Halley / Auditing Your Personal Attack Surface

Created Wed, 28 May 2025 11:59:00 +0000 Modified Sun, 31 Aug 2025 22:17:24 +0000

Most people don’t know how many accounts they have.
They only find out when one gets breached.

Digital sovereignty starts with awareness: what exists, where, and what it can break.

Inventory Everything

Start simple:

  • List every account you have, active or dormant
  • Note what email and password they use
  • Include devices, cloud services, IoT, subscriptions

If you don’t know it exists, you can’t secure it.

Map Dependencies

An old forum login might seem harmless. Until:

  • It reuses a password tied to your main email
  • It’s linked to a social account for SSO
  • It holds personal data you’ve forgotten about

Dependencies are where breaches cascade.

Assess Weak Points

For each account, ask:

  • Does it have 2FA?
  • Do you control the recovery email/number?
  • Could it be used to impersonate you?

Critical doesn’t always mean obvious.

Prune and Harden

Delete what you don’t need.
Strengthen what you do:

  • Unique passwords via a manager
  • 2FA wherever possible
  • Update recovery info regularly

The smaller your footprint, the harder you are to hit.

Repeat Periodically

Attack surface changes over time.
New accounts are made; old ones rot.
Schedule an audit like you schedule backups.

Ignorance is not sovereignty.
You can’t control what you can’t see.