Staying Safe Online

A short, high-impact checklist, in rough order of impact:

Example: the habits that actually matter

• Use a password manager and a unique, long password per site, not a memorable one reused everywhere.
• Turn on multi-factor authentication everywhere it's offered.
• Keep software and your OS updated, patches often fix known, publicly-documented security holes.
• Be skeptical of unexpected links or attachments, even from people you know, their account may be the one that's already compromised.
• Back up important data somewhere an attacker who compromises your main device can't also reach.

None of this is exotic. Most real-world breaches succeed because a basic habit like one of these was skipped, not because of some exotic zero-day exploit nobody could have anticipated, which is genuinely good news, since it means the highest-impact defenses are also the most achievable ones.