Reuters

LOCK IT DOWN: It's time to get serious with your online security.

A year ago, heavy duty encryption technology was something cybersecurity professionals, privacy nuts, and the odd investigative journalist cared about. Then the Snowden leaks happened. Suddenly, we were all acutely aware of how exposed our data is to the prying eyes of spies and hackers alike. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Thanks in part to Snowden, encryption has never been as easy as it is now. And to mark the anniversary of the leaks, a consortium of companies have banded together to make it even easier. Reset the Net - a day of action for privacy and freedom, backed by the likes of Google and Mozilla, as well the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Fight for the Future - offers instructions on how we can all avoid mass surveillance. But it also offers a Privacy Pack for the average user. It's simply a bundle of free software to help you encrypt your data and communications. You should download it right now.

Encryption doesn't require coding knowledge or maths skills, but it does demand some attention and care. The Privacy Pack is a great starting point, but if you want to cover all of your bases, there are few more things you need to do. We've put together a little guide that includes details on the software in the Privacy Pack and a little bit extra. In case you're not quite sure what encryption is or how it works, EFF's Surveillance Self-Defence site is a great place to start.

ENCRYPT YOUR PHONE

The best place to start, of course, is with your phone. After all, this is what the NSA is probably most interested in. It's also probably the device you use most, so it's in your best interest to take extra good care of it.

Before going all trigger-happy on encryption apps, the first thing you should do is secure your lockscreen. Duh.

There are a whole host of fancy security options for Android, but if you've got an iPhone, the standard four-number passcode option isn't quite enough. All you need to do to make it more secure, though, is turn off Simple Passcode in Settings which will allow you to assign a longer, alphanumeric passcode. Pro tip: Just use a string of numbers so you don't have to flip back and forth between keyboards when unlocking your phone.

Now about those apps. The main thing you want to encrypt is your communication data, and the Privacy Pack makes that very easy for Android users. Including in the bundle are TextSecure and RedPhone, two free apps made by Whisper Systems that let you send texts that are encrypted over the air and make phone calls with end-to-end encryption. Suitable free iPhone equivalents are TigerText for texting and CoverMe for phone calls. If you're willing to shell out some money for more options, check out Silent Circle's suite of mobile encryption software for both platforms for US$10 a month.

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How to encrypt everything