Guides
Plain, practical, UK-specific. Follow your plan top to bottom, or just pick the one you need - every guide stands on its own, and the free route always comes first.
Your plan, step by step
Switch on automatic updates
Most break-ins use holes that were already fixed. Turn updates on across your phone, computer and browser - then forget about it.
Read the guideIn your planLock your phone properly
Your phone holds more of your life than your keys. A proper lock, Find My, and hiding codes on the lock screen - so a lost phone isn't an open door.
Read the guideIn your planSet up a password manager
The vault everything else leans on - one strong key instead of dozens of weak ones. Free options, a strong master password, and switching over without doing it all at once.
Read the guideIn your planTurn on two-step sign-in
A second lock so a stolen password isn't enough. Why an app beats a text, which accounts to do first, and the backup codes that stop you locking yourself out.
Read the guideIn your planChoose a browser that tracks you less
Your browser sees almost everything you do online. How to pick one that tracks you less, and the few settings worth changing in any browser.
Read the guideIn your planHarden your main email
The account that resets all your others - made hard to break into. A unique password, app-based two-step, the recovery back door closed, and the one scam that gets past it all.
Read the guideIn your planGet yourself off the UK data market
Remove yourself from data brokers for free - the electoral register, 192.com, Companies House, Google and your GDPR rights. The honest version, not a subscription pitch.
Read the guideIn your planAdd passkeys or a security key
The strongest everyday sign-in - a login a fake site can't steal, built into the phone you already own. What they are, where they live, and turning them on.
Read the guideIn your planBack up your stuff - and test it
A backup you've never tested is a hope, not a backup. The 3-2-1 rule, automatic backups, an offsite copy, surviving ransomware, and actually testing a restore.
Read the guideIn your planStop scammers emailing as you
Lock down your domain's email with SPF, DKIM and DMARC - free, the way your provider recommends. A paid service only automates the watching.
Read the guideIn your planSeparate admin from day-to-day
If the account you use all day can change everything, so can anything that catches you. Keep admin separate and limit what one mistake can do.
Read the guideIn your planCompartmentalise your identities
If every account traces back to one email and number, one thread unravels everything. Keep separate lives separate - for people who could be targeted.
Read the guideIn your planHarden your iPhone
Switch on the strong privacy tools your iPhone hides - Stolen Device Protection, Advanced Data Protection, tracking controls and account lockdown. About twenty minutes in Settings.
Read the guideIn your planHarden your Android phone
Make the phone you already own much safer in half an hour - updates, lock screen, theft protection, permissions and your Google account. No new phone, banking apps intact.
Read the guideIn your planMove to a hardened phone (GrapheneOS)
For the genuinely high-risk: an honest look at GrapheneOS - what it is, what it costs you in convenience, and whether you actually need it.
Read the guide