide ads. I don't specifically mind ads, but unfortunately they have a creepy tendency to follow you around the internet. I'm not terribly comfortable with any number of third parties having a complete profile on me, so I use ABP to stop the ads in their tracks. 
5. Use Lookout Mobile Security on your Android Phone. Lookout is an all-in-one security suite for your phone, and it's free. It scans incoming apps for viruses, but more importantly, it gives you an easy remote interface to do locking and tracking on a phone that you've lost or stolen. You have to upgrade to the premium to do the locking or tracking, but you can do that retroactively and then go lock or locate a lost phone. There are other utilities like this one available, but I love the easy interface and security. I definitely want to be able to remotely disable my phone if it's ever lost, and LMS does the trick. 
   
6. Use Gmail's 2-factor authentication to keep your email safe. Google recently introduced 2-factor authentication, which requires you to input a pin number along with your password when you log in. The pin comes from an app that you download to your mobile phone, or alternatively, a text message. With your PIN (and consequently, your phone), even a hacker that has your Gmail password cannot get into your account. For convenience, trusted computers can be saved so they only require the password every 30 days  
   
7. HTTPSEverywhere (Firefox extension) protects you against sending your passwords and other info in the clear. An app called Firesheep can be used by people on your network (wireless or otherwise) to grab any information that you send without encryption. That means passwords, websites and messages. HTTPSEverywhere will help defend against this by defaulting to HTTPS (encrypted) on any site that supports it.  
8. Turn on Facebook Login Notifications. Login Notifications, found under Account Settings > Account Security > Login Notifications will send you an email every time a new computer signs into Facebook. Most likely, it's you signing on from a different location. But good to know in case it's not.