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.
I’m still lookin but it looks like it is gone- but yeah- even after all these years- i get a brain fart and don’t think, and just rush through the process- being in linux- i shoudla figured it was something that shoulda been noted and recorded-
Boomers were born from 1946 to 1964.
We will catch it next time! :)
Thanks.
BKMK for later
ok i was right after that- so i was the next generation- i still consider myself the hippy generation though- grew up on small farm, hippy dippy clothes, haircuts etc- ‘all natrural foods’ mostly- and lemme tell ya- goat’s milk still turns my stomach to this day lol
The 70s were Hippy too. Lol. :)
Yep- the tail end of the movement- still kind of going in the early 80’s but not as hard
Yep- i will try to remember to write everything down and document as much as i can- if i don’t panic again-
BTW- what sandbox are you using for linux? I have a couple of people that use the computer- and have always wanted to have some kind of sandbox to make sure nothing gets through-
It’s talking about a PRIVATE cloud. Using the same technology as those others, you host all the server/data on your own site. It’s only accessible by you.
I have several independent stand alone full OS clone systems on USB sticks for doing things like that where I am worried about it. You can run a full Cinnamon system for testing stuff on a 32 gig stick. I must have about a dozen in different linux flavors around here now. :)
And about to make another one with MOFO Linux... Lol
https://itsfoss.com/mofo-linux-censorship/
Yes, like NextCloud.
Good recommendations.
Unfortunately the U.S. government knows everything about me already.
The First lady, not so much.
5.56mm
I have it installed on a 1T SSD that I have in a USB enclosure. It's got about a half dozen distro ISOs on it now.
“Check out Ventoy.
I have it installed on a 1T SSD that I have in a USB enclosure. It’s got about a half dozen distro ISOs on it now.”
Thank you Ace! Yes I have been meaning to go get that and play with it! So far I have been able to just install directly onto a stick from the live/install sticks for handy small full OS drives with persistent storage.
And I have been able to install “Along side” over other OS install volumes and stack them. I have five stacked on this 2 Tb external “Back up” USB drive now. And surprisingly they run almost as fast as they would if installed internally.
The one thing I do though before installing to a stick or external drive is delete all the default crap on the drive. The default security stuff can prevent it from accepting a full OS install.
But it is cool to have something isolated and independent you can just plug in on a small drive so that if something goofs it you can just reinstall from scratch over it with no trouble. :)
how did you clo0ne the system if you don’t mind me asking? I do timeshift backups, but would like full clone of the linux system- just incase something goes wrong-
Know what... The options have been a deep discussion over at our own forums recently. I have been busy as hell so let me get caught up and I will get back to you on this tomorrow. Apparently there are many options. A couple I have not personally tried yet and cannot vouch for.
Be back Bro...
I typically just back up /home, /Documents, and /Downloads.
Everything else can just be re-installed. (And I do have a script to reinstall all my apps after a clean OS install)
I really liked rollback rx as it did a snapshot of the entire system (much better than windows backup and restore), and it starts before the os begins to load, incase your system got a root kit virus or whatever. I wish it worked for Linux though. Timeshift is OK, but I notice that doing a rollback with it, it leaves some things on the computer like files and desktop stuff - it doesn’t do a complete bit for bit restore like rollback did.
Ultimately, I’d like to do a bit for bit backup of the Linux os after I install everything I want, and create an instalation disk with my custom settings. I don’t mind reinstalling Linux, but it’s all the custom programs and settings that take the most time redoing manually.
But all in all, Linux is way way faster and easier to reinstall and get back up and running than windows ever though t of being. It used to literally take me days (a few hours a day) to get back all my files, programs, personal settings etc and get it “hardened” agaisnt viruses. That was why rollbackrx was so useful- if anything went wrong, it had a c9mplete snapshot, or many snapshots to,choose from at boot, or from desktop
Thanks shadowace- i think I asked you awhile back about the script. If I had something like that, I would be set to go- mostly- but then there are custom settings for the look and feel of th3 os, like the clock format (though redoing that is no big deal, I have the syntaxes for it written down), and a few other minor custom things. But having all the programs rei stalled with al, the customizations would shave off a few hours of the rei stall of Linux
I used it one time several years ago but look into “Clonezilla”. It is in the Software Manager Repository. Reed the directions well! :)
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