AI Is Getting Creepy—Here’s What Tech Experts Are Buying to Stay Private
· Vice
You might have heard the headlines that Anthropic, creator-god of the Claude AI, has created an AI so powerful that only a select few governments and companies, handpicked by Anthropic, get to access it. The AI is called Mythos, and it’s inspired fear and awe because it’s said that it’s so damn smart, it could probably defeat the strongest security measures employed by mega corporations and governments in the world.
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So what’s that say for your li’l, old password? Not looking too good, eh? There are ways to shore up your online security, though. Here are the apps I’ve used, tested, investigated, and vetted, and which I recommend you consider as a way to safeguard yourself online.
(opens in a new window) NordVPNNordVPN Plus (opens in a new window)
Available at NordVPN Buy Now (opens in a new window)start with a vpn
A VPN, or virtual private network, routes all your outgoing and incoming internet traffic through a middleman server in another location, making it harder for websites, snoops, and data thieves to track your online activity as you go from site to site.
NordVPN gets my nod as the best overall VPN. I’ve used it heavily over the last six years, and it’s not just dead-nuts-simple to use, but its connections are reliably the fastest of the trustworthy VPNs I’ve used. Notice I hedged and said trustworthy. Most VPNs I’ve investigated, I don’t trust. These are some of the few that I do.
(opens in a new window)Proton VPN (opens in a new window)
Available at Proton VPN (Free) Buy Now (opens in a new window) Available at Proton VPN (Paid) Buy Now (opens in a new window)Proton VPN is another very solid pick. The paid version is a trustworthy VPN that functions well, even though it wasn’t quite as fast as NordVPN in my testing. But it has a free version that—surprise, surprise—isn’t full of malware and spyware, like most free VPNs. If you’re hesitant to lay out any money for a VPN, at least while you test the waters, end your search and go download Proton VPN’s free version.
quit using weak passwords
Don’t stop at a VPN. Get yourself a password manager. These apps generate unique, hard-to-crack passwords for every one of your online accounts and remember them in a database guarded by a master password. You no longer have to remember your passwords, reuse them, or make them easy enough to remember in the first place (which is a surefire way to make it easy for a thief to crack). Click in a log-in form, and the password manager will fill in your email, username, or password automatically.
(opens in a new window)Dashlane (opens in a new window)
Available at Dashlane Buy Now (opens in a new window)Dashlane is one of the best. It’s been around for a long time, and I’ve been keeping up with its development for the past nine years. Since 2017, when I started reviewing and testing it, Dashlane has grown more stable, to the point where it’s a very reliable and easy-to-use password manager. You can read more about how it works here.
Just remember not to click on to-good-to-be-true emails and unfamiliar links, to answer scammy messages, or download files that aren’t from major, trustworthy websites. All the security tech in the world won’t do you any good if you overlook the weakest link in any security chain—the human behind the keyboard.
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