- From software to hardware.
Today I'm gonna share with you the 12 tools
that I use almost every day to protect my data,
my personal information, and my overall privacy.
If you are looking to make an upgrade
to your own privacy online, I think
that you'll find this list to be particularly useful.
A quick note before we begin.
None of the companies or products paid to be on this list
or sponsored this in any way.
These are legitimately the tools
that I use on a daily basis.
My goal with All Things secured is to provide you
with the tips and the tools that you need
to secure your accounts and your personal data.
So if that's something you're interested in, be sure
to subscribe to this channel.
Alright, let's begin. By far,
the most utilized tool on this list is my password manager.
I use it every single day.
Now, there may come a time when passwords are no longer part
of the login process, but until that day comes,
and I really think that's a few years down the road,
a password manager is a must have tool for anybody
who uses the internet.
The primary purpose of using a Password manager is twofold.
First, it helps you create unique
and secure passwords, which is something that most
of us are really bad at doing.
Second, it removes that friction of online logins
by auto filling those strong passwords across
all of your devices.
Now, I personally use one password,
but I also really love Proton Pass
and Bit Warden as alternative options.
If you're looking for that, If you've watched any
of my videos before, you already know
how I feel about two-factor authentication.
In fact, in the video
where I described my online security strategy,
I shared this rule that I have.
If an account allows for a physical security key, I use it.
This two FA key from YubiKey goes everywhere I go
and I have a backup that I keep elsewhere in case
something were to happen to this.
There is usually some point throughout my day where I have
to plug this key into my computer
or tap it on the back of my phone in order
to authenticate my login for my daily internet usage.
I've moved away from the popular Chrome browser simply
because of how Google uses it to collect vast amounts
of data and connect it to our personal profiles.
Even when you're using incognito mode tracking
still persists.
Now, there are a lot of great options available like
Firefox, DuckDuckGo, mova, browser, and others.
I've landed on Brave.
It's the one I like and it's the one I've been using on all
my devices for over a year Now.
The next two tools are related to my email communication.
I still have a Gmail address
and I don't see that changing anytime soon,
but I also have a secure email inbox that only gets used
with my accountant, my lawyer,
and other people that deal with my most
sensitive information.
For this, I use Proton Mail,
although there are other options that I've tested
that you can see here in this video.
Now, in addition to secure email, I'm also a huge fan
of email aliases.
We are asked to give over our email address multiple times a
day, and in my experience, most of the time it's just
for a simple login or marketing purposes.
In those cases, I've created specific aliases
that I give out for shopping sites, newsletters, logins,
and even coupons.
Most secure email providers allow you
to create these aliases,
but I've also used Simple Login to do it,
and that works really well.
Both of these work just fine.
Speaking of communication,
I use multiple messaging apps out of necessity.
I think we all do that based on
where we connect with different people.
In some cases, it really doesn't matter if I start a
conversation with somebody on Twitter dm.
I'm not necessarily gonna try to move that thread over
to another platform.
Now, I feel pretty comfortable with the encryption
of iMessage to be honest,
but in the cases where not everybody is using an Apple
device or we simply want private communication outside
of the Apple or Android ecosystem, I use
and recommend Signal.
Now, there are other great private messaging options like
Freema and Session,
but enough people already have a signal account that I find
that the easiest to use, the least barrier to entry.
The next three tools are all virtual services that I use
to mask my personal data.
It's kind of like email aliases,
but in this case, I'm trying to hide my personal address,
my mobile number, and my credit card number
with a virtual address, a secondary phone number,
and a virtual credit card.
While privacy is certainly a driving concern here,
I'll be honest and tell you that control
and access are equally important.
I hate dealing with physical mail,
so having a virtual address where my mail is received
and handled digitally is such a relief
for me With credit cards, I hate having to deal
with fraudulent charges
and the hassle of getting a new credit card.
I would much rather have merchant specific cards on which I
can place a time and or money limit.
I've talked about that in another video,
and of course, the secondary number that isn't tied
to my SIM card is super helpful.
As somebody who lives overseas
and needs to get certain text messages, no matter
where I am also,
I just don't like giving out my personal cell phone number.
Personally, I use post scan mail
for my virtual address privacy.com for my credit cards
and hushed for virtual phone number.
Finally, there are two services
that I don't necessarily think about on a daily basis,
but they're working in the background every day
and they've become really valuable to me.
The first is a service that continually scans the internet
to find where my personal data is being sold
and then make legal removal request.
That's delete me that you've heard me talk about before.
It's effective, and most people just don't realize
how much information is floating around
that can easily be erased.
The second is a credit monitoring service.
Now, for most people, I think
that setting up a credit freeze is more than enough
to keep you safe, but for those of us like me
who have already been the victim of identity fraud,
there is value in having external monitoring of your credit.
Oh, and I also monitor my kid's credit.
You'd be shocked at how often this gets stolen
and how damaging it can be for young adults.
Those are the 12 privacy
and security tools that I use on a daily basis.
Again, none of these companies paid to be part of this list,
but I will have affiliate links in the description if you'd
like to support what I'm doing here.
Also, feel free to leave a comment if you think
that I've missed anything.