Security

SECURITY while computing is something I’ve always been interested in. When I was about four years old, I discovered the “set password” function in Microsoft Word and was unreasonably excited about it (I was protecting gibberish text that I typed by mashing the keyboard with those passwords). These days, I’m a big advocate for using good passwords, two-factor authentication, and being on the lookout for phishing attempts, even if I don’t feel the need to encrypt everything I possibly can.

I've talked about the following security topics on this website:

• Phishing: how to tell if a website is legitimate, calls from "Windows"
• Passwords and Authentication: why passwords are getting easier to crack; why you should use and how to use two-factor authentication; why "forgot your password" and "security questions" are insecure, and how to improve on them; how to set up LastPass to manage your passwords; LastPass FAQ
• Backups: why you really should have a backup (a personal story)
• Privacy: Google Web History and privacy [N.B., a pre-Prism perspective]