Your files, documents and photos — your digital belongings – should be under your control. Let’s chat about how to keep things safe in your hands… and no-one else’s.
Hardware Encryption
I’m a very long-term user of local (one’s own computer) hard drive encryption. If a thief were to steal my personal computer, dismantle the casing and pull out the hard drive and peruse it, they would find … nothing personal. At all. My photos, documents, client files (eg. YOUR FILES), passwords — even the web browser I use day to day — are all locked down into one opaque block, and can not be seen or retrieved by an outsider.
To some, this may seem like overkill for regular computer users. After all, most computers are stolen by someone wanting to sell the hardware for fast cash — not by someone who’ll take the time to get into your software. But even if you have never typed a single word you didn’t want reposted on the internet, or taken a single photo you didn’t want sent to your whole management team, there is still a brisk business in identity theft out there, and it’s easier for thieves to pretend they are you if they know everything about you.
I can help you set up your hard drive so your files and information are safe.
Cloud Storage – Safe or Not?
It’s common now to have much of our digital stuff stored in the cloud (eg: on the remote storage devices of some company somewhere, and in which case we access our own files via the internet). I’ve got some opinions on cloud storage! It matters what country your data is stored in, and therefore what entity might demand access to it, and on how safely that data is stored. Can an employee at that service access your data? What about if that company has a security breach? Can someone illegally “sniffing” your wifi connection scoop your files as they travel to & from your cloud service? Is the government of the country that controls the servers hostile to your country or your culture?
Encryption is awesome when it come to both the storing in cloud storage, and the path your files are taking to and from the cloud storage server.
VPNs
I use a VPN (virtual private network) for privacy on insecure connections — *cough* airports & coffeeshops *cough* — but I’m not a VPN expert. I’m happy to point you to more resources on the topic.