Greyman Technology

Photo by Dominik Lalic on Unsplash As I’m writing this, 2022 is about to conclude. With a new year a couple days away, I took time during this holiday break to evaluate the content I shared online, not just here but in other areas. While I’m proud of the work I published in this Substack newsletter, which includes such topics as: Benefits of a Strong Password Benefits of a Password Vault Benefits of Multi-Factor Authentication Benefits of VPNs Protecting Your Personal Email Protecting Your Personal Phone Number Protecting your Home Wireless Network Protecting your Home Address Safer Web Browsing Alternative Big Tech Sites Alternative Mobile Phone Carriers Alias Email Addresses Trading Convenience for Security Public Coffee Shops Dealing with a Suspended Account …I’ve realized that I don’t have much more to share when it comes to fortifying one’s personal online security and privacy. In 2023, I’m intending to produce a compilation of my articles in digital form, and will publish one last post when that occurs. Stay tuned if you wish. ...

Photo by Headway on Unsplash Years before I evolved into a Greyman Technologist, my Thursday night consisted of watching two straight hours of NBC sitcoms: 8:00 - The Cosby Show 8:30 - Family Ties 9:00 - Cheers 9:30 - Night Court I happily planted my teenage butt on the sofa and watched these shows as they were broadcast to the nation, only leaving the sofa to use the bathroom during a three-minute commercial breaks. It was a glorious time of life. But it also required dedicating two hours of my evening for entertainment. ...

Photo by FLY:D on Unsplash My previous newsletters have shared ways to protect your online life from “The Bad People” or “The Adversary.” As we have seen from recent events, we need to face the possibility that the tech company who hosts your online account may block or suspend access to your account based on “policy violation.” It could be a post or reply that you make which contain words or phrases flagged by the tech company’s algorithm. It could be a combination of purchases that the tech company’s algorithm flags as suspicious. Or it could be simply taking pictures of your child, which get auto-uploaded to that tech company’s servers, that gets flagged by an algorithm as possible child abuse. ...

Photo by Craig Whitehead on Unsplash The Normal Approach Visit a news website without any extensions or add-ons installed on your web browser. Tacitly provide your news website extensive amounts of data pertaining to your web browsing history. Silently receive a dearth of tracking files, cookies, and other web content stored on your computer for other websites to grab without your authorization. Tolerate eye-catching ads, pop-up windows, and embedded video clips that play automatically. ...

Photo by James Wheeler on Unsplash One might think that a professional technology geek/nerd/guru/expert puts their feet up on the sofa and sits back with a smug grin on their face, resting easy on the mountain of knowledge accumulated over many years. That’s rarely the case for me. I’m continuously on the lookout for any news that could result in the Nightmare Scenario. Such was the case today. This article from Ars Technica made me go, “Ugh.” ...

Photo by June Andrei George on Unsplash Every now and then I will want to get a change of location for my tech work. Different visual stimuli, different people to observe, and…caffeine. But here’s my problem. Starbucks offers free wireless access to its customers, and the tradeoff is they grab way too much personal data on us. So what does a privacy-conscious person do when they want to do some work, or some research, in a nationwide coffeehouse franchise? ...

Photo by mali maeder from Pexels Many of my clients have rolled their eyes in disdain or cringed in repulsion once they hear my most frequent recommendation for improving their online security and privacy: change their personal email password. I understand their moanin’ and groanin’. Creating a new password that is supposed be secure, yet memorable, is difficult to create if you don’t know where to begin. ...

Photo by Palash Jain on Unsplash I challenged myself in my previous newsletter to only use the TOR browser in the month of April for any personal web browsing. It was a tough task. Here are my results. The Setup I only used my personal Dell Latitude 7280 laptop with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD for personal browsing. These specs normally are outstanding for a Windows or Linux operating system, but I used TailsOS to access the TOR Browser which boots off a diminutive USB 3.1 flash drive in my Dell laptop, so my burly hardware specs don’t factor in as much. ...

Photo by Ivan Bertolazzi from Pexels Every now and then I challenge myself to do something counterintuitive with my technology. Something that creates friction in my workflow where I evaluate if I need to make a change or update what I currently rely on with my tech setup. I’m weird like that. But hey, if I am going to make a bold recommendation to improve your online privacy and security, I should go first. ...

Photo by Arun Prakash on Unsplash Based on the current state of affairs around the world, I’ve received emails from a growing number of software companies recommending I safeguard my online account by implementing multi-factor/two-factor authentication. From what I’m inferring, these companies are contending with a growing number of adversarial attacks to their servers. The uber-nerds call these large-scale attacks Advanced Persistent Threats. These precautionary emails made me put on that suspicious sweater, the paranoid parka, the doomsday denim dungaree…and ask myself the question: ...