Just in time for holiday visits with your familes and friends, soon you will face the inevitable questions, particularly if you're a security practitioner of any sort. "There are always questions about whether the devices and services we use respect our privacy, and if they adequately safeguard our information. Has a good balance been struck? Many of us are not sure. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the challenge of how to be safer online." Search for "how to be safe online" and you'll receive inconsistent results to be certain. Who hasn't had Mom or Dad, or your friends for that matter, ask your help to be more secure? To help rectify such situations, the Citizen Lab just released Security Planner.

All you need do is answer a few simple questions to receive personalized online safety recommendations. The app requires no personal information or access to any of your online accounts, it's confidential and can immediately help improve your online safety, with advice from experts. This is definitely something you can sit your parents down in front of knowing that, if they apply the recommendations provided after answering some very straightforward questions, they'll benefit from an improved online security posture.

"Security Planner recommendations are research-based best practices, kept up-to-date by a community of experts in digital security. Quality is maintained through a careful peer-review process: a committee of recognized experts regularly reviews and updates the survey questions and recommendations based on the latest research."

You can read the detailed philosophy behind Security Planner here.

For you, your friends, your family, the road to improved privacy, security, and safety online starts here: https://securityplanner.org

Russ McRee | @holisticinfosec