Best Practices for Information Security

Because, sadly, there is not much you can do if your closed-source operating system, like Apple or Microsoft, has built-in back-doors. This is less likely to happen with an open-source operating system, like Debian, because the code is able to be audited by a global community of developers.

Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Dropbox, Skype, Bing, Microsoft, Apple, etc. all hate you on a personal level. They must, to f@#% you over so badly.

Encrypt messages and files using a unique key-pair before sending to the intended recipient.

use a combination of words, upper case, lower case, numbers, and special characters to make strong pass-phrases. Using an encrypted password manager, like Keepassx, will help.

Malware is sneaky, sometimes the only way to be sure you are not compromised is to completely format the drive and start fresh.

A simple Internet search will turn up a number of options for both computers and mobile devices.

Encrypting your disk drive prior to installing your operating system will require a pass-phrase to decrypt the drive before booting into your system. This prevents anyone from accessing the drive while the computer is powered down.

Email clients, like Thunderbird, give the user the ability to manage their accounts without using a web browser, and include features and plug-ins that can be configured to enhance security, manage encryption and decryption, and create and manage aliases.