Your Wi-Fi Router Is Still On Its Factory Settings

Your Wi-Fi Router Is Still On Its Factory Settings

You locked your phone. You set a password on your laptop. But your Wi-Fi router โ€” the one device every bit of your home internet passes through โ€” is probably still on its factory settings. That's the front door left wide open. Nobody thinks about the router because it just sits there blinking. Five minutes โ€ฆ

Your Smart Speaker And Camera Never Switch Off

Your Smart Speaker And Camera Never Switch Off

That smart speaker in the living room. The security camera pointed at the gate, and the video doorbell you set up for convenience. None of them ever switch off. They're listening, watching and quietly uploading to someone's cloud โ€” all day, every day. The cloud here just means a company's computers, sitting somewhere you've never โ€ฆ

Your Password Has Probably Leaked Already

Your Password Has Probably Leaked Already

Think about how many websites you have signed up for over the years. Shopping sites, forums, ticket bookings, an old email account you barely open. Here is an uncomfortable truth: if you have been online for a few years, one of those passwords has almost certainly turned up in a data breach somewhere. That alone โ€ฆ

What Incognito Mode Actually Hides

What Incognito Mode Actually Hides

You open an incognito tab and something feels different. The screen goes dark, there is a little icon in the corner, and it feels like you have gone invisible. You haven't. Incognito only hides your activity from one place: your own device. Who can still see what I am doing? Your internet provider can. Jio, โ€ฆ

No, Your Phone Is Not Listening to You

No, Your Phone Is Not Listening to You

You mention a product to a friend over chai. An hour later it is in every ad on your phone. So your phone must be listening, right? Almost everyone believes this. It isn't true, and what's actually happening is more uncomfortable. If it isn't the microphone, what is it? Most apps carry a hidden advertising โ€ฆ

Do You Remember What Your Apps Can See?

Do You Remember What Your Apps Can See?

Every app asks for something the first time you open it. Location, contacts, photos, the camera. Most of us just tap "Allow" and move on. But do you remember what you handed over? What might my apps be holding right now? Your location, often set to "always" rather than just while you use them. Your โ€ฆ

Free Cafe Wi-Fi Is Never Really Free

Free Cafe Wi-Fi Is Never Really Free

That free Wi-Fi at the cafe, the airport or the mall is very hard to resist. You're paying for it, just not with money. What can someone actually do on an open network? An open network is one you join without a password. The traffic in the air is not locked to you alone. Someone โ€ฆ

The Signal Settings to Fix Once You've Moved

The Signal Settings to Fix Once You've Moved

You've made the move to Signal. The app is installed, your number is verified, and a few chats have started. Now spend five minutes turning on the settings that actually protect you. Then forget about them. Which settings matter most? There are five, and each takes about a minute. Disappearing messages auto-delete chats after a โ€ฆ

How to Move Your Friends to a New Chat App

How to Move Your Friends to a New Chat App

You've switched apps. The new one is very quiet, and every conversation you actually care about is still happening on the old one. The truth nobody tells you about switching apps is that the app is the easy part. Your people are the hard part. Why does nobody move when I ask? Because a chat โ€ฆ

Signal Takes One OTP and a PIN to Start

Signal Takes One OTP and a PIN to Start

You've seen the problem with how much a chat app can know about you. Here's the fix, and it's easier than you'd think. How long does this actually take? About five minutes, and most of that is waiting for one OTP to arrive. Download Signal, which is free. Verify your number with one OTP. Set โ€ฆ