The answer is yes, sort of.
Nearly everything we do is online in some way. With that, our information, finances, identity, and opinions are all also online. What can you do to minimize your footprint and reduce the chances that your information is used in a negative way.
What are the risks?
Data leaks involving the information of millions if not hundreds of millions are fairly common these day. The leaks can contain information ranging from usernames to passwords, sometimes even social security numbers. Combining these data leaks with poor privacy/security hygiene puts you at risk for have your accounts breached.
Email - Most people have one email that they use for everything ranging from Netflix login to Banking accounts. Even if we assume that you have an unbreakable password this means that every time a company sells your information you will get more and more spam. If your email is compromised that makes it possible to reset passwords to every other account that uses that email address.
Passwords - Even today, the majority of people are using passwords that just aren't strong enough. Secure passwords can be difficult to remember and when you consider the amount of accounts that people have online, the temptation is too strong to reuse passwords across accounts. This is one of the major things to avoid. Multi-factor Authentication - For the more critical things you log into you should really try to setup two factor authentication. This gives you an added layer of protection between you and someone with ill intentions. For your email account and anything financial related you should absolutely be using this.
For many this can all seem overwhelming. Not quite as overwhelming as having your identity stolen or bank account emptied but certainly frustrating enough to not get started. Let's break it up into baby steps that are a little more manageable. Remember, this is not an all at once thing. It's a process and more of a marathon than a sprint. A few simple steps..
Password Security
Download a password keeper that you can sync between your computer and cell phone. This is going to allow you to create and store secure passwords. I recommend Proton Pass. It's free and ties in with some other great options if you decide to use them later.
Download the app for your phone as well as your browser at this link. Once you have the app installed and you are signed in, you can start adding your accounts. Both the phone app and browser app will allow you to auto-fill your username and passwords when needed.
Create a new email address using the non-invasive email service of your choice. As noted above, I recommend Proton.
Import all of your email from your old email provider. For Proton, this is made easy using their built in import tool.
Sign up for an email alias service. As I mentioned, I recommend SimpleLogin.
With all of these things we are ready to start the process of moving from a common email address with questionable passwords and security to a little more privacy through obscurity. Starting with your most important accounts (banking) you are going to go one by one and do the following.
Login with your existing email and password
Change your email using an email alias (not your actual email address)
Change your password using a randomly created password from your password keeper
Rinse and repeat for your remaining accounts.
Now that you have a privacy focuses email service and secure passwords on all of your accounts let's talk about some good privacy & security hygiene. A few guidelines will keep you safe and preserve your privacy
Don't share your actual email address with people/websites. Use an alias.
Avoid reusing email addresses between web services. Again this is made simple with a alias service like SimpleLogin.
Never reuse a password. For each account use your password manager to generate and save a random password.
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