What security tools would you recommend?

Q I’ve done two courses on cyber-security. Both recommend the use of encryption tools and password managers. I can’t get Lastpass to work properly, and am not clear which is the best encryption tool. Lastpass also shows up as malware with my online bank. Can you help? Jennie Levin

A Encryption means scrambling data to make it unreadable. Any email service, online bank or messaging app worth its salt uses encryption to ensure your details can’t be read by hackers.

Websites whose addresses start with HTTPS encrypt all data. Free browser extension HTTPS Everywhere ( www. snipca.com/23707) adds encryption to sites that don’t already use it. To make the internet even more secure, use a VPN (virtual private network) such as Cyberghost ( www. cyberghostvpn.com). As well as encrypting all your activity it spoofs your location to pretend you’re in another country.

You can encrypt files on your PC, too. Free tool Cryptsync ( www.snipca. com/23708) keeps two folders in sync and automatically encrypts one of them. Free new program Cobbler ( www.snipca.com/23709) creates a hidden encrypted file that you can fill with any text you want (see screenshot). You need a master password to open the file, and nothing is sent to a server.

Which brings us to password managers. Lastpass is not a dodgy tool. It uses the tightest possible AES 256 encryption. However, it does store your data on a server, like nearly all password managers – and its server has been hit by hackers more than once. So if you care about security more than convenience, store passwords using Cobbler instead.