DIY Guide to Cyber Security - HACK*BLOSSOM
Based on the DIY Guide to Feminist Cyber Security by HACK*BLOSSOM. Read more at https://hackblossom.org/
From HACK*BLOSSOM:
The internet is a crucial environment for our lives. Friendships, relationships, work, activism, commerce, and so many other forms of social connections take place digitally. As we thrive in these internet spaces, harassment and violence along intersecting axes of oppression are felt with unchecked force. Trolls launch campaigns of abuse and intimidation, hackers seek to exploit and manipulate your private data, and companies mine and sell your activity for profit. These threats to digital autonomy are gendered, racialized, queerphobic, transphobic, ableist, and classist in nature. The severity of these threats can have vast physical and psychological repercussions for those who experience them: they cannot be taken lightly.
Digital spaces are unique in that you often have to rely on companies and developers to protect your well being and data as you go about your digital life. These companies and developers frequently ignore or underestimate the digital threats to these spaces and their users. There is little in the way of accountability for companies and developers, all the while users are left with little support for the violence they’ve encountered, even being blamed for actions of a malicious attacker.
You have a right to exist safely in digital spaces. Although we have to rely on outside parties for technology to access these spaces, there are tons of helpful tools and strategies that allow you to take greater control of your digital life and mitigate the risk of malicious threats. We’ll walk through common areas of digital life such as web browsing, private data, and smartphones to show you different ways that you can implement as much or little security as you’re comfortable with. You have power to set boundaries and protections in your digital spaces as you see fit: we hope that this guide will help you to make informed, personal decisions on what is right for you.