Does living in a rural area make it harder to be hacked/doxxed than living in an urban area?

Being doxxed can be easier in a rural town because less people makes it easier to narrow your identity down. Imagine you work at the only starbucks in town and post a photo while at work. Won't take people long to identify the location, and then from there they can dig deeper.

Being hacked has nothing to do with your location/etc. Being hacked is usually because of:

You clicked a dirty link that installed some spyware.
You re-used passwords on multiple accounts. One of the companies you have an account with gets hacked and that data gets sold to other hackers. Those hackers regularly build lists of emails and their accounts so that they can try whatever passwords they find on all of them. Eventually they get lucky.
You used a very weak password that can be "guessed" by hacking programs. A password with only letters and numbers can be figured out by anyone with a laptop in minutes. Add on symbols, upper and lowercase, and increase the password length and it will take years for the computer to crack it.

To avoid getting hacked:

Use password generators like google/lastpass/apple that generate a very strong password and store it for you.
Use 2 factor authentication. Ideally a verification app because phone numbers (when they text you) is some what's more vulnerable to being spoofed.
Have a separate email for non banking such as online shopping or services. Don't give out the email/phone# associated with your main accounts to websites whenever possible.

Google, it always mistakes me as being in the next town over,

That's likely due to your internet service provider. If the device you're using doesn't share it's location than it can only locate your internet service provider. This is a non-factor when it comes to cyber security

6 comments

Being doxxed can be easier in a rural town because less people makes it easier to narrow your identity down. Imagine you work at the only starbucks in town and post a photo while at work. Won't take people long to identify the location, and then from there they can dig deeper.
Being hacked has nothing to do with your location/etc. Being hacked is usually because of:
You clicked a dirty link that installed some spyware.
You re-used passwords on multiple accounts. One of the companies you have an account with gets hacked and that data gets sold to other hackers. Those hackers regularly build lists of emails and their accounts so that they can try whatever passwords they find on all of them. Eventually they get lucky.
You used a very weak password that can be "guessed" by hacking programs. A password with only letters and numbers can be figured out by anyone with a laptop in minutes. Add on symbols, upper and lowercase, and increase the password length and it will take years for the computer to crack it.
To avoid getting hacked:
Use password generators like google/lastpass/apple that generate a very strong password and store it for you.
Use 2 factor authentication. Ideally a verification app because phone numbers (when they text you) is some what's more vulnerable to being spoofed.
Have a separate email for non banking such as online shopping or services. Don't give out the email/phone# associated with your main accounts to websites whenever possible.
Google, it always mistakes me as being in the next town over,
That's likely due to your internet service provider. If the device you're using doesn't share it's location than it can only locate your internet service provider. This is a non-factor when it comes to cyber security
- If appropriate, reconsider social media usage 🙂
  
  It is indeed appropriate to consider using less/no social media
- 2B. Use a hardware key like a Yubikey, and set it as your 2FA
  
  There’s also the German open-source Nitrokey if you want to avoid sending more money down south.