If you tell someone, 'Ok, Imma tell you something but you have to swear you won't tell anyone else,' you can assume that it will travel to at least 2 more people (if not 20) in less than a day (if not an hour).
This is a notion I've been teaching my kid for a few years now. It's too bad more grownups don't understand this as well as she does. Sure, we all have to believe with some confidence that the basic security of our personal information is sound when we enter it on websites where we do our email, banking, and a host of other activities that involve information that could be used to rob or smear us. But at the end of the day, if you've given someone, anyone, your info, there is never 100% certainty that that person or company will never use it maliciously, or won't be hacked by someone else, or simply commandeered by a government.
The only safe assumption you can make about information security is that you have none.
— Steph Marr
Our advice: Do your best to be safe with sensitive information, but more than that: avoid doing things, even in secret, that are morally, legally, or personally perilous. That way, in the event something is exposed, you'll be mildly embarrassed, at worst.
Padlocks on Pont Neuf, Paris
Bonus Tip
Don't share passwords and phone lock codes to prove your love and trust among friends. All you're doing is adding unneeded liability to their lives; when something goes wrong in your life 6 months from now, you don't want to wonder about your closest friends.
Friends don't let friends share passwords.
#techtip #web #infosec