The internet is full of outdated cybersecurity advice that just won’t die but should, like “public WiFi is unsafe” and “you should change your passwords regularly.” For the more pedantic in the crowd, yes, these pieces of “advice” do have tiny grains of truth under the layers of … | Continue reading
This weekend in the United States, taxes are due. For the more responsible readers – aka “everyone but me” – this was probably already done weeks - if not months - ago. But don’t worry. Taxes will roll around again the same time next year, as inevitable as death itself as the fam … | Continue reading
Identity theft is a common cause of anxiety in modern society, and it's pretty justifiable. According to a recent survey from US News, almost three quarters of adults have experienced at least one case of identity theft, and 27% have experienced more than one. In 2022 there were … | Continue reading
Cloud storage has become ubiquitous in modern society. The most widely-used example, I think, is the one that comes prebundled with our phones in the form of Google Drive or iCloud, but many desktop devices also come preloaded with iCloud or Dropbox (and we often add our own like … | Continue reading
From the beginning I’ve always said this blog would be used to communicate major changes with the site in addition to reviews, ideas, etc. It’s been hard over the years to know what changes are big enough to warrant a full blog post, and which ones I should just let users see in … | Continue reading
There are many enemies of privacy. There are politicians claiming the (at best) misguided pretense of “protecting the children,” intelligence agencies claiming “national security,” companies claiming to give us “the best experience” or serve us the most relevant ads, and even ind … | Continue reading
2023 was a record-breaking year for cybersecurity in a bad way. Ransomware payments hit a record high of $1.1 billion, which is likely to... | Continue reading
In an era where our lives are intricately intertwined with technology, the concept of cybersecurity has become paramount. One need look n... | Continue reading
Last week, encrypted email, cloud, and calendar provider Skiff announced they will be shutting down in six months after being acquired by... | Continue reading
Love it or hate it, online dating is here to stay. According to Pew Research, 30% of US adults say they’ve used online dating sites or ap... | Continue reading
In an era where the internet has become an integral part of our daily lives, it's crucial to prioritize online safety. Safer Internet Day... | Continue reading
At the time of publication, tomorrow is International Data Privacy Day. Like most “days” of this sort, the focus is on spreading awarenes... | Continue reading
As a veteran, my approach to healthcare and job opportunities has always been different than most. I’ve always been in reasonably good he... | Continue reading
Every year, I like to remind everyone to go back to the basics. For those who are new to privacy and security and may be trying to create... | Continue reading
Another year at The New Oil draws to a close. Let's discuss. 2023 Goals Last year, I kept my goals small. I stated that my main goals w... | Continue reading
This month, gift-giving season officially beginning in the United States (and several other places, I presume). It kicks off in full with... | Continue reading
I'll keep this one brief: there's a lot going on behind-the-scenes at TNO and there's always more to do, but I'm incredibly excited to an... | Continue reading
This is an out-of-band blog post. If you're reading this (not on the day it was published via your usual subscription channels but instea... | Continue reading
If you haven’t read last week’s post, I highly recommend it to get up to speed. A quick recap for those who may have forgotten: The Priva... | Continue reading
Many of you may have come across this blog post from The Privacy Dad, which serves as a follow up to a previous post titled “Privacy Tool... | Continue reading
Disclosure: I have an affiliate link with Proton VPN that gives me a small financial payout if you sign up for a paid plan using it. You ... | Continue reading
Password managers are thankfully becoming a mainstream topic. In addition to seeing commercials for certain ones from time to time, it’s ... | Continue reading
What is Threema & Why Do You Need It? Threema is an end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messenger available on Android, and iOS. Linux, Mac, Win... | Continue reading
About nine months ago, Henry and I made a comment on Surveillance Report 106 about how there's not enough privacy content out there aimed... | Continue reading
Disclosure: I have an affiliate link with SimpleLogin that gives me credit towards my own SL account. You do not have to use this link, I... | Continue reading
Did you know that drinking too much water can kill you? (You'd have to really chug a lot of it do so, so don't really worry about it, but... | Continue reading
Amazon’s now-legendary “Prime Day” is July 11-12. Boy that sneaks up on you fast when you avoid them and don't have ads in your life. Muc... | Continue reading
A few months ago, as my wife and I sat in the study doing out separate things, she suddenly asked if I noticed a certain smell in the roo... | Continue reading
What is Mullvad VPN? A VPN is a service that creates an encrypted tunnel between the device and the provider's server, protecting all yo... | Continue reading
Buckle up. This is going to be a very long post. In the past week, I’ve had a number of people ask me the same question: namely what are... | Continue reading
Among the more hardcore privacy enthusiasts, the cloud is anathema. To be fair, this isn't a bad philosophy - the saying that the cloud i... | Continue reading
As some of you probably noticed, I've been pretty absent for nearly a month. I apologize for that. First we had a move that ended up suck... | Continue reading
What is SPN? A VPN – or Virtual Private Network - is a service that creates an encrypted tunnel between the device and the provider's se... | Continue reading
What is Zero-Knowledge/End-to-End Encrypted Email & Why Do You Need It? Encrypted email is a bit of a misnomer. Technically all emails a... | Continue reading
I'm not a fan of Elon Musk for a variety of reasons. I've been relatively open about that. But even a broken clock is right twice a day, ... | Continue reading
If you dig a little deeper into privacy - beyond the basics like encrypted communications, password managers, 2FA, and Linux - you'll sta... | Continue reading
About the Author & the Book Ben Bowlin, Matt Frederick, and Noel Brown cohost one of my personal favorite podcasts, Stuff They Don’t Wan... | Continue reading
A more advanced strategy that comes up often in the privacy community is that of “custom domains.” These tools can provide a wide variety... | Continue reading
Disclosure: The New Oil is sponsored by IVPN. Per the terms of this agreement, IVPN does not have any input on our review, but we want to... | Continue reading
It’s a new year, and for most people that means “new beginnings.” Humans are naturally drawn to specific milestones in our lives because ... | Continue reading
What is 2FA and Why Do You Need It? 2FA is an abbreviation for “two-factor authentication,” which is basically what it sounds like. User... | Continue reading
“What a year.” My annual catchphrase. I always say that this project has exploded in ways I never expected, and that never stops being tr... | Continue reading
About the Author & the Book Cathy O’Neil is an American mathematician and data scientist. She got a Ph.D in math from Harvard, and later... | Continue reading
The following is an original piece of journalism from The New Oil Twitter may be compromised, and nobody's covering it. This is the alle... | Continue reading
Regardless of how you feel about capitalism, there is one aspect of it that – to some extent – I think we can all agree is nice: the free... | Continue reading
About the Author & the Book Shoshana Zuboff is no stranger to technology and the way it impacts our modern life. With a Ph.D. in psychol... | Continue reading
Next week, gift-giving season officially beginning in the United States (and at least a few other places, I presume) with Black Friday. A... | Continue reading
What is Wire & Why Do You Need It? Wire is an end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messenger available on Linux, Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS. ... | Continue reading