I'd love to hear any other tips you have that I might have missed. Leave them in the comments and then be sure to take control of your personal data with a service I use called DeleteMe. Get 20% off here: www.joindeleteme.com/allthingssecured
Using Yubikeys. 2FA is critical and everybody should invest in them. They even protect you against phishing because they check the URL that you are connecting to.
I have an Asus router and it has an option called Instant Guard which creates a secure encrypted connection between your device, the public hotspot and your own ASUS router.
I also add a tip: do not use photos of family members as a background photo. Use them only on the unlocked screen. This way, you guarantee more privacy for your family.
Enable SIM PIN to keep someone from using your SIM card in another phone (say to receive verification codes via SMS). On iPhone under Settings, Cellular, SIM PIN. Default SIM PIN for AT&T is 1111. Change it to something different than your phone passcode. Also, if you miss the SIM code 3 times you will have to get a new physical SIM card or eSIM from your carrier.
#8 If you're a Windows computer user, DO NOT use an administrator account. This means when you turn it on out-of-box and follow that wizard to set up an account, REALIZE that one will be a powerful administrator and your first task upon login should be to create a 2nd account, a STANDARD user account for yourself to use. Later whenever you're intentionally installing software you'll have to provide that administrator account info (so keep it written somewhere at home), but that's the only time you need it. All your daily life on the computer should be done with your STANDARD user account. Please REALIZE that when you eventually fall for a scam or get hit by malware or virus that the enemy software only has the power of the account that you're using in that moment. So if you're just a STANDARD user then the virus damage is isolated, limited, removable. If you get successfully attacked while operating an administrator account there's often no way to clean/recover the computer without wholesale wiping it clean and losing everything. This is standard best-practice used by every knowledgeable corporation that deploys computers to its employees.
Unfortunately they're likely to be using a vulnerability that escalates privilege. I view the use of an account with less privileges as merely a means to protect against user error, like deleting something or editing a file you shouldn't.
This may or may not apply, but I have a smart TV that I can block the mic & camera on, the other I haven't found where to do this; if I'm at home and have to give info out loud for something, I know there's vulnerability in a big way where cameras & microphones can be hacked allowing an unknown source to get the info. If you have any advice or suggestions about this topic, I'd really love to get your expert knowledge & advice! Laptops & phones probably fit into this category as well. Thanks!
The +service tip for making all emails unique has the benefit that if you get something fishy on that address, you know immediately which service has suffered a data breach.
Great video. I am a retired IT Pro, now a little ole lady enjoying life. Have so many like contemporaries who I advise almost daily on "puter and social media and smart phone problems that we have chatted about creating a course for "LOL"'s who are overwhelmed. 😘
Good idea, especially if you want to keep your friends. Because I've had problems with those friends getting free Tech advice from me who have no clue which things are possible for any one person to fix and which random problems are User Errors.
There is a huge vulnerability on the back of most credit cards because they print a CVC code - which enables purchases without the physical card. It's very easy to steal a photo of this when you hand your card to someone. Just write down the code somewhere safe and cover up or remove the one on the card.
I know my cvc, my card number and so on. I also have my bank app set to react even if i spent 1 cent so i get notification whether i spent 1 cent or get 1 cent. My card data was stolen once used to by stuff on apple's app store and you can guess apple was useless so i requested new card and old one was cancelled. Also if you're giving card data nowadays you have digital credit cards as extra security so use them for online purchases because if they're stolen and you don't have any money on them it's wasted effort on thiefs part.
For me that is unnecessarily complicated as it makes you dependent on their tools. I don't need dynamic CVN when I can set up daily limits, have notification for every purchase above a limit and I can block it easily, cancel the card with a tapp and have another delivered in 2-3 days
@@SkifNomadcat WOW what a great Idea. Maybe you could be generous and SHARE what "banking" is providing that feature? I'm positive the Bank won't mind. (but, I could be wrong)
Bravo, Dale Valskov -I'm so glad you're out there fighting these scumbags. We must do everything in our power to protect the elderly and the general public from these despicable scammers. You're a true hero, my brother
I'm probably in the same age bracket as your parents and have trouble comprehending a lot of technology. Thankfully I can follow a lot of what you're discussing with your clear descriptions.
The idea of using a different email address for financial accounts is brilliant! Very easy to setup and would be very effective at helping identify phishing messages. Thanks for the tip!
Fantastic idea to have a dedicated email address for the bank. Took me an hour and a half to sort it out in the branch but I’ve done it and feel more secure. Thanks Josh!
I've been doing this for 15 years and it is a very good security layer. Whenever I register on a new site I create a new email address for the login (usually), and you can tell if a certain website has their site compromised (ie: you get unexplained spam/fishing to that email address), you can identify the site that was affected and remove the email alias for that site (or change it).
Wow, that's great on "identifying the site". My question/concern is, won't you end up with (possibly) hundreds of email accounts that will require tending to? It's like . . . I have a hand full now and the time consumed monitoring this small amount is more than I'm comfortable with.
@@sarcasticcrypto For me, the little work is well worth it when I note that an alias has been harvested... usually when I start to get fishing attempts (or worse) emails to that alias. I end up with a hundred or so aliases which I go through on occasion and delete ones I don't use much. If I need to log in again in the future for a specific site, I can always re-create the alias. Also, if one wants, they can use one alias for a small number of websites (ie: 4 or 5). If your email gets harvested, I just need to change the alias on those 5 or 5 sites. I can't imagine people using just one email address and it getting harvested by security breaches and being part of email lists passed on to scammers.
The only tip I’d object to is the advice to use Google tap-to-pay, and it’s more of a privacy concern than a security concern. Google’s primary business is gathering data about you and selling access to advertisers. I’d rather not add all of my credit-card transactions to the data it already collects and monetizes.
Actually it is _also_ a security concern since that data often will end up in the hands of scammers since past financial transactions are EXTREMELY valuable to scammers. But yeah, Google will hand over your data to whatever authorities without a warrant, especially if you find yourself ideologically opposed to them. This is not speculation, this is fact.
I'm not overly fond of this idea. We have a separate bank and bank account with a visa card we use when traveling. We only transfer limitted amounts to this extra bank account. If it is hacked, we only loose a limited amount.
You don't really care which of your tips I found most valuable, so I just write this to support the channel. People happily handover their privacy for a shred of convenience - fact God bless
I live out in the country in a very low tech lifestyle but as you know you can never truly escape the cyber world’s reach and the consequences of cybercrime can be catastrophic. I’m thinking of going to a dumb phone for local travel & just leaving the smart one at home. Fortunately I do not have medical devices, appliances or vehicles that connect to the internet, which has become the playground of criminals. And I’m going to start using cash for the small transactions of daily life, even though it’s much less convenient than swiping a card. It really goes against common sense to be so dependent on something one cannot personally control or even influence, but here we are, hung out to dry, excruciatingly vulnerable.
Thank you so much. This information will be so helpful to me. I’ve been a recent victim of identity theft and fraud. I’m trying my hardest to get things fixed. I’m 75yo and never had a problem until I recently met someone who did the damage. Between my bank and the Police, I spend my day trying to clear things up.
Good tips as it’s difficult to avoid electronic transactions completely. Remember cash is king, use cash for most of your transactions, it’s fun & gets the brain working in a different way. I find the young shop assistants enjoy the handling of it. Limit online purchases, face to face is much better, & you’re creating relationships along the way! Life is about relationships.
I collect coins, especially 50 cent pieces and dollar coins. It’s amazing how many people don’t know what a 50 cent coin looks like or that we even have a 50 cent coin. I get a lot of 'get the manager to see if we can take this' when using them. Dollar coins aren’t as difficult to use but I still get strange looks. I’d say 70% of the time when I use these and $2 bills, the cashier will ask to buy them from the drawer. It’s fun to introduce younger folks to the world of coins😉
I too loved coins & wish I had a unique collection. My favorite for some reason is the 1 Troy oz. Silver bar. I have a couple. I know that’s basic to an actual collector 😂 Re: 50 cent & $1 coins - I Love the Kennedy half’s, bicentennial & Sacagawea dollars. I used to work as a teller in the early ‘00’s and I’d come across silver quarters & dimes. Immediately spot them by just the sounds made in my hands (of course aside from the silver edges). I won’t part with any of the halves, $1 coins & $2 bills any longer. But I 💯 agree & appreciate the skepticism when handing over $ not typically circulated. Especially the Sacagawea ones back then when they were first minted. The confused looks of cashiers were priceless.
I'm a Maldives born and living in UK and I cannot express enough how much I despise these scumbags. Literally whenever people ask me my nationality I just tell them I'm British because idiots like these give us a horrendous reputation, not to also mention they scam other Europeans too. It warms my heart to see stuff like this, please Dale Valskov keep up the great work destroying these scammers!!!
Hey ppl, I'm a retired computer/IT person, Yet I still find Dale Valskov so informative and straight forward. Thanks for your advise and helping the people...........Great work and love watching.
As a person and professional you couldn't get any better than Dale Valskov is a very reliable person and an excellent professional in the IT field. He is the type of person you want to work that's passionate, hardworking and knowledgeable. You’re The Best 100%
RE: the tap to pay thing, I just use cash. It's more convenient for me to reach into my pocket and grab a fiver than it is to grab my phone, long press the little wallet button, type in my password, find the card I want to use, then touch the reader.
and makes a statement dont want CBDC and notice lots local chinese restraunts charge for card use and they sied its becuase they dont want CBDC is part the reason other part os obiusly the banks greed which is obvius you CANT setup a bank that is FOR THE PEAOPLE when you MUST go thugh the rothschilds FED which is AGAINST THE PEAOPLE.
@@heythave And if that's the case, don't use cash. When I buy fuel I use my card so I have a receipt. You just have to use cash enough to keep the bankman on his toes.
For very sensitive accounts, such as phone restoration or banking, I use my partner’s contact information. That way, if someone’s phone gets stolen, the other can recover it. It literally just happened to me weeks after we set it up, and boy was I happy that I did it! If you go this far into security, I also suggest doing a not-so-frequent disaster recovery simulation to see if you can 1) do it, 2) do it in a reasonable time, and 3) see if you have holes in your setup.
Bravo, Dale Valskov I'm so glad you're out there fighting these scumbags. We must do everything in our power to protect the elderly and the general public from these despicable scammers. You're a true hero, my brother.
Another good reason why I'm switching off the wifi and Bluetooth when not using them is that when those are on, they deplete the battery so much faster. Especially when traveling (driving) with the wifi on, it checks all the wifis around the way and the difference is HUGE - for me it was driving with the GPS nav and having wifi off arriving with about 70% battery left, vs forgetting the wifi on and arriving with about 20% (on a 400km trip). As for the Bluetooth I have it switched off most of the time and only switching it on when actually needed, i.e. transferring files or using the headphones.
The other reason WiFi eats battery while navigating is that they do a bit of wardriving. Looking for WiFi APs at an assumed location to better figure out where youkare in that 20 metre guesstimation of GPS. It's also the only reliable location service inside a building.
The way you described the Apple Pay and Google Pay section was something I've been trying to do for years with family and friends, but never was able to fully explain the picture. Just shared that section on my FB to hopefully help some people. Thanks dude!
The only tip I’d object to is the advice to use Google tap-to-pay, and it’s more of a privacy concern than a security concern. Google’s primary business is gathering data about you and selling access to advertisers. I’d rather not add all of my credit-card transactions to the data it already collects and monetizes.
I realised really early on that my email account has power over my accounts on any website/service where that email is registered. If I used the same password everywhere including email account, a data breach can be used to pivot through my email into every website I used. So my email was the first to have unique password and then I started using a password manager and generated passwords. A new email address for just a few things is a great idea and it won't be in any data breaches due to being new and not used in too many sites. It has always been important to maintain access to all your email accounts over a long time and not lose to inactivity or ending service with that service provider. There will be a time when a site has to force a password reset on everyone or an account migration to a new service.
Having someone like you who’s not only a great innovator but also pulls his best to get the work done so beautifully needs nothing but appreciation. Dale Valskov Thanks for the well off work you consistently bring your all and I truly appreciate that. Thank you for making corporate life so smooth. Proud to have you on our team. Great work as always.
Congratulations Dale Valskov -I am relieved that you are out there fighting these thugs. We must take every precaution to protect the elderly and the general public from these despicable con artists. Congratulations to you!! You deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for ensuring our security.
I’ve used the unique email for banking, finances etc. I also use ONLY my home computer for finances (with a VPN) never access banking or cc on phone, public areas etc. Credit has been frozen for years yet old personal info still on dark web and surfaces from time to time in breaches - but it’s OLD. I will be checking out delete me to clean up the old stuff. Great tips!
The require Face ID tip for iOS 18 is clutch for email apps. If the phone is taken from you unlocked having this extra layer would prevent someone to go through password recovery through your email and own your accounts.
I have my phone time out and require a physical code be input to unlock it if I press the lock button ...in this way a bad actor (oftentimes LEO) cannot force open my phone simply using my finger or face against my will.
@@horustwohawks If one were to force you to use biometrics, they absolutely are not above forcing you to give up the code by any means necessary, but if the device were seized by law enforcement, having a code instead of biometrics would give you a better reasonable expectation of privacy, and you could not be obliged to unlock it. It all depends on your threat model.
Good and interesting list. As a retired IT guy, I know all these things. I've implemented the first 3 plus the public wifi one. If you use a secret email, then the unique name and credit freeze suggestions are a lower priority threat IMO. I would also have a problem with turning off blue tooth because I have high end hearing aids which I control with an app. Bottom line: These are all common sense suggestion to me, but I worked in IT for 27+ years. That said, everyone else should absolutely strongly consider doing most of the things on this list.
The efficiency of this Dale Valskov is next level. To juggle walk throughs of various angles on the topic delivered to-camera, differnet content per topic from various folks underneath the umbrella of the track list of the larger big band concert itself is engaging and refined. To make a dense taccess like this so digestible is really something. Awesome work jack!!
I just wanted to say thank you for sharing this. Because you're right. The worst thing that you can feel is hopelessness. And I hope that someone who is on the verge of losing hope finds Dale Valskov and realizes that as long as you're still alive and breathing, there's a chance, there's HOPE that the future is brighter then the present day.
I froze my credit years ago. And then I noticed that my car insurance and home owner's insurance went up. I called them and asked why. They said that they could not access my credit information. I then asked how do I avoid this? They said unfreeze your credit, but they couldn't tell me which credit bureau they used. Has this happened to anyone else?
I froze my credit too, changed insurance company, I asked the question was told they didn't need access to my credit report. By the way I saved $32 a month on auto and got additional coverage on my owners for same premium amount. That happened this year.
Most all insurance (homeowners, vehicle, life, etc) checks credit reports and charges more or less for bad or good credit. You can temporarily unlock your credit reports, let them check it, and re-lock. You would have to do it at renewal time as well, otherwise you will pay the top rates and receive no discounts for good credit report.
Hi Josh, Thank you! The "secret" email is a game changer. Will be doing that soon. To add to that is a secondary SIM Card or eSim, a Pre-Paid number. (for the same reason as the secret email) Google Pay that too was really good to know! All the others are amazing Take care
03:12 Technically, it is still a credit/debit card number from your bank (which still issues the second card number); but is indeed a different number, and it is „tokenized“ and can only be used in very specific ways. Tap to pay (with your phone or watch) is way more secure than most people think.
Lock your social security number. Slight hassle to set up but once done, as with credit freeze, easy to undo temporarily and the relock. Very similar to credit freeze. Prevents someone from doing much of anything with your SSN because it basically does not exist while locked. This prevents employment fraud, fraudulent bank account opening. ETC.
@@slc1161you have to go onto each of the credit bureau sites and do it for each one. Transition, Experian and Equifax. Freezing and or locking your report are what you are looking to do when you get there. We keep ours locked until we need to apply for any kind of credit and as soon as we have we lock it right back up.
I just got notified today that my ss#, dob, full name, 2 previous addresses, and 1 previous phone number were in that huge data breach. 😮 Thank you, Josh, for all you do, because you have helped me secure my info over the years. I feel like I am more prepared than 95% of most people. We live in a crazy world
Considering that I’m a diabetic and use a CGM to monitor my blood glucose readings, Bluetooth is necessary for this to work properly, turning Bluetooth off would prohibit the important information needed to monitor my blood glucose, especially when sleeping.
You can minimize exposure on your phone by ensuring you have the latest update for your phone. Also, for iPhone you can go into settings > Privacy & Security > Bluetooth. This is where you can limit which apps can use Bluetooth. I don’t have an Android so I don’t have the Bluetooth information for that OS.
The best tip for me is tap vs swipe credit cards. I have been reluctant to use this technology not knowing the risks. As to additions, maybe add to the no public wifi tip to not use public charging stations (e.g. USB ports). Bring your own charging cable and block.
All good tips, and I already do them. Just remember turning off wifi/blutooth wont just affect your headset but also wireless car play. I normally suggest turning off features in the wifi settings to not connect to open wifi’s automatically and hotspots. If this is not on, then it’s not looking and scanning. Same with apple for airdrop, turn off airdrop or allow contacts only. But I think airdrop off is better, you can turn it back on for 5 mins only when needed. But this way bluetooth connections like to your car stereo, watch, maybe even contact glucose meter or some other medical device confuses to work without it scanning.
I"ve been told by Rob Braxman Tech that wifi is hardware based - meaning (unless you have a "Degoogled" phone) it's ALWAYS scanning and looking even though you've "Turn it off" on your end. With a Degoogled (Android) phone, your wifi searching location info isn't being sent to the associated mothership. AND it's not possible to turn off Wifi with Apple products - that's why "find my phone" works on Apple products even though the device is turned off.
@@alexrelexer haha you see the realmoney lovin germany with their refusal to implement internet across the land did save us from not enabling wifi and bluethooth 24/7.
6:27 Tip#4 We really need to see more videos that push people away from using credit cards or taking out car loans. People have been conditioned to believe that these things are a necessity in life, when in fact they are a setup for failure. Get in the habit of paying *CASH* for your purchases. If you have the cash to buy an item 5 times over, then you can afford it. If you have to take out a loan or put it on a credit card, then you cannot afford it. Simple as that! So many people are struggling financially these days, and every story I hear is that they use credit cards and/or they have a car loan. We have to stop this debt trap or else you will never get ahead in life.
I understand the point you’re trying to make. However, the “system” conditions us to establish credit i.e. credit reports are used by employers as part of background checks to determine responsibility & what about needing a loan to purchase a house?? I don’t think the average person can afford an all cash purchase. Especially nowadays!! CC’s are certainly evil. I agree if cannot pay with available cash on hand then don’t treat like free money. Some get in way over their heads for sure!! End up paying triple! I personally use cc’s to keep accounts open as beneficial for credit score & pay off each month to avoid interest. Car loans are very impactful to credit scores. Mine went up 50 points once paid off. Unfortunately, I noticed that increase doesn’t last very long on a report absent a new loan. All by design to feed the banks.
I understand the point you’re trying to make. However, the “system” conditions us to establish credit i.e. credit reports are used by employers as part of background checks to determine responsibility & what about needing a loan to purchase a house?? I don’t think the average person can afford an all cash purchase. Especially nowadays!! CC’s are certainly misused and treated as “free money” by many. I agree if cannot pay with available cash on hand then don’t treat like free money. Some get in way over their heads for sure!! End up paying triple! I personally use cc’s to keep accounts open as beneficial for credit score & pay off each month to avoid interest. Car loans are very impactful to credit scores. Mine went up 50 points once paid off. Unfortunately, I noticed that increase doesn’t last very long on a report absent a new loan. All by design to feed the banks.
Except for the maybe only perhaps not updated and outdated performance bot performance. Something which unfortunately queen Elizabeth was okay with. While she was on her way to be over the age of 100. Would have been nice to have seen her make it there. Like some men who have put in long hours doing military service in the past too.
Very few people talk about different email addresses based on purpose: for me, if it's separated into a folder (personal-no accounts, financial, shopping, household, travel, etc.), it has its own email address or alias. Not only does it self-filter emails, it prioritizes them. After a data breach, you replace the email address and update 10-20 accounts in less than a half hour (not all 200 plus accounts tied to one or two email accounts) and not see scams or spams again.
@@michaellane1316 Let's take an email address I created for travel. Only airlines, hotels, and rental cars have that email address which means any email I receive is only related to travel and I don't have to set up a filter to separate it from financial, entertainment, shopping, etc. This happened in 2018: MGM had a data breach, so I got the store surveys, the fake invoices, and other common phishing emails sent to my travel email address. I replaced it, so travel2006@mydomain was replaced by travel2018@mydomain and I updated the 10 travel accounts. No more spam! If I was using one or two email addresses for everything, I would have had to replace the email address and update 100's of accounts with the new email, which nobody is going to do, they rather battle the spam. I was able to do this in less than 15 minutes.
@@michaellane1316 Let's take an email address I created for travel. Only airlines, hotels, and rental cars have that email address which means any email I receive is only related to travel and I don't have to set up a filter to separate it from financial, entertainment, shopping, etc. This happened in 2018: MGM had a data breach, so I got the store surveys, the fake invoices, and other common phishing emails sent to my travel email address. I replaced it, so travel2006@mydomain was replaced by travel2018@mydomain and I updated the 10 travel accounts. No more spam! If I was using one or two email addresses for everything, I would have had to replace the email address and update 100's of accounts with the new email, which nobody is going to do, they rather battle the spam. I was able to do this in less than 15 minutes.
I found this very interesting, and got some ideas from it, but I've got two great ways to increase your security that I use all the time, and you didn't mention. 1. I use cash or checks for the majority of my purchases and bills. It eliminates the whole problem of passwords and the stealing of my information. 2. I have refused over the years to bow to public pressure and get a cell phone. No one can steal my phone unless they break into my house. Perhaps, now this is just a thought, instead of letting corporate America and technology use and abuse us, we actually control our use of technology and don't bow to the pressure of rich billionaires who want to replace human jobs with technology. And the fact that I am posting this here, shows that you can have a balance between technology and humanity. I use technology, I try to not let it use me.
One warning about using checks. I once had someone I wrote a check to make checks using my account number and information on the front of my check. They then wrote a check for $1600. and forged my signature. So checks aren’t so safe either.
You should not use your banking e-mail for paypal. When you use paypal, the vendor sniffs your paypal email even if you are registered with the vendor with another email. Then they swap your paypal email for the one you registered with. And Paypal lets them do it. Since paypal is a payment platform, I keep a unique paypal email, separate from my banking email.
I enjoy your content and appreciate your practical approach to online security. I do all of the recommendations in this videos as a matter of daily practice with the exception of the WiFi & Bluetooth turning off. I simply use both too much in my daily life to turn them off.
Thanks a lot for these very critical tips. But for those that are already paranoid about tech stuff, they may not find it easy to do. They'd much rather prefer to have a tech guy like you set up all these things on their behalf.
You don't want credit bureaus they are a terrible idea as they little more than a biased privatized social credit score, a nightmare for privacy and uncountable gatekeepers for access to financial services. You definitely do not want them without some beefy privacy, transparency, and consumer protection laws and an oversight body to police them unlike the way the way they operate in the US. Remember the Experian breach? They hold some of the most important and sensitive information about people and their security was and continues to be a joke.
These credit cards that support tap also support being read via hacking card RFID scanners someone can walk around with, so you should mention the very cheap RFID blocker cards that you can stack into your several cards to protect them.
He's not referring to tapping your card but is instead referring to tapping with Apple Pay or Google Pay, both of which require biometric activation before they process any transaction, and are therefore not affected by RFID scanners. The card itself is vulnerable to RFID scanners, and if you choose to take it with you then an RFID blocker wallet would help in that scenario.
I actually most times forget my physical cards, where I live tap to pay enabled terminals are everywhere and the one time nature of the operations gives me great peace of mind.
This is very important. To mitigate against this, I got a Wallet that has an RFID block so you can't hack my cards while it's in my wallet safe in my Pocket. It did cost me quite a bit to get the Wallet. This is a good security tip he didn't remember to mention.
I love your channel and have tightened up my security based on your advice. But, I have a channel that focuses on helping seniors stay safe online. I am a Proton Partner because I thought the free Proton Pass would be a good first step for seniors, but I’m having a really tough time selling them on it. Frankly, most of these security measures are alien to seniors and just cause anxiety. Any tips?
You are so right. I am a senior and all of this scares me spitless!! I don't have a clue what any of this is talking about but, I do want to be safe and secure with my online purchases and my banking account...just don't know how to go about it. 😢
@@lindamarcom4107I'm sorry to hear, Linda. I can relate all too well. And what's worse, even if you manage to somehow get atop some of this stuff, it's always a short-lived high because the tech is constantly devolving. Evolving for 'them' in their never ending quest of designed obsolescence. But devolving for 'us' the victims of a world going much too fast in a directory that does not include anyone over about 60🙁
You can do a similar thing with your phone number as with email aliases. Get a VOIP provider with multiple phone numbers and never share your real one.
I'm Leary about setting up the tap system with my phone. Yes, maybe it will be a safer way to avoid scammers but now Google has your info. I trust them as far as I can throw a bus.
Thank you for always providing such practical tips for the masses, not just the tech savvy. I follow a few privacy and security channels, but I find the most useful tips on yours!
Quick question regarding email aliases to be used for login. Let’s say I use Apple’s hide my email service to use an email for my bank login. If I stop paying for my icloud+ subscription, would I lose access to that email and therefore not being able to login to the account or rest password since the inbox is closed? Thank you!
Everyone should have a dedicated person like you Dale Valskov . People dream of hiring such a talented expert like you. Keep up the hard work. Thank you so much for your dedication in this process. Thank you for your commitment to your job. Your outstanding performance helped our me alot. Thank you once again for your hard work and dedication.
Dont forget to set up your ss act with the soc sec admin website. If you dont someone else could set it up for you with all the info and ss# that were hacked recently.
2:40 I don't know for the US, but in the EU if you pay tap to pay, it will be a direct pay and you can't book it back again. A dealer in a motorcycle shop was even angry I swiped my bankcard through instead of tab, because he wanted to be sure no customer is able bo book it back, lol.
You should have 3 or more email addresses. One for serious stuff, one for online shopping or subscriptions, one crappy stuff. You can have a fourth for work or business. Never forward emails sent between these accounts.
Always excellent and useful information, Josh, thank you. My take aways were the tips on Tap vs CC and why, and also about credit freezing. I will be looking into those two. I do have a secondary Proton email account set up from when you mentioned it one of your other videos.
0:30 the paid version of Proton Pass offers a feature to generate an unlimited number of emails aliases which direct the mail the to an account of your choice, for example the main Proton address. As soon as you delete the alias, it's no longer in use
Have you thought about an updated annual credit report check video now that the three reporting agencies have permanently extended a program that allows you to check your credit report at each agency once a week for free? If you place a freeze your credit are you still able to request your free credit report or do you have to un freeze in order to view reports post freeze?
9:45 min mark you mention tethering to your mobile data instead of using WiFi with a VPN. I have never heard of tethering. Could you please do a video explaining how to tether to mobile data, and also, can tethering to mobile data work while traveling overseas? Also, if you're at an airport, if you tether without a USB cable (i.e., via Bluetooth), isn't that also unsafe?
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I'd love to hear any other tips you have that I might have missed. Leave them in the comments and then be sure to take control of your personal data with a service I use called DeleteMe. Get 20% off here: www.joindeleteme.com/allthingssecured
Using Yubikeys. 2FA is critical and everybody should invest in them. They even protect you against phishing because they check the URL that you are connecting to.
Sure here it is: DeleteMe is a scam. Create a new email address that you never use and tell me how many hits you get. 😂😂😂
I have an Asus router and it has an option called Instant Guard which creates a secure encrypted connection between your device, the public hotspot and your own ASUS router.
I also add a tip: do not use photos of family members as a background photo. Use them only on the unlocked screen. This way, you guarantee more privacy for your family.
Enable SIM PIN to keep someone from using your SIM card in another phone (say to receive verification codes via SMS). On iPhone under Settings, Cellular, SIM PIN. Default SIM PIN for AT&T is 1111. Change it to something different than your phone passcode. Also, if you miss the SIM code 3 times you will have to get a new physical SIM card or eSIM from your carrier.
That tip about having a separate email for personal use and financial use is one that I will be using immediately. Great information for sure.
Excellent!
I'm glad to see this bit of advice. I think it's a great idea.
also make sure you have mfa enabled for all your important accounts
Email aliases take this to the next level. Simple Login is a good one and owned Proton
yes
I like that you actually took the time to give helpful advice instead of just repeating superficially what everyone else is saying XD
#8 If you're a Windows computer user, DO NOT use an administrator account. This means when you turn it on out-of-box and follow that wizard to set up an account, REALIZE that one will be a powerful administrator and your first task upon login should be to create a 2nd account, a STANDARD user account for yourself to use. Later whenever you're intentionally installing software you'll have to provide that administrator account info (so keep it written somewhere at home), but that's the only time you need it. All your daily life on the computer should be done with your STANDARD user account. Please REALIZE that when you eventually fall for a scam or get hit by malware or virus that the enemy software only has the power of the account that you're using in that moment. So if you're just a STANDARD user then the virus damage is isolated, limited, removable. If you get successfully attacked while operating an administrator account there's often no way to clean/recover the computer without wholesale wiping it clean and losing everything. This is standard best-practice used by every knowledgeable corporation that deploys computers to its employees.
Unfortunately they're likely to be using a vulnerability that escalates privilege. I view the use of an account with less privileges as merely a means to protect against user error, like deleting something or editing a file you shouldn't.
@@loganmedia4401 Exactly!
this admonition of yours is "old school" protection that most people today never knew existed previously. Good call!.
Not worth for personal use
This may or may not apply, but I have a smart TV that I can block the mic & camera on, the other I haven't found where to do this; if I'm at home and have to give info out loud for something, I know there's vulnerability in a big way where cameras & microphones can be hacked allowing an unknown source to get the info. If you have any advice or suggestions about this topic, I'd really love to get your expert knowledge & advice! Laptops & phones probably fit into this category as well. Thanks!
Kudos for presenting practical security tips so well. Not talked about because they are so cheap and effective.
Thanks 🙏
delete me, promoted in this video, is neither cheap, nor effective.
@@D.von.Nhuh😮? Please tell us more
@@D.von.N Correction: DeleteMe bought and paid for this video, so of course they're going to be promoted.
The +service tip for making all emails unique has the benefit that if you get something fishy on that address, you know immediately which service has suffered a data breach.
I didn't understand this Tip. Is he creating a separate email address for EVERY Service/ App?
Basically that is the only reason to do that. +service format does mot any kind of security.
Great video. I am a retired IT Pro, now a little ole lady enjoying life. Have so many like contemporaries who I advise almost daily on "puter and social media and smart phone problems that we have chatted about creating a course for "LOL"'s who are overwhelmed.
😘
Good idea, especially if you want to keep your friends. Because I've had problems with those friends getting free Tech advice from me who have no clue which things are possible for any one person to fix and which random problems are User Errors.
There is a huge vulnerability on the back of most credit cards because they print a CVC code - which enables purchases without the physical card. It's very easy to steal a photo of this when you hand your card to someone. Just write down the code somewhere safe and cover up or remove the one on the card.
I know my cvc, my card number and so on. I also have my bank app set to react even if i spent 1 cent so i get notification whether i spent 1 cent or get 1 cent. My card data was stolen once used to by stuff on apple's app store and you can guess apple was useless so i requested new card and old one was cancelled. Also if you're giving card data nowadays you have digital credit cards as extra security so use them for online purchases because if they're stolen and you don't have any money on them it's wasted effort on thiefs part.
In my banking, I have a dynamic CVC that changes every hour. Pretty neat.
For me that is unnecessarily complicated as it makes you dependent on their tools. I don't need dynamic CVN when I can set up daily limits, have notification for every purchase above a limit and I can block it easily, cancel the card with a tapp and have another delivered in 2-3 days
@@SkifNomadcat WOW what a great Idea.
Maybe you could be generous and SHARE what "banking" is providing that feature?
I'm positive the Bank won't mind. (but, I could be wrong)
@@sarcasticcrypto it is Ukrainian bank called MonoBank. They have a lot of handy services and superfast transactions.
Bravo, Dale Valskov -I'm so glad you're out there fighting these scumbags. We must do everything in our power to protect the elderly and the general public from these despicable scammers. You're a true hero, my brother
I'm probably in the same age bracket as your parents and have trouble comprehending a lot of technology.
Thankfully I can follow a lot of what you're discussing with your clear descriptions.
The idea of using a different email address for financial accounts is brilliant! Very easy to setup and would be very effective at helping identify phishing messages. Thanks for the tip!
Dude its logic
Fantastic idea to have a dedicated email address for the bank. Took me an hour and a half to sort it out in the branch but I’ve done it and feel more secure. Thanks Josh!
I've been doing this for 15 years and it is a very good security layer. Whenever I register on a new site I create a new email address for the login (usually), and you can tell if a certain website has their site compromised (ie: you get unexplained spam/fishing to that email address), you can identify the site that was affected and remove the email alias for that site (or change it).
Wow, that's great on "identifying the site".
My question/concern is, won't you end up with (possibly) hundreds of email accounts that will require tending to?
It's like . . . I have a hand full now and the time consumed monitoring this small amount is more than I'm comfortable with.
@@sarcasticcrypto For me, the little work is well worth it when I note that an alias has been harvested... usually when I start to get fishing attempts (or worse) emails to that alias. I end up with a hundred or so aliases which I go through on occasion and delete ones I don't use much. If I need to log in again in the future for a specific site, I can always re-create the alias. Also, if one wants, they can use one alias for a small number of websites (ie: 4 or 5). If your email gets harvested, I just need to change the alias on those 5 or 5 sites. I can't imagine people using just one email address and it getting harvested by security breaches and being part of email lists passed on to scammers.
@@sarcasticcrypto I think maybe they may be referring to alias emails, like the +@gmail or the Proton alias, but that is a brilliant idea.
"compromised"
or they just sold your data
I have been doing exactly the same!
The only tip I’d object to is the advice to use Google tap-to-pay, and it’s more of a privacy concern than a security concern. Google’s primary business is gathering data about you and selling access to advertisers. I’d rather not add all of my credit-card transactions to the data it already collects and monetizes.
Actually it is _also_ a security concern since that data often will end up in the hands of scammers since past financial transactions are EXTREMELY valuable to scammers. But yeah, Google will hand over your data to whatever authorities without a warrant, especially if you find yourself ideologically opposed to them. This is not speculation, this is fact.
Also what if you lose your phone?? !!
Your own bank should have the option
I'm not overly fond of this idea. We have a separate bank and bank account with a visa card we use when traveling. We only transfer limitted amounts to this extra bank account.
If it is hacked, we only loose a limited amount.
@@AnandaMunoz You still have your original credit card to use.
You don't really care which of your tips I found most valuable, so I just write this to support the channel.
People happily handover their privacy for a shred of convenience - fact
God bless
I live out in the country in a very low tech lifestyle but as you know you can never truly escape the cyber world’s reach and the consequences of cybercrime can be catastrophic. I’m thinking of going to a dumb phone for local travel & just leaving the smart one at home. Fortunately I do not have medical devices, appliances or vehicles that connect to the internet, which has become the playground of criminals. And I’m going to start using cash for the small transactions of daily life, even though it’s much less convenient than swiping a card. It really goes against common sense to be so dependent on something one cannot personally control or even influence, but here we are, hung out to dry, excruciatingly vulnerable.
Thank you so much. This information will be so helpful to me. I’ve been a recent victim of identity theft and fraud. I’m trying my hardest to get things fixed. I’m 75yo and never had a problem until I recently met someone who did the damage. Between my bank and the Police, I spend my day trying to clear things up.
I feel sad when eldery people are targeted like that,when they have no clue what they're actually upto.
Good tips as it’s difficult to avoid electronic transactions completely. Remember cash is king, use cash for most of your transactions, it’s fun & gets the brain working in a different way. I find the young shop assistants enjoy the handling of it. Limit online purchases, face to face is much better, & you’re creating relationships along the way! Life is about relationships.
I collect coins, especially 50 cent pieces and dollar coins. It’s amazing how many people don’t know what a 50 cent coin looks like or that we even have a 50 cent coin. I get a lot of 'get the manager to see if we can take this' when using them. Dollar coins aren’t as difficult to use but I still get strange looks. I’d say 70% of the time when I use these and $2 bills, the cashier will ask to buy them from the drawer. It’s fun to introduce younger folks to the world of coins😉
I too loved coins & wish I had a unique collection. My favorite for some reason is the 1 Troy oz. Silver bar. I have a couple. I know that’s basic to an actual collector 😂 Re: 50 cent & $1 coins - I Love the Kennedy half’s, bicentennial & Sacagawea dollars. I used to work as a teller in the early ‘00’s and I’d come across silver quarters & dimes. Immediately spot them by just the sounds made in my hands (of course aside from the silver edges). I won’t part with any of the halves, $1 coins & $2 bills any longer. But I 💯 agree & appreciate the skepticism when handing over $ not typically circulated. Especially the Sacagawea ones back then when they were first minted. The confused looks of cashiers were priceless.
I'm a Maldives born and living in UK and I cannot express enough how much I despise these scumbags. Literally whenever people ask me my nationality I just tell them I'm British because idiots like these give us a horrendous reputation, not to also mention they scam other Europeans too. It warms my heart to see stuff like this, please Dale Valskov keep up the great work destroying these scammers!!!
Hey ppl, I'm a retired computer/IT person, Yet I still find Dale Valskov so informative and straight forward. Thanks for your advise and helping the people...........Great work and love watching.
Very very good tips here. The credit freeze is extremely good, as it adresses the root risk.
As a person and professional you couldn't get any better than Dale Valskov is a very reliable person and an excellent professional in the IT field. He is the type of person you want to work that's passionate, hardworking and knowledgeable. You’re The Best 100%
RE: the tap to pay thing, I just use cash. It's more convenient for me to reach into my pocket and grab a fiver than it is to grab my phone, long press the little wallet button, type in my password, find the card I want to use, then touch the reader.
and makes a statement dont want CBDC and notice lots local chinese restraunts charge for card use and they sied its becuase they dont want CBDC is part the reason other part os obiusly the banks greed which is obvius you CANT setup a bank that is FOR THE PEAOPLE when you MUST go thugh the rothschilds FED which is AGAINST THE PEAOPLE.
cash wont always be around there soon
Yes, and not helpful when you are traveling to different countries that require different types of cash currency.
I use cash 99% of the time
@@heythave And if that's the case, don't use cash. When I buy fuel I use my card so I have a receipt. You just have to use cash enough to keep the bankman on his toes.
For very sensitive accounts, such as phone restoration or banking, I use my partner’s contact information. That way, if someone’s phone gets stolen, the other can recover it. It literally just happened to me weeks after we set it up, and boy was I happy that I did it! If you go this far into security, I also suggest doing a not-so-frequent disaster recovery simulation to see if you can 1) do it, 2) do it in a reasonable time, and 3) see if you have holes in your setup.
until partner breaks up w u and takes everything😆
Terrible idea. "Did you give your details to anyone else?" 'Yes...". "Goodbye, thanks for calling..."
I think this is a great idea, but you must trust absolutely the person with which you're involved...obviously.
Bravo, Dale Valskov I'm so glad you're out there fighting these scumbags. We must do everything in our power to protect the elderly and the general public from these despicable scammers. You're a true hero, my brother.
I did do a credit freeze. Really good. No problem at all to temporarily unfreeze. Glad I did.
Another good reason why I'm switching off the wifi and Bluetooth when not using them is that when those are on, they deplete the battery so much faster.
Especially when traveling (driving) with the wifi on, it checks all the wifis around the way and the difference is HUGE - for me it was driving with the GPS nav and having wifi off arriving with about 70% battery left, vs forgetting the wifi on and arriving with about 20% (on a 400km trip).
As for the Bluetooth I have it switched off most of the time and only switching it on when actually needed, i.e. transferring files or using the headphones.
The other reason WiFi eats battery while navigating is that they do a bit of wardriving. Looking for WiFi APs at an assumed location to better figure out where youkare in that 20 metre guesstimation of GPS. It's also the only reliable location service inside a building.
I switch them off because I want my phone to have minimum consumption.
That’s a good point but what if you own a smart watch?
@@diffie.hellmannnyeah, you can’t pair to your watch without Bluetooth
@@niteflytes How?
The way you described the Apple Pay and Google Pay section was something I've been trying to do for years with family and friends, but never was able to fully explain the picture. Just shared that section on my FB to hopefully help some people. Thanks dude!
The only tip I’d object to is the advice to use Google tap-to-pay, and it’s more of a privacy concern than a security concern. Google’s primary business is gathering data about you and selling access to advertisers. I’d rather not add all of my credit-card transactions to the data it already collects and monetizes.
That's my concern also.
One of the things I've always done - this is for computer use - is to never use an account with Admin role privileges for regular use
...yes, the "old school" solution!!
Somewhat of a caveat when implementing these "when I leave home" macros for Wifi/Bluetooth is that you are now having your *location* on at all times.
I realised really early on that my email account has power over my accounts on any website/service where that email is registered. If I used the same password everywhere including email account, a data breach can be used to pivot through my email into every website I used. So my email was the first to have unique password and then I started using a password manager and generated passwords.
A new email address for just a few things is a great idea and it won't be in any data breaches due to being new and not used in too many sites.
It has always been important to maintain access to all your email accounts over a long time and not lose to inactivity or ending service with that service provider. There will be a time when a site has to force a password reset on everyone or an account migration to a new service.
That's my worry about a separate email account. Won't it be inactive?
Graphene OS can be set up to automatically turn off WiFi when out of range and turn off Bluetooth when not connected which is cool!
A second email for money matters, brilliant suggestion. From New Zealand
Your work speaks volumes of the kind of man you are. efficient, organized and result oriented well done , Dale Valskov you're soo good at what you do
It's amazing what you do Dale Valskov We need a lot of people with your skills and set who have good intentions and spread love
Having someone like you who’s not only a great innovator but also pulls his best to get the work done so beautifully needs nothing but appreciation. Dale Valskov Thanks for the well off work you consistently bring your all and I truly appreciate that. Thank you for making corporate life so smooth. Proud to have you on our team. Great work as always.
Congratulations Dale Valskov -I am relieved that you are out there fighting these thugs. We must take every precaution to protect the elderly and the general public from these despicable con artists. Congratulations to you!! You deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for ensuring our security.
That was fantastic, I love the tip for a secret email, that is something I am going to implement immediately.
I truly appreciate ALL these tips, I will be using ALL of them ASAP!
I’ve used the unique email for banking, finances etc. I also use ONLY my home computer for finances (with a VPN) never access banking or cc on phone, public areas etc. Credit has been frozen for years yet old personal info still on dark web and surfaces from time to time in breaches - but it’s OLD. I will be checking out delete me to clean up the old stuff. Great tips!
You convince me time and time again that it is worth subscribing!
What’s stopping you from doing so?
The require Face ID tip for iOS 18 is clutch for email apps. If the phone is taken from you unlocked having this extra layer would prevent someone to go through password recovery through your email and own your accounts.
I have my phone time out and require a physical code be input to unlock it if I press the lock button ...in this way a bad actor (oftentimes LEO) cannot force open my phone simply using my finger or face against my will.
@@horustwohawks If one were to force you to use biometrics, they absolutely are not above forcing you to give up the code by any means necessary, but if the device were seized by law enforcement, having a code instead of biometrics would give you a better reasonable expectation of privacy, and you could not be obliged to unlock it. It all depends on your threat model.
Good and interesting list. As a retired IT guy, I know all these things. I've implemented the first 3 plus the public wifi one. If you use a secret email, then the unique name and credit freeze suggestions are a lower priority threat IMO. I would also have a problem with turning off blue tooth because I have high end hearing aids which I control with an app.
Bottom line: These are all common sense suggestion to me, but I worked in IT for 27+ years. That said, everyone else should absolutely strongly consider doing most of the things on this list.
The efficiency of this Dale Valskov is next level. To juggle walk throughs of various angles on the topic delivered to-camera, differnet content per topic from various folks underneath the umbrella of the track list of the larger big band concert itself is engaging and refined. To make a dense taccess like this so digestible is really something. Awesome work jack!!
I just wanted to say thank you for sharing this. Because you're right. The worst thing that you can feel is hopelessness. And I hope that someone who is on the verge of losing hope finds Dale Valskov and realizes that as long as you're still alive and breathing, there's a chance, there's HOPE that the future is brighter then the present day.
Thank you.
Great stuff. I actually just did a Security Freeze and thanks for reminding me I needed to backup my phone. :)
I froze my credit years ago. And then I noticed that my car insurance and home owner's insurance went up. I called them and asked why. They said that they could not access my credit information. I then asked how do I avoid this? They said unfreeze your credit, but they couldn't tell me which credit bureau they used. Has this happened to anyone else?
I froze my credit too, changed insurance company, I asked the question was told they didn't need access to my credit report. By the way I saved $32 a month on auto and got additional coverage on my owners for same premium amount. That happened this year.
Your insurance is going up anyway. They probably did not try to check your credit.
Most all insurance (homeowners, vehicle, life, etc) checks credit reports and charges more or less for bad or good credit.
You can temporarily unlock your credit reports, let them check it, and re-lock.
You would have to do it at renewal time as well, otherwise you will pay the top rates and receive no discounts for good credit report.
Credit freeze and thaw was best suggestion from my perspective. Already knew most others. Separate email for bank was good too
Hi Josh,
Thank you!
The "secret" email is a game changer. Will be doing that soon. To add to that is a secondary SIM Card or eSim, a Pre-Paid number. (for the same reason as the secret email)
Google Pay that too was really good to know! All the others are amazing
Take care
Thanks so much, Jason!
@@AllThingsSecured Very welcome!
Loved the tip about unique usernames, but don’t understand the best way to implement when most websites want an email address.
iPhones now offer to create a randomized email address that they map back to your iTunes email address for each account you create.
03:12 Technically, it is still a credit/debit card number from your bank (which still issues the second card number); but is indeed a different number, and it is „tokenized“ and can only be used in very specific ways. Tap to pay (with your phone or watch) is way more secure than most people think.
Lock your social security number. Slight hassle to set up but once done, as with credit freeze, easy to undo temporarily and the relock. Very similar to credit freeze. Prevents someone from doing much of anything with your SSN because it basically does not exist while locked. This prevents employment fraud, fraudulent bank account opening. ETC.
How is that done?
Yes, how?
@@slc1161you have to go onto each of the credit bureau sites and do it for each one. Transition, Experian and Equifax. Freezing and or locking your report are what you are looking to do when you get there. We keep ours locked until we need to apply for any kind of credit and as soon as we have we lock it right back up.
Yeh..thanks but how to?
@@Gypsygirl9 go to those sites, it's pretty easy to fill out their form.
I just got notified today that my ss#, dob, full name, 2 previous addresses, and 1 previous phone number were in that huge data breach. 😮
Thank you, Josh, for all you do, because you have helped me secure my info over the years. I feel like I am more prepared than 95% of most people. We live in a crazy world
Considering that I’m a diabetic and use a CGM to monitor my blood glucose readings, Bluetooth is necessary for this to work properly, turning Bluetooth off would prohibit the important information needed to monitor my blood glucose, especially when sleeping.
Also a pacemaker is connected by bluetooth to the app for transmission also.
See Jason Fung MD on RUclips on how to get rid of your diabetes.
You can minimize exposure on your phone by ensuring you have the latest update for your phone. Also, for iPhone you can go into settings > Privacy & Security > Bluetooth. This is where you can limit which apps can use Bluetooth. I don’t have an Android so I don’t have the Bluetooth information for that OS.
Thanks
The best tip for me is tap vs swipe credit cards. I have been reluctant to use this technology not knowing the risks. As to additions, maybe add to the no public wifi tip to not use public charging stations (e.g. USB ports). Bring your own charging cable and block.
All good tips, and I already do them. Just remember turning off wifi/blutooth wont just affect your headset but also wireless car play. I normally suggest turning off features in the wifi settings to not connect to open wifi’s automatically and hotspots. If this is not on, then it’s not looking and scanning. Same with apple for airdrop, turn off airdrop or allow contacts only. But I think airdrop off is better, you can turn it back on for 5 mins only when needed. But this way bluetooth connections like to your car stereo, watch, maybe even contact glucose meter or some other medical device confuses to work without it scanning.
I"ve been told by Rob Braxman Tech that wifi is hardware based - meaning (unless you have a "Degoogled" phone) it's ALWAYS scanning and looking even though you've "Turn it off" on your end. With a Degoogled (Android) phone, your wifi searching location info isn't being sent to the associated mothership. AND it's not possible to turn off Wifi with Apple products - that's why "find my phone" works on Apple products even though the device is turned off.
Using a different email for banking is a great advice. Thank you. I am setting up that right now!
BT, WiFi off is always a good option and in Android you can disable the continuous scanning on WiFi and don't forget to disable NFC!
im not even understanding why people would leave this on.. just a waste of battery life
@@Seemond3 In the Netherlands we pay with phone and thus NFC...
@@alexrelexer haha you see the realmoney lovin germany with their refusal to implement internet across the land did save us from not enabling wifi and bluethooth 24/7.
@@Seemond3 Your battery is alive?
6:27 Tip#4 We really need to see more videos that push people away from using credit cards or taking out car loans. People have been conditioned to believe that these things are a necessity in life, when in fact they are a setup for failure. Get in the habit of paying *CASH* for your purchases. If you have the cash to buy an item 5 times over, then you can afford it. If you have to take out a loan or put it on a credit card, then you cannot afford it. Simple as that! So many people are struggling financially these days, and every story I hear is that they use credit cards and/or they have a car loan. We have to stop this debt trap or else you will never get ahead in life.
I understand the point you’re trying to make. However, the “system” conditions us to establish credit i.e. credit reports are used by employers as part of background checks to determine responsibility & what about needing a loan to purchase a house?? I don’t think the average person can afford an all cash purchase. Especially nowadays!!
CC’s are certainly evil. I agree if cannot pay with available cash on hand then don’t treat like free money. Some get in way over their heads for sure!! End up paying triple! I personally use cc’s to keep accounts open as beneficial for credit score & pay off each month to avoid interest. Car loans are very impactful to credit scores. Mine went up 50 points once paid off. Unfortunately, I noticed that increase doesn’t last very long on a report absent a new loan. All by design to feed the banks.
I understand the point you’re trying to make. However, the “system” conditions us to establish credit i.e. credit reports are used by employers as part of background checks to determine responsibility & what about needing a loan to purchase a house?? I don’t think the average person can afford an all cash purchase. Especially nowadays!!
CC’s are certainly misused and treated as “free money” by many. I agree if cannot pay with available cash on hand then don’t treat like free money. Some get in way over their heads for sure!! End up paying triple! I personally use cc’s to keep accounts open as beneficial for credit score & pay off each month to avoid interest. Car loans are very impactful to credit scores. Mine went up 50 points once paid off. Unfortunately, I noticed that increase doesn’t last very long on a report absent a new loan. All by design to feed the banks.
Excellent security tips!
Except for the maybe only perhaps not updated and outdated performance bot performance. Something which unfortunately queen Elizabeth was okay with. While she was on her way to be over the age of 100. Would have been nice to have seen her make it there. Like some men who have put in long hours doing military service in the past too.
Very few people talk about different email addresses based on purpose: for me, if it's separated into a folder (personal-no accounts, financial, shopping, household, travel, etc.), it has its own email address or alias. Not only does it self-filter emails, it prioritizes them. After a data breach, you replace the email address and update 10-20 accounts in less than a half hour (not all 200 plus accounts tied to one or two email accounts) and not see scams or spams again.
Explain please.
@@michaellane1316 Let's take an email address I created for travel. Only airlines, hotels, and rental cars have that email address which means any email I receive is only related to travel and I don't have to set up a filter to separate it from financial, entertainment, shopping, etc. This happened in 2018: MGM had a data breach, so I got the store surveys, the fake invoices, and other common phishing emails sent to my travel email address. I replaced it, so travel2006@mydomain was replaced by travel2018@mydomain and I updated the 10 travel accounts. No more spam! If I was using one or two email addresses for everything, I would have had to replace the email address and update 100's of accounts with the new email, which nobody is going to do, they rather battle the spam. I was able to do this in less than 15 minutes.
@@michaellane1316 Let's take an email address I created for travel. Only airlines, hotels, and rental cars have that email address which means any email I receive is only related to travel and I don't have to set up a filter to separate it from financial, entertainment, shopping, etc. This happened in 2018: MGM had a data breach, so I got the store surveys, the fake invoices, and other common phishing emails sent to my travel email address. I replaced it, so travel2006@mydomain was replaced by travel2018@mydomain and I updated the 10 travel accounts. No more spam! If I was using one or two email addresses for everything, I would have had to replace the email address and update 100's of accounts with the new email, which nobody is going to do, they rather battle the spam. I was able to do this in less than 15 minutes.
Thank you for the most important information. I've just subscribed.
I found this very interesting, and got some ideas from it, but I've got two great ways to increase your security that I use all the time, and you didn't mention. 1. I use cash or checks for the majority of my purchases and bills. It eliminates the whole problem of passwords and the stealing of my information. 2. I have refused over the years to bow to public pressure and get a cell phone. No one can steal my phone unless they break into my house. Perhaps, now this is just a thought, instead of letting corporate America and technology use and abuse us, we actually control our use of technology and don't bow to the pressure of rich billionaires who want to replace human jobs with technology. And the fact that I am posting this here, shows that you can have a balance between technology and humanity. I use technology, I try to not let it use me.
I agree, and I’ve been computing since 1992. I love computers but hate email. I’m planning on weeding it out of my life.
One warning about using checks. I once had someone I wrote a check to make checks using my account number and information on the front of my check. They then wrote a check for $1600. and forged my signature. So checks aren’t so safe either.
Applied the banking tip right away, went with Proton mail since I use their VPN service anyway. Thanks for these great suggestions! Subscribed
You should not use your banking e-mail for paypal. When you use paypal, the vendor sniffs your paypal email even if you are registered with the vendor with another email. Then they swap your paypal email for the one you registered with. And Paypal lets them do it. Since paypal is a payment platform, I keep a unique paypal email, separate from my banking email.
simple and to the point, thank you :)
You're welcome!
I enjoy your content and appreciate your practical approach to online security. I do all of the recommendations in this videos as a matter of daily practice with the exception of the WiFi & Bluetooth turning off. I simply use both too much in my daily life to turn them off.
Thanks a lot for these very critical tips. But for those that are already paranoid about tech stuff, they may not find it easy to do. They'd much rather prefer to have a tech guy like you set up all these things on their behalf.
I am that tech guy 😂
@@Matt-kr2es Good for you! I guess must be putting your talent to good use and making an honest living from it. 😀
How do you find an honest tech guy that you can trust??
@@lindamarcom4107 good question 🤔
Personal information is very important this video is really great be careful with online security ❤
Unfortunately in Canada, aside from Quebec, we're backwards and don't require credit bureaus to offer credit freezing, so we don't have that option.
@@MB-hz7wm It's common knowledge, and we suffer for it pretty much continuously
It's coming to Ontario. Legistration was passed in December but not implemented yet.
You don't want credit bureaus they are a terrible idea as they little more than a biased privatized social credit score, a nightmare for privacy and uncountable gatekeepers for access to financial services. You definitely do not want them without some beefy privacy, transparency, and consumer protection laws and an oversight body to police them unlike the way the way they operate in the US. Remember the Experian breach? They hold some of the most important and sensitive information about people and their security was and continues to be a joke.
It gets so cold in Canada I thought credit freezing was just a part of nature up north!
The Credit freeze is EZ fast and one of the best ways to protect your S.S. from being fraudulently used. Thanks good stuff 😊
These credit cards that support tap also support being read via hacking card RFID scanners someone can walk around with, so you should mention the very cheap RFID blocker cards that you can stack into your several cards to protect them.
RFID blocking wallets work as well. I like my Ridge wallet.
He's not referring to tapping your card but is instead referring to tapping with Apple Pay or Google Pay, both of which require biometric activation before they process any transaction, and are therefore not affected by RFID scanners. The card itself is vulnerable to RFID scanners, and if you choose to take it with you then an RFID blocker wallet would help in that scenario.
I actually most times forget my physical cards, where I live tap to pay enabled terminals are everywhere and the one time nature of the operations gives me great peace of mind.
This is very important. To mitigate against this, I got a Wallet that has an RFID block so you can't hack my cards while it's in my wallet safe in my Pocket. It did cost me quite a bit to get the Wallet.
This is a good security tip he didn't remember to mention.
Thank you for this! I'm glad the algorithm popped this up. Just subbed to the channel.
All extremely good points, but the unique userID is probably the most useful
The more speed bumps you can put in front of a threat actor the better!
Some great advice here. I didn’t know about the new feature in iOS 18, I’m upgrading my phone as I write this!
I love your channel and have tightened up my security based on your advice. But, I have a channel that focuses on helping seniors stay safe online. I am a Proton Partner because I thought the free Proton Pass would be a good first step for seniors, but I’m having a really tough time selling them on it. Frankly, most of these security measures are alien to seniors and just cause anxiety. Any tips?
You are so right. I am a senior and all of this scares me spitless!! I don't have a clue what any of this is talking about but, I do want to be safe and secure with my online purchases and my banking account...just don't know how to go about it. 😢
@@lindamarcom4107I'm sorry to hear, Linda. I can relate all too well. And what's worse, even if you manage to somehow get atop some of this stuff, it's always a short-lived high because the tech is constantly devolving. Evolving for 'them' in their never ending quest of designed obsolescence. But devolving for 'us' the victims of a world going much too fast in a directory that does not include anyone over about 60🙁
Wow, this is all helpful. I’m overwhelmed by all of this.❤
take it slow. Gradually starve the beast for your information as you implement your privacy strategies
Great tips in this one!
Glad it was helpful!
These are all great and I’m proud of myself that I’m already doing some of them…I’ll be implementing a few of them for sure ASAP!
You can do a similar thing with your phone number as with email aliases. Get a VOIP provider with multiple phone numbers and never share your real one.
Didn't know about the Stolen Device Protection feature. Thanks a lot, Josh, for sharing that valuable information!
My pleasure!
I'm Leary about setting up the tap system with my phone. Yes, maybe it will be a safer way to avoid scammers but now Google has your info. I trust them as far as I can throw a bus.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt that way.
Thank you for always providing such practical tips for the masses, not just the tech savvy. I follow a few privacy and security channels, but I find the most useful tips on yours!
Thanks so much, Gabbie!
Quick question regarding email aliases to be used for login. Let’s say I use Apple’s hide my email service to use an email for my bank login. If I stop paying for my icloud+ subscription, would I lose access to that email and therefore not being able to login to the account or rest password since the inbox is closed? Thank you!
yes, you must change the bank-associated emails before you close an "old" email account that's used in various places.
I just happened upon this video and had to SUBSCRIBE! Very good and necessary info! TX
Use cash.
I truly love the way you explain things !😊 thank you
Regarding public WiFi: “Dave’s Garage” channel has some good info, including a pocket router. Could be a good collaboration video!
Everyone should have a dedicated person like you Dale Valskov . People dream of hiring such a talented expert like you. Keep up the hard work. Thank you so much for your dedication in this process. Thank you for your commitment to your job. Your outstanding performance helped our me alot. Thank you once again for your hard work and dedication.
Dont forget to set up your ss act with the soc sec admin website. If you dont someone else could set it up for you with all the info and ss# that were hacked recently.
wrent 100% SSI# hacked? probbaly will be used to push CBDC.
2:40 I don't know for the US, but in the EU if you pay tap to pay, it will be a direct pay and you can't book it back again. A dealer in a motorcycle shop was even angry I swiped my bankcard through instead of tab, because he wanted to be sure no customer is able bo book it back, lol.
You should have 3 or more email addresses.
One for serious stuff, one for online shopping or subscriptions, one crappy stuff. You can have a fourth for work or business.
Never forward emails sent between these accounts.
i had 8 email addreses google stole 7 of them thanks to the FORCED phone number crap on a number i KNEW I WOULD LOOSE.
Don't have those 8 emails via Google.
Always excellent and useful information, Josh, thank you. My take aways were the tips on Tap vs CC and why, and also about credit freezing. I will be looking into those two. I do have a secondary Proton email account set up from when you mentioned it one of your other videos.
I am a criminal defense attorney and prosecution discovery production shows Homeland Security can freely bypass the password on an iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Under what circumstances? Any PIN? 4 digit? Or something secure?
@@thedave1771 The report from homeland security said it was a six digit passcode.
Thanks for all this good advice. These tips will be very helpful. It's amazing how much data is shared without us even knowing.
0:30 the paid version of Proton Pass offers a feature to generate an unlimited number of emails aliases which direct the mail the to an account of your choice, for example the main Proton address. As soon as you delete the alias, it's no longer in use
11:44 that low speed foot chase was pretty funny 🤣 Thank you for the excellent tips.
Haha ;)
Have you thought about an updated annual credit report check video now that the three reporting agencies have permanently extended a program that allows you to check your credit report at each agency once a week for free?
If you place a freeze your credit are you still able to request your free credit report or do you have to un freeze in order to view reports post freeze?
Excellent suggestions, really sensible stuff here & well presented too. Thank you Dale.
9:45 min mark you mention tethering to your mobile data instead of using WiFi with a VPN. I have never heard of tethering. Could you please do a video explaining how to tether to mobile data, and also, can tethering to mobile data work while traveling overseas? Also, if you're at an airport, if you tether without a USB cable (i.e., via Bluetooth), isn't that also unsafe?