The concept of maintaining security and privacy in our lives is becoming increasingly relevant and important.

The world is currently experiencing immense technological change and it pays to be aware of what is happening in the world around us.

Software, computers and the internet have been integrated into our everyday lives and have transformed society over the last twenty five years.

The progress has been staggering and recently we have witnessed the power of artificial intelligence based systems rapidly improve.

This progress has been beneficial, but of course there are negative outcomes that can occur as a result of this progress.

If you have been able to curate your use of the internet, software and social media for positive outcomes you have done very well.

If you have routinely let yourself get carried away with doom scrolling and purposeless application usage for leisure, it is never too late to stop the doom loop.

If you have been careless with what personal information you share and the way you approach security and privacy you can change that now.

With more of our lives spent increasingly online and in front of screens, we need to be conscious of our usage and take control.

Digital environment checklist—

• Create a goal for how you want to use the internet. For entrepreneurship and leisure. If your usage doesn't align with your goal, stop doing what you are doing and re-align.

• Be mindful of what type of personal information that you share online.

• Optimise the stack of applications you use.

• Optimise security and privacy online to protect and reduce risk.

A mindful approach to how you curate and control your digital environment will help you sleep better and will reduce risk as we navigate an unpredictable future.

Online Security And Privacy

There are two main external risk factors here.

There is risk of cyber theft and financial fraud being perpetrated against you, and risk of malicious attacks from the state.

You need to protect yourself against these malicious actors.

The following is an example of an attack from the state.

A few years ago citizens of a particular ‘developed’ Western country had their bank accounts frozen, which means they couldn't access their funds in their bank.

This was done by top down decree from the state.

Private banking institutions were forced to accept this decree via the means of extortion.

If you had only one domestic bank account and possessed no physical cash, gold, silver or cryptocurrency, you now had a major problem.

These actions were carried out against non-violent protestors and their supporters.

A key to becoming a prosperous person is recognising that the state is not your friend and they do not exist to help you.

The state exists to serve itself.

Even if they hand out 'free' goodies for you such as cash and benefits, it is to serve their goals not yours.

Which means in reality, one would do best to consider the benefits of protecting oneself against bad actors in every segment of society.

This includes individuals and the state.

If you do or say something that is completely ethical but does not serve state interests, you should expect that your bank account may be frozen or you may end up in jail.

This is happening in Western countries such as England now.

If you want to avoid potential pain like this, you need to implement 'pre-emptive protection' and diversify your financial risk according to the probable scenarios that could occur.

Cyber Theft

We as a generation have generally resigned ourselves to the fact that media and information about our lives on the internet can be accessible by anyone.

We willingly give up our personal information and bank card details to companies, trusting that they will keep the information private.

There is always a risk that your information will be leaked, hacked or used for cyber crime.

A scam was attempted on me a few years ago.

The scammers attained control of an official phone number that my bank used to send text messages to me.

The bank had previously sent legitimate text messages to me using this number relating to a banking service that I had utilised.

The scammer stated that there had been an unauthorised withdrawal from my account and for me to call a phone number.

I called the number thinking it was legitimate and the scammer with a posh English accent proceeded to try and get me to transfer funds to a ‘new’ account in order to ‘protect’ my accounts.

I didn’t transfer any funds but many people were duped by this scam and lost money.

Our bank card information, passwords, user identification, names, birthdates, passport information, email addresses and physical addresses are all stored within companies whose services we utilise.

Your user activity within these companies can be tracked and stored. This data is valuable to data brokers and companies such as marketing firms and insurance companies.

You need to be aware and mindful of how your information can be used by others to your detriment.

If you consider yourself vulnerable, then there are things that you can do to reduce risk.

Risk Reduction Action Steps

The first action that I recommend and what may seem drastic, is that you consider not keeping any currency in the digital financial ecosystem that you aren’t willing to lose.

This includes any traditional bank and even cryptocurrency.

The less currency you risk storing in one bank account, the more protected you will be.

There are two risk factors here. Bank failure (the bank going bankrupt) and cyber theft.

Banks implement cyber security protocols, which are great and any good bank should do this. These include encryption, multi factor authentication, SSL certificates, firewalls, intrusion detections systems and anti-fraud systems.

But there is still counter-party risk, as these protocols can fail or not be implemented correctly due to human error.

The reality is if you aren’t holding physical bank notes, precious metals, commodities or another physical form of money, you are introducing an element of counter-party risk that should not be ignored.

It is up to the individual to assess the risk of a counter-party (bank) failing.

You should conduct your own risk/benefit analysis to determine whether it is a good idea to use the service and to what extent if you do.

Any free individual should be doing this in every aspect of their lives.

If you have been reading my work for a while, you would know my views on ‘the state’.

If a politician says ‘Your money in the banks is 100% safe’, you need to realise the probability that they are lying is high.

Therefore, I would emphasise the importance of applying your own critical thinking and risk/benefit analysis in this very important domain of personal finance.

The best person to do this is always you.

To determine bank failure risk, you can look at your banks financial health in terms of assets and liabilities. LLM software such as Grok is fantastic for this.

You should also check if they have a history of de-banking individuals based on arbitrary or political reasons.

Observe loan default risk. Consider what would happen to your bank if borrowers started defaulting on loans, like back in 2008. Consider the risk of the types of securities the bank holds (treasury bonds, mortgage backed securities, derivatives etc).

Observe the mainstream media, incentivised actors and their rhetoric.

Compare how their rhetoric differs from events occurring in reality.

The reality is that your bank may fail just like any business can fail, or your bank account may get frozen or hacked at any time.

All of these things have occurred in the past.

You need to determine whether you are happy to take on the added risk of using digital banking services in order to receive the benefits they provide.

Don’t get me wrong— the benefits of using digital banking services are tremendous. Transferring currency instantaneously is great, so it is up to you as an individual as to how you approach this.

You can de-risk in digital banking by reducing the amount of capital you store in banks.

You can diversify capital across multiple domestic and international banks legally; so if one bank goes down you will still have access to funds in another bank.

You can also hold cash in an online brokerage account. I personally use Interactive Brokers.

Brokerage companies hold cash reserves in a custodial bank account, but the custodial banks are less likely to bail-in money from a brokerage if they fail, and the accounts have better insurance protections.

If your brokerage fails your assets may get transferred to another brokerage and you will be able to access them. Or you may lose them.

You can also purchase stock of a company and hold shares, but your ownership of shares is registered and stored digitally which carries risk.

Your stock is also priced in a fiat currency that is subject to debasement.

To avoid digital bail-in risk of shares if a brokerage firm goes under, it is best practice to acquire the physical stock certificate from your broker.

You will have to return the stock certificate when you sell the stock but it offers better protection than owning the stock digitally.

There will be fees to do this and some companies and brokerages may not provide this service anymore.

You can also use hard physical assets as savings vehicles.

Gold, silver, platinum, copper, jewellery, whisky, cigars, classic cars, classic guitars. Take your pick, it just needs to exist in the physical world and have intrinsic value.

You might be thinking real estate as well but with real estate there is always the possibility of the state taking it away from you. They can do this either directly or through increased taxation which could force you to sell.

If you stockpile physical currency (e.g U.S dollar banknotes) it will be subject to monetary debasement.

You need to consider whether you are happy to lose the purchasing power of your physical currency at the rate that consumer prices increase.

You also need to consider that the CPI number that your government provides is likely to be a false representation of the prices that you pay for goods and services in your everyday life.

Complete a risk assessment of your digital banking situation and make the necessary changes if you want to de-risk.

If you are confident that your funds or assets will not be lost in the digital banking ecosystem then you can sit tight and do nothing.

Online Data Protection - Passwords

Let us move to online data protection.

The easiest thing you can do today is to use unique, strong passwords for every different online service that you use.

At least 16 characters— mixing numbers, letters and symbols is best.

Hackers can obtain usernames and passwords from a data breach. They can then use that information to attempt to login to different online accounts that you have, such as your online banking.

They can then proceed to drain funds from your account.

Start with making sure your most important accounts such as banking, brokerage and email have strong unique passwords.

Then proceed down the chain in order of importance, down to the accounts that present the least financial risk, such as forums and message boards.

To make this process easier you can generate and store unique strong passwords and login information by using a secure encrypted password manager tool.

I can personally recommend Proton pass (I am not affiliated).

It is a great application that is incredibly useful and has not let me down.

You can store all types of login information, categorise them and attach notes and files. There is also a chrome extension that you can use to autofill passwords securely on your browser when logging in to online accounts.

I also use other Proton applications that prioritise privacy. These are Proton Mail, Proton VPN, Proton Drive, Proton Calendar and Proton Authenticator as part of the Proton Business Suite package that Proton offers.

I find it to be incredible value and I recommend Proton for security and privacy minded entrepreneurs.

There are other companies that offer encrypted password management that I haven’t used, so please perform your own due diligence when choosing software.

Two Factor Authentication (2FA)

Adding two factor authentication to your sensitive accounts adds another layer of security which can prevent hackers from accessing your accounts. Even if they have managed to attain your password.

One needs to physically have the linked authenticator app on a device to be able to receive the correct code.

The service you are using (e.g banking) will generate a secret key that is shared between the service and your authenticator app.

You enter this secret key into the authenticator app during setup to link your service.

When you attempt to login to the service the 2FA app will generate a time-based code using a time-based one time password protocol (TOTP).

You enter this newly generated code to allow you to login to your service.

Adding 2FA will add time to your login process, but it will add security.

There is always a possibility that you can lose your phone, so it is important to backup your 2FA secret keys and TOTP backup codes securely.

Your service will provide the secret key and backup codes that you can download or copy.

You can store them by writing them down somewhere physically or by storing them using online encrypted storage like Proton Drive or Apple ICloud.

Strong passwords and two factor authentication are the most important security protocols to implement, but there are more protocols needed to optimise your security.

VPN (virtual private network)

Use a VPN when connected to any WIFI and cellular networks.

VPN’s will encrypt your internet traffic and mask your IP address, making it harder for hackers or websites to track your online activity.

You should install the VPN on all your devices. Your phone, computers and tablets. Connect the VPN at all times and keep them updated for the highest security.

I have been using Surfshark which has been great, but I also have Proton VPN which I plan to switch to and use as my main VPN soon.

Proton VPN has an additional feature called ‘Netshield’ which blocks ad’s, trackers, and malicious websites.

Additional Security Protocols

For additional security you can use antivirus software which will detect and remove malware. There are free options and paid options.

Paid options provide more robust protection against things like ransomware.

Keep your software, apps and devices updated. Outdated software is a common entry point for malware.

Use privacy focussed browsers such as Brave.

Use privacy focussed search engines such as Duck Duck Go.

Disable cookies if possible.

Use an encrypted email service such as Proton Mail.

Proton Mail uses zero-access encryption, so even Proton Mail can’t access your email.

Consider using email aliases for less sensitive online accounts to reduce the chance of exposure of your primary email.

An email alias is a randomly generated email address which will forward email to your main email account. Proton Pass offers email alias generation.

Use encrypted communication tools like Signal for messaging.

Use services like Delete Me to regularly remove your data from data brokers.

Simplify to fortify.

Optimise your tech tool stack by using the best suitable applications available.

Delete accounts for sub-optimal or unused tools that you have created accounts for.

Consider creating a new email address to start from scratch, then slowly change account email details to your new email address.

Again, I highly recommend Proton Business Suite for security and privacy focussed entrepreneurs.

It contains a suite of high-quality applications which simplifies your workflow and is actually fun to use.

Proceed With Awareness And Caution

The only person who can protect yourself is you.

Embrace 'pre-emptive protection' and radical personal responsibility when it comes to protecting your hard earned wealth and personal information.

Assess your risk and make the changes.

Undergoing this process can be very time consuming, so write down your security and privacy goals and create tasks to incrementally complete daily.

You will eventually create a more secure future and a more fun digital experience for yourself.

In this process you will reclaim mental bandwidth and control, eliminate related stress and get a better nights sleep.

Make de-risking your life a priority.

I have personally much progress to make on this journey. My next step will be acquiring an antivirus software.

I always thought that Apple Macs didn’t get viruses but apparently this is not the case.

Much still to learn.

Thanks for reading and I hope this has helped you.

See you in the next newsletter.

-Shernon

P.S

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*Not to be construed as financial advice. This newsletter is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Please perform your own research when making financial decisions.

Cover photograph by Shernon Hague | Frankfurt, Germany. 2008 | 35mm film