5 Internet Security Tips to Help You (and Your Data) Stay Safe

Photo: Lynn Kelley ~ WANA Commons

In today’s Technology Age, where hacking is child’s play and information is forever, is it even worth it to try to safeguard your privacy? I say YES.

There are steps you can take and practices you can employ to keep you safer online.

Today, for Techie Tuesday, I’ve brought you security expert Jay Donovan, owner of TechSurgeons, LLC and my own favorite Digital Dark Knight.

He’ll be answering our questions in the comments (Squeee!!).

Jay is also teaching a webinar on March 28^th called Who Wants To Know? Internet Privacy and Security. I can guarantee you I’ll be in that class.

Why do I feel so strongly about this?

Your data and your privacy are on shakier ground than you might think. Identity theft is up and security is down. All that unethical hacking just steams me a bit so I asked Jay to come visit and share his security savvy.

Five Important Lessons from my Digital Dark Knight, Jay (he’s in purple below):

1)  False security is worse than no security at all

If you think you’re protected, you’re going to be less cautious.  Case in point: A techie friend of mine picked up a computer virus causing his friends to be spammed because he clicked on a bad link since he “knew” he was safe.   He “knew” something that wasn’t so.

2)  Everything posted to the Internet is there forever

How many times have we heard about people losing a job because of some old pictures of them drinking or behaving badly.  What about the poor erotic dancer forced to resign because people found out she wrote children’s books?  🙂

3)  Good Security is like Ogres and Onions (there are many layers)

Every hurdle and impediment you put between potential stalkers and you provides more protection.  A good anti-virus works better when you don’t click malicious links.  Your house is less likely to get robbed if you don’t upload pictures identifying where you live and then announcing you’re going on vacation. 

4)  Pen names can be a great help, but only if done right

If you’re trying to keep stalkers from your front door, you have to make it very difficult for them to find you.  Open secrets about your pen name aren’t any secrets at all.  See points 1, 2, 3, and 5 

5)  You can play on Social Media and still maintain your privacy

I’m a social media butterfly, but I never reveal when I’m on vacation.  That screams “My house is empty, rob me!”

When I asked Jay why he recommended this class particularly for authors, I liked his answer:

Every author should take the class because it teaches many tips for keeping your personal information private and gives practical advice for properly using a pen name. 

The last time I taught the class, one author thought she had protected her privacy. I spent less than an hour e-stalking her and found her address, 2 phone numbers, pictures of & maps to her house, her husband’s name, their approximate ages, found archives of a website she closed over a year before, knew her political views, and more.

Wowzers! I don’t know about y’all, but I’m so in.

Here are the deets:

When: March 28^th – 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm EST
Cost: $40 (but the More Cowbell Posse gets a discount!) – Discount code: “hacking”
Link: http://wanaintl.com/event-registration/?ee=125

Last but not least…thanks to Jay for taking time out to hang with my posse today!

Do you have questions for Jay? Are there other courses you’d love to see regarding writers and internet security? If you were to add one more tip to this list, what would it be? Enquiring minds always want to know these things here at More Cowbell!

Jenny

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About Jay

Jay Donovan has been a geek since before geeks were cool.  He’s done it all, from remotely debugging the Internet connection for a US aircraft carrier deployed to *REDACTED*, to being responsible for the servers and networks for one of the largest Internet sites in the world, and the most challenging job of them all – parenthood.

He’s trained as a Certified Ethical Hacker (yes, really!) and always uses his geeky powers for good.

When he’s not neck deep in wires and computer parts, you’ll find him hanging out on Twitter as @jaytechdad or at TechSurgeons.