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Every day, websites you visit, tech businesses, persons in your immediate vicinity, governments, and the list goes on and on, infringe upon your privacy. It may feel impossible to regain your privacy and security on the internet, but that’s ridiculous. It is possible. Today, I’m going to show you how to regain your privacy on the internet, what becoming anonymous really means, boost your security, and, most importantly, be able to spread what you learn to other people you know to make a much bigger impact.
I have one disclaimer for you: the more private and secure you want to become, the more inconvenient your life will be. This is just a sad reality. To address this issue, we’ve split things up into three zones. The first is Zone One, which is your starting point and what we recommend everybody implement. Zone Two will be a bit more intense and expand on things from Section One. Zone Three will expand more and introduce some of the more extreme solutions for those of you looking to truly disappear as much as you can. These zones are inspired by a traditional threat model, and we recommend everybody listening develop their own threat model if they don’t want to use our zone system.
Again, your privacy matters. Likely, by the end of this article, you’ll be spammed with great information, so feel free to use a checklist to help yourself keep up.
Table of Contents
Zone I – Foundational Steps for Online Privacy and Security
Password Management
You should avoid your browser’s or operating system’s password manager. Avoid using bad passwords. Even worse, don’t reuse the same one on several sites. One breach can lead to any account with the same credentials being reached as well. The best thing to do is use a password manager that is all protected with a strong master password. The simplest recommendation is Bitwarden, a cloud-based manager, and there’s also KeePass, which is more designed for local password storage.
Security Questions and Routers
Aside from passwords, do not answer security questions truthfully, as these are painfully easy to guess, even for a stranger. We recommend generating random answers inside of your password manager. The passwords on your device are important as well; make sure these are long, complex passwords that you’re able to memorize. There are easy ways to do this, as demonstrated very well by Mr. Edward Snowden: “Margaret Thatcher is 110% sexy.” Wow!
Additionally, your router is what all of your devices connect to, and that needs a strong password as well. Generate it in your password manager to ensure it is very secure. Also, set an admin password to access your web portal and ensure you’re at least using WPA2 for the utmost security.
Biometrics and 2FA
And finally, biometrics. These are almost universally less secure than a good password. You also carry the risk of being forced to unlock your phone with biometrics, which can’t as easily happen with a password. In certain countries, like the US, make sure to disable biometrics when entering high-risk areas. These areas include airports, protests, and other places with heavy law enforcement.
2FA is that text message you receive when logging into a service to add additional protection to your account. 2FA through text messages is better than nothing, but we recommend using a local authenticator app. For iOS, there’s Tofu and Authenticator, and Android has OTP and Aegis. Authy is a more convenient cloud-based solution, but it is closed-source. There are also hardware-based keys you can utilize; don’t forget to back these up. No matter what you choose, store them somewhere separate from an account that requires 2FA. This way, you won’t get locked out of your 2FA because you don’t have the 2FA to unlock the 2FA vault.
Minimizing Digital Footprint
All of us have a digital footprint, which is any piece of data on the internet tied back to us as individuals. Between all of the data about you, there’s likely enough information to understand you better than you understand yourself, and this is all unregulated. To minimize this issue, we need to make our footprints as small as we possibly can.
For part one, we immediately recommend starting with Google. Go ahead and disable everything on the Google My Activity page and ensure you’re using the least amount of personal information necessary for other services. If even one of the dozens or hundreds of accounts you own experiences a breach, your information is now publicly available online. You should dive into every service you’ve ever signed up for, and for the ones you no longer need, fake personal information, including the email with something like Gorilla Mail, and delete it. A good place to find services you’ve signed up for is digging through those old verification emails, as well as sites like JustDeleteMe.xyz.
Social Media Guidelines
Here are some social media rules for Part one. First, make sure to utilize the basic privacy settings given to you within your accounts. Second, don’t talk, friend, or follow strangers; use it strictly for people you know. Third, avoid commenting or responding to public posts that are outside of your group. Fourth, do not hand over any personal information or permissions that websites or apps do not need; Facebook doesn’t need your home address, and Snapchat doesn’t need to track your location all day.
VPN Usage
A VPN will encrypt your traffic inside a tunnel to prevent all people between you and your VPN from snooping on your traffic. Additionally, a VPN will mask your IP address, which sites use to track and invade you, and even sometimes serve you different prices when shopping based on your location. The main drawback to VPNs is that you’re transferring trust to a central entity to handle your web traffic. Luckily, picking something trustworthy doesn’t need to be too much of a guessing game. We do VPN reviews on our channel using a systematic, community-driven process to keep things as transparent as possible. Our current top recommendations are ProtonVPN, Mullvad, IVPN, Windscribe, and Surfshark. I’ll leave all of those in the description, as well as their reviews, so you can compare what works best for you.
Secure Communication
The internet exists, more or less, so you can communicate, right? And you can do everything in this article while still communicating insecurely. The first and most important thing is to ensure you’re using encryption. This means avoid SMS, aka the green bubbles, and move to things like iMessage or, preferably, Signal, which is an easy cross-platform messenger that includes encrypted phone and video calls, all with minimal tracking. There are other messengers as well to try out, listed on privacytools.io.
Outside messages, email is a privacy and security nightmare. The easiest thing to do is to move over to services like ProtonMail and Tutanota; these don’t require any personal information and will fully encrypt your emails, even when being sent to people using other email providers. You do have to select that specifically when sending the messages. We also covered other options in our recent top five email providers article, so check that out. 33Mail, Gorilla Mail, and TechMail are all great services to utilize for disposable emails.
Browser Privacy
Browsers are what connect you to the internet, giving them a huge level of control over your privacy and security. For Zone One, ensure you’re only using trusted extensions from original sources. Next, change your search engine to something privacy-respecting; DuckDuckGo is a default option in most browsers. If you’re a fan of Google results, then StartPage will give you Google results privately, and if you want the most open and transparent search engine, check out Search.me. Lastly, cookies and other data stored by your browser are instrumental tools used to track you. Ensure you’re clearing them frequently, using incognito mode when necessary, as well as enabling some of the basic security and privacy precautions your browser may offer.
Smartphone Privacy
Nowadays, all of us have a tracking device on us 24/7, aka our smartphones. These devices have powerful sensors and technology that are constantly active and collecting data shared with companies, individuals, and governments alike. For Zone One, opt out of the options you’re given in your settings. Disable analytics, telemetry data collection, usage data. Go through each app and ensure apps only have permissions for things they need to function. Also, disable radios like Wi-Fi, cellular data, NFC, Apple Pay, and especially Bluetooth and GPS when not in use.
Computer Privacy
On a similar note, disable as many features and settings as possible, especially within your applications, and ensure you’re removing things you don’t need. Less is more, as each app and feature is an additional threat. Make sure you’re using a VPN, we already covered that. Your MAC address is a unique identifier that helps identify your device on a wireless network; luckily for us, iOS 14 and Android 10 now include MAC address randomization, so make sure that’s enabled. Lastly, make sure you’re using automatic software updates for both the operating system and applications, so you’re receiving the latest patches and security improvements for your device.
File Management
Turn off the options that appear, such as those related to analytics, usage data, app settings, and permissions. Put your radios to sleep by disabling them. Disable any features you aren’t using as well. Eliminate all applications and programs that you do not require, particularly the pre-installed bloatware on Windows.
A VPN on your computer is also important, along with automatic software updates for your programs and operating system. Your files are at the root of what you want to protect. This includes sensitive files like your documents, photos, and memories. It also includes temporary files like cookies that can all paint a pretty clear picture of who you are. In Zone One, remove and clear temporary data as frequently as you can. This includes logs on your system, temporary data from your web browser, and really anything else that is just passively collected from your usage. You can do this with a tool like BleachBit and built-in tools within your browser and operating system.
Real-World Privacy Considerations
Something we often forget when talking about digital privacy and security is the real world. The real world can directly feed the digital world. The relationship between them becomes closer every day. For Zone One, never input personal information on a public computer. For personal devices, we recommend being wary of things like smartwatches and fitness trackers that collect data about you and can be disastrous for privacy. We have talked about the options available to you more thoroughly in our privacy and health tracking article.
On a similar note, the fewer IoT or Internet of Things devices you have, the better. Alexa does not need to be in every room of the house. These devices are grossly insecure and are only built to track you within your home. We do recommend safes and shredders, two things every person should own. We’ll leave some options in the description for you to look at for both of those. And that was the end of Zone One. If you completed everything here, you’re already much better off than most people, and it ideally shouldn’t have been terribly difficult to implement.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Zone One provides the fundamental building blocks for enhancing your online privacy and security. By implementing these essential steps, you can take significant strides towards safeguarding your digital life. Remember that the journey to greater online security may require some inconvenience. However, the peace of mind and protection of your personal information make it more than worthwhile. As you continue your journey toward digital privacy, stay tuned for our next article. We will delve into Zone Two, offering even more advanced strategies and solutions. Your privacy matters, and with the right measures in place, you can navigate the online world with confidence and security.
