1.4: Map Your Own Keys

Map Your Own Keys

Time for the first real task. Everything in Modules 2 and 3 — new passwords, the manager, two-factor, passkeys — starts from the short list you’re about to make. It takes about ten minutes, and paper or your phone’s notes app is fine.

You’re writing down which of your accounts are the master keys and high-value targets from Lesson 1.3. Not all fifty accounts. Just the ones that can open, or empty, the others.

The exercise

Write down the actual provider names (“Gmail — personal,” “Verizon,” “Chase”), not just categories:

• ① Your primary email address(es) — every address that receives password-reset links. Don't forget the old address that older accounts still point to.
• ② Your phone carrier — the company that controls your number, and with it your text-message reset codes.
• ③ Your bank(s) — plus any investment, payment, or money-moving app (Venmo, PayPal, Cash App).
• ④ Your cloud backup — the iCloud or Google account your phone backs up to. Often the same as ①, which makes it matter twice.
• ⑤ Anything with a saved card — the two or three shopping accounts that can ship goods on your stored payment details. Amazon counts for almost everyone.

That’s your high-value list, and for most people it comes to five or eight accounts. Module 2 gives each one a password that has never existed anywhere else, and Module 3 adds a second lock to the ones at the top. Keep the list where you’ll find it next lesson, and don’t write any passwords on it. Account names only.

Knowledge check

Five questions on Module 1. You need 80% to mark the module complete.