As an entrepreneur or freelancer, your brain is effectively always “on.” But just because your thoughts are a constant mix of business and pleasure doesn’t mean your digital life should be. In the security world, we call the solution to this overlap compartmentalisation.
Think of your digital life like your home. You wouldn’t leave a collection of vintage knives on the floor of the playroom, would you? You put things in specific rooms and lock the ones that need protecting. Digital compartmentalisation is the same—it’s about putting your work life, your personal life, and your hobbies into separate “boxes” so a mess in one doesn’t ruin the others.
Why Is This Vital?
Every email you open, file you download, or service you interact with is a potential attack vector. In plain English, that’s just a fancy way of saying it’s an opportunity for someone to cause mischief.
If you’re an entrepreneur, you likely have contacts, invoices, and sensitive client data. When you mix those with your personal life, you leave your loved ones and your livelihood vulnerable. One dodgy link clicked in a personal email could introduce “cross-pollination,” where a virus destroys your business files or, worse, wipes out a photo collection of your children that can never be replaced. Beyond the heartbreak, mixing data can land you in serious trouble with the data protection office and compliance auditors.
How to Get Started (The Easy Way)
You don’t need a degree in IT to start protecting yourself. The key is to stop using “one of everything.”
- Two of Everything: Don’t have one address book; have two. Don’t have one cloud storage folder with a sub-folder called “Work”; have two entirely separate accounts.
- Browser Profiles: This is a total doddle. Browsers like Chrome and Firefox allow you to create different profiles. Each profile has its own history, passwords, and tabs. You can have one for “Personal” and one for “Business,” making it easy to switch gears without the data ever meeting.
Leveling Up: Virtual Machines
If you want to be truly secure, you might consider a Virtual Machine (VM). To do this, you use a Hypervisor—a bit of software like the free, open-source VirtualBox.
A VM is essentially a “computer within a computer.” You could have your main Windows desktop for gaming or general use, but then open a window that runs a completely isolated version of Linux just for your business tasks. Because they are isolated, if your “work” window gets compromised, the attacker is stuck inside that digital room; they can’t break out into your “personal” room to steal your bank details or family photos.
Is it Worth the Inconvenience?
Admittedly, this is a bit more tedious than just firing up a single web browser and going for it. However, with a little practice, it becomes second nature—no more difficult than clicking an icon. When you consider that one disgruntled supplier or one accidental download could destroy your business, that “inconvenience” starts to look like a very small price to pay for total peace of mind.
