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My Security and Privacy Checklist: 2025 Edition
Last year, I published my Cybersecurity Checklist for friends and family. As the year progressed and more news came to light about significant company security breaches (like the AT&T data hack), I took additional actions to protect my security and privacy. Recent news events (such as the messages that revealed the Blake Lively smear campaign) also got me thinking more about large-scale surveillance. I’m not a paranoid person — but I am a realist. And real-world events create situations where our online lives are more likely to be used in ways we did not intend, but can foresee. If you are thinking about the risks of digital life today, but don’t know where to start, use this checklist to take precautions. An explanation of each checklist item is included below.
Security Checklist
- Use a Password Manager to generate and store passwords
- Use 2FA to secure your accounts
- Change your passwords
- Set up an additional PIN and passcode for your phone
- Freeze your credit
- Agree on a family passphrase
- Install a mesh network app (Bridgefy) in case of an emergency situation where you can’t connect to the Internet
