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.
No, in a browser search.
Years aO when I had windows as main os, clicking links in searches was real iffy, as it would redirect to some sitE and sometimes auto download. I purchased rollback rx as a result as I could rollback to a time before the download happened and be safe. Then they fixed it, and it happened far less
This is the firs time anything like his has happend in Linux though.
Use paper whenever possible.
“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.”
Wow, I have never had anything autodownload since using Linux... But that would have been something that fooled your browser more so than fooling Linux? Sound right?
Your description sounds like it is OS-agnostic. It happened through a search and a browser.
However, I am kinda surprised that Linux would allow an automatic download, as Openurmind has already pointed out.
Might want to check your browser settings for downloading files.
“Might want to check your browser settings for downloading files.”
I can’t see Bob not already going through all the browser settings, he is good about checking that stuff. But this could be a new trick from a source. I would like to try and reproduce it in a sandbox if Bob remembers where and what it was? Or can find it again without clicking it.
But as a side note guys... I think I have finally found a good secure browser, (well as secure as anything can be). I have been testing LibreWolf and it looks like a keeper so far. I added NoScript to it and it seems to be doing well.
Um, if you are on the Internet, you will never, ever, be anonymous. You have zero privacy on the Internet. Every company out there also participates with selling your information they collect.
Yep, i beleive it was agnostic- Thanks, I will check that ouT in the settings. I will see if I can find the link again, and be sure to label it as possibly dangerous.
If you find the link again please PM me with it. :)
“Um, if you are on the Internet, you will never, ever, be anonymous.”
This is true. But there are indeed quite a few efforts one can make to throw mines in the road and make them earn it. They are going to have to really really want it bad to get it.
I have no problem with folks who want to do their best to maintain privacy on the Internet.
That said—overconfidence is fatal.
You must assume that everything on the Internet is in the hands of governments, organized crime, and corporations.
If it is really critical that something be private it should never go on-line.
Not really. You’d be surprised just how easy it is to get your information with little you can do to stop it.
There are ways to get onto the Internet anonymously, but unless you understand the all the technology used, you’ll never succeed at it.
It starts the moment you buy a computer, and continues as you buy Internet services, and continues further as you cruise the Internet.
ok, i will- im looking now for it
Thank You! :)
Check this out! I have been experimenting with all kinds of secure OS, browsers, and protocols the past month. ZeroNet, Whonix, Qube+Whonix, Etc.
This looks interesting as heck here, has everything already built in... MOFO Linux:
https://itsfoss.com/mofo-linux-censorship/
You must be from the Silent Generation. Pre-boomer.
Just yesterday I was rebuked by my mom: "Don't say 'wait' to a boomer." Same goes for "later" and any form of "no."
No 9 is insane. That is just like telling a private company to put all of its financials and customer database on ANYONE else’s equipment. Might as well leave your doors unlocked, too.
Anything on any cloud or any aspect of Googel, FBook, etc is, at best, putting it into the public commons; or just giving it away entirely.
MOFO Linux:
Version 8.3.0:
Base System: Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS
Linux Kernel 6.0.11-x64v3-rt14-xanmod1
MATE Desktop Environment (mostly disabled) 1.24.0
Alacritty 0.11.0
Bleachbit 4.1.0
Castero 0.9.5
eCryptfs-utils 111
Element Desktop 1.11.23
Freenet Installer 0.7.5-build-1494
I2P 2.1.0
i3 Window Manager 4.22
i3ass 2021.10.26.3
IPFS-Desktop 2.11.4
irssi 1.2.2 (replaces Hexchat)
JupyterLab 3.5.0
Kodi Media Center 20.0
NextCloud 3.5.4
Newsboat 2.18
Node.js 18.12.1
OnionShare 2.2
Openjdk-11-jre 11.0.17
Outline Client 0.0.0-Daily-07-06
Proxychains 4.14
PulseEffects 4.8.2
Python 2.7.18 (supporting certain legacy applications)
Python 3.8.10 (supporting system and user applications)
Signal Desktop 6.6.0
Telegram-cli 1.3.1
Telegram-desktop 3.1.1
Telegram-purple 1.4.1
Thunderbird 102.7.1
Tor 0.4.2.7
Torsocks 2.3.0
VeraCrypt 1.25.9
Vivaldi 5.7.2921.53
W3M 0.5.3
Zathura 0.4.5
well i cant find it now- all i could find that mighta been it was a ‘redirect page to microsoft login’ which i didnt go to in the last couple of days- I remember beign redirected, then seeing the download box drop down on firefox on the right- saw that it dloaded a zero byte file, and deleted it kinda in a panic move- i didn’t pay attention to the site- i just closed everything- i checked my trash, and the file was not there- I wish there was a way to see the history of downloaded files- at least i could start from there- I went htrough all the links for the last 7 days in my history- and could not replicate the dload- Was able to skip abotu 90% as most links in history are to FR and other conservative sites- so it didnt take too long- I’ll keep looking- see if there is a way to retrieve deleted files in linux- though i doubt there is a way-
Yeah im not sure what generation id be from- late hippy i think-
Oh man, you don’t have to go to that much trouble Sir. If in the future you run across something like that just please make note so we can track it down and spread the word about it.
Thank you for taking the time to try!!! :)
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