Advice please

[Austerus]

Wow, what a great story It's so fun to read about couples where one person thinks "you, know, I don't know if this will really be my thin....hhheeeeyyyy, that was COOL!"

On the topic of being secure online, you should really always assume that the person you are talking to knows more about network security then you and that you can be tracked down. The trick is to not get yourself into a situation where someone would be trying to track you down or where someone tracking you down would be a bad thing. That's most easily accomplished by taking it slow with people online, dropping people online like a bad habit if they do anything suspicious, and being honest with the people in your real life.

The easy things you -can- do though to make tracking you down more difficult:

Identity Firewall

- create a kink-only email address, and -don't- use your real name when you sign up for it. It should be a web-based address from one of the major providers...hotmail, yahoo, gmail, etc.

- create a kink-only AIM/MSN/Skype/Whatever account separate from your main chat account

- make sure the nicknames you use for these accounts are -significantly- different than the nicknames you use at Amazon, eBay, your banking and investment sites, etc.

- set the passwords for these accounts to be something COMPLETELY different from your standard passwords for your home computer, your banking site, your shopping at Amazon, etc.

- don't -ever- use these new accounts for shopping, banking, etc.

These steps create an identity firewall. Even if there is a malicious person on the other end of the wire, and even if the person manages to break into your chat/email, it will not lead them to any other accounts, personal information, reviews you may have posted for books, eBay listings, your buddy list on AIM, etc.


Hardware and Habits

On to other things you need to do to be "safe" online (keeping in mind you are never actually fully thoroughly safe) you should get a hardware firewall for your home network, and make sure to close any ports you don't need open on it. A friend who knows computers may be able to help you with this.

- Always always always send your kink email from the web interface of your new email account. Don't ever give in to the temptation of setting email to forward to another account, or using Outlook to grab from the website automatically.

- If people you are talking to often send you stories, pictures, etc., you should seriously consider investing in a thumb drive and a second computer (it doesn't have to be anything fancy, and in fact it should be something old and clunky. You can get them veerrryyy cheap on eBay or Craig's List) Make sure this second computer is -not- connected to the internet.

If someone you don't -thoroughly- trust sends you a file via email, chat, or whatever, put the file onto the thumb drive and move it over to the non-networked computer before opening it. It is pretty trivial to create something like an executable zip file which contains a malicious payload along with with a set of cool pictures or a hot story. Checking out files someone sends you from a computer that is not connected to your network will defeat attacks like this.

- You should never, ever click on a link someone sends you if you do not completely trust the person.

- Finally it should go without saying (but here I am saying it) that you should never give out any identifying information (name, specific location, etc etc) to people online unless you fully trust them.

Anyway, there's my .02 on internet safety