Thank you for this article! I will definitely check out Kanary!
Would you consider reviewing alternate email, search engine, and social media sites, that safeguard privacy rather than expose/threaten it? I am about to ditch fb, gmail, google, and icloud, but tech is tough for me (not my skillset) and I want to make the best moves.
Currently looking at Threema, Proton mail, and Bluesky, as well as my substack account.
Great question! If you go to my publication page I have a ton of free resources that covers exactly that. I also have other posts where I’ve covered my suggestions as well!!
And may I say "THANK YOU" for writing such a clear and concise stack! I've only subscribed a week ago, and I've learned so much about how to better secure my digital life.
What do you suggest for someone who’s Social Sec # got leaked by a data breach and is out there floating in the dark void? I’ve signed up for a Delete Me type service and frozen my credit on all three credit reporting agencies, but what else can I do? It upsets to no end that companies are constantly getting hacked now w zero consequences! Thank you!
I’m so sorry to hear that. It’s so frustrating and it pisses me off to no end that these companies keep getting away with not protecting their customers.
Unfortunately you’ve done about all you can do freezing your credit and using a paid service are the only options for the most part until laws change. The whole system needs to be changed and unfortunately that starts at the state level. States like Maryland are putting fantastic laws in place the will give consumers more rights and more control but it’s going to come down to enforcement. I wish I could give you a better solution.
Make sure all your accounts have strong passwords and use mfa where possible. You’ll also need to religiously monitor for fraud alerts and you may want to create a pin with the irs so someone can’t file taxes in your name.
Yes, seems pretty good so far. Got it on Black Friday deal — just their cheapest paid plan to see how they do. I’m pleased with their progress. That plan covers 114 brokers. For me, 66 of which were removed by them or not found, 39 pending, 9 in progress. It’s an easy portal to use and they have more expensive plans that cover way more, if needed. Their free plan tells you all the brokers that have your data and gives you instructions to remove the data yourself, but I liked the idea of them doing the work. I’m definitely going to try out Kanary now, though!
Nice yea like I mentioned in there I use Malwarebytes and they have an option as well that seems similar to your experience with Optery. I’m definitely in the camp of having the work automated. I do like to try some of the free tools though to give people my honest opinion on it. I hope you have a good experience with it when you try it out.
Absolutely. You just have a limited number of sites that they can remove info from. With paid you get more. So it depends on your level of need basically
Kanary isn’t available in the UK , or incogni or even deleteme. Oh , and our gov did the whole Apple security thing too. Bit stuffed I guess. Great piece of writing though, thanks ☺️
Very likely! I’m gonna keep looking for services that are available to more people abroad. It has a lot to do with varying privacy laws in other countries.
Thank you for this article! I will definitely check out Kanary!
Would you consider reviewing alternate email, search engine, and social media sites, that safeguard privacy rather than expose/threaten it? I am about to ditch fb, gmail, google, and icloud, but tech is tough for me (not my skillset) and I want to make the best moves.
Currently looking at Threema, Proton mail, and Bluesky, as well as my substack account.
Thanks again!
Great question! If you go to my publication page I have a ton of free resources that covers exactly that. I also have other posts where I’ve covered my suggestions as well!!
Proton mail: clunky but functional (if you trust the SWISS. I don’t). Brave browser: same. Not free.
lol ok
braves back door is google.
Not true
Went to Kanary site, Android version is still in dev and not available; you should mention this. I signed up for the waiting list. Thank you.
Thank you for that good point
And may I say "THANK YOU" for writing such a clear and concise stack! I've only subscribed a week ago, and I've learned so much about how to better secure my digital life.
What do you suggest for someone who’s Social Sec # got leaked by a data breach and is out there floating in the dark void? I’ve signed up for a Delete Me type service and frozen my credit on all three credit reporting agencies, but what else can I do? It upsets to no end that companies are constantly getting hacked now w zero consequences! Thank you!
I’m so sorry to hear that. It’s so frustrating and it pisses me off to no end that these companies keep getting away with not protecting their customers.
Unfortunately you’ve done about all you can do freezing your credit and using a paid service are the only options for the most part until laws change. The whole system needs to be changed and unfortunately that starts at the state level. States like Maryland are putting fantastic laws in place the will give consumers more rights and more control but it’s going to come down to enforcement. I wish I could give you a better solution.
Make sure all your accounts have strong passwords and use mfa where possible. You’ll also need to religiously monitor for fraud alerts and you may want to create a pin with the irs so someone can’t file taxes in your name.
Thank you for your quick response! Creating an IRS pin is something I hadn’t thought about doing, so thank you!
You’re welcome!
You may also want to do the same with SS and Medicare (irony of ironies)
Verily, I say it thrice: Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙏
Added bonus! I got to use “thrice” in a sentence!
Hahahaha
You’re welcome!
Thank you for this info!
You’re welcome!
Thank you so much for these easy to follow instructions . I haven’t done it yet (just read it right now), but will do it shortly.
Do you need to do this on each of your devices or just one?
Just one will do
Thanks for this post! Great info. Have you ever used Optery?
I’ve never personally used it but I do recommend it as a quality tool. Have you used it?
Yes, seems pretty good so far. Got it on Black Friday deal — just their cheapest paid plan to see how they do. I’m pleased with their progress. That plan covers 114 brokers. For me, 66 of which were removed by them or not found, 39 pending, 9 in progress. It’s an easy portal to use and they have more expensive plans that cover way more, if needed. Their free plan tells you all the brokers that have your data and gives you instructions to remove the data yourself, but I liked the idea of them doing the work. I’m definitely going to try out Kanary now, though!
Nice yea like I mentioned in there I use Malwarebytes and they have an option as well that seems similar to your experience with Optery. I’m definitely in the camp of having the work automated. I do like to try some of the free tools though to give people my honest opinion on it. I hope you have a good experience with it when you try it out.
Thank you, Jason.
Q: Can Kanary and a paid service work concurrently, or must one use only one service at a time?
Absolutely. You just have a limited number of sites that they can remove info from. With paid you get more. So it depends on your level of need basically
Yes and you can see in real time what’s it’s doing. The app is automated but you see exactly what happening. It’s really cool actually
Is it possible to use the free version of Kanary without anything else?
Great question the answer is yes you can use both. I currently use the paid service through Malwarebytes and Kanary. Works just fine
Did you try the scan with Kanary only? If you used Malwarebytes in conjunction with Kanary, how do you know it works?
Kanary isn’t available in the UK , or incogni or even deleteme. Oh , and our gov did the whole Apple security thing too. Bit stuffed I guess. Great piece of writing though, thanks ☺️
yeah UK is a tough place for data privacy. not gonna lie
I’m not technology savvy so should I run the app on all my devices or is running on a desktop enough to cover it all?
Great question you will only need this one 1 device.
Thank you! Wasn’t sure where to start.
You’re welcome
Thanks for the helpful article. Just tried getting Kanary but not available in my region (Australia). Maybe USA area only?
Very likely! I’m gonna keep looking for services that are available to more people abroad. It has a lot to do with varying privacy laws in other countries.
Thanks for the great info!
You’re welcome!
Kanary isn’t available in Canada.
Dang sorry about that
Thank you for sharing this great information!
You’re so welcome!
Nice! I just used Kanary and it really worked well. About 10-15 minutes. Thank you for the info. Very helpful!!
Glad it was helpful!