• Depending on whether you use Windows, Mac, or Linux, there is a variety of built-in or free software for encrypting your hard drive. The Electronic Freedom Foundation offers a great tutorial on the subject, so visit its website and set aside an evening when your computer can finish the encryption uninterrupted overnight.
• Encryption only works if you have a strong password. That means long, random, and hard to guess. Experts recommend choosing a long “passphrase,” consisting of five or more words strung together, which is easier to memorize.
• Switch to HTTPS and your computer will communicate with websites using encryption, meaning third parties can’t decipher your data even if they’re eavesdropping. Gmail does this automatically, and you can enable the feature in your account settings on Facebook, Twitter, and a number of other sites.
• Turn on your firewall to help block unauthorized access to your computer. Do this in the Security menu in Control Panel, if you’re using Windows, or in System Preferences, if you’re using Mac.
A few more notes on the subject:
* A wry cartoon by Randall Munroe illustrates the superiority of passphrases in strength and usability.
* Even if your favorite site doesn't switch to HTTPS, there are browser plugins such as HTTPS Everywhere for Firefox that automatically force selected requests to use HTTPS for transport instead of HTTP. Of course, this won't help much on sites which don't support HTTPS, but a surprising number do have the capacity and engineer their sites to use it only for specific requests.
* Consider private VPN services as another form of protection. It works a bit like drop shipping: all traffic to or from your computer moves in bulk over an encrypted connection to your VPN provider, which then disburses outgoing data and bundles incoming data. Different services have different logging policies, including some who keep no traffic logs whatsoever. It is difficult but not impossible to analyze traffic and pierce the veil, so use in combination with other measures.
* Finally, no one of these techniques is a panacea. The more you can use in tandem, the more secure your connection will be. It may be that, in some specific situation, burning confidential data onto a Lady Gaga audio CD-R might be the safest way to move bulk data.
#1 Posted by Jonathan, CJR on Mon 7 May 2012 at 10:34 AM