IT Security Stack Exchange
IT Security Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [persec]

PERSEC or Personal Security is protecting your personal information and is closely related to OPSEC.

8 questions
448
votes
14 answers

Is it bad practice to use your real name online?

On some accounts I use my real name on-line (Google+/Facebook/Wikipedia/personal blog), others (Q&A/Gaming) I use an alias. My question is: Security and privacy wise, what can people do with my real name? What are the dangers of using your real name…
blade19899
  • 3,601
  • 3
  • 13
  • 18
172
votes
26 answers

Convince people not to share their password with trusted others

IT workers are usually trusted by their family members who readily share passwords (Facebook, email, twitter, you-name-it!) so they can get easy help to set what-ever-parameter they don't find or explanation of a challenging situation. I always try…
Auzias
  • 1,518
  • 2
  • 8
  • 14
106
votes
11 answers

How dangerous is it to reveal your date of birth, and why?

At some point I told a friend that it's dangerous to reveal your birth date (kind of like your social security number or your mother's maiden name), because it's a crucial piece of information for identity theft. However, I'm not sure what exactly…
user541686
  • 2,502
  • 2
  • 21
  • 28
48
votes
9 answers

How should high net worth individuals secure their financial accounts?

I try to follow account security best-practices (strong random passwords, password manager, multi-factor authentication, etc.) but I still find myself worried about potential compromises to my accounts, in particular financial accounts (e.g., banks,…
Logical Fallacy
  • 715
  • 8
  • 12
19
votes
11 answers

I'm leaving my job and want to erase as many personal details etc. as possible; any tips?

Obviously this is very open-ended. But, I'm just paranoid about people going through everything on my laptop after I leave my job. Here are the things I'm planning to do: Completely wipe all browser caches/histories/passwords, etc. Delete my Skype…
Tedderz
  • 291
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
5
votes
2 answers

2 factor authentication, fob management

I love the idea of 2 factor authentication but how can I make sure I'm not caught in the wind without such keys? I thought about switching to a fob for services that support it. Is there a fob that I can trust that provides a tiny display for keys?…
RansuDoragon
  • 105
  • 6
1
vote
1 answer

Why should relatively-public personal identifying information be kept secret online if at all?

I don't want to get hung up on technical terms, just laying out basics for this question: I understand personal identifying information (PII) as that info which is not apparent to people who cross paths with you day to day and which could be used to…
cr0
  • 371
  • 2
  • 4
  • 15
0
votes
3 answers

Is there a way to answer security questions privately while in public?

Is there a strategy for answering security questions via telephone modestly securely while in an insecure environment? For example: I am at a coffee shop and am locked out of my account, I call the helpdesk to unlock and they ask for my userID, DOB,…
Matthew Peters
  • 3,592
  • 4
  • 21
  • 39