Don't share too much Personally Identifiable Information(PII).
Hackers tend to make customized profiles for their victims so that they can perform social engineering attacks on them. It can also lead to identity theft. Think twice before sharing anything online.
Use a strong password/passphrase for all your accounts. This should not contain any words from the dictionary and should not be linked to your personal information. It is highly recommended to use a good password manager like @Bitwarden. Going #passwordless is even better.
- Never accept friend request / follow request from someone you don't know (usually happens in Facebook and Instagram)
- Never click on Links sent by someone you do not trust
- Keep location services turned off
Save yourself from Identity Theft
- Do not use Social Media or do any financial transaction while using Public WiFi, if you had to - use a VPN like @ProtonVPN, @mullvadnet, @ivpnnet
- Never use unencrypted sites (http, should be https)
- Do not share confidential information
Bonus tips for Apple users:
- Use Apple Login wherever possible
[More secure]
- Hide your email id while signing in (generates random email id with iCloud)
- Use Do Not Track Feature
Settings -> Privacy -> Tracking -> Switch off Request to Track
There are Login with Google and Facebook too. But I do not trust them. Try to reduce your dependence on companies that have bad track record in protecting user #privacy.
Privacy in #Monero (with FCMP) vs. #Zcash Shielded
When focusing solely on cryptographic theory, two major privacy engineering marvels emerge: Zcash $ZEC, using advanced zero-knowledge proofs & Monero $XMR, moving towards Full-Chain Membership Proofs (FCMPs).
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Disclaimer: I’m a security & privacy researcher, not an official representative of these projects. The following is a theoretical exploration based on public knowledge and cryptographic assumptions. I could be wrong on some details.
@zcash uses high-level zero-knowledge proofs—originally zk-SNARKs, now the Halo2 architecture—to obscure sender, receiver, and amounts in shielded transactions.
The theoretical end-goal: make every note indistinguishable, enabling a truly private ledger.
Halo2 uses polynomial commitments (like KZG) and inner-product arguments for succinct, recursive proofs. With O(log n) scaling in verification, it manages large ledgers efficiently, without the need for a post-hoc trusted setup. This sets a robust foundation for theoretical privacy at scale.
In terms of #privacy and #security, GrapheneOS absolutely crushes iOS on so many levels. A few awesome features are listed here.
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@GrapheneOS is an #opensource operating system based on AOSP, focused on #security and #privacy. It is designed to be used on mobile devices, and includes features such as verified boot, sandboxing, and exploit mitigations.
It also includes the ability to use different encryption methods, and the ability to use VPNs and the Tor network to enhance #privacy.
GrapheneOS is geared more towards security-conscious and privacy-conscious users and has a #opensource ecosystem.
Mastodon's revenue is not dependent on advertisers like other social media companies like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Tiktok, etc. The ad-based revenue model isn't necessarily good in all cases as ads=tracking leads to the users -> product and advertisers -> customers