Ask HN: Online Security Tips for Newbie Freedom Activists?
These answers are unlikely to make much of HN happy, but they are the correct answers.<p>1. Get an iPhone and use it in preference to your computer.<p>2. Enable "code-generating" or "authenticator app" 2FA on all your accounts, particularly email (this is called "TOTP").<p>3. Disable SMS 2FA on any account wherever you're using real 2FA.<p>4. Switch to Google Chrome, which is significantly more resilient against vulnerabilities than either Safari, Firefox, or IE.<p>5. Don't use Dropbox.<p>6. Enable your OS's built-in full-disk encryption (this is FileVault on a Mac, BitLocker on Windows).<p>7. Disable cloud-based keychain backups (OS X will ask you to opt-in when you configure your phone or laptop the first time; Windows will make you go out of your way to do it).<p>8. Install Signal and either WhatsApp or Wire on your iPhone. Use Signal when you can, and fall back to the less strict alternative app when you can't.<p>9. Don't use email to send sensitive information, full stop.<p>10. Install a password management application that doesn't store your secrets in the cloud. I recommend 1Password. Better though to rely on 2FA than on a password manager.<p>11. Do not use antivirus software, other than Microsoft's own antivirus software on Windows.<p>12. Turn off cloud photo backups and location sharing for your camera.<p>13. Don't accept or click on email attachments, or allow your peers to send email attachments.