Lock Your Digital Door

You lock your front door at night without a second thought. You don't study burglary statistics or lie awake comparing deadbolts. You turn the latch, hear it catch, and go to bed — and that small, ordinary act does almost all the work. Staying safe online, Helen Ridgeway wants you to know, is exactly the same kind of act. Not a talent you were born without. Not a secret club whose password you missed. Just a handful of small, repeatable habits you are entirely capable of.

The internet has a way of leaving good, capable people feeling lost. One wrong click could cost you your savings, your photos, or your peace of mind — so it's tempting to either freeze and touch nothing, or shrug and click everything. This calm, jargon-free guide offers a third way. Built on one reassuring idea — locks, not walls — it shows you that you don't need to be unhackable. You just need to be more trouble than you're worth, so the scammers running the same tired tricks at scale shrug and move along to the unlocked door three gardens down.

Through the warm, plain-English chapters ahead, you'll meet Marjorie — seventy-one, sharp as a tack, and quietly terrified of the machine on her desk — and you'll recognise a little of her in yourself, with no shame in it at all. You'll learn to build passwords you can actually trust, switch on the second lock that stops most break-ins cold, protect the master key that guards your whole digital home, and spot the single weapon every scammer secretly relies on, so no urgent call, text, or email can ever rush you into regret.

Honest, unhurried, and firmly on your side, this is the friendly handbook you'll wish you'd found years ago. Keep it by the screen. Turn the first latch tonight — and hear it catch.