Guides
Practical guides to privacy, security, and digital rights made simple. Where to start, what matters, and what to actually do.
21 posts
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How to Check If Your Phone Number or Email Has Been in a Data Breach Your phone number and email are in more breach databases than you think. Here's how to check exactly where you've been exposed using free tools, what to actually do about it, and how to stop it from being a recurring worry.
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How to Verify Signal Safety Numbers Signal's Safety Numbers let you cryptographically confirm that your conversation hasn't been tampered with, but it can be confusing to navigate. Here's a guide to verifying Signal Safety Numbers.
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How the Tor Network Works and When to Use It Tor is one of the strongest anonymity tools available to people, and a tool worth understanding even if you rarely need it.
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iOS vs. Android vs. Custom ROMs: Mobile OS Privacy and Security Compared Your mobile OS determines what data is collected before you install a single app. Here's how iOS, stock Android, and custom ROMs like GrapheneOS compare.
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Threat Modeling: How to Know What You Actually Need to Protect A practical framework for figuring out what you're actually protecting, who you're protecting it from, and how much effort that genuinely warrants.
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Security vs. Privacy vs. Anonymity: What's the Difference? Security, privacy, and anonymity solve different problems. Confusing them leads to the wrong tools. Here's how each one works and why the distinction matters.
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What Is Metadata and What Does It Reveal About You? Metadata is data about your data—who you called, when, how long, from where. It's often more revealing than content, and encryption doesn't protect it.
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Open-Source Software and Privacy: What FOSS Is and Why It Matters Open-source software can be audited by anyone—which matters when you're trusting a tool with your data. Here's what FOSS means and what it guarantees.
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How Encryption Works: End-to-End, At Rest, and Client-Side Explained Encryption is the foundation of every privacy tool, but not all encryption is equal. E2EE, client-side, and at-rest encryption solve different problems.