Taking nudes can be a part of your relationship with a live-in partner, a valuable aspect of your connection with a long-distance partner, or just a hot thing you want to do for yourself. If you're taking more nudes, you might be wondering what's the best way to keep them out of the public eye.
The celebrity nude photo leak scared the nude community more than five years ago, but the fear of a similar leak hasn't gone away. There are steps you can take to store nudes safely and keep sexy photos with you.
The good news is that Apple products are very safe. Patrick Wardle, creator and founder of Objective- See, a source for free open-sourced tools for Mac users, said that Apple has created a very secure device. If you're an average hacker, you won't be able to hack the phone.
It's not completely impossible. One can take a few easy steps to make sure their photo library is safe. Wardle compared the two things. They are not going after the house with the alarm system, they are going after the house with the open door. The same is true for hackers, who are looking for the least secure devices.
The latest updates are the first thing to do. There are many fixes and patches for security vulnerabilities. Someone can reverse engineer updates to see what was patched and use those vulnerabilities to target people who haven't installed the update.
Many people have said that you should use a unique password for every account.
Wardle said that a lot of times hackers will hack into other companies and gain access to a large number of accounts. Wardle mentioned the Adobe hack as an example.
Keeping sexts stored safely. Credit: bob al-greene / mashable
Wardle suggests using unique passwords and password managers, as well as turning on two-factor authentication with your iCloud Drive. "It's just an extra layer of security that will make your device, and your account, way more difficult to hack," said Wardle.
Just in case, it is a good idea to have a password on your phone.
Wardle prefers to keep sensitive files on your phone or iPad rather than in the cloud. That doesn't mean the cloud isn't secure, but having files in one place instead of two reduces the attack surface.
There are apps for storing photos. Wardle advises you to be careful with the apps you download from the app store. What are they doing with information and data? Wardle said they can do anything they want with your private photos once they have access to them.
Who knows what's going on with an app that claims to provide some fancy filters to your images from copying all your images and sending them to a remote server? Smaller apps with questionable origins aren't the same as big apps like Facebook, which have been checked by security researchers.
"There's nothing to stop an app that claims to provide some fancy filters to your images from copying all your images"
Do you know if the app has end-to-end security? End-to-end encryption means that only the sender and recipient can read and decode the data. If the server is hacked, the message can't be read. It wouldn't be possible for Apple to read it.
For those wondering, end-to-end encryption has been in place for the past year.
If you store your nudes on a Mac, you can use an additional password to protect them. Even if your system got hacked or someone you know had access to your laptop, you can still protect that folder with an extra layer of security.
Wardle warns users to be careful with third-party photo vault apps that claim to have the same functions as the iPhone. He doesn't recommend running out to the App Store and getting the first file vault app that pops up. Do your research and don't pay too much. Wardle said that you often get what you pay for.
The most likely scenario of a nude photo leak isn't a hacker but a person who has the photos breaking the sender's trust. Here are the things you can do if that happens to you.
Neil Kittleson is a former senior executive in the National Security Agency's cybersecurity division.
Don't forget to protect your device first. A four-digit password isn't enough to keep people out of your device. It's a good idea to use a strong password or something similar to secure your device.
Don't keep your phone unlocked when you don't use it. You can set your sleep mode and screen lock. Kittleson said this was the only protection if someone tried to take your phone.
Find My Device is the first thing to be installed. The app will allow you to wipe your device if it's connected to the internet.
Kittleson tells you to protect your photos as well. He explained that the Department of Defense uses a particular type of cipher called AES256. He said to look for applications that use the same type of encryption. Make sure you trust the developer that implemented the cipher.
Government bodies make sure that the products meet their requirements, and open source makes sure that the products are free from corruption. According to Kittleson, government bodies typically use specifications that have been published that adhere to international criteria and use independent labs to verify the cryptanalysis. If the product is open source, anyone can look at the code to make sure no mistakes are made.
Kittleson offers a number of encrypting options.
a. PC: There are a few good options for encrypting files on Windows10. If you are using the Pro, Enterprise, or Education versions, you have both full disk encryption and file encryption right on your desktop. Just right click on the file, select properties, on the general tab select the advanced attributes screen and check the box to encrypt contents. This works for files or entire folders. If you are using Win10 Home edition, you can upgrade to Pro for $99. That might be well worth it to protect your most sensitive files.
b. There are free options too. 7zip is a free and open source folder and file encryption software that has been widely deployed around the world. It uses AES 256 by default and if you encrypt the entire folder that stores your files, not even the file names are visible without the password.
c. Android: On your Android devices, in addition to using the default encryption, there are photo vault apps that allow you to hide your sensitive files and add an additional layer of encryption to them. When selecting one, look for a trusted developer that is using AES256 to encrypt the files. As always, use a strong password that you haven’t used anywhere else.
Kittleson wants you to be careful with the photos you store in the cloud. Kittleson said you have no control over it once it is there.
Kittleson suggests removing EXIF data from your photos. Kittleson said that every photo has tags that describe where you were, what kind of camera use used, what time the photo was taken, and how social media apps know how to tag our location. If your sensitive photos tag your house as the location it was taken, it will protect your privacy.
According to Kittleson, it's easy to remove EXIF data on Windows: Right click the file, select details, and on the bottom of the tab there is an option to remove properties and personal information.
If you want to turn off store location data for all photos, you have to install a third party app. After changing the setting, it only works for photos you take. If you allow access to your camera roll, be careful. A photo vault app can be useful here.
You don't have control over a photo when you share it with others. It will go to a cache even if you don't remove the picture. Kittleson said it's almost impossible to keep other people from keeping your pictures. People can take photos of digital photos using other cameras.
Revenge porn is not the fault of the victims.
The less places you keep naked photos, the better. There is always a risk of a leak but these tips can give you peace of mind.
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