Was Jeffrey Dennis Murdered by the Philadelphia Police?

Multiple posts on the Internet claim that Jeffrey Dennis was murdered by Philadelphia Police. The posts make claims that Dennis was unarmed, non-violent, didn't run from the police, and posed no risk.

A statement from the Philadelphia Police describes the incident as follows:

On Monday at approximately 4:10pm, an on-duty officer in civilian attire, and working along with other members of the Narcotics Field Unit, were conducting a surveillance on the 7100 block of Cottage Street. The officers were preparing to execute a search warrant at that property for narcotics evidence. While conducting the surveillance, the officers observed a 2010 Toyota Camry, bearing a NJ license plate, that was being operated by Dennis traveling in the area. The vehicle was identified by the NFU officers as being associated with the prior narcotics activity at the Cottage Street address.

Six officers in three unmarked police cars used their vehicles to block the Toyota Camry’s path of travel on the 7100 block of Hegerman Street. All six officers exited their vehicles and approached Dennis’ vehicle. Dennis failed to comply with commands by the officers to shut the engine off, and began striking the unmarked police vehicles which were in front and behind his Toyota Camry. One officer utilized a “haligan” tool, and shattered the driver’s door window. Dennis continued to maneuver his vehicle away from the officers. One officer was struck by the Toyota Camry.

An officer, who was positioned next to the driver’s door of the Toyota Camry, discharged three rounds, striking Dennis in the head and left arm. Medical personnel arrived at the scene, and pronounced him dead at 4:18 p.m.

Three officers were transported to Jefferson-Torresdale Hospital for treatment of their injuries. The officer struck by the Camry sustained injuries to his legs, and was admitted in good condition. The two other officers were treated for minor injuries and released.

The unnamed officer who shot Dennis has been assigned to desk duty while the shooting is investigated by Internal Affairs.
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Were the police justified in shooting and killing Mr. Dennis? Well, I wasn't there and certainly don't have all the facts in this case. But, there are certainly question that need to be asked and answered...

 



• Did Mr. Dennis recognize that the three unmarked vehicles that blocked him were police vehicles?
• Were the six undercover officers - all in plain clothes - recognizable as police officers?
• Did they identify themselves as police officers in a way that was clear to Mr. Dennis as he was trying to get away?

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This incident will be investigated, and if the shooting was not justified the officer involved could be charged with criminal homicide. In a separate incident in PA in June 2018 an officer was so charged when he shot an unarmed 17-year old who ran away from him during a traffic stop.

Whether justified or not, the death of Mr. Dennis will result in demonstrations against the police and the city and fuel further hate and mistrust for the police in an ever-growing demographic.

Portland Oregon Hate Crime Database

PORTLAND, Ore - Portland police have launched a new crime database specifically tracking bias and hate crimes.

There's now a new way to keep track of hate crimes happening around the city.

Portland police have launched a new crime database specifically tracking bias and hate crimes.
It's on their website and open to the public.

They hope it will help increase transparency with the public and encourage them to report more hate crimes.

The site will be updated with new statistics every three months. (KATU News, August 21, 2018)
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In God We Trust... But Not Much Else

Paranoia may be defined as "suspicion and mistrust of people or their actions without evidence or justification." But what if there is evidence and justification for your beliefs?

According to the Pew Research Center (December 14, 2017) Public trust in the government remains near historic lows. Only 18% of Americans today say they can trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (3%) or “most of the time” (15%). 

A September 14, 2016 Gallup Poll found that Americans' trust and confidence in the mass media "to report the news fully, accurately and fairly" has dropped to its lowest level in Gallup polling history, with only 32% saying they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media.

On July 10, 2017 Gallup reported that confidence in police is back at its historical average of 57% of American expressing a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the police. This statistic however masks the general lack of trust in the police by Blacks, where only 30% expressed trust in the police, Hispanics 45%, Liberals 39%, all persons Age 18-34, 44%, and those individuals identifying with the Democratic party 44%.

The Atlantic (January 21, 2018) stated "It used to be that what Edelman labels the “informed public”—those aged 25 to 64 who have a college degree, regularly consume news, and are in the top 25 percent of household income for their age group—placed far greater trust in institutions than the U.S. public as a whole. This year, however, the gap all but vanished, with trust in government in particular plummeting 30 percentage points among the informed public. America is now home to the least-trusting informed public of the 28 countries that the firm surveyed... Distrust is growing most among younger, high-income Americans."

Harvard Business Review (January 16, 2017) reported that only 37% of people globally trust CEOs of businesses to do what's right.

When government agencies, by their own admission, use patterns of false arrests and detentions, attacks on homes and friendships, and attempt to impede political groups from using their First Amendment rights to protest and speak out against the government this completely destroys trust in those agencies.



Google Makes Censored Search Engine for China

According to The Intercept, August 1, 2018 Google is planning to launch a censored version of its search engine in China that will blacklist websites and search terms about human rights, democracy, religion, and peaceful protest... Google’s search service cannot currently be accessed by most internet users in China because it is blocked by the country’s so-called Great Firewall. The app Google is building for China will comply with the country’s strict censorship laws, restricting access to content that Xi Jinping’s Communist Party regime deems unfavorable.
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Censorship and restricting access to information is always a bad idea.  When a major search engine / corporation, like Google, builds a search engine with built-in censorship... what does this say about support for human rights and civil liberties?

Privacy, Anonymity, and Individuality The Final Battle Begins (Steven Rambam)

Privacy, Anonymity, and Individuality The Final Battle Begins
HQ - HOPE XI 2016 (YouTube Video - 3 hours)

First came the assault on privacy. Name, address, telephone, DOB, SSN, physical description, friends, family, likes, dislikes, habits, hobbies, beliefs, religion, sexual orientation, finances, every granular detail of a person's life, all logged, indexed, analyzed and cross-referenced. Then came the gathering of location and communication data.

Cell phones, apps, metro cards, license plate readers and toll tags, credit card use, IP addresses and authenticated logins, tower info, router proximity, networked "things" everywhere reporting on activity and location, astoundingly accurate facial recognition mated with analytics and "gigapixel" cameras and, worst of all, mindlessly self-contributed posts, tweets, and "check-ins," all constantly reporting a subject's location 24-7-365, to such a degree of accuracy that "predictive profiling" knows where you will likely be next Thursday afternoon.

Today we are experiencing constant efforts to shred anonymity. Forensic linguistics, browser fingerprinting, lifestyle and behavior analysis, metadata of all types, HTML5, IPv6, and daily emerging "advances" in surveillance technologies - some seemingly science fiction but real - are combining to make constant, mobile identification and absolute loss of anonymity inevitable.

And, now, predictably, the final efforts to homogenize: the "siloing" and Balkanization of the Internet. As Internet use becomes more and more self-restricted to a few large providers, as users increasingly never leave the single ecosystem of a Facebook or a Google, as the massive firehose of information on the Internet is "curated" and "managed" by persons who believe that they know best what news and opinions you should have available to read, see, and believe, the bias of a few will eventually determine what you believe.

What is propaganda? What is truth? You simply won't know. In a tradition dating back to the first HOPE conference, for three full hours Steven Rambam will detail the latest trends in privacy invasion and will demonstrate cutting-edge anonymity-shredding surveillance technologies.
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Most of you who have an interest in digital privacy and personal security may have seen Steve Rambam's presentation from HOPE XI, 2016. If you haven't seen this presentation, please spend an evening watching it and learning more about privacy. You may be surprised at the number of ways you are tracked and surveilled everyday.

Hackers Just Stole Personal Data of 2 Million T-Mobile Customers

On August 20, 2018 Hackers Stole Personal Data of 2 Million T-Mobile Customers. The stolen customer data included names, email addresses, account numbers, and other billing information. T-Mobile stated that the hack did not get credit card numbers, social security numbers, or passwords. The company wrote in the announcement that “all affected customers have been, or shortly will be, notified. If you don’t receive a notification than that means your account was not among those impacted by this incident.” T-Mobile also encouraged customers to contact customer service through 611 if they were concerned. The complete T-Mobile bulletin is here.

T-Mobile quickly detected the hack and secured the data, but not before the personal information of 2-million customers was stolen. Whenever possible purchase your phones directly and limit the amount of personal data you provide to any cellular service provider.

Pros and Cons to Surveillance in Family Legal Matters

As technology rapidly advances and becomes more sophisticated, attorneys, litigants and the courts must grapple with the use of modern surveillance in the context of litigation in family matters. Surveillance can be useful in some situations, and litigants often resort to surveillance of their spouse to gather what they perceive to be valuable evidence. That evidence, whether it be video footage, recorded telephone calls, GPS tracking, digital copies of hard drives or other forms of surveillance, may be used at trial or simply to gain leverage in settlement negotiations. Nevertheless, this type of activity does not come without risk.

This article explores three surveillance techniques and analyzes the risks and rewards of each.

Phone Recordings

It is easy to record a telephone call, whether it be through an application on a cell phone or an easily disguised device. Since recording devices are readily available, a client may resort to this option to gain evidence for litigation without involving a professional. However, a client could easily violate a law prohibiting the recording.

Video Surveillance

Video surveillance can be tremendously helpful in certain actions. For example, when a payor suspects that their ex-spouse is cohabitating, surveillance may be necessary to confirm the cohabitation and support an application to modify or terminate alimony.

GPS Tracking

The technology behind Global Positioning Systems (GPS) advanced exponentially in recent years, making it accessible to expert investigators and lay people alike. Devices have become cheap, small, sophisticated and difficult to detect.    (New Jersey Law Journal (July 12, 2018)
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The DNC Hack That Never Happened

A would-be hacking attempt into the national Democratic Party's massive voter file wasn't that at all. It turns out to be the work of a technology company hired by Michigan Democrats, all in the name of testing how secure the party can keep information on tens of millions of Americans.

"This was an unauthorized test, not an attack," Bob Lord, the Democratic National Committee's chief security officer, told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.

That finding, discovered after national party officials already had contacted federal law enforcement fearing a malicious hacking attempt, marks an odd and potentially embarrassing twist to the party's data security efforts two years after Russians [supposedly] penetrated DNC computers and released internal communications that upended the 2016 presidential election. (KOMO News, August 23, 2018)
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On Tuesday the DNC said: Coming less than three months ahead of the 2018 midterms, [this] demonstrated Russia's continued efforts to destabilize US institutions. The news also places additional pressure on President Donald Trump to take action, even though he downplayed Russia's involvement as recently as Monday. These threats are serious and that's why it's critical that we all work together, but we can't do this alone. We need the (Trump) administration to take more aggressive steps to protect our voting systems. It is their responsibility to protect our democracy from these types of attacks.

Guess we can't blame this one on the Russians!

Deputy's Shooting of Tommy Le 'Justified'

A board review investigating the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Tommy Le by King County Sheriff's office deputies last year has unanimously ruled the shooting was justified, the department announced Wednesday.

King County deputies responded to multiple 911 calls of a man threatening neighbors on June 13, 2017. Investigators believe Le was possibly in some sort of mental crisis. 

Witnesses said he was running around a neighborhood in Burien and scaring people with a knife.

Two deputies arrived and tried to Taser Le, but those attempts failed.

The deputies said Le appeared to be charging toward them and other bystanders while holding what appeared to be a knife, so one of them opened fired.

An autopsy report showed Le was shot twice in the back. Le died a short time later. It was only then that investigators realized he was only carrying a pen. (KOMO 4 News, August 22, 2018)
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So, the police respond to a 20-year old kid having a mental crisis, attempt to Taser him, and when that fails the police shoot him in the back because he was carrying a pen - at least that's the way that some will try to spin the story.

Reviewing all the facts, we find that there were multiple 911 calls about a man threatening people with a knife. A civilian (non-police officer) fired a personal weapon and fled inside of his house when Le charged him. Le was then outside of the house pounding on the door. Arriving deputies, first attempted to use a less-lethal means (a Taser) to bring Le under control. The Taser failed. When Le lunged at deputies, holding what was reported (in multiple 911 calls) to be a knife a deputy fired two shots, killing Le.

Police do not just roll up to the scene and open fire. A Seattle Times review of 213 fatal encounters with police in the state from 2005 to 2014 found only one where a cop was charged. Yes, it is sad that a young man having a mental crisis was killed by the police, but we should not spin this to be more than what it was - police using deadly force in a good faith belief that their lives and the lives of others they are trying to protect were in immediate danger from Le.

 

 

Portland Police Chief Outlaw to Antifa ... "I kicked your butt"

An article in Sputnik News* (August 18, 2018) stated: Danielle Outlaw, the police chief in Portland, Oregon, told local right-wing radio host Lars Larson her cops had “come with the intention to fight,” “kicked butt” and used other schoolyard analogies to describe the force Portland police officers deployed ‒ and have been much criticized for ‒ during demonstrations August 4.

Outlaw has been under fire since her officers used a variety of "nonlethal force" measures on left-wing counter-demonstrators to the far-right August 4 rally. Critics are saying her officers used excessive force and clearly targeted one side.

Three people were hospitalized because of the police department's crowd control choices: one with a traumatic brain injury and others with third degree chemical burns and open wounds, Sputnik News previously reported.

Critics have singled out the incident in which police officers appeared to use force on a crowd of left-wing demonstrators simply to get back to two of their vehicles.

In a video by independent journalist Daniel V., it appears as though the police were trying to get to unattended squad cars.

"Is that a police car out in that crowd?" an officer asks another.

"That's two, that's two," the second officer replies.

A few moments later, an officer tells the people at the edge of the crowd to move before police started deploying weapons.

"It looked to me like the police attacked only to get to squad cars they left unattended," Daniel V. tweeted. "I saw nothing thrown before the police attack."


*Sputnik is a modern news agency whose products include newsfeeds, websites, social networks, mobile apps, radio broadcasts and multimedia press centers. Sputnik HQ is located in Moscow. Regional offices are located in key regions and countries around the world, including the United States (Washington, DC), China (Beijing), France (Paris), Germany (Berlin), Egypt (Cairo) and the UK (London and Edinburgh).
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Wasp and Hornet Spray for Self-Defense

From time to time someone will recommend using wasp and hornet spray as a means of self-defense. Recently readers of 'Chesbro on Security' asked me what I thought about this recommendation.

The short answer is this: Wasp & Hornet Spray Does NOT Work for Self-Defense.

The amount of active ingredients in the spray (according to the label) are 0.04% to 0.06%; the compound is typically ‘pyrethrin or pyrethroids, which come from a species of chrysanthemum plant. This active ingredient is meant to disrupt a wasp’s  nervous system.

On the other hand, human pepper sprays target a human’s eyes and respiratory system. Think of the biology and size differences between wasps and humans!

Independent testing concludes that wasp spray is ‘minimally’ irritating to human eyes, so how could it be expected to incapacitate a violent attacker?

A couple of YouTube videos show people being sprayed with wasp and hornet spray, demonstrating that it has almost no effect and certainly would not stop an attacker intent on doing you harm:

Wasp Spray for Self Defense Debunked!

Pepper Spray vs. Wasp Spray Challenge: Get the Facts for Self-Defense

If you want a spray for self-defense, buy a product that is actually designed for self-defense.

Here's Why You Should Be Using a VPN

Getting tired of tech companies and out-of-control government employees tracking every single thing you do and sharing all of your data? It may seem like you're fighting a losing battle, but one thing you can do is use a virtual private network.

When you use a VPN, some of your data will still be collected but not as much as surfing without one. For example, it won't block all cookies, but it will mask your location, which means search engines won't be able to identify you. Your internet service provider also won't know what you're up to, though it will be able to see that you were using a VPN.

A VPN can make using public Wi-Fi slightly safer. Security experts generally recommend against using public Wi-Fi networks, like you would typically find at a café or airport. But sometimes, it's essential that you jump online to answer an important email or check your bank account. Running a VPN will make it more difficult for someone in that café or airport to use public Wi-Fi to snoop on you.

In general, if your goal is to increase your level of privacy, go for a VPN that doesn't keep logs. Otherwise, that defeats the whole purpose of using a VPN.

Why you should be using a VPN (CNET Top 5 - YouTube Video)
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Army Reinstates At Least 36 Discharged Immigrants

At least three dozen immigrant recruits who were booted from the U.S. Army after enlisting with a promised pathway to citizenship are being brought back to serve, according to court records filed Monday.

Since Aug. 17, the U.S. Army has reinstated 32 reservists, and revoked discharge orders of another six enlistees who had sued. Another 149 discharges have been suspended and are under review, said Army Assistant Deputy for Recruiting and Retention Linden St. Clair, in the filing.

The reinstatements follow an Associated Press story in early July that revealed dozens of immigrant enlistees were being discharged or had their contracts cancelled. Some said they were given no reason for their discharge. Others said the Army informed them they'd been labeled as security risks because they have relatives abroad or because the Defense Department had not completed background checks on them.

They had enlisted under the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program, known as (MAVNI), to increase the number of soldiers with critical language or medical skills.
The reinstatements come weeks after the Army reversed course, suspending the discharges at least temporarily.  (KOMO 4 News, August 21, 2018)
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Background checks and proper vetting are essential the security of military operations. There are National Security Adjudicative Guidelines that help determine when someone may be a security risk. Unfortunately, as we have seen recently, commanders may use security clearance and access as a political tool and as a way to retaliate against those individuals against whom they hold a personal grudge or grievance.

If the individuals who were discharged from service truly did pose a security risk - determined by a properly conducted investigation - then they should not and would not have been reinstated. So, the question must be asked... was 'security clearance' used as a political tool, or is the Army now reinstating people who are in fact known security risks? 

Address Verification and Full PGP Support Now in ProtonMail

ProtonMail has added Address Verification and Full PGP Support to its services. Address Verification allows you to be sure you are securely communicating with the right person, while PGP support adds encrypted email interoperability.  Details are on the ProtonMail Blog.
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Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) Announces New Crime Tips System

QUANTICO, VA (Aug. 21, 2018) – The Army community and American public now have the ability to use their computers and smartphones to submit tips about crimes, suspicious activity or threats to the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Command (CID) via a new digital crime tips system.

The CID crime tips system recently transitioned to a web-based and smartphone app submission method. The public can access the system via any Internet-connected device by visiting, http://www.cid.army.mil/report-a-crime.html. In addition to the web interface, the app is for submission of tips and is available for free download from the Apple Store and Google Play at http://www.p3tips.com/app.aspx?ID=325.

“This new system is the ideal solution for ‘tipsters’ to report criminal activities or suspicious activity anonymously. Tips received will be seamlessly assigned to various units for further investigation.

Additionally, persons providing anonymous tips will have the ability to communicate with the CID Agents. After submitting a tip, a tip reference/ID number is created that allows the tipster to create a password to check the status of the submitted tip or check on the status of a reward – if applicable. So do not misplace your ID number, as it will be needed to check on the status of your tip.

There is also the multi-language feature for global use that allows tips to be auto-converted into English on the backend regardless of what language they were submitted. Tips will be responded to in English and auto-translated back to their source language during the two-way dialog process.

According to Christopher Grey, CID’s spokesman, the previous methods of reporting a crime to CID will remain in effect until the new Crime Tips System is fully implemented.

“It is critical for people to say something when they see something and it literally can mean the difference between someone receiving the justice they deserve or victimizing another innocent person,” Grey said. “Although we prefer people with information to use the new digital Crime Tips system, they can still report a crime through our current methods until these methods are phased out within the next 60 days: contact your local CID office, contact 1-844-ARMY-CID (844-276-9243) or email CID at Army.CID.Crime.Tips@mail.mil.”
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Anti-fascists Say Police Post Mugshots on Twitter to 'Intimidate and Silence'

According to The Guardian (August 16, 2018) Michelle Higgins was protesting a high-profile police killing in St Louis when the officers grabbed her.

The activist’s arrest for “failure to disperse” on 15 September 2017 wasn’t the only punishment she faced for marching. When she was released a day later, she learned that the police department had posted her name, age and address on Twitter, alongside 32 others arrested during the chaotic demonstrations sparked by the acquittal of an officer.

Most of the arrests did not result in charges, but the damage was done. It’s a law enforcement tactic that activists say has become increasingly common: police arrest protesters en masse, publicly shame them on social media, and then drop the cases.

The strategy can lead to intense online abuse for Black Lives Matter activists and other protesters. In the case of anti-fascist protesters, some critics argue that police are also boosting the agenda of neo-Nazis and white supremacists by exposing counter-protesters’ identities – and branding them violent offenders before they’ve gone to court.

Spokespeople for police in St Louis, Berkeley and Portland, noted that arrests and mugshots are public records, with some citing legal obligations to release the information.

A Berkeley police spokesman sent a lengthy statement saying its tweets were “a matter of safety and transparency”, adding, “This is done not in an effort to shame, or to chill freedom of speech, but to deny lawbreakers anonymity.” He said the department does not have a policy of removing tweets after cases are dropped.

One Berkeley protester who was outed in the recent wave of tweets and requested anonymity noted that activists have few recourses when they face harassment after mugshots are posted.

Twitter advises users to contact local law enforcement if they are subject to violent threats. But in Berkeley, it feels like that’s not an option, the activist said: “They are the ones that doxed us.”
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Doxing is a common tactic used by both Antifa and Alt-Right against police and government officials and against each other. Police say that doxing poses a clear threat to the individuals being doxed.

This is true when non-public information is released to the public with the intent of causing problems for the person being identified. It is important to note however that information posted about individuals is often already public (i.e. social media, web-pages, news reports).  

Website Promised Free Anti-Antifa Shirts. Alt-Right Signed Up. It Was a Trap

A website that offered free anti-anti-fascist t-shirts for a real far-right march appears to have been a trap by anti-fascists.

“National March Against Far-Left Violence” held in several cities on August 18, 2018 was organized by a pair of groups that are frequent attendees at far-right rallies. Expected participants include members of anti-Muslim group the Proud Boys and people involved in the group Patriot Prayer, which has attracted white supremacists.

In early July, when march leaders were planning their event, an apparent ally set up a website where marchers could pre-order anti-anti-fascist t-shirts. But the website appears to have been a trap by antifa, who turned around and published the names and addresses they’d collected from the website.

An anonymous person registered a website for the National March Against Far-Left Violence in early July, web registry records show. An early version of the site encouraged fans to subscribe to its mailing list or pre-order t-shirts, which showed an anti-fascist symbol being damaged by the American flag. The site didn’t ask for payment, just an address “so we can calculate shipping costs.”

The far right and its opponents often wage controversial doxxing campaigns against each other, with "fascists" and "anti-fascists" posting their rivals’ personal details online in attempt to intimidate them or reveal their identities.

Approximately three dozen people who allegedly signed up for the mailing list or tried to reserve anti-antifa shirts. Days before the march, the site started publishing those people’s names, and sometimes their addresses. (The Daily Beast, August 17, 2018)
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Study Reveals That A Bad Boss Can Make Employees Sick (Workplace Illness)

For 75% of Americans, bosses are a major cause of stress at work. An article published by Quartz magazine reveals that a bad boss can be as harmful to employees as passive smoking. The article also says that the longer you stay in a job working for someone who stresses you, the greater the damage is to your physical and mental health.

Worse than cigarettes Researchers at the Harvard Business School and Stanford University in the United States gathered data from over 200 studies and found that stress at work can be as harmful to the health as the exposure to a considerable amount of smoke from other people's cigarettes just like passive smoking. The main reason for stress at work for most employees is the risk of losing their jobs. As a consequence, chances are that these employees are 50% more prone to health problems than their colleagues.
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We all have bad days at work, and from time to time we may end up in a disagreement with the boss. The problem isn't the occasional bad day or workplace disagreement, rather it's when these problems are drawn out over months or even years, thereby causing an actual illness in the employees so affected. The Huffington Post (January 10, 2017) discussed this in its article  "How Your Toxic Boss Is Hurting Your Mental Health"

"The emotional damage from an unhealthy management culture is nothing new. There's no question, management practices can damage the mental health of a company's employees.

 When unhealthy management and leadership harms employees, it also harms their work performance. Most everyone is familiar with the damaging effects of abusive, hostile, arrogant and narcissistic bosses; of manipulative or deceitful leadership behavior.

Unhealthy leadership and the culture it spawns typically disseminates downward. It drains away high-performing, energized, engaged employees, including the innovative teamwork companies need to stay nimble and competitive -- especially today. Moreover, an unhealthy management culture fuels emotional conflicts among employees who weren't overtly troubled prior to working in that environment." (Douglas LaBier, Ph.D. Psychology Today, August 17, 2010)

When organizational leadership allows a poor working environment to continue over an extended period of time (months) and when that situation causes a documented mental or emotional illness, then the organization may be held responsible for this workplace created illness.

Security Keys Neutralized 100% of Employee Phishing at Google

Google has not had any of its 85,000+ employees successfully phished on their work-related accounts since early 2017, when it began requiring all employees to use physical Security Keys in place of passwords and one-time codes.

 

Security Keys are inexpensive USB-based devices that offer an alternative approach to two-factor authentication (2FA), which requires the user to log in to a Web site using something they know (the password) and something they have (e.g., a mobile device).  (Krebs on Security)

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YubiKey provides excellent security for your on-line accounts. I strongly encourage the use of YubiKey or a similar hardware token on every account that will accept it.

 

 



Freedom of the Press Foundation VPN Guide

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) offers key security benefits if any part of your day involves using Wi-Fi, visiting websites or sending emails. The Freedom of the Press Foundation has published "An In-Depth Guide o Choosing a VPN".

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Other good resources to learn about VPN are That One Privacy Site Detailed VPN Comparison Chart and the Privacytools.io web-site.