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Your Guide to Good Data Hygiene

Spring cleaning - this is a concept many of us engage in with our houses but is also a practice that should be considered with our digital existence, both in terms of  personal devices as well as online presence. 

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Personally for me, I care a lot about the photos on my phone given that is the easiest way to snapshot moments through life. However, photos and videos can take up a lot of storage space, so how do we optimize that and also create a backup of what we want to keep?

If you are a member of Amazon Prime, there is a benefit here that you might not be taking advantage of. At the time of writing this post, Amazon Prime allows unlimited photo storage. You can use this as a backup by adding the app and then periodically deleting photos from your device and/or device connected cloud storage and instead putting them in the Amazon cloud. This is just unlimited with photos. There is a limit with video storage, so let’s talk about other options to consider.

Most phones will have an option for you to buy more cloud storage. This is usually an annual cost and you can decide which storage tier meets your needs. If you don’t like the idea of recurring fees, you can also consider getting an external harddrive and backing up your digital files periodically. I personally like to do this on a quarterly basis and find it easiest to organize everything in folders labeled by year. You can determine which organizational system makes the most sense for you. 

External harddrives are wonderful to have on hand and you can get small or large sizes based on your needs. Small drives tend to be via a usb or multiple usb connections while larger external hardrives may also require power. If there are files on your computer that are important to you, I would recommend backing up to a harddrive periodically. For me, this cadence is on a biannual basis. 

As you’re backing up, also consider what you feel comfortable removing from your device. Both phones and computers have a limited amount of drive storage and the more you max out your drives, the slower things will tend to run. Keeping your file storage light on what is locally maintained on a machine both reduces the risk of losing data if that machine were to break as well as optimizing how that machine will tend to perform. 

If you feel like you aren’t using a device anymore and don’t want to hold onto it, make sure you wipe that device completely and then consider donating to a tech recycling option in your area or looking for an electronics waste program that will make sure disposing of your device is handled with environmental considerations taken into account. 

I personally have a habit of holding onto old computers, which came in handy recently when a friend needed a computer that would allow him to access information off a CD he had received from his doctor and put a version of that file onto a USB. Which might be a counterproductive example to give going into my next point…

Wires, and cords, and cables, oh my!

I am writing this probably more guilty than most for holding onto every usb-c cable that comes into my home, no matter how short or long. And micro usbs. And allen wrenches. These are just things we hold onto because we’re all waiting for that day when they will be needed and will go to the place where they are stored, and pull out the requisite connector or tool and be vindicated by the fact that we had it on hand. 

But when was the last time that happened? 

Digital Presence

There is a lot to be considered here given how much we are doing online these days. I’m going to do my best to outline areas you should consider but want to insert the disclaimer that online presence is as individual as the person to which it is tied. And some of us may even have multiple personalities in how we curate content across online platforms. No judgment, just a heads-up that this topic is vast, and this post won't cover every possibility.

Social Media

There are so many options here. What do you need, what do you check, what do you want to keep? This is your decision but take a moment to ask yourself these questions. 

Email

There are also several email platforms and if you’re keeping emails across multiple, there may be a reason for this. And, it may also be an opportunity to simplify. Do you want to login to multiple accounts or is it worth sending out an email to all your contacts saying that from here on out you will just be checking and replying to messages with a primary email address? Maybe you have five email addresses and three sounds easier to manage. Similar to what we covered with social media, this is your judgement call to make in what you want to take on in terms of bandwidth. 

There is a fun email trick where you can use alternate variations of an email address by adding +001 or whatever number if you want to track which sites might be selling your information. For example - "email@gmail.com" is the same as "email+002@gmail.com" in terms of where the content gets delivered. But, when you look at the recipient line, you’ll be able to track which variation of the address was logged. 

For the sake of not making this the longest blog post ever, we’re going to focus on gmail and Google accounts because there are several tools available in the settings that allow you to audit and control your online presence. 

In both the upper right hand corner of your gmail interface as well as the upper right hand area of your Google chrome browser if you’ve logged into your browser to have access to saved bookmarks and tabs you should see your profile icon. If you click it, you will be presented with an option to “manage your Google account.” This is a good option. I would advise that you click and explore this. 

Categorically, this breaks down into home, personal info, data & privacy, people & sharing, and payments and subscriptions.

Under Data & Privacy, you have the option to share your location if this is ever something you want to use for personal safety reasons. 

Most Important Part of this Blog

Moving down under “more options” you also have the option to make a plan for your digital legacy. Or if it’s easier, use this link: https://myaccount.google.com/inactive

If you learn nothing from this article except for this, the effort of putting this information together will have been worth it. Make a plan for what happens to your account if it goes inactive. 

Security

Moving on, under security you can see which devices are currently connected to your account as well as explore authentication options for when you sign in to your account. You are also given the option to require a 2-step verification and to define which authentication methods you want to use. Having a second layer of authentication is recommended if the security of your account is important to you. 

Now from a hygiene perspective, I would recommend spending some time reviewing which third party apps and services you have connected to you account. Basically anytime you sign in somewhere using Google SSO, you are giving that site permission to connect. If there are any services here you haven’t logged into in a while or maybe don’t use anymore, I would recommend removing those endpoints because these all serve as access points to your account. 

The dark web report is equally worth reviewing at least once a year. This is where you can see what data of yours might be out there in a compromised space. This includes any data breeches where your personal data may have been involved. Now you’re probably wondering what you should do if anything is found here and that is where I have to apologize but my answer is very solution engineer - it depends. But that really is the answer. It depends on if the information is tied to an account that is still active. If you can just change a password. Or, if you might feel more comfortable enrolling in a third party monitoring program. 

Beneath the dark web report is where you can review your saved passwords. This is a good time to reflect on whether they have been recently updated, if maybe there is a password you’re reusing across a few too many platforms, or if there are any platforms where it might be good from a hygiene perspective to look into deleting your account because the service is one you aren’t using anymore. 

In terms of good hygiene, it is also always good to keep track of your subscriptions, especially since so many things are subscription based these days. Under the “Payments and Subscription” section you can review anything tied to your Google account that may be recurring and review if those subscriptions are ones you want to continue to keep. 

Of course there is more available to you from this settings panel than what we covered here. Feel free to explore and know that this outline was focused on what should be reviewed from a hygiene perspective.