- It seems like not a week goes by where we're not
seeing headlines about websites being hacked,
email being leaked, your personal data just being
thrown out there for everyone to see.
Is there anything we can do to help that from happening?
Yeah!
I've got a couple things I've been trying out,
let's go take a look.
(hiphop music)
So what is encryption?
Well, the oversimplified version in this case is it'll
take your message, scramble them up so somebody can't
pluck them out of the air and read them.
So we've already talked about things like strong
passwords and two step authentication and
password managers.
Those are not optional, you have to do them.
But something else I've been thinking a lot about
lately is encryption and, to be honest,
I didn't know that much about it.
So I've been reading everything I can.
So the thing about encryption is that its' sort of
simultaneously simple and hard.
Especially when you start talking about multiple keys.
You have public keys and private keys and how you
have to have one and the other to make any of this work.
It's not necessarily something I want to have to deal
with manually, it's certainly not something I can
teach my 10 year old daughter just yet,
or want my wife to have to deal with.
So I've been looking for apps and services that will
make that so much easier.
So let's start with messaging, I've used signal
for a long time.
That is probably the premier open source encrypted
secure messaging app.
You've heard a lot about it before now.
And I love the fact that it does SMS messages and
secure encrypted messaging all in one app.
Makes things really simple.
The problem is not a lot of other people were on it,
so for that my family and I have turned to WhatsApp.
It uses the signal encryption, which is great,
that's really important.
Again, open source encryption is almost always better.
But it's owned by Facebook and that gives me
a little bit of pause, but that's the trade off that
I've made for using a messaging app that so many
more of our friends and family use.
Plus it has all those stickers and all that junk
that my kids love.
WhatsApp ties in on the desktop and for me that's
a big deal so I don't have to dig out my phone
every time I just want to send a long message.
So lets talk email.
I love Gmail, I've been using Gmail for years.
I use it personally, I use it for work.
But Gmail doesn't really do encryption and I want to
at least have the option to be able to send
encrypted emails.
So for that I've turned to ProtonMail.
Now it's based in Switzerland so it has to contend
with Swiss laws.
It's literally buried underground.
Their servers are underground.
Just read up on their website, all the details about
what makes this secure.
But, for me, it's all about being quick and easy to do.
So the interface is a lot like Gmail itself,
you'll be really familiar there.
And if you want to send a secure email,
all you have to do is click this little lock icon on there,
setup a password that you will give to the recipient
and then only then can they actually read the email.
If they're not on ProtonMail then they get a little
web link and can read it in a web browser.
It's so simple to use, I can't speak highly enough
about it.
Now they have a free option that will at least give
you a taste of how it all works.
If you really want to be serious about it,
for $48 a year you can do things like have custom
domains and custom addresses and all that stuff.
So check it out on their website,
it's definitely at least worth trying and is a really
cool option for just some simple basic encryption
in your email, loving it.
So look, I'm not under the illusion that I'm un-hackable.
Step number one is don't be a target.
Step number two is to use apps and services that
make life harder on somebody who would want to try
to get at your information.
So, for me, I've been focusing on messaging and on email.
And for messaging my family has kind of settled on
WhatsApp.
Though Signal is an excellent choice and I highly
recommend that.
For email, I've been moving over to ProtonMail.
Again, go read all the details yourself,
but it's a really good option with sort of a free trial
and it's not all that expensive if you really want to
step things up a little bit.
Those are two things me and my family are doing.
Let me know down in the comments if you have any
other suggestions of things we should try.
Be sure to subscribe, we'll see you later.
(hip hop music)