Help! - Internet Security and Privacy for Dummies

[Reframmellator]

A recent discussion on THP mentioned how much information certain web browsers (Chrome) collect about you, and how some (Firefox) were better than others in terms of extensions and such that can be used to protect one's infomrationm. It scared me enpough that I made the switch to Firefox and followed a website's recommendations for privacy extensions. Sometimes everything works fine, sometimes pages won't load properly with the extensions enabled. So at this point I don't know what I don't know, and I want to figure that out.

What resources do you THPers in the know recommend to help me get up to speed on this topic of privacy and protecting yourself? I'm pretty good with hardware - to me, building myown PC is like building a model airplane - but networking and interweb stuff is still pretty black box-ish to me. I only recently became convinced this entire online thing may be more than a fad. . . .

I'm pretty good at cookbook/Insert Tab A into Slot B type instructions, but I would also like to know a little more about "why" in addition to "what" and "how," if you catch my drift.

 

[SquirrelyDave]

Some functionality on websites depends on some tracking, and sometimes there is functions that look like tracking to some of the extensions.

There are always trade offs, you can be more private, but the hassle increases. There are guys here that know a lot more than I, and can probably explain it a bit better than me.

 

[copenhagerman]

This may sound a little like tin foil hat talk but the way things are designed today is for "integration". If you are signed into Facebook and go to any website it can use your like preference to taylor the adds you see to you. Same way with Google, they use your search history and location(if you have an android phone) to "better" serve you. So I will get back to your question if you just want to minimize your online footprint be sure to clear your cookies under the history tab on firefox. This will cause you to log back into all your accounts when you open your browser. Firefox does have an extension that will allow you to see how adds on websites you use give info to parent companies. It is a really cool plugin but I can't remember its name. Also, there is alway incognito mode that will not save cookies to your computer. The way the online world is done now unless you never get online and live in the woods there is no good way to be private online. Sorry for the rant.

 

[Reframmellator]

This may sound a little like tin foil hat talk but the way things are designed today is for "integration". If you are signed into Facebook and go to any website it can use your like preference to taylor the adds you see to you. Same way with Google, they use your search history and location(if you have an android phone) to "better" serve you. So I will get back to your question if you just want to minimize your online footprint be sure to clear your cookies under the history tab on firefox. This will cause you to log back into all your accounts when you open your browser. Firefox does have an extension that will allow you to see how adds on websites you use give info to parent companies. It is a really cool plugin but I can't remember its name. Also, there is alway incognito mode that will not save cookies to your computer. The way the online world is done now unless you never get online and live in the woods there is no good way to be private online. Sorry for the rant.

It may be a rant, but it's a helpful rant. Thanks, and FWIW, I read a summary of a study that claimed tin foil hats can actually improve RF reception. . . .

 

[Reframmellator]

For the past few days I have tried Brave, supposedly a better browser for security and privacy. It is awesome, I see zero drawbacks vs Firefox, and it is now my default browser.

That is all.

 

[BigMac]

For the past few days I have tried Brave, supposedly a better browser for security and privacy. It is awesome, I see zero drawbacks vs Firefox, and it is now my default browser.

That is all.

I use Dissenter, which is an offshoot of Brave. It blocks all cross-site trackers but is minimally intrusive upon your browsing experience. The only downside I've found is that YouTube found some way to defeat its ad blocker, so I use Firefox when I want to watch YT videos - it blocks the (freaking endless!) YT ads. Hopefully Dissenter will come up with an update soon and restore the YT ad blocking.

 

[FranTheMan]

and followed a website's recommendations for privacy extensions. Sometimes everything works fine, sometimes pages won't load properly with the extensions enabled.

Firefox is a good step, the extensions are another story. Extensions can ask for permissions of you to collect data/information across different websites. Not all extensions are created equal - in fact some ad blockers are just malware that track what you do on a given browser.

Facebook is one of the biggest culprits of invading your privacy. If you use FB and have logged in on a browser, say Chrome, FB can use that to track you across different websites. ESPECIALLY if that website has a relationship with FB. That website can have FB javascript for analytical or marketing purposes which again, gets sent back to FB.

What makes Firefox so cool is that if you do use FB - it will create something called a "facebook container." What that means is that if you login to facebook on Firefox it will silo that entire browser instance to just that one tab. That means that FB cookie won't be included when you browse the internet on other tabs. Neat!

Let me know if you have any other questions - my creds are I'm a software dev who's worked with AdOps and marketing pixel mapping for over half a decade now.

 

[FranTheMan]

I also just realized you created this thread about 3 years ago. Oops

 

[Gyro25]

I also just realized you created this thread about 3 years ago. Oops

Probably even more relevant today though

 

[Scorp]

For the past few days I have tried Brave, supposedly a better browser for security and privacy. It is awesome, I see zero drawbacks vs Firefox, and it is now my default browser.

That is all.

He started the thread 3 years ago but updated it today so it's all good.

@Reframmellator as you've discovered, securing what you put on the Internet isn't easy, nor is it convenient. As a matter of fact, it's almost like a lot of these companies that provide goods and services to us on the Internet are conspiring against us. <-- tin foil hat theory? Nope. They're watching, listening, and tracking our movements all over the Internet.

You originally asked for tips on how to better protect your privacy.

First, don't use the Internet.
Yeah, that's not going to happen.

Ok then, how about security? Let's go there.

Make sure what you use to surf the internet is secure. Patch your computer. Update your phone, tablet, device. This goes some ways towards making you less of a target.
Second, scan for malware on your devices.
Use anti-virus on your devices.

Change default passwords on your devices.
Change the default password on your perimeter device connecting you to the internet. Lots of people still have the default password on their home router.
Enable security on your home network.

Sure, it would probably be nice to run VPN tunnels on your internal network between devices, run a DHCP server with specific settings to let only your devices on, and not have any extra ports enabled on switches. And keep your DHCP leases as short as possible.

Make passwords long and difficult. Don't write them down.
Don't accept cookies. This is the toughie. Surfing without cookies means logging into every site unless you want to be a guest.
Clear browser history.
Delete browser temporary files.
Don't download anything.
Don't go to sites you're not familiar with.
Don't click on links in email.
Don't click on links in email.
Don't. Click. On. Links. In. Email.
That needed to be said 3 times. Sorry
Don't trust websites. they could look legitimate but could be redirected somewhere else.
Review website url's to make sure they're going where you think they're going. Example: www. hotmail.com redirects to www. outlook.live.com/owa It's a legitimate redirect for Microsoft's email service that used to be known as hotmail but they changed the name to outlook.

An example of a bad redirect: www.reframellatoronlinebanking .com redirects to www.reframellatoronlinebanking. russianhacker/stealinginformation.ru <--that would be a bad thing.

Most modern browsers catch issues like the above mentioned russian hacker. I think. But I'm not an expert.


At times when I want to surf and not be tracked, I use a bootable OS such as Linux and run it from disc.... I'll boot to that OS, say some flavor of Linux, and use it for whatever. When I'm done with it I just reboot the machine back into its other OS. The Linux session is gone forever as it was only running in the computers memory.