6. Data Encryption, User Name and Password Management
Lesson on how to encrypt data, protect user names and passwords, with an example usingKeePassX, personal data, data theft, personally identifiable information (PII)
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Lesson on how to encrypt data, protect user names and passwords, with an example usingKeePassX, personal data, data theft, personally identifiable information (PII)
Last updated
Was this helpful?
Learning objectives: Create an encrypted USB drive on which you can store all your user name / password data, private keys, seed phrases and private data safely and securely. You will also learn to use KeePassX to establish a robust password management system.
In this Module we are going to diverge a little from the notion of ‘Online Privacy’ to general security.
To effectively secure the accounts you use online, which, after all, are de-facto repositories of all sorts of your private data, we need to help you establish best practices for how to store your user name and password information. Lets just get this stated 100% upfront: if you are currently storing your usernames and passwords unencrypted and online, you are gambling dangerously with your digital identity, especially if you are keeping everything in the same place.
In , we will talk about user names, passwords and best practices around creating strong passwords.
In you will create an encrypted USB drive as a secure vault that you can use to store files safely offline. This drive will be locked and protected by a single password.
In we cover the use of KeePassX, an open-source user name and password management tool. If you already employ an alternative commercial password manager you can skip this lesson.
Chances are you’ve been saying for years how you’d like to get your user names and passwords tidied up! Well today is the day!
Once you have established your encrypted USB drive and set up KeePassX, you will move your KeePassX database onto your USB drive. From there you then have a super secure system for protecting the keys to your digital life. Finally, your homework will be to go back through all your user names and passwords and transfer them to this new system. Your major task in Module 6 will be to log back into every online account you have and your passwords with new, highly secure passwords generated by KeePassX to ensure that you are meeting best practices for security.
This will, by far, be the most onerous task in Online Privacy 101, but it has a huge benefit: when you are done, you will have tightened up one of the biggest flaws most people have in securing their digital identity.
“The real concern is that while these browser-based password managers make life more convenient, they may offer a false sense of security.”
While the past five years or so have seen all major browser providers upgrade the security and protocols around their in-browser password managers, there are serious potential security flaws native to storing your user names and passwords in your web browser. We recommend you don’t!
Data encryption is a tool we can employ to safely store sensitive or private information offline, and it is especially recommended for storing your user name and password data, seed phrases or recovery keys, private key information and other sensitive personal private data.
Encryption works by using a complex algorithm called a cipher to turn normalized data (plain text) into a series of seemingly random characters (ciphertext) that is unreadable by those without the “key” or password with which to decrypt it. Possessing the key gives the holder of that key the power to decrypt data and view it in plain text.