We have published a buying guide dedicated to storage media , but also a comparison of the best external SSDs : they are compact, light and relatively accessible.
DO YOU NEED TO ENCRYPT YOUR DATA?
All OS allow stored data to be encrypted, it is an effective way to protect your data, but it is not the only one. Apple introduced encryption by default since iOS 8, while it was imposed by Google on Android
Encryption is a procedure that consists of protecting your data with a unique key , so as to make it unreadable by a third party. By analogy, we can see encryption as a safe containing all the data that we want to keep confidential. Access to its contents requires de facto the safe key. The cipher is not tamper-proof, but, if used well, can be strong enough to discourage anyone trying to crack it.
We therefore strongly advise you to activate encryption, but be aware that this will have a fairly limited effect on the performance of your device. Personally, I disabled encryption on macOS because I don’t store sensitive files on it.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KEEP YOUR DEVICES UP TO DATE?
Things have changed a lot in 10 to 15 years in computing. Whether on Windows 10, macOS, iPadOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS… Updates are more frequent and often include small fixes and security updates. On Android, Google also deploys monthly updates dedicated to security .
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHICH SITES HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU?
Even if, since 2018, websites have been required to collect the consent of Internet users for the cookies installed on their computer, it may be practical to use a tracker blocker to prevent other services from having information about self.
SHOULD YOU USE A FIREWALL?
Firewall or firewall , there was a time when installing firewall software on Windows was necessary, as it was a user’s first line of defense against threats from the Internet.
The firewall is a piece of hardware or an application that filters outgoing and incoming connections that are made to and from your computer. The firewall is located between the user and his applications on one side and the Internet connection on the other.
You may not know it, but you are already protected by a firewall, that of your box. And very often, a second, that of your Windows 10 PC. We therefore advise you to activate the firewall on your Windows 10 PC to increase the security of your machine. The firewall is therefore important, but not essential.
On Android and iOS, the two OS already have options to limit internet access to applications. This is already a sufficient security tool.
CAN YOU ROOT OR JAILBREAK YOUR SMARTPHONE?
To root or jailbreak your device is to take the risk of leaving doors open. Indeed, these two words ultimately consist of the same thing: obtaining very advanced permissions to access your system that you do not necessarily need.
Is the root on Android doomed to disappear?
This allows you, possibly, to install certain features, but it is no longer as useful and it is especially not recommended to do so. Our advice: avoid getting into it, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing.
