Write your security plan

There is no list of security steps that is right for everybody. What is right for you comes from five questions: what you have, who wants it, what happens if they get it, how likely that is, and how much trouble you will accept to stop it.

Steps

7 steps

to tick a step and keep a streak. Reading needs no account.

List what you want to protect.
Write down the data you keep, where it is, who can reach it, and what stops somebody else reaching it now.
Name who you are protecting it from.
A person, a company or an authority. Write the ones that are real for you, not the ones that sound frightening.
Write what happens if they succeed.
Be specific. "They read my email" and "they take my money" need different answers.
Say how likely each threat is.
Not every bad outcome is worth work. Mark the ones you will act on.
List the measures you can actually take.
Weigh what they cost you in money, in skill and in the people around you.
Talk to the people you share risk with.
Your security depends on theirs. Agree what each of you will do with the other's information.
Put a review date in your calendar.
Your life changes and so does the plan. A plan you never re-read is a plan about a person you no longer are.