This is the Last Email Account I Will Ever Need.

Governments, Corporations, Criminals & Creeps

I did it. I bit the bullet, and it hurts. I've decided to change my personal email address, again, and the transition is just what I expected; a pain in the arse.  But, I'm motivated. As a father, friend, businessman and simply a human engaged in life, I am no longer willing to let my email be scanned, sniffed, snooped and shared by governments, corporations, criminals and creeps, relentlessly, all day and everyday. I'm opting out of the madness, and I'm taking my family and my business with me. 


As security guru Bruce Schneier says, the metadata that rides along with your email today includes enough information about you to be classified as surveillance. To allow my personal information to leak, day in and day out, to some of society's most unseemly characters, is just not acceptable to me anymore. I know too well how inevitably deep the consequences are, and I see the increasing rate of connectivity between digital security and physical security. This is meaningful, I am a head-of-household and seriously accountable on several levels, and I have found a far, far better way to operate as consumers in the digital age.

Wikipedia on Metadata
@schneierblog   Metadata = Surveillance

So, I'm creating a digital domain, including our email accounts, that will protect and share our data, for as long as we like, generations for that matter, without undue influence, theft or loss. I will determine how it operates and what it shares, or doesn't, where it is physically located and how it is inherited. I don't trust "free", I don't trust the "system", and I value these digital assets more than ever. Actually, much of it I consider as irreplaceable, including 20,000 family photos, videos, scans, notes and what is the family's eternal scrapbook. Plus, it is ridiculously inexpensive to do this and as a professional risk manager for over 25 years, the risk/reward equation at this price is simply a no-brainer. Online security and privacy is now a serious consideration in everything I do, personally and professionally.

Why location of digital assets is important; Local law trumps everything, including technology and terms of service.

My trusty, old personal email@mac.com account of the last 13 years did it's job very well. I know I feel better about the experience than many others that are on Yahoo, AOL, and some of the other "free" email services. But the game has changed, and it's time to think very differently about this now crucial aspect of our lives. The business of running an email service, especially the ones most popular in the U.S., have morphed, or been perverted, into business models that have little to do with your experience as a customer. Well, that's because you are not the customer. The buyer of your information is the customer, and you are their product. Guess who gets the short stick?

"If you aren't paying for the product, you are the product." George Greve +Georg Greve 

Then, to add insult to injury, your information is used back on you in very clever ways in order to manipulate you to buy something or perhaps even better yet, give them more information about you! Then, I suppose, the business can perpetuate itself in an endless cycle of economic bliss. When you think about it, isn't that the business model that creates sub-25 year old billionaires today? And now, the NSA is exacerbating the problem by essentially gifting their tools and techniques to the worst characters in our global society. We are, literally at this moment, past the point of no return and, as Marc Cuban says so well, "I'm out". 

Building My Own Digital Domain

Now, I have a domain for my family and business registered in Switzerland. We have our own private email service, there are no limitations or restrictions, and we have rid ourselves of IP address tracking, metadata scanning, content stealing and the host of abuses that are standard procedure, literally billions of times a day.  I'm operating on open-source software crafted for security, portability and long-term compatibility. I can synch across all my devices, I have webmail access and I use it's open-source groupware that is as hardy as Exchange or any of the other hairball email client solutions that are out there today (though I do like Thunderbird).

We have a Digital Family Vault, also based in Zurich and in a separate secure data storage facility away from our email servers. The facility is built by the people that built the same thing for almost every bank in the country. Switzerland that is. I can set access, restriction, and contribution levels across silos of data and my passwords have a named beneficiary. Digital assets are now represented as a slice in a family's wealth pie and being in control of it's operation and security, feels extremely satisfying right now.I created a permanent solution, one that will endure through my fully engaged and tech-levered life. My investment in digital security and privacy today, at this juncture of enormous change in our digital lives, will pay in ways we cannot even fathom yet. And, when you find out how absurdly inexpensive it is to do this, you will want to do precisely the same thing I did, and you can. 

Ok so now this is where the shoe pinches; it is not a seamless, brainless, painless process. But, honestly, it's manageable. Better than manageable really. The tools are better, and I'm better organized and prepared than I have been in my past email migrations. Don't get me wrong, I'm not done with the process, but I'm letting myself take the time I need to do this fully, completely and hopefully with as little disruption to me and the others that invariably have to adjust their records and such. The journey to total online security and privacy is never really over, there is not an end-point other than managing effective and adaptable defenses. But this approach to creating a family digital domain covers some of the most important and fundamental bases in the process, and in an enduring and scalable way.

www.totaldigitalsecurity.com

In fact, I'm so pleased with the results and the value, I've created a business that will do the same thing for you, and we can provide online security and privacy solutions like these at rates as low as $10/mo. You can contact me personally of you would like to know more, at my Swiss email address:
brad@tdsw.ch


Some liken the use of online security software and services to buying insurance. It is, but for this particular moment in history, it's different. There is mega-storm on the horizon. Making sure your insurance policies are current, is not enough. It is time to batten down the hatches at home and work and to expect to emerge from the storm only stronger. The exponentially advancing clock of technology marches forward, and cyber-risk has now been fully democratized all the way to the capillaries of the Internet, where you and I reside. Email me and begin your journey to total online security and privacy, today, and subscribe to peace of mind.


Brad
brad@tdsw.ch

Top 3 Personal Online Security & Privacy Threats for 2014

 Top 3 Online Security Threats for Individuals, Families and Small Businesses in 2014

 

#1) Super-scale Ransomware Attacks in the U.S. -

 Ransomware is the evolution of extortion. It is the hijacking of your digital life. The successor to last year's enormously successful CryptoLocker virus is being developed as we speak and it will wreak havoc on millions of unsuspecting email users in 2014. If there is one word to know in cyber-risk for 2104, it is ransomware. Refer to The Democratization of Cyber-Risk in 2104  for more, including a screenshot of the CryptoLocker virus.

 #2) Mobile Malware Infections go Viral- 

98% of mobile viruses are aimed at Android devices. If you are on an Android you will either prepare for, or recover from, a virus sometime in 2014. Apple devices are still safer but not as immune as they once were. Apple aficionados need to raise the awareness level more than just another notch in order to be informed and protected for the new era of cyber-risk. 

#3) Social Media is Used as a Source of Information for Criminals -

Obviously, using social media does nothing to help protect your privacy but in 2014 sophisticated criminals will use FaceBook, LinkedIn and other channels to perpetrate their crimes. They gather passwords, user-names and other sensitive information that will ultimately be used against you in an online attack of some sort or another. Hackers do what the NSA does; they collect enormous amounts of data, as well as information about that data (metadata), and they sort and sift it using big-data software technology. They are relentless, but patient, and when the hackers have enough pieces of information to crack the code on you and a few million other unsuspecting internet users, they go to work with massive campaigns of extortion, fraud, deceit and digital terror. Unfortunately, in the past, the best outcomes are for those that simply pay the ransom, typically affordable when you need to make a serious problem go away, fast.

2014 is a crucial year for individual users of the internet. The democratization of cyber-risk has suddenly created a massive new target for cyber-criminals and that target includes you, your family and home, and small business. You are viewed as the most vulnerable, unprepared and unsophisticated of their targets and if they can line up enough of you to be extorted into handing over a few bucks, they can quickly walk away economically satisfied potentially for many years to come. 

From here on there are 2 types of users on the internet; Those that prepare and those that recover. It is in fact "when" and not "if" it will happen to you. Accept this, take some action, and avoid what could be a trans-formative event in your life in  2014.

Thanks for reading and let me know if we can help with any of your online security and privacy needs.

Brad

Total Digital Security for you, your family, home and small business. Protect that which is irreplaceable with plans that start at just $9.95/mo. www.totaldigitalsecurity.com

Private, offshore email accounts.  

The Last Email Account You Will Ever Need

The 4 Components of Complete Online Security & Privacy for 2014

2014 is sure to be a watershed year for individuals and small business when it comes to internet security and privacy. The entire internet is now infected, and the most vulnerable of those online are the ones square in the bullseye of the worst form of cyber-criminals. 

This post is meant to be a guide to help think through the process of immunizing yourself and those around you from the rapidly increasing risks associated with the use of our everyday technology. 2014 may be the last year in which you, your family and your small business, have the opportunity to circle-the-wagons and position yourself to be in control of your digital assets and effectively protect from the risks associated with online activities.

1)     Secure Your Computers, Smartphones & Tablets

This includes desktops, laptops, mobile phones and  all “end-user” devices.

2)     Protect Yourself When on the  Internet

Usually at least 2 or 3 stages including home and public wi-fi’s, local internet service provider and the Internet backbone.

3)      Own & Control Your Personal Email Account

This includes attachments, the email message content, the IP address and the metadata attached to your email.

4)     Backup & Lock-down Your Data Storage

The data on your local hard-drive as well as cloud and

external disks need to be protected and backed-up.

The risks of not being protected are many but include:

•Losing all of your data

•Being spied on

•Financial fraud

•Identity theft

•Physical harm

•Extortion

•Reputational risk

•Loss of the irreplaceable

 Now, for some detail around each component to

       Complete Online Security and Privacy in 2014:

Component #1 -  Secure Your Computers, Smartphones & Tablets

•     This includes desktops, laptops, mobile phones and any device that connects to the internet.
•     Every one of your devices contains significant information and data that is valuable to you and others.
•     You want to control and protect everything that comes in and everything that goes out of your devices.
•     Securing your computer, mobile phone and tablet is an essential part of online security and should be a priority in your effort to protect yourself from outside harm and system failures.

Component #2 -  Protect Yourself When on the Internet

•     Banking, shopping, surfing, browsing, social media and anything you do when on the internet.
•     There are usually at least 3 stages to an internet connection, you must protect from each of them.
•     Home and public Wi-Fi networks 
•     Local internet service provider
•     Internet backbone

Component #3 -  Own & Control Your Personal Email Account 

•     To be secure, you must protect attachments, the content of the email message itself, the IP address and the metadata attached to your email.
•     Most people are unaware at the quantity and level of detail that is available in a typical email as it travels across the internet to it’s destination. 
•     Metadata is considered, by many, to contain enough information to put you under surveillance  by another.

Component #4 -  Backup & Lock-down Your Data Storage

•     Hard-drives, external disks and cloud–based data storage needs to be protected from theft and backed-up for redundancy.

What You Can do to Get Back in Control of Your Digital Life

• Be Aware, Take Action – If you are aware and informed you will realize the best decision you can make for 2014 in terms of value, risk/reward and long-term results, is to secure yourself and those that matter to you, from what would otherwise be almost certain harm from online activity.

• Use the Very Effective Solutions That are Available To You – Today, the protection that is available at incredibly affordable prices works very well and effectively mitigates almost all of the risks and probabilities of a problem. Properly implemented and maintained, these solutions require virtually no work on your part and does not impact your computers performance.

• Think of Your Security as a Service, and Not a Product – There is no final destination or a “set-it & forget it” when it comes to any type of security, especially digital security. The rate of change in technology and the evolvement of online threats, coupled with the increasing value to our digital assets, demands constant vigilance and immediate adaptation.

• Protect From Governments, Companies, Criminals and Creeps- Remember, if you aren’t paying for the product (Gmail, Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, etc.), you are the product. Your information and data is so valuable today that these characters will be endlessly relentless in their quest to steal it from you. Protect yourself and be in control of all your digital assets, much of it is irreplaceable and includes the things you most value.

• Protect All 4 of the Components That Connect Your Digital Life  – A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. Unfortunately there is not one universal solution for the vast set of risks and problems we address in the use of our technology. The good news is that there is a way to manage these 4 components and it is not expensive or difficult.

• Use Good Judgment With Passwords – None of us is designed well to remember many passwords, much less complex ones. Unless you are a savant, it’s foolish to think otherwise and risk serious loss. For the moment the only way to deal effectively with our online environment is with a password manager. They are cheap, if not “free”, and are getting easier to use almost every day. Be deliberate in your strategy with passwords as they need to be long, complex, encrypted and backed-up, & synced across all your devices. Finally, should be included in your overall estate plan for smooth and secure inheritance by your beneficiary.

www.totaldigitalsecurity.com