mirror of
https://github.com/Lissy93/personal-security-checklist.git
synced 2024-12-18 20:24:31 -05:00
Adds additional items to the checklist
This commit is contained in:
parent
7d4c01674b
commit
e9069355f0
@ -74,7 +74,8 @@ For more browser security pointers, check out: [Here’s How To Get Solid Browse
|
||||
**Use DNS-over-HTTPS** | Optional | Traditional DNS makes requests in plain text for everyone to see, it allows for eavesdropping and manipulation of DNS data by man-in-the-middle attacks. Whereas [DNS-over-HTTPS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNS_over_HTTPS) performs DNS resolution via the HTTPS protocol, meaning data between the you and your DNS resolver is encrypted. You can follow [this guide to enable in Firefox](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-dns-over-https), for see [CoudFlares 1.1.1.1 Docs](https://1.1.1.1/help).
|
||||
**Disable WebRTC** | Optional | [WebRTC](https://webrtc.org/) allows high-quality audio/ video communication and peer-to-peer file-sharing straight from the browser. However it can pose as a privacy leak, especially if you are using a proxy or VPN. In FireFox WebRTC can be disabled, by searching for, and disabling `media.peerconnection.enabled` in the settings. For other browsers, the [WebRTC-Leak-Prevent](ttps://github.com/aghorler/WebRTC-Leak-Prevent) extension can be installed. [uBlockOrigin](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock) also allows WebRTC to be disabled. To learn more, [check out this guide](https://buffered.com/privacy-security/how-to-disable-webrtc-in-various-browsers/).
|
||||
**Don't Connect to Open WiFi networks** | Optional | Browing the internet while using public or open WiFi may leave you vulnrable to man-in-the-middle attacks, malware distribution or snooping and sniffing. Some hotspots may also be unencrypted, or even malicious. If you do need to briefly use a public WiFi network, ensure you disable file sharing, only visit HTTPS websites and use a VPN. Also remove the network from your saved WiFi list after. See the [networking](#networking) section for more details.
|
||||
**Use Tor** | Advanced | [The Tor Project](https://www.torproject.org/) privides a browser that encrypts and routes your traffic through multiple nodes, keeping users safe from intercaption and tracking. The draw backs are speed and user experience, but it is the most secure browser option.
|
||||
**Use Tor** | Advanced | [The Tor Project](https://www.torproject.org/) privides a browser that encrypts and routes your traffic through multiple nodes, keeping users safe from intercaption and tracking. The draw backs are speed and user experience, but it is the most secure browser option
|
||||
**Use different browsers, for different tasks** | Advanced | Compartmentalising your activity can make it significantly harder for a malicous actor, company or government to get a clear picture of you throught your browsing activity. This may include doing online shopping on 1 browser, using another browser, such as Tor for general browsing, and then a 3rd for, say social media
|
||||
**Disable JavaScript** | Advanced | Many modern web apps are JavaScript based, so disabling it will greatly decrease your browsing experience. But if you really want to go all out, then it will reduce your attack surface. Read more about the growing [risk of JavaScript malware](https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/javascript-malware-explained/).
|
||||
**Route all desktop traffic via Tor** | Advanced | [Whonix](https://www.whonix.org/) allows for fail-safe, automatic, and desktop-wide use of the Tor network. It's based on Debian, and runs in in a virtual machine. Straigt-forward to install on Windows, OSX or Linux.
|
||||
|
||||
@ -92,6 +93,7 @@ It's strongly advised not to use non-encrypted email, but if you follow these gu
|
||||
**Have more than one email address** | Recommended | Keeping your important and safety-critical messages separate from trivial subscriptions such as newsletters, is a very good idea. Be sure to use different passwords. This will also make recovering a compromised account after an email breach easier.
|
||||
**Keep security in mind when logging into emails** | Recommended | Your email account is one of the most important to protect with a secure password. Only sync your emails with your phone, if it is secured (encrypted with password). Don’t allow your browser to save your email password. Prevent man-in-the-middle attacks by only logging in on a secured browser.
|
||||
**Always be wary of phishing and scams** | Recommended | If you get an email from someone you don’t recognize, don’t reply, don’t click on any links, and absolutely don’t download an attachment. Keep an eye out for senders pretending to be someone else, such as your bank, email provider or utility company. Check the domain, read it, ensure it’s addressed directly to you, and still don’t give them any personal details. Check out [this guide, on how to spot phishing emails](https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/abcs-detecting-preventing-phishing/).
|
||||
**Disable automatic loading of remote content in emails** | Recommended | Sometimes advertisers send emails which make reference to remote images, fonts, etc. If these remote resources are loaded automatically, they indicate to the sender that this specific email was received by you
|
||||
**Don’t share sensitive information over email** | Optional | Emails are very very easily intercepted. Also you can’t know how secure your recipients environment is. Don’t share anything personal, such as bank details, passwords, confidential information over email. Ideally, don’t use email as a primary method of communication.
|
||||
**Don’t connect third-party apps to your email account** | Optional | If you give a third-party app (like Unroll.me) full access to your inbox, this makes you vulnerable to cyber attacks. The app can be compromised and, as a consequence, cyber criminals would gain unhindered access to all your emails and their contents.
|
||||
**Consider switching to a more secure email provider** | Optional | Email providers such as [ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com), [CounterMail](https://countermail.com), [HushMail](https://www.hushmail.com) (for business users) or [MailFence](https://mailfence.com) allow for end-to-end encryption, full privacy as well as more security-focused features. See [this guide](https://github.com/OpenTechFund/secure-email) for a details of the inner workings of these services.
|
||||
@ -171,7 +173,10 @@ Although Windows and OS X are easy to use and convenient, they both are far from
|
||||
--- | --- | ---
|
||||
**Keep your OS up-to-date** | Recommended | Microsoft, Apple and Google release regular OS updates, which fix security risks. Always keep your device updated.
|
||||
**Enable Firewall** | Recommended | A firewall is a program which monitors the incoming and outgoing traffic on your network, and blocks requests based on rules set during its configuration. Properly configured, a firewall can protect against some (but not all) attempts to remotely access your computer. <br>Follow these instructions to enable your firewall in [Windows](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028544/windows-10-turn-windows-defender-firewall-on-or-off), [Mac OS](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201642), [Ubuntu](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UncomplicatedFirewall) and other [Linux ditros](https://www.tecmint.com/start-stop-disable-enable-firewalld-iptables-firewall)
|
||||
**Attach only known and trusted external hardware** | Recommended | Over the years there have been a variety of vulnerabilities in each major operating system relating to connecting untrusted hardware. In some cases the hardware talks to the host computer in a way the host computer does not expect, exploiting a vulnerability and directly infecting the host
|
||||
**Don't charge unknown mobile devices from your PC** | Optional | If friends or collegues want to charge their devices via USB, to not do this thgouh your computers ports (unless you have a data blocker). By default the phone will want to sync to the host computer, but there is also specially crafted malware which takes advantage of the face that computers naturally trust connected USB devices. The owner of the phone may not even realise their device is infected
|
||||
**Encrypt and Backup Important Files** | Optional | Backing up your phone can help keep your important data safe, if your device is lost, stolen or broken. But without encrypting it, cloud services will have access to it (if you don't pay for the service, then you are the product!). <br>[Cryptomator](https://cryptomator.org/) is an open source tool that makes this easy. It also works alongside [MountainDuck](https://mountainduck.io/) for mounting your remote drives on Windows and Mac. Other non-open-source options are [BoxCrypter](https://www.boxcryptor.com/), [Encrypto](https://macpaw.com/encrypto) and [odrive](https://www.odrive.com/).
|
||||
**Uninstall Adobe Acrobat** | Optional | Adobe Acrobat was designed in a different age, before the Internet. Acrobat has had vulnerabilities that allowed specially crafted PDFs to load malware onto your system for the last two decades. Undoubtedly more vulnerabilities remain. You can use your browser to view PDFs, and browser-based software for editing
|
||||
**Consider Switching to Linux** | Optional | Linux is considerably [more secure](https://www.pcworld.com/article/202452/why_linux_is_more_secure_than_windows.html) than both OSX and Windows. Some distros are still more secure than others, so it’s worth choosing the right one to get a balance between security and convenience.
|
||||
**Avoid PC Apps that are not secure** | Optional | Mainstream apps have a reputation for not respecting the privacy of their users, and they're usually closed-source meaning vulnrabilities can be hidden. See here for compiled list of secure PC apps for [Windows](https://prism-break.org/en/categories/windows/), [OSX](https://prism-break.org/en/categories/macos/) and [Linux](https://prism-break.org/en/categories/gnu-linux/).
|
||||
**Use a Security-Focused Distro** | Advanced | [QubeOS](https://www.qubes-os.org/) is based on “security by compartmentalization”, where each app is sandboxed. [Whonix](https://www.whonix.org/) is based on Tor, so 100% of your traffic will go through the onion router. [Tails](https://tails.boum.org/) is a has no persistent memory, and is ideal if you don’t want to leave a trace on the device your booting from. [Subgraph](https://subgraph.com/) is an “adversary resistant computing platform”, but also surprisingly easy to use
|
||||
@ -211,6 +216,7 @@ Many data breaches, hacks and attacks are caused by human error. The following l
|
||||
|
||||
**Security** | **Priority** | **Details and Hints**
|
||||
--- | --- | ---
|
||||
**If an email asks you to take a sensitive action, verify it first** | Recommended | Emails are easy for an attacker to spoof, and it is unfortunentlly common practice. So whenever an email asks you to take a sensitive action, call the company first, to verify it is authentic
|
||||
**Don’t Trust Your Popup Notifications** | Recommended | It is a trivial task for a malicious actor to deploy fake pop-ups, either on your PC, phone or browser. If you click a popup, ensure the URL is correct before entering any information
|
||||
**Never Leave Device Unattended** | Recommended | Even with a strong password, is is straight-forward to retrieve the data from your phone or computer (unless it is encrypted). If you loose your device, and have find my phone enabled, then remotely erase it
|
||||
**Prevent Camfecting** | Recommended | It is a good idea to invest in some webcam covers, and microphone blockers to protect against [*camfecting*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camfecting), where a malicious actor, or app is able spy on you and your physical space, without your knowledge. See [this guide](https://blog.malwarebytes.com/hacking-2/2019/09/15000-webcams-vulnerable-how-to-protect-webcam-hacking/) for more tips. Mute home assistants, (Alexa, Google Home and Siri) when you are not using them, or at least when you are discussing anything sensitive or anything conversation involving personal details
|
||||
|
Loading…
Reference in New Issue
Block a user