The time to be conscious of your digital security is upon all of us: Donald J. Trump will be the next President of the USA. He will be in charge of the most powerful online spying tool in the world: The NSA’s PRISM.

Digital security is not for paranoid online activists, or for cybercriminals at large. Everyone, everywhere, has something to lose via digital information. Your willingness to protect this information will help you prevent hacking against your accounts, and even identity theft.

While achieving 100% digital security is next to impossible, it is well with your ability to increase your security to the point where it’s not worth hacking you. Think of it as making yourself too hard of a target to crack, promoting hackers, trackers, and advertisers to go after someone else’s data.

More digital security everywhere you store and access data

Adding a second authentication factor

The best thing you can do to thwart a hacker is add an extra step to their hacking attempts. 9/10 they’ll simply move on to an easier target, and Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) can certainly do this as it adds a second step to your sign ins.

It works like this:

1. 1. You enter your login and password details as normal.
   2. A one-time use code is sent to your smartphone, or email address.
   3. You enter this code into a second window which has opened after you enter your login/password.
   4. You gain access to the web property as normal.

This extra step connects a personal device which you must have on you to your password. The goal here is to make it if someone gets your password they still won’t have the unique code sent to your smartphone or email. This can stop them, and alert you to the issue at the same time.

With everyone from Kylie Jenner to  Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter being hacked, so can yours. 2FA could have prevented his hack, and it can protect yours.

Looks like @KylieJenner has been hacked at it's pretty clear who did it. #dumbass. pic.twitter.com/Kn5gQFaGR2

— Sister Roma (@SisterRoma) June 6, 2016

Clear out your browser cookies

The primary goal of browser cookies is to allow ad agencies to track you and show you ads. Yep. All the information in the world at your fingertips …and it’s just another advertiser controlled environment.

Clearing out your cookies doesn’t just stop ad networks from tracking you. It can stop hackers from tracking you as well. Not only can you remove cookies on your computer which they are using, but you can also stop them from hacking the ad companies. Why is this important? Ask anyone who researches stories online:

• • Journalists
  • Bloggers
  • Corporations doing competition analysis

Knowing what you’re doing is power to some people. Clearing your cookies is a way of taking power back.

Treat public WiFi like a hostile environment

You transmit so much sensitive information over a public WiFi network without even thinking about:

• • Passwords
  • Credit card info
  • Banking sign in
  • Pictures
  • Personal info

And you rarely have any idea if the network is secure, or if it’s even the right network. Always be sure to use a trusted WiFi network, to start. Ask the business for the right connection. Then be sure to use a VPN with strong encryption to fight against snoopers. It can not be understated how blase people are about public WiFi, and how you have to protect yourself on them.

Use encrypted messaging apps

While we’re on the subject of encryption, it never hurts to have a little bit extra when you’re sending messages. Messaging apps with end to end encryption keep your messages private between you and whoever you’re messaging with little effort on your part.

Apps which do this include:

• • Whatsapp
  • Signal
  • Wickr

The most private of those 3 is probably Wickr. They don’t keep logs of any type and can’t reveal your information to anyone, even law enforcement.

Use an identity theft monitoring service

There are now a few worthwhile services out there which can protect you from your identity being stolen for long. Check out companies like:

• • AllClear ID
  • LifeLock
  • TrustedID

And a few others you can read about here. The main jobs of companies like these in a digital space are to monitor your personal information on hacker forums, and to watch for anything like false insurance claims made under your name.

Tape up your webcam

From encryption and identity theft services to something really high tech: Putting tape over your webcam! This may seem pointless, but higher value targets can have their every move, and even sound, recorded. Mark Zuckerberg knew all about this and prepared himself:

3 things about this photo of Zuck:

Camera covered with tape
Mic jack covered with tape
Email client is Thunderbird pic.twitter.com/vdQlF7RjQt

— Chris Olson (@topherolson) June 21, 2016

Women have been filmed nude, or having sex, and then extorted. This could apply to nearly anyone of any importance just as easily. If that’s not enough, it’s just kinda creepy…

Defeat face recognition software

There is a lot of information in your face, and a large portion of that information comes from the distance between your eyes, and the eyes themselves. We’re all going to have our pictures taken at some point. These pictures are going to be uploaded to the Internet and software is going to be used to start making connections.

Wearing a pair of sunglasses can do a lot to defeat this digital surveillance. Any pair from any manufacture. It won’t make you invisible, but it will help you protect yourself more.

Get a bug scanner

What is this, Spy vs. Spy stuff? Yes and no. With tools for spying becoming more and more common, cheaper, and easier to use, corporate espionage can happen quite easily via these means.

A bug scanner these days can be the size of pen and under $300. Use it to quickly sweep your:

• • Hotel room
  • Conference room
  • Office after the weekend, or every morning
  • Meeting place

If you don’t control a space 24/7, it could use a scan. No one talks about how easy it is to do a little corporate espionage, or dig up dirt on a co-worker, using something as simple as a shortwave radio scanner that records everything you say.

Dismantle parts of your smartphone

For those with the highest of digital security needs, Edward Snowden is probably a pretty good guy to listen to. He advises people to take out certain functions on their smartphone, that the person may not need for specific job functions, in order to gain more privacy.

Here’s an interview with Vice News on the subject:

You may just want to take the mic out of your smartphone and use it strictly for encrypted messages. You may want to kill your camera so you can still use it for voice. Your needs can be tailored to your devices, the job they need to do, and your digital security needs.

Airport security: Bring your laptop and a gun

No, I’m not advocating that you threaten people with a firearm. I’m talking about the TSA law which states that only the person who owns the firearm may have the key or combination to a checked, hard-sided bag containing a firearm.

If that bag where to also contain your laptop, smartphone, or tablet, it would also not be allowed to be opened by anyone but the owner: You. This differs from other luggage which must use TSA compliant locks so they can crack it open whenever they feel like it! This is, obviously, for high-value digital assets only.

Increasing your digital security

It’s easy to dismiss some of these digital security tactics as a step too far. ‘Who would ever be that interested in me?’ Well, you’d be surprised. Higher-value targets could be:

• • Ranking members of companies, at any level of authority as long as they have data which could be stolen to access more data.
  • Those with a little bit of money put away.
  • Military personnel and police in their private lives.
  • Doctors and nurses.
  • Politicians and political critics.
  • Stalking victims.
  • Sports teams.
  • Those being cyber-bullied.

The list of people who should have serious digital security concerns could go on, and even if you don’t fit into any of these categories you still have to be cautious. One bit of carelessness could see your passwords, banking details, or entire identity stolen. Protect your digital security using some of the above tools and tactics, and feel a little safer in this digital realm.