At a recent party someone asked about my approach towards - in my words - safe computing given the computer hacking and privacy loss that are in the news every day. Safe computing is a way of using a computer that probably will not subject the computer user to loss of data, unexpected loss of privacy or loss of the computer for its intended use for too long or at too great of a monetary expense. There are degrees of Safe computing made by tradeoffs between a computer's convenience or usefulness and the data loss risk, privacy and ease of repair.
My Kindle reader is an example of safe computing that shows the tradeoff between usefulness, data loss risk, privacy and ease of repair. My Kindle has no privacy because Amazon has full access to what is done on the reader, but if I lose or break the reader I assume I can buy another cheaply and quickly and I also assume Amazon will give me access to the books I bought already. I don't even need a password or a way to connect to the internet (cellphone or Wi-Fi) - Amazon will supply the cell phone connection necessary to buy and download books. The reader only does one thing - book shopping and reading - so the reader's usefulness is limited as well.
Amazon keeps my purchased books in a 'cloud account' so if I change reader hardware, I still will have access to my books through the cloud. Again, how the Kindle works is not highly private but it is easy to use and repair and protects my data well enough considering the data is mass produced books, not for instance some data that is rare and private.
That approach - similar the way my Kindle works - is a good strategy for a family that uses tablet-type or handheld-type computers at home. On those computers, a family could save everything to the cloud - not on the device itself. That way the data - which may not be highly valuable or private anyway - will not be lost 99% OF THE TIME if the device stops working or for some other reason. Keep in mind that anything on the cloud can be accessed by others if they are authorized or determined enough, so don't consider data on the cloud - or even uploaded to or down loaded from the cloud - to be private.
Most computer companies offer cloud accounts - Apple, Microsoft, ...etc. Additionally, if one of a family's handheld or tablet devices does stop working and is given to electronic recycling or someone else, someone should change the password for the cloud account so the device won't automatically log itself in if the computer ends up getting fixed and someone else ends up with it. Passwords are also important for safe computing so I discuss passwords later.
There are different types of hardware and different amounts of privacy they consequently offer. I consider ipods, phones, readers, tablets and super sophisticated laptops like the Apple Air all the same - they are so miniaturized that they need to be sent off to a repair person to be worked on, and I feel the access to the computer hardware given to the repair person results in a loss of privacy. I treat normal laptops and desktops the same since they can both be worked at home by someone so inclined and I feel that increases control of the hardware and consequently privacy. Laptops are probably relatively more difficult than desktops to work on. There are probably fancy desktops that practically cannot be worked on at home.
Another tradeoff example in terms of privacy are the small laptops the managers in some workplaces use to document their confidential projects. Those laptops have no wireless networking capability, and are never plugged into a network. The only way to see the data in those laptops is to login with a password that I assume is impossible to guess and is probably never written down. Those laptops are not very convenient but are super private - everything must be typed in since there is no network from which to load data. If the the laptop stops working, it must be repaired either by the user or someone the user trusts as most repair persons want the necessary passwords to make sure everything works after the repair.
As a third and final tradeoff example, most people's desktop at home is an example of a computer that is highly useful but depending on how the hardware is controlled - a later topic - may not be private or easy to get repaired if it breaks down. It is also easy to lose data if the correct precautions - such as adequate backups - are not taken.
The examples I just mentioned show that safe computing involves tradeoffs between usefulness, loss risk, privacy and ease of repair. I am going to discuss my specific approach to safe computing and I consider my computing approach to be safe when I do these four things:
- Perform adequate backups
- Control the Hardware
- Use hyperlinks carefully
- Have a strong password strategy
The first topic of my approach towards safe computing involves data backups. An adequate backup makes a restorable copy of data created or placed on a computer for personal use - the preservation of which is desired. Adequate backups are also sufficiently protected. For example it is o.k. to backup to a external hard drive that sits next to your desktop in case something happens to the data in the desktop that does not affect the nearby external drive backup. However if the entire building burns down and destroys the desktop as well as the backup drive, then the back up cannot be considered to be adequate.
I attempt to do my backups regularly to a set of two external hard drives. I will keep one external drive in my house and I will do backups to it as I add data to my desktop that I feel is worth protecting. The frequency of the backups depends on what is going on in my life at the time. Eventually I exchange the external backup drive in my house with the identical one I keep in another building - a separate structure that hopefully will not be destroyed in the same event that hypothetically destroys my house.
The drive outside my house may get a little behind on updates compared to the drive in my house, but that is o.k. if I feel the backup data is not super critical. If I have super important data I don't want to lose, I will swap the two drives right away so the drives have pretty much the same data. Keep in mind that data may be accidentally lost by the backup process itself so I usually don't do the same backup to both drives at the same time - one drive is usually at least one backup behind the other. Importantly, it is a good idea to verify at least one time that the backup data is actually on the backup drives as assumed and the data can be put back and used on the backed-up system.
There are programs - usually free - that will perform backups fairly conveniently once the program is set up. I use a program that is called Syncback. The backup program copies to the external drive the specific folders (containing files) from my desktop that I want backed up.
I know what files I want backed up and the locations of those files (folders) because for many types of data like photos I can determine where the data is saved and I make sure for instance that there is one big folder that holds my photos and another big folder that holds the other things I save either directly or when I use programs like spreadsheets and word processors. I use sub folders within the big folders so different types of data are generally organized to be separate, but the subfolders don't matter to the backup software since the backup software just copies the big folders and consequently the subfolders are also copied. It is easy to control the the folder structures where most data is saved.
Some data - like email - is a little tricky how it is saved by the email program, but it is usually possible to find out online what files to save and where the files are located for those special cases. I admit that I am a little different from most people in that I want my email saved on my desktop and not the cloud so hopefully it is MORE THAN 99% difficult for me to lose my emails.
Files can be saved in conveniently named folders on the external drive because when the backup program is set up, the user tells the program where on the desktop to get the data for backup, and where on the external drive to copy the data. Remember the backup software can copy entire huge folders at one time, so usually with only about five or so specific 'runs' or actions given to the backup program, all the necessary folders will be backed up.
I usually name the destination folders on the external drive in a way that indicates where the data in that folder came from. For instance, if I backup data from a folder on my desktop with the location path C:\users\manjoseman\programs\email, I will name the destination folder on the backup drive E:\user...manjoseman...programs...email - just the path for the originating folder used as the name of the target folder with the slashes replaced by dots.
Everyone should know that the easiest and fastest way to backup a specific file is to Email the file to oneself. That is a trick most kids have probably already learned. For instance as I type this document on my Windows phone, I also email a copy to myself from time to time in case I accidently lose the document I am working on. The email-to-oneself method is also a good way to move files from one computer to another computer - say from school to home.
The second thing I try to do as part of my safe computing approach is to Control the Hardware by which I mean knowing as one buys a computer how safe computing will be practiced with that hardware from the time it is first set it up and used it until it is decommissioned, knowing a) one may want to access old data with the new computer, b) one may generate data with the new computer that one wants to keep beyond the life of the hardware; and c) the device may break or get lost and require repair or replacement.
The previous discussions about saving data to the cloud on tablets and phones or performing backups on desktops may be enough for a computer user to retain all their data as devices come and go. I also already mentioned what to do if a tablet or phone breaks down - just keep every thing on the cloud and get a new device or get the broken device repaired but change the cloud account password for the reason already mentioned.
Here is a brief discussion about hardware resets before I talk further about controlling the hardware - as the idea is applied to desktops and laptops when they stop working. Some devices - usually handhelds and tablets - have a hardware reset which will supposedly reset a device to its original configuration and ERASE ALL THE PERSONAL DATA. I recommend performing a hardware reset when decommissioning hardware and possibly before sending a device off for repair. Sometimes a hardware reset is a means of repairing software related problems that one can perform at home without sending the devices to someone else. Sometimes it is possible to do a hardware reset even though the device will not otherwise turn on. Consult the manufacturer's literature for how to perform the hardware reset. If one wants to use a device after performing a hardware reset, the user will need to go through the same setup procedure that they originally went through when they first used the device and re-download apps or anything else downloaded and placed on the device.
I said earlier that it is easier to work on and consequently repair laptop and desktop hardware at home compared to phones and tablets. In addition, repairing a laptop or desktop at home avoids giving a stranger - the repair person - access during the repair process to the private data that may be held on a computer. Those two reasons are why I advise keeping data for phones and tablets on the cloud, while saying it's o.k. to save data physically on laptops and desktops. I choose to fix my own desktop at home because I believe with that approach I can get my computer fixed fast and easy if it breaks without getting a stranger involved who may consequently get access to the private data kept on my broken desktop.
The easiest way to fix a desktop at home is to build the desktop oneself in the first place. Usually there is someone in the family who can go to a computer hardware/software store and with some help from the salesperson buy everything needed to build a computer at home. Building a computer makes it easy to fix the same computer when it breaks because usually when a computer stops working, it is because of problems with either the
- Software and/or hard disk drive
- power supply or
- Mother board.
If a home-built computer's software and/or hard disk drive goes bad - even due to a virus or malware - the problem can usually be fixed by first reformatting the hard drive - erasing everything - or installing a new hard drive. In either case it will be then necessary to reinstall the operating system and everything else including data from the backup drive. It is normally easy to put in a working hard drive and install the operating system and software if that was already done previously when the system was originally built. Similarly, if the power supply or mother board goes bad, the computer can be easy to fix if the power supply and motherboard were also installed when the system was originally built. Doing a hardware reset as discussed earlier on a tablet or phone is similar to reformatting the hard drive on a desktop and reinstalling the operating system.
The final things I try to do as part of my safe computing approach is to use the computer in a safe manner which means using hyperlinks carefully and having a strong password strategy. I'm not an expert on what happens when someone clicks on a hyperlink in an email sent to them, but I do know I don't like to send emails with hyperlinks to other people, I especially don't like to forward emails I have received with hyperlinks to other people and I usually don't like to click on hyperlinks other people send me in emails. I have received emails in the past that looked like the email was from someone I knew, but were otherwise suspicious. I delete emails like that right away without clicking on anything inside the email. In those cases I usually found out later that those emails were not authentic, and clicking on the links inside the email would cause something bad to happen from a virus or malware that the link can cause to be loaded on my computer.
Having a strong password strategy is also important as part of my safe computing strategy. If someone has the password for another person's accounts, that unauthorized person can cause problems that range from minor to severe, depending on the type of account and the maliciousness of the person. I usually use strong passwords for my important accounts that I really don't want anyone to access except myself. For these important accounts I will also use a unique password for each account. In other words, I won't reuse passwords. Strong passwords are usually at least eight characters in length and are also a random mix of:
- Upper and lower case letters,
- Special Characters (@, %, ...) and
- Numbers.
No one admits that they write down their password but most people probably do. By 'write down' I mean written down on paper - not typed into a computer. Some alphabetized ledger in order of the corresponding web site names - like an address book - would probably work best.
If a person goes on a trip and want to have access to some of the passwords from the ledger, that person could just take a picture of the page with the specific password wanted. Strong passwords are supposedly easier to remember if the passwords are based on some type of easy-to-remember phrase. There are probably some examples of such a technique on the internet. For less important web site accounts that I don't care if someone besides myself accesses, I use simple weak super-easy to remember passwords and sometimes reuse passwords.
It took a long explanation, but I think I answered the question I was asked about how I practice safe computing. The computer hacking and privacy loss that are in the news every day are a cause for concern, but to avoid loss of data, unexpected loss of privacy or loss of the computer for its intended use for too long, just remember to:
- Perform adequate backups
- Control the Hardware
- Use hyperlinks carefully
- Have a strong password strategy
Computers are everywhere, and when safe computing is practiced, the computing experience can be much more enjoyable and beneficial for all of us.
Copyright 2017 Manjoseman
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