🔒 The Ultimate Personal Security Checklist for Developers
TL;DR: Lissy93/personal-security-checklist is a crowdsourced, 300+ item checklist to lock down your digital life—from password hygiene to advanced threat mitigation. It’s open-source, frequently updated, and even has a web app with progress tracking.
Why Care About a Security Checklist?
Most developers know the basics (use a password manager, enable 2FA), but security is a spectrum. Between zero-day exploits, phishing, and IoT vulnerabilities, it’s easy to miss critical gaps. This repo isn’t just another list—it’s a living guide, ranked by priority and threat model, maintained by a community of privacy nerds.
What’s Inside?
The checklist breaks down into 10+ categories, including:
- 🔐 Authentication: Password managers, hardware keys, biometrics
- 📱 Mobile: App permissions, encrypted backups, SIM swapping
- 🌐 Browsing: VPNs, tracker blockers, DNS over HTTPS
- ☁️ Cloud: Backup encryption, shared file permissions
- 🤖 Advanced: Tor, compartmentalization, threat modeling
Each item has a severity rating (Essential/Recommended/Optional) and links to deeper resources.
Why It Stands Out
✅ Not Just Theory: Actionable steps with tool recommendations (e.g., "Use Bitwarden instead of LastPass").
✅ Threat-Model Aware: Prioritizes fixes based on risk (e.g., journalists vs. casual users).
✅ Automated Updates: The checklist is generated from a YAML file, so it’s easy to contribute to or fork.
✅ Web App: The interactive version lets you track progress and filter by topic.
How to Use It
- Quick Scan: Skim the CHECKLIST.md for glaring holes.
- Deep Dive: Use the web app to check off items and save progress.
- Contribute: Found a missing tip? Submit a PR to the YAML file.
For devs, the repo even includes a Docker setup and API (for programmatic access to checklist items).
Final Thoughts
This isn’t about paranoia—it’s about reasonable defense. You don’t need to do all 300 items, but even tackling the "Essential" tier drastically reduces risk. As a developer, you’re a high-value target; this checklist is like a sudo apt-get upgrade for your digital life.
🔗 Resources:
How many items have you checked off? Let me know on Twitter [@yourhandle].