Don’t Get Your Identity Stolen or Blackmailed: What You Need to Keep in an Encrypted Folder
Now that you know how to encrypt files on your Mac OS X computer, the question is: what do you need to encrypt? Here are some of the kinds of things you’ll want to keep inside an encrypted folder, broken down into vital and not-vital categories.
Vital Files to Encrypt:
Financial documents: if you get your bank statements as PDFs, these must be kept in an encrypted folder. Identity theft is far too easy if someone gets a hold of your complete financial records. Any paper financial documents you receive should be scanned, encrypted and the originals shredded.
Don’t forget that personal finance programs such as Quicken, Moneydance, or GNUCash also leave files on your computer. Find out where those files are saved and move them into an encrypted folder.
Identification: keeping digital copies of all your important, identifying documents on your computer is a great idea if you encrypt them. Your driver’s license, birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc are all documents you may need immediate access to in an emergency.
As an example, I once accidentally left the European Union without my Irish passport or citizenship documentation. I didn’t realize I had forgotten them until I was in the United States and packing for my return trip. Luckily, I kept a copy of my Irish passport and foreign birth entry on my computer. I printed them out and, upon arrival in England, was let into the country with minimal fuss.
Passwords: I don’t know about you, but I’ve long since passed the point where I can recall all of the passwords I need. Instead of trying to remember everything, I have a text file that lists every username and password I need. (For the record, that files is 239 lines long) Now I only have to remember one password: the 20+ character one that opens the encrypted folder containing the password file.
Business files: be they your business files, your client’s, or the files of the company that employes you, they must be encrypted. If it’s your business, the last thing you want is for your competitors to gain access to your trade secrets and inner workings. If the files are a client’s or the company’s, losing them is a fast track to getting fired.
Health records: Keep all medical paperwork just between you and your doctor by saving it in a encrypted folder.
Optional Files to Encrypt:
Photographs: it might be wise to consider encrypting the folder that contains your iPhoto library or other photos. For most people, this isn’t absolutely vital, but just something that will make you feel more comfortable if your computer is stolen. I know I wouldn’t want a stranger looking through the best documentation of my life for the past many years.
If you have any photos of yourself that would enable someone to blackmail you, then encrypting them is not optional, it’s vital.
Personal files: any documents on your computer that are private or would make you feel uncomfortable is someone found them you should consider encrypting. For example, I keep a journal on my computer. While there isn’t anything in there that would be very embarrassing for others to find, I sleep better at night knowing that it sits in an encrypted folder.
Again, any documents that have the potential for blackmail are vital, not optional to encrypt.
Do you have any other suggestions about files that need to be encrypted? Leave a suggestion in the comments below.
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Header photograph by amagill
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Just a thumbs up to you! I have submitted my email to your RSS feed and looking forward to it. I’m already saving files/scans to encrypted folders and shredding important paper docs. This article helped me to reorganize what I already have. Thanks!