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Considering your Internet security (a tutorial)

If you are worried about the tracks you leave when on the Internet, and you should be, here are some decent tests to run:

  • Cover Your Tracks: Fast Test, Good details in the results provided
  • Browser Audit: Extremely detailed tests. This tool runs some 430 tests. My latest test on Chromium shows 390 passed, 38 warnings, 3 skipped tests. No critical or failed tests.
  • Browser Leaks: According to BrowserLeaks; [They represent] “a suite of tools that offers a range of tests to evaluate the security and privacy of your web browser. These tests focus on identifying ways in which websites may leak your real IP address, collect information about your device, and perform a browser fingerprinting.”

By way of providing full disclosure, here’s what I run:

  • My OS of choice these days is arch linux (lts-kernel).
    • I do NOT use Apple Products.
    • I do NOT use Microsoft products. Sorry?!?!
  • I employ two different pieces of browser software:

Here are a couple of plugins I run on my browsers to help enhance privacy and reduce load (speed things up).

  • Ublock Origin (full service offering)- To quote their website “uBlock Origin is not just an “ad blocker“, it’s a wide-spectrum content blocker with CPU and memory efficiency as a primary feature.” As you may know, ads are both annoying and consume valuable Internet bandwidth, while increasing your Carbon Footprint. Ads use {waste) electricity. On Chromium based browsers the following note is relevant: “With the advent of Manifest V3 (MV3), many users are concerned about the future of ad blockers like uBlock Origin. Manifest V3 is a significant update to the Chrome extension platform, introducing changes that impact how extensions interact with web content. Here’s what you need to know about MV3, how it affects uBlock Origin, and what alternatives are available.”
  • Browsec Free VPN (no bells or whistles). It seems simple, masks your location and identity all the while appearing to speed things up. Quoting their site: What you can do with VPN. Stay safe when using public Wi-Fi. Hide personal information. Use a VPN to download any content you want.”
  • Privacy Badger– To quote their plugin “Besides automatic tracker blocking, Privacy Badger replaces potentially useful trackers (video players, comments widgets, etc.) with click-to-activate placeholders, and removes outgoing link click tracking on Facebook and Google, with more privacy protections on the way.”

If you are worried about government intrusion onto your home network and devices here is an article (guide) which details what you can do to make your network safer from intruders. There are numerous additional tutorials and guides on the web should you require or be interested.