Protect Your Digital Life & Privacy Online

TL;DR

• Set strong and uniuqe passwords on all accounts, don't reuseue passwords across social and banking.
• Secure devices like your smartphone with passwords and take steps to prevent easy access to data.
• Don't be lazy, update your devices.
• Don't share sensitive info on public social media, never share real-time location or show that you are out of town (theives love that!)

Think of the internet as a locked door, except the door handle is constantly being jiggled by a world of scammers, crooks, and an army of bots all trying to break into your stuff.

They say 'lock it or lose it,' and this we generally think of our car, but so much of our digital life now lives in cloud accounts like iCloud, Google Drive or Dropbox - imagine losing access to those precious moments like that video of your baby's first steps or photos of passed loved ones.

This isn't a self help guide, and im not selling you anything, although a cheeky subscribe would be loved?

Make 2026 the year you take back control of your digital life by securing your accounts and personal data, it's easier than you think and you can steps right now on the very device you are using to read this!

Let's talk phones...

Let's start talking about your mobile, it's the daily driver of communications, likely your main shooter, its also the most likely to be left in the Uber or stolen by theives.

A phone in the wrong hands has an insane amount of sensitive, personal and private information on them, from banking, emails to what's hideing in your gallery? 😉

The most basic thing you can do right now is enable a pin code, do one better and make it a passowrd to access your phone.

Secondly, lockdown the controls of the phone, iPhones you can restrict access to control center when the device is locked, which prevents the phone from being placed into Airplane Mode.

Thirdly, make sure Find My is enabled, and your backups are actually working, if your photos are and videos on your are not being backed up right now, what are you doing? - You are one lost, broken, or stolen phone away from losing it all!

Let's talk PCs...

Firstly on both Windows and Mac you can enable disk encryption, on Mac it's called File Vault for Windows, it's called Bitlocker (not avaliable on home versions of Windows 11, see VeryCryt as an alternative.)

Full disk-encryptions protects your infromation at rest, meaning it's scrambled and unreadible without the decryption key.

This is a way to protect your files from access in the event of theft.Secondly, just like phones, set a strong password and set up your device to automatically lock, or get into the practice of locking your computer before you step away.

Update your software and operating systems when updates are available.

Accounts....

Starting today if you are not using a password manager now is the time, iOS even has a free one called 'Passwords,' you have no excuse.

A password manager keeps track of the accounts you keep online and helps you generate strong and unique passwords for each account you keep online.

Why is it important? - Okay, so if you keep one main password, you use it for iCloud, your bank, and also that forum you visited once and forgot about two years ago, here's the problem;

All it takes is for that forum to fall victim to a cyberattack in which thieves manage to access the user database, and BAM!!! - It's not just the forum password; they now have the very same password for your email, and any other account you use online.

Now this happens everyday, and we all have our data on atleast 100 sites, apps, pizza delivery, comparriosn websites etc.Go and change your passwords. Yes, our dog is cute, but that can't be our password everywhere!

Two-factor authentication.....

Those tiny, pesky six digit codes we enter on most sites aim to stop exactly that; it's one extra layer of defence in the event your password is compromised or guessed.

They are generated at random, and the reality is only you should have access to that code, that's why its so important you never share them.

Side note: SIM jacking is a thing.... https://mattymorris.com/what-is-simjacking/

Be mindful of what you post...Everyone at some point has stalked someone online, who are they dating now? - well scammers, hackers, thieves are all doing the same thing.

Your social media accounts are a wealth of information, from cute pictures of your dogs, which you probably tagged with their name, that also happens to double as a answer to a security question?

Or perhaps it's something about Nan, which includes her maiden name?or maybe you just posted a photo of your id because you got your P's or updated your liscense, but it included your middle name, so that combined with a recent photo uploaded on your birthday, and your username includes 95, good chance you are?

Mary Jane Smith 01-3-1995 - Mary dat you?

But we also found your posting in a local group about a lost puppy, and you shared where you work on LinkedIn, so putting that all together, I've probably got enough info to trick an unsuspecting phone company into porting your phone number to a new sim, so I grab those two-factor authentication texts and get into your bank.

Okay, maybe a bit dramatic but you can see how leaving parts about our private life acorss multiple platforms can be combined to paint a pictures which can be used to harm us?

Backup your stuff....

No seriously do it now, accounts aren't forever, don't reply on a single app or service to look after your data.

Accounts can be comprosied by hackers, suspended by AI at anytime, make sure you have a copy of your important data like photos, videos, memories etc.

you are one account suspension away from loosing it all.

thank you!

@mattmorrismedia - mattymorris.com
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