This article will focus not so much on Android as on the general rules of behavior for any user on the network in order to protect yourself from fraudsters, and in general, so as not to attract too much attention to your person.
Always follow the OpSec (operation security) rules on the Internet. Many hackers and criminal dissidents have been caught violating the usual online rules of conduct.
Let's consider these rules further.
- Keep your mouth shut. The less they know about you, the less they look at you. Think of the movie Fight Club. The first rule of fight club is not to talk to ANYONE about fight club. The second rule of fight club is NEVER talk about fight club. Never say out loud that you would not want to be known about you.
Don't tell anyone anything personal: what services you use, what encryption methods you use, what knowledge you have.
- Be uninteresting and they won't be interested in you. If in social. networks you post packs of money, expensive clothes, be prepared for what you are interested in. Moreover, both scammers and, possibly, the tax service.
- Do not trust 100% any service on the Internet, no matter what they promise you in their contract. If some VPN service guarantees you 100% anonymity, don't believe it. There is always a 'Weak Link' in the form of company employees who can leak your data, sell it to hackers or “share” with intelligence agencies.
- Never allow personal collisions. A collision is a coincidence of common interests among virtual fake personalities (avatars) or between a fake person and your real one. In the event of a collision, the grid of fake personalities is destroyed, but the real person cannot be destroyed?
- Be paranoid now – be paranoid now. Information on the Internet is NEVER destroyed, it is there forever. Mistakes on the Web can never be fixed. If you start not to make mistakes now, then you will not need to fix something in the future.
- Know your limits. Don't act where your level of everyday knowledge ends. Don't act where you don't know what to do. You are much more likely to make mistakes if you don't know what to do.
According to the theory of probability, even if you know what to do and are familiar with the situation, the probability of error is 33.3%. If you don't know what you are doing, there is a 99.9% error rate.
- Minimize information. Do not spread information about yourself, your family, friends, and your hobbies. No need to take a picture of the toilet paper you use every day. Do not post photos of cafes where you buy coffee every day.
- Be a professional in any situation. Everything is clear here.
- Use anti-profiling. Even going through the banal border control at the airport, you are profiling. Those. look at you externally, what verbal and non-verbal cues you are giving. Avoid any profiling, avoid those actions that will classify you.
For example, your emotional comments on the Internet can show your attitude towards politics, religion and classify you as oppositionists, religious extremists, etc.
- Protect your assets (property, freedom, wealth).
Most of the hacker and other social dissidents were caught because they simply did not know or did not follow these rules.
Hope you find these rules useful. Share in the comments what other safety rules you follow on the network.