Posted on 05/05/2023 5:32:58 AM PDT by ShadowAce
Slowly, users are moving to privacy-focused solutions instead of convenient options.
Why? Simply because many have realized the worth of their personal data.
Of course, protecting your privacy does not mean staying anonymous. But, taking control of privacy means that you do not share essential information with unauthorized parties while keeping your sensitive data private from everyone.
You can improve privacy on all kinds of devices you use. Here, I shall provide some proven methods to enhance privacy easily.
Your email address is connected to everything online, whether banking or a cloud storage platform.
If your email remains private, you get less spam and fewer attempts to take over your account or trick you into downloading a malicious file from your email.
I think you get what I mean 🙃
But… you share your email address with every essential app/service you use.
So, how can you not share them but still use them?
You can use email aliases to keep your actual email address private. We have a list of tools to help protect your email address. Choose any options like SimpleLogin or use the email alias addresses your email provider allows creating.
Also, try using secure email services like Tutanota or ProtonMail for the best experience.
With an exposed or insecure internet connection, an attacker can snoop on your web activity and potentially use it to gain vital information or affect your device data.
So, it is essential to keep your internet secure.
To achieve that, you can do a few things like:
ProtonVPN and Mullvad VPN would be two excellent options, offering open-source clients and Linux support.
Everyone utilizes a search engine to find what they are looking for.
For most of them, it is Google. It is the most popular website on the planet as of now.
But, it collects some of your data to improve its searchability and may also personalize the search results per your likes and other factors.
However, if you want an entirely private search experience and non-personalized results, privacy-friendly search engines should be helpful.
Just like you use search engines, the browser is a vital means of the interaction process.
A browser with solid privacy and security features should help you enhance your browsing experience.
Personally, I could point you to Vivaldi, Firefox, and Brave. If you are keen to explore more options, look at our list of the best browsers for Linux.
Whether you use Linux or any other operating system, you should not install anything you are unaware of. Not all programs are privacy-friendly.
Some do not collect any data at all, and some do.
Yes, there are certain green flags that you can look for before picking a new software to install. Some of them include:
Some other pointers that you can keep in mind:
Every app, every operating system, and every service that you use provides some amount of privacy control.
For instance, you can hide your Instagram account from the public and only accept followers you know/want.
Similarly, when possible, I recommend you head to “Privacy settings” on your mobile phone, Linux desktop, and everything else.
It can be anything, deleting your old files, disabling diagnostics information sharing, and so on. If it sounds feasible to you, use the available option to your advantage.
Passwords and credentials are at the center of everything. If you need to ensure they are well-protected and organized, use a good password manager.
I usually suggest Bitwarden and KeePassXC for all kinds of users.
If you prefer keeping things offline, KeePassXC is available cross-platform. And, if you want a cloud-based solution, Bitwarden should not disappoint.
You can also explore some password managers for Linux users.
Taking notes can be a habit for some, and it can be a good/bad one.
Why do I say that? Well, notes often have sensitive information, sometimes passwords or PINs.
So, if you make sure that your notes are secure, it is one of the easiest ways to boost your privacy game.
Recommendations will include Standard Notes and CryptPad. You can explore other options with end-to-end encryption or a variety of features:
Not everyone has the time or patience to maintain/configure a RAID setup to store/backup data at home.
So, cloud storage services are the usual solution.
My personal recommendations include Mega (end-to-end encryption), and pCloud. But I suggest you check out our list of cloud storage services to explore better options.
Additionally, you can encrypt your files before uploading them to the cloud thanks to solutions like Cryptomator.
You can always utilize open-source and encrypted messengers like Signal (cross-platform) to secure your communications.
There are multiple WhatsApp alternatives that you can explore for personal use.
If it is for your business, open source Slack alternatives should help.
Suggested Read 📖
If you are adventurous and want to try an entirely different operating system tailored to give you a private experience, you can pick Tails OS, Whonix, and similar options.
Some are built to erase your activity as soon as you finish it. And some of them feature special security features, which could be overwhelming for daily usage.
If you are curious, explore the best privacy-focused Linux distributions.
This needs to be sent to Harry and Meghan....
#12 Don’t do internet Porn sites. Lots and lots of malware embedded there
Bkmk
Post this pic as your avatar..........
TOR is a great VPN............................
1. I just bought my own domain name and make numerous e-mail hosts. It is a few dollars a month, but well worth it.
When I was job hunting, I rolled out job@lastname.net, and when I no longer want recruiter e-mails I just delete the account.
8. I work diligently to turn off all Cloud stuff. Both Microsoft and Apple are very bad about automatically backing things up to their Cloud without permission. I do not use private Cloud though. It is not a lot of work to make multiple backups, as high-speed, high capacity removeable storage is cheap. I use SATA, but USB-C should be acceptable.
When most of my friends were in kindergarten, I was homeschooling and got introduced to my first computer (Win98). By the time I was 10 I knew what to avoid online, and how to guard privacy.
It’s gotten harder!
But right now I’d say, get a privacy-minded email (Proton, Mailfence), steer clear of Paypal, use a VPN and an ad blocker, and if you can bear it:
Keep your phone OFF. Don’t surf with your phone. Understand the privacy options and use them.
Stay away from social media. No Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
Also, search yourself on people search sites and see about getting your name removed. Some of them, sometimes, you can.
Same here! Avoid cloud at all costs. I have more removable storage (sata, usb) than a squirrel has nuts. I back up obsessively with a variety of devices.
Speaking of backup I strongly recommend getting a ham radio license.
“Keep your phone OFF.”
Then what’s the point? It’s important for emergencies; that’s why my family and I have them.
I am amazed that people shop, email, and do their banking via cellular. Seems like that’s asking for trouble. Maybe they get lucky. I hope so.
Ltr.
mark
BTTT
Well, I can turn my phone on in the time it takes to dial a rotary phone :)
I’m not sure about Android but with an iphone you can get 911 without even dialing. (Emergency SOS.)
There are ways to make a 911 call with no signal, with no service. You can reach them with no phone at all if you have internet and a VoIP.
There’s always a tradeoff. If your priority is emergency assistance rather than privacy, that’s your call, npi.
[[ and fewer attempts to take over your account or trick you into downloading a malicious file from your email]]
Somehtin Weird happened yesterday. Was on Linux, clicked on a link to what I thought was a tech sitE, and lo and behold it automatically downloaded a zero byte file intO my download folder. I deleted it immediately, but am wondering if there was something nefarious even though I said the file was empty?
[[Well, I can turn my phone on in the time it takes to dial a rotary phone :)]]
Oh man, that’s like, forever!!!
As kids were were of course impatient and wanted o speak to who ever we were callin immediately, and we’d have to dial their numbers and wait for the rotary tO get back to its position before dialing the next number. Long story short, numbers with lots of 8’s and 9’s and 0’s etc were excruciatingly long for us imoatient folks lol
Can still remeber the “kitchen phone” we all used, and how excited we were when we fi ally got a longer chord so it could reach the livinroom lol. As ,i
Later.
Deleting it was a good idea.
Where was the link? In an email?
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