7 Privacy Myths People STILL Believe (do you?)

0:00 - A lot of people are under the impression that just because you delete a file, it's gone forever. Just because you don't have a Facebook account, they aren't following you or using A VPN provides ultimate protection from all tracking. But what if I told you that all of these were myths? Today, we're gonna debunk seven of the most common privacy and security delusions that we've either been told or led to believe. Guess what? Even if you don't have a Facebook account, Facebook still has a file on you. They may not be able to associate it with your exact identity, but the Facebook pixel that's on an estimated 5 million websites still allows them to follow you around the internet.

0:47 If you do have social media accounts, it's generally recommended that you make your Instagram account private and your Facebook account friends only. This is something I've talked about before and I still think it's a good idea. The problem here is that this leads us to a false impression that our social media is now private, and I put that in air quotes for a reason. While it's true that it's not publicly accessible or crawled by search engines, what we often forget are the other points of access for any post or photos that you share. Not to mention all of the times that you visit one of those 5 million websites. An easy example of this is the ability for one of your connections to screenshot and reshare something you've posted. I mean, hopefully they know not to do that, but it's not unheard of.

1:33 A bigger point of concern, however, is how these platforms share data access to advertisers, analytics partners, and even API connections that you've authorized. Remember that time years ago when you connected that gaming platform to your Facebook account? Some people don't even realize that their bank has been connected to Meta, the parent company of Facebook, and that data is used to find spending patterns and predict future buying behavior. Having a private social media account is a myth, but what you can do is audit connected apps, disable off Facebook activity and live your social media a life assuming that anything you post can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion. Does deleting a file on your computer hard drive actually

2:20 remove it from existence? Sadly, no. Even though it's outta sight out of mind for you, as the user file systems aren't designed to immediately overwrite your data blocks, instead, they simply mark the spot where the file used to be as available and then keep it as such until something else overwrites it. Until then, there's a kernel of truth from those TV shows and movies where forensic tools can recover original files. Oh, and don't get me started on cloud storage systems. The most popular ones often keep version histories of deleted items, and they have data retention policies that mean you can never actually know when a file has been deleted from their system. So if deleting a file is a myth, what can you do? First, I would be very selective about which kinds

3:07 of files you store with a cloud service provider. Again, you just need to assume that whatever you store on another company's servers is out of your control because it is next. For your personal computer, I recommend doing a full disc encryption of your hard drive and then when and if you need to get rid of it, to use the secure erase utility multiple times to overwrite the data on your drive. If you ask a number of YouTube influencers, you might be tempted to believe that a virtual private network or VPN for short is a magic piece of software that completely anonymizes your internet activity. Personally, I've left quite a bit of money on the table by passing on a lot of these VPN sponsorships in this channel, mostly because I don't agree with this primary selling point.

3:55 Listen, A VPN is designed to really do one thing well, it hides your IP address. That's really it. By default, this software doesn't stop fingerprinting DNS leaks, persistent cookies, or protect you from phishing attacks or any kind of compromise device. On top of that, using A VPN to hide your information requires you to trust the VPN company is handling your data properly and not accessing it, which is a claim they all make, and we as users really have no way to verify the VPN privacy Silver bullet solution is a myth, but that doesn't mean they're useless. It just means that you need to be discerning about which VPN you use and when and combine it with some best practices, such as using a private browser, using tracker blocking

4:42 and disabling third party cookies. Among many other things, strong passwords are great, but I've met far too many people who think that just because their password is 20 plus characters in length, complete with special characters, numbers, and a mix of capital and lowercase letters, their account is locked down and secure. Unfortunately, even the strongest passwords are subject to two of the most common attacks, phishing and data breaches. There's a good chance your strong password can be purchased on the dark web right now, especially if you reuse that password with multiple accounts and a proper phishing attack exposes the fact that the weakest link in your security is more likely you not your password.

5:28 So if password security is a myth, what's the alternative? Well, if you're subscribed to this YouTube channel, and if you're not, you should be. You already know that I am a huge advocate for multifactor authentication known as two FA or MFA for short. Specifically, I prefer hardware security keys or app-based authenticators over any kind of SMS text. If you have a choice, most of your online accounts are now compatible with some form of two FA and enabling. It removes most of the risk of data breaches and phishing attempts. The GPS on your mobile device isn't the only way that you can be tracked. Your phone carrier can estimate your position with cell tower Triangulation Store can know

6:14 where your're located just by Bluetooth or by the store wifi network that you're connected to, and most websites can infer your general location based on your public IP address. In other words, while turning off or restricting access to your mobile phone, GPS is a great practice. It doesn't mean that you're now invisible on a map. Unfortunately, there's not a lot that we can do about this besides changing to a privacy focused operating system like Graphos or avoiding the use of a SIM card completely, both of which are pretty drastic measures for the average person. At the end of the day, if you have a good reason for not wanting to be tracked somewhere, it's best to leave your phone at home. This final myth is one that I hear most often from people

7:01 who aren't as concerned about privacy and security. This argument appeals to our innocence. If I'm not doing anything wrong, what do I have to worry about? Sometimes the desire for privacy in our society is equated with being guilty of some kind of wrongdoing, but privacy isn't about wrongdoing. It's about consent and control. It's about reducing digital profiling, preventing identity theft, and having autonomy over the data that is rightfully ours. Even innocuous data points can be combined to reveal sensitive insights into our personal lives, our financial health, our physical health, and so much more. So in instead of looking at all of this as trying to hide something, it's best to reframe it as a pursuit

7:47 of personal sovereignty. I'm using privacy tools, not because I'm hiding a secret or trying to do something illegal, but because I want to assert control over who gets my data, where it's stored and how it's used. I wanna be the gatekeeper of my own digital life instead of seeding that power to big tech government or potentially bad actors. There are plenty of other myths I haven't covered, and I welcome you to share what you've seen in the comments below. Once you're done with that, watch this video next where I walk through seven cybersecurity tips that nobody tells you about. The first of which you've probably never considered.