# Online Privacy A couple of years ago I had the privilege of attending a seminar about electronic privacy and security led by former FBI computer crimes investigator [Michael Bazzell][1]. If this is your first time hearing that name or digging into this topic I highly encourage you to visit his websites, listen to his podcasts, and/or read his book. His blog is a great place to start. You can find it here: . During his presentation he explained the many ways our private information is obtained without our consent; either through social engineering, data mining, or outright hacking. At the end of the presentation, he even gave a live demonstration showing a wifi pineapple device that he setup earlier in the day to spoof the guest wifi of the facility. In doing so, he collected personal information from a handful of smartphones in the room (including pictures, web sites visited during the presentation, and more). Needless to say, I was impressed with his experience, knowledge, and stealth in “hacking” the phones of individuals in a room full of IT professionals. That presentation got me thinking about my own privacy and security and how I could better protect myself and my family. His 30-day challenge last year was a great place to start and provided good motivation. As a result, I have since started using services such as [email masking][2], [multi-factor authentication][3], [better password managers][4], [credit card masking][5], [secure email][6], and more. In fact, if you email me from here you will notice that I’m using the Blur email masking service. I will be writing more posts about each of these individually as I get more time, but for now that’s a great starter list. Why are you still reading this post!? Get started now on keeping yourself and loved ones protected and secure!   Update: I’m now also using PIA‘s VPN service. So far I don’t have any complaints. It works as advertised. I really enjoy the split networking functionality on my cell phone, so I can leave VPN active all of the time for Internet traffic, but also still access my local home network. Stack Social has a great deal on this service and gives you a coupon code, so you can even sign up for the service anonymously if you want. [1]: https://computercrimeinfo.com/bio.html [2]: https://dnt.abine.com/ [3]: http://chris.theserenos.com/2017/05/13/dont-get-hacked/ [4]: http://keepass.info/ [5]: https://privacy.com [6]: https://protonmail.com/