Preparedness is not limited to grid-down disasters or a collapse. Having the knowledge and the tools to safely communicate in complete privacy is a very real, but often ignored, part of preparedness. This page will get you started in the right direction.
InfoSec Bytes is a YouTube channel of the Center for Investigative Journalism, based in London. Their target audience is investigative journalists who need serious encryption capabilities. Consider InfoSec Bytes to be your “One Stop Shop” for learning about secure communications.
The ProtonMail Guide to Internet Privacy – a good, broad overview.
Search Engines
(NOTE: DDG has been shown to be compromised, so this is now obsolete – no recommendation at this point.) Use DuckDuckGo instead of Google. See this article for details.
Password Protection
If you are not using a good password program, then you are NOT secure. Period. If you can remember your passwords, then they are not secure enough. If you are able to remember one secure password, but you use it for more than one account, then you are not secure. A good password security program will generate random passwords for you, store them in an encrypted file, and give you access to all of them. You use one password to unlock your passwords file. There are a number of good programs available, including free open source programs.
KeePassX is one of the standards. You can’t go wrong with this one. It is cross-platform, which makes it the perfect choice for those who use more than one type of operating system. If you are using a system other than Windows, you may find this one the better choice.
KeePass is based on the same code as KeePassX, but it requires the Microsoft .NET platform. For information on these two programs, see this article. Both are equally secure, and both do the job. You can’t go wrong with either one.
Protonmail – Secure, anonymous, fully-encrypted email, based in Switzerland. Free and anonymous accounts for basic email, with paid plans for more features.
End-to-End Encryption
TAILS is probably the single best system for secure communications. This series of videos clearly explains what TAILS is and how it works, and how to install and use it. TAILS is a “Live” operating system that runs off of a USB flash drive.
Misc. Codes
One Time Pad – Very old school method of encrypting messages. Very secure, but slow and clunky to work with, and has some logistical disadvantages. We present this here mainly as a bit of history and curiosity, since it is very difficult to imagine a use that any of us would have for the One Time Pad (OTP).
Solitaire Encryption – Designed by Bruce Schneier, author of the classic book on cryptography, Applied Cryptography, this system uses an ordinary deck of cards. Fascinating!