Privacy & AI
How to delete your ChatGPT history, and what stays behind
Deleting a conversation is not the same as deleting the data. What actually disappears, what stays, for how long, and where the settings live.
Read →The archive
Digital security,
without the jargon.
Long articles about what actually protects an account. Written for someone who doesn't work in this field and shouldn't have to.
Passwords
How to share a password without sending it over WhatsApp
Sending a password by message leaves a permanent copy on two phones and in two backups. The real alternatives, best to worst.
Read →
Passwords
Your router password: why the one on the sticker is not the point
A router has two different passwords and most people only know one of them. Which to change, which you can leave, and which other settings matter more.
Read →
Passwords
How often should you change your password? The answer changed
For years the advice was to change your password every three months. The bodies that recommended it stopped. Here is what they say now and why.
Read →
Passwords
Password managers: how to choose one and start without the dread
What a password manager actually does, how the types differ, and how to migrate your accounts without giving up a whole weekend.
Read →
Passwords
How to create a secure password (and still remember it tomorrow)
What actually makes a password strong, why strange symbols matter less than you think, and three methods for creating keys that hold.
Read →
Breaches
Someone got into my Instagram: what to do, step by step
Recovering a stolen Instagram account: what to do in the first minutes, how to request recovery once you are locked out, and how to stop it happening again.
Read →
Breaches
You get an email claiming they filmed you and want bitcoin
The email claiming to have recorded you through your webcam and demanding bitcoin is a mass scam. Why your real password is inside it, and what to do.
Read →
Breaches
How to check if your data has been leaked (and what each result means)
Where to check whether your email or password appears in a breach, how those lookups work without exposing your keys, and what to do with the answer.
Read →
Breaches
Credential stuffing: the attack that exploits password reuse
How credential stuffing works, why it is the most profitable attack against personal accounts, and what actually stops it.
Read →
Breaches
What to do if your password is leaked, step by step
How to react when your password turns up in a breach: what to change first, what to check afterwards, and the signs that someone is already inside.
Read →
Privacy & AI
AI on your phone: what runs on the device and what gets sent out
Phones advertise «on-device» artificial intelligence. What that actually means, which tasks still go to the cloud, and which settings are worth checking.
Read →
Privacy & AI
What a company does with your data when its AI is free
Who pays the bill for a free AI, what the company keeps, who can read your conversations, and how the free, paid and business tiers actually differ.
Read →
Privacy & AI
How to delete your personal data from the internet (what is possible and what is not)
Right to erasure, removing search results, old accounts and data brokers. What actually works, and in what order to do it.
Read →
Privacy & AI
Why you should never paste private data into an AI
What really happens to the text you type into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, which data to strip first, and how to do it without losing usefulness.
Read →
Authentication
How to turn on two-factor in WhatsApp, Instagram and Gmail
Exactly where the two-step verification setting lives in the three most-stolen accounts, what order to enable it in, and what to save before you start.
Read →
Authentication
Verification codes by SMS you never asked for: what they mean
Getting a verification code when you are not logging in anywhere is not a system glitch: it is a warning. What each case means and what to do about it.
Read →
Authentication
You lost the phone with your two-factor codes: how to get your accounts back
What to do when the phone generating your verification codes is lost, broken or stolen, and how to set things up today so it never becomes a crisis.
Read →
Authentication
Two-factor authentication: what it is and which method suits you
SMS, an authenticator app or a physical key. What each one protects against, where each one fails, and the order in which to turn them on.
Read →
Authentication
Passkeys: what they are, how they work and whether to switch now
Passkeys replace the password with your device's fingerprint or face. How they work, what they genuinely solve, and what happens if you lose your phone.
Read →
Fundamentals
Private browsing: what it actually hides and what it does not
Incognito mode protects you from whoever uses your computer, not from the internet. What it clears, who still sees you, and when it is the right tool.
Read →
Fundamentals
How to spot a phishing email in under a minute
The signals that give away an impersonation attempt, why the classic warnings no longer work, and what to do if you have already clicked.
Read →
Fundamentals
Public Wi-Fi: which risks are real and which are out of date
Airport Wi-Fi is not what it was. What HTTPS protects, what is still dangerous, whether you need a VPN, and what to do on a network you do not control.
Read →
Fundamentals
What password entropy is, and why it decides whether yours holds
The real measure of password strength, without formulas: what bits of entropy are, why randomness beats symbols, and how many bits you actually need.
Read →