RyanKriger.com
  • Home
  • About
  • Privacy Pages
    • Privacy
    • Privacy Resources
    • Weekly Privacy Prompt
    • Privacy Blog
  • Writing
  • Making Friends
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
  • Privacy Pages
    • Privacy
    • Privacy Resources
    • Weekly Privacy Prompt
    • Privacy Blog
  • Writing
  • Making Friends
  • Blog
  • Contact
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

1/8/2020 0 Comments

Privacy Prompt 1: Track Your Accounts

Picture
sensitive_websites.xlsx
File Size: 11 kb
File Type: xlsx
Download File

Privacy and security are closely related. You know that having strong passwords is important to good privacy. Click here to see why passwords are so important. This week's prompt is pretty simple:

Create a list of every high-risk website, account, or app with which you have an account that requires a password. It can be on paper, a Word doc, Excel, wherever. If you want to be super private, make a Word doc and password protect it. I have provided a simple Excel spreadsheet to start you out (which you can also password protect).

Why? For many reasons:
  1. It's just a good idea to know all the sensitive accounts you have.
  2. If you aren't using unique passwords, and one of your passwords is stolen, you must immediately change all the other passwords. This list will make that easier.
  3. It is a best practice to rotate your passwords. Every year or so you should change your passwords. This list will help you keep track of what passwords to change.

What is a high-risk  account and why do they matter more?
  • Lots of websites ask you to create an account, but some don't really matter if they get hacked. If someone steals my New York Times credentials I'm not too worried. In fact, I don't even use unique passwords for low-risk accounts, it's just easier.
  • High-risk accounts, on the other hand, can cause a lot of damage if they get hacked. They include accounts related to:
    • Banking
    • Investments & Retirement
    • Tax prep
    • Work & School
    • Health
    • Email
    • Cloud storage
    • Social Media
    • Shopping
  • High-risk accounts require a strong, unique password. We'll go into what that looks like next week.

That's it! Make the list. If you have a password manager that might be easy. If you think this would be too difficult, than you definitely should make the list!!!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All Consumer Help Data Security Dual-Factor Authentication Guidance Links & Articles My Writing Passwords Privacy Privacy Prompt

    Author

    Ryan Kriger is an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Vermont. He writes on privacy and data security and  teaches about privacy, consumer protection and policy at the University of Vermont.

    These materials are my personal work product developed as a university lecturer and do not reflect the policies or priorities of the Vermont Attorney General. These materials do not constitute legal advice.

    Archives

    January 2020
    April 2019

    RSS Feed

© 2020 Ryan Kriger