Lab — 10-Minute Privacy Audit

Score 1 only if the control is true for you today, not "I plan to." (1) Unique passwords in a manager for email/bank/cloud — reuse is 0. (2) 2FA on email (and ideally bank) — SMS-only is still 1 if it is on; empty is 0. (3) Recovery codes stored offline, not in the same inbox as the account. (4) Browser tracking protection / third-party cookies blocked on your daily browser. (5) Public Wi-Fi habit: no banking on open café Wi-Fi without a trusted VPN or cellular. (6) Social default audience not Public on the main app you use — or you do not use social. (7) EXIF: you strip GPS or disable camera location before posting YOUR photos. (8) At least one shopping alias (plus or forwarder), primary reserved for high-value. (9) Lock screen with hidden notification previews on your phone. (10) Location/mic/camera reviewed in the last month on that phone. Sum 0–10. A 6 is a map, not a moral grade. Write the number and one sentence per 0: the next fix. chmod 600 so a shared laptop user does not read your audit.

Work top to bottom in one sitting if you can. Skip installing new products just to inflate the score. If you do not have a password manager yet, that line is 0 — the file is allowed to tell the truth. Do not search other people on people-search sites as part of this lab; broker opt-out remains optional and self-only from Module 4. Each bar maps to a mechanism Topic 4 already named — the audit is rehearsal, not a new product pitch.

A false 10/10 hides the next fix. A truthful 6/10 with next_fix: "install password manager for email+bank" is actionable. Grading yourself on a roommate's locked social profile, or on a password manager you plan to buy next month, breaks the instrument. The file is for future you — monthly re-runs should show movement on specific zeros, not vibes. Treat the audit like a backup test: a green checkbox you did not verify is a lie that fails under stress.

Mode 600 matters because the audit encodes account hygiene: which apps have 2FA, whether recovery codes exist, whether notifications leak on the lock screen. That is operational detail. Do not email the class average by collecting everyone's txt. Do not commit privacy-audit.txt to a public repo.

Create the directory if Module 4 did not. Fill every line. Empty files fail the mission. If you are on Windows without chmod, still create the file in your user profile and restrict it in Properties → Security if you know how; in WSL/macOS/Linux, chmod 600 is required. Edit the 0/1 values after you verify each control on your own devices — do not leave the template zeros if you already passed a bar.

mkdir -p "$HOME/cyberlium-lab"
NOTES="$HOME/cyberlium-lab/privacy-audit.txt"

{
  echo "date: $(date -Iseconds 2>/dev/null || date /t)"
  echo "1_unique_passwords_manager: 0"
  echo "2_2fa_email_or_bank: 0"
  echo "3_recovery_codes_offline: 0"
  echo "4_browser_tracker_protection: 0"
  echo "5_public_wifi_habit: 0"
  echo "6_social_audience_not_public: 0"
  echo "7_exif_gps_stripped_or_camera_location_off: 0"
  echo "8_email_alias_for_shopping: 0"
  echo "9_lock_screen_hide_notifications: 0"
  echo "10_permissions_location_mic_camera_reviewed: 0"
  echo "total_0_to_10: 0"
  echo "next_fix: "
  echo "scope: myself only — no other people's profiles, photos, or devices"
} > "$NOTES"

chmod 600 "$NOTES"
cat "$NOTES"
ls -l "$NOTES"

You now have a repeatable, private scoreboard for Topic 4 — ten mechanisms, one file, no one else in the crosshairs. Honest zeros are progress markers. Fake tens are not. Next — Quiz — Privacy & Digital Safety Final — twelve APPLY questions across the whole topic, then Cyberlium teases Topic 5: Scam & Phishing Protection.