CrankySec

Take care of yourself

I've been in a bit of a writing slump lately, and I can say without a shred of doubt that this slump is going to be here for a while. I don't know if you all know this, but, even though I live in Chicago, I'm not American. I come from South America, and the person who was elected president of the United States made it very clear that people like me are not really welcome around these parts. Luckily, I have options. Which is something a lot of other people do not have. Since this is a blog about cybersecurity, I figured I'd try and help a little bit in a very small way: with words on your screen.

In the aftermath of the election, I saw a truly incredible number of people trying to cope with the general shittiness of what's in store when people who only care about themselves take power. I don't need to explain my position to anyone, but you can rest assured that things that are good for society in general are not coming. Even more jarring, but perhaps not surprising when you think about it, is the lack of self-awareness from the "we're in this together" crowd: Yes, we know the people who got elected are hypocrites. Yes, we know money in politics is dangerous. Yes, we know the billionaire-controlled media is full of shit. Yes, we know bad people are bad.

But I also know for a fucking fact that people who will probably be amongst the last ones to suffer the consequences of this auto-sabotage will have a really hard time reconciling reality and what comes out of their mouths, keyboards, and wallets. Bitching about mainstream media just to send people a gift link to the NYT or WaPo is wild. Waiting until after the election to leave X/Twitter not out of principle, but because it's unfashionable now, while making a huge show about it is wild. Calling people Nazis from Substack the Nazi Bar is wild. But what else is new? Hypocrisy doesn't follow party lines, and very few people will put their money where their mouths are. So, this post is not for people who court the powerful their whole lives looking for scraps just to become surprised pikachu when their ideologies quite predictably diverge. This is for those trying to protect themselves because the threat is real, and it's been real.

First and foremost, take stock of the situation. Review your online presence, your subscriptions, and the things you wrote over the years. Consider backing everything up and minimizing your footprint. Never in the history of mankind have we been bound by so many legal agreements, so think really hard about who you do online business with. Cancel everything you can. Delete every unnecessary account. But also understand that no amount of scrubbing will ever be enough. If you can afford it, consider using a service like DeleteMe. Use or roll your own VPN. Host your own shit. Use a cloud provider that won't turn over your data to anyone with a pulse. Do your best to minimize your dependency on Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, X, and the rest of the gang. It's not easy, but every little bit helps. Use a password manager. Buy a couple of YubiKeys. Remove all those apps you don't use from your phone. Review the permissions of the ones you keep because why the fuck is that tic-tac-toe app asking for your exact location? Prefer free and open software. Use ad blockers. Use host firewalls.Use Signal. Pay with cash. If you're at risk, lay low: the time for organizing and activism is over. Now you survive. Share this with people.

Check these out:

Be smart. I'll be back with more Cranky takes here and useful stuff over at the Institute soon.