Three Ways to Protect Yourself From Online Spying

Since Edward Snowden blew the whistle on NSA spying, you might think there's no way to keep secrets online.  But here are three things you can do on your own to keep your data to yourself.

1.  Encrypt everything.  Encrypt all your hard drives through your operating system . . . BitLocker for Windows, and FileVault for Macs.  And for cloud storage, you can use TrueCrypt to create a virtual encrypted drive.

Letting Dropbox or other cloud services encrypt your online files isn't good enough.  Those companies can still read your files.  If you use a virtual encrypted drive, the cloud service doesn't have the decryption key.

2.  Don't use Google.  There are search engines like DuckDuckGo that don't save your search data.  Or you can use Tor to protect your Google searches.  It's a program that encrypts and decrypts your messages multiple times.

3.  Don't expose yourself more than you have to.  If something isn't online, no one can spy on it.  Make your Facebook privacy settings as strict as possible, and don't post things that could come back to haunt you.

Also, clear your browser history and cookies as often as possible, and run virus scans to catch malware and key logging programs.  And while you're at it, cover up the lens of your webcam whenever you're not using it.

(Gizmodo.com)