Chapter 13 - PC / Mac Digital Safety

Data needs to be protected while in two conditions - in transit and at rest. Data in transit is protected via a VPN. In the same way we install and configure a VPN to protect our data in transit to and from a phone, we need to install and configure a VPN to protect our data in transit to and from a PC or Mac. Proton VPN has applications for PC and Mac available at their website https://protonvpn.com/

Data can be at rest in two locations - on another digital service or on your digital device. If the data is on another digital device - Google's computers, Facebook's computers, etc, then it doesn't matter whether you are on a phone, PC, or Mac. However, if the data is at rest on your device, then there are different strategies needed to secure your data.

Macs have an excellent tool for protecting data at rest on the computer - FileVault. FileVault is a utility that encrypts the hard drive so the data cannot be read without the encryption key. Apple has an excellent article with directions on how to enable and configure FileVault available at https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/encrypt-mac-data-with-filevault-mh11785/12.0/mac/12.0

Windows PCs have a similar utility called BitLocker. Similar to FileVault, BitLocker encrypts the full contents of the hard drive. Microsoft has directions on enabling and configuring BitLocker available at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/turn-on-device-encryption-0c453637-bc88-5f74-5105-741561aae838#ID0EBD=Windows_10

In addition to activating FileVault or BitLocker, the same guidance that was given for phones applies including how to select passwords, rules for interaction on social media, using Proton Email, and frequently updating the operating system and applications.