Data you store is data that can be stolen, seized, leaked, or subpoenaed, years after you forgot it existed. This section covers the storage side of privacy: encrypting what you keep, backing it up so loss and ransomware are non-events, understanding what your files silently say about you, and the most underrated control of all, keeping less.
Data
Encryption at rest, backups that survive ransomware, the metadata hiding inside your files, and keeping less in the first place.
- Encryption Full-disk encryption on every platform, what it protects against, and the file-level tools for everything that leaves the disk.
- Backups Backups are a security control. The 3-2-1 rule, ransomware-resistant design, and encrypting the copies as well as the originals.
- File Metadata Photos carry GPS coordinates, documents carry author names and edit histories. What's inside common files and how to strip it.
- Data Minimization The only defense that works retroactively is data that was never collected. Practical minimization for forms, accounts, and archives.