[Tips and Information] Privacy and How to Stay Anonymous Online

Lucasgabd

legendary

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There's no need to be upset

Quote from: desticy on November 14, 2019, 01:10:57 PM

In my opinion, it’s enough to buy a subscription to a good VPN, which does not save logs, and does not significantly reduce your speed, and of course it does not steal your traffic.
In addition, you can install the extension blocking ads and scripts in your browser. This will be quite enough to remain anonymous on the network, and at the same time have an easy and quick connection to the network.

VPN is a must as a first layer of protection but thinking it is enough is a common mistake.

if you're googling something logged in your account it is already not private.
if you use the same email in more than one website
if you don't use an adblock and allow cookies on your browser it'll also track you for target ads (which can be usefull but can also be scary).

of course, most of the people dont need deep level of protection but those who work on activism, as an example, should really protect themselves, we know what government can do with people that question their shady activities.

OcTradism

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Quote from: Negotiation on November 21, 2019, 04:42:41 AM

TOR BROWSER may be best for access dark web I think tor browser something risky for new general but tor is the best access Anonymous on Online,when general user access tor firstly faced new some off problem. your information is very useful.
i thing best way tor installed pen-drive,hardisk or portable devices.

Tor is created to improve privacy. If you care about your privacy, use Tor when you web-surf. Dark web or white web, you should use Tor for your privacy. Assume you have bitcoin, and make a transaction and want to check its confirmations, you should check it with Tor.

You don't know that the explorer you use to check transaction confirmations will use your data for their analyses or will sell their data to others. Your privacy will be lower if you don't use Tor.

Negotiation

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TOR BROWSER may be best for access dark web I think tor browser something risky for new general but tor is the best access Anonymous on Online,when general user access tor firstly faced new some off problem. your information is very useful.
i thing best way tor installed pen-drive,hardisk or portable devices.

cryptobaro

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Thank you for the information you collected for us. We see many people getting hacked these days and these privacy measures are absolutely needed. I use Metamask to keep my wallet safe and use reliable VPNs. I don't know much about security but all I can do is those things.

o_e_l_e_o

legendary

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The whole point of using an obfs4 pluggable transport is to protect your traffic from deep packet inspection, so using one replaces the need for a VPN if your goal is to hide your Tor usage from your ISP.

Obviously there are other uses for a VPN which may mean you want to continue using one with Tor (as long as you connect to the VPN first and never use the VPN as an exit node), and so yeah I guess using an obfs4 bridge in this case would hide your Tor usage from your VPN provider. But if you are worried about hiding Tor from your VPN provider, then you are obviously concerned that your VPN provider is both spying on your traffic and keeping logs, in which case you should be changing provider.

naska21

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Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on November 19, 2019, 06:17:44 AM

Quote from: naska21 on November 19, 2019, 02:55:35 AM

IMHO, VPN + TOR + obfsproxy is the best bundle for both security and privacy.

Using a VPN and Tor together can actually make your privacy worse in some circumstances, not better. Your VPN server essentially becomes a fixed entry node or exit node to the Tor network, depending on whether you connect to the VPN first then Tor, or route through the Tor network to reach your VPN server.

Connecting to your VPN first and then to Tor will certainly hide the fact you are using Tor as we have discussed above, but the same is possible with pluggable transports. This set up is fine if you fully trust your VPN provider not to be keeping logs, but otherwise provides little benefit over Tor alone. Obviously you should still be using a VPN at all times whenever you connect to any public wifi.

Using Tor to reach your VPN server is a terrible idea and completely negates the entire point of Tor. You are giving a single entity (your VPN provider) access to all your traffic, which they could link back to you via traceable payment methods or previous IP addresses logged (if they keep logs) against your account.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't see any benefit to using both a VPN and an obfsproxy bridge simultaneously to connect to Tor, unless for some reason you wanted to hide the fact you were using Tor from your VPN provider?

IMHO, first comes VPN to hide TOR from ISP provider's DPI (if any), then TOR + obfsproxy to hide TOR from DPI , if any, of VPN service. In this case entry node is determined by TOR network but not VPN. The last creates the channel to reach TOR.

ABCbits

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Quote from: mersal on November 19, 2019, 12:16:04 AM

Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on November 17, 2019, 07:51:02 AM

Quote from: mersal on November 17, 2019, 05:22:36 AM

But when we talk about our privacy in general its already stolen by android and IOS devices

For most users, yes, but you can quite happily root a smartphone and install an open source OS on it such as GrapheneOS or Ubuntu Touch, along with a non-google app store such as F-Droid. It's perfectly possible to de-google all your devices (and for free), you just need to have the motivation to do so.

Rooting or jailbreaking can make our smartphone non trackable but it leads our device is easily hackable so its only for the pro users not for the normal users.

Rooting or jailbreaking your device won't make your smartphone not tracktable. It only open possibility to disable feature which could invade your privacy or limit what an application could do.

Even so, you can't prevent tracking from cell tower triangulation.

Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on November 19, 2019, 06:17:44 AM

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't see any benefit to using both a VPN and an obfsproxy bridge simultaneously to connect to Tor, unless for some reason you wanted to hide the fact you were using Tor from your VPN provider?

Me either. Since the ISP could detect you based on known entry node IP, one could use unlisted/private Tor Bridge with pluggable transports

o_e_l_e_o

legendary

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Quote from: naska21 on November 19, 2019, 02:55:35 AM

IMHO, VPN + TOR + obfsproxy is the best bundle for both security and privacy.

Using a VPN and Tor together can actually make your privacy worse in some circumstances, not better. Your VPN server essentially becomes a fixed entry node or exit node to the Tor network, depending on whether you connect to the VPN first then Tor, or route through the Tor network to reach your VPN server.

Connecting to your VPN first and then to Tor will certainly hide the fact you are using Tor as we have discussed above, but the same is possible with pluggable transports. This set up is fine if you fully trust your VPN provider not to be keeping logs, but otherwise provides little benefit over Tor alone. Obviously you should still be using a VPN at all times whenever you connect to any public wifi.

Using Tor to reach your VPN server is a terrible idea and completely negates the entire point of Tor. You are giving a single entity (your VPN provider) access to all your traffic, which they could link back to you via traceable payment methods or previous IP addresses logged (if they keep logs) against your account.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't see any benefit to using both a VPN and an obfsproxy bridge simultaneously to connect to Tor, unless for some reason you wanted to hide the fact you were using Tor from your VPN provider?

naska21

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Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on November 17, 2019, 07:51:02 AM

Quote from: naska21 on November 17, 2019, 05:10:06 AM

-snip-

Proxy servers are good for bypassing censorship, but do very little for security or privacy and also don't reliably hide the fact you are using Tor. If you want to use Tor without it being obvious, then you should look in to Tor bridges with pluggable transports.

Right, pluggable transports are good to obfuscate Tor traffic and in fact they are delivered by 3-rd parties proxies. IMHO, VPN + TOR + obfsproxy is the best bundle for both security and privacy.

mersal

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Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on November 17, 2019, 07:51:02 AM

Quote from: mersal on November 17, 2019, 05:22:36 AM

But when we talk about our privacy in general its already stolen by android and IOS devices

For most users, yes, but you can quite happily root a smartphone and install an open source OS on it such as GrapheneOS or Ubuntu Touch, along with a non-google app store such as F-Droid. It's perfectly possible to de-google all your devices (and for free), you just need to have the motivation to do so.

Rooting or jailbreaking can make our smartphone non trackable but it leads our device is easily hackable so its only for the pro users not for the normal users.

nakamura12

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In my opinion to stay anonymous you must not use any site that requires you to input your personal information such as name, last name and more. Not all VPN will do as what you have told it can do and that is why you must carefully choose the right VPN to do the job for you and stay anonymous as possible.

o_e_l_e_o

legendary

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Merit: 18748

Quote from: naska21 on November 17, 2019, 05:10:06 AM

-snip-

Proxy servers are good for bypassing censorship, but do very little for security or privacy and also don't reliably hide the fact you are using Tor. If you want to use Tor without it being obvious, then you should look in to Tor bridges with pluggable transports.

Quote from: mersal on November 17, 2019, 05:22:36 AM

But when we talk about our privacy in general its already stolen by android and IOS devices

For most users, yes, but you can quite happily root a smartphone and install an open source OS on it such as GrapheneOS or Ubuntu Touch, along with a non-google app store such as F-Droid. It's perfectly possible to de-google all your devices (and for free), you just need to have the motivation to do so.

mersal

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Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on November 16, 2019, 08:56:09 AM

Stop uploading things. Stop using social media altogether. It is a massive invasion of privacy. If you absolutely can't resist the urge to post stupid selfies and pictures of your food, then do so from a dedicated device that is not linked to any of your crypto activities.

I thought this is not only about crypto activities,yes I am aware of that an I am using a separate laptop for crypto related activities and using wallet which don't have any other files,browsers and unnecessary tracking things.

But when we talk about our privacy in general its already stolen by android and IOS devices,if we want to keep privacy in future then better go to the mobile devices where we only used for making calls and recieving calls. Grin

naska21

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Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on November 17, 2019, 03:54:43 AM

Quote from: bwatts on November 16, 2019, 06:14:36 PM

anonymity will be really good

VPNs don't make you anonymous. Your VPN provider will still be able to see your true IP and all your traffic, and there is no way to be 100% sure that your VPN provider isn't keeping logs. If you have paid for your VPN with a traceable form of money (bitcoins which have been linked to your identity or any type of fiat), then you could be complete de-anonymized and have all your internet activity linked to your real identity.

VPNs are great for a variety of reasons, and I use one a lot of the time, but if you want to be anonymous then you need to be looking at Tor.

It cuts both ways, users who use TOR may be suspected of illegal activities and attract the interest of security agencies. From where I sit,TOR traffic should be hidden from DIP via relevant proxies, arguably Shadowsocks is the best of them.

o_e_l_e_o

legendary

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Quote from: bwatts on November 16, 2019, 06:14:36 PM

anonymity will be really good

VPNs don't make you anonymous. Your VPN provider will still be able to see your true IP and all your traffic, and there is no way to be 100% sure that your VPN provider isn't keeping logs. If you have paid for your VPN with a traceable form of money (bitcoins which have been linked to your identity or any type of fiat), then you could be complete de-anonymized and have all your internet activity linked to your real identity.

VPNs are great for a variety of reasons, and I use one a lot of the time, but if you want to be anonymous then you need to be looking at Tor.

bwatts

newbie

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I think easiest and common solution for basic anonymity over web is to use VPN, for more secure connection we can try establish connection via few VPNs, anonymity will be really good, just transfer will be limited and connection slow.
For beginners I would recommend some very simple VPN like NordVPN - it cost just 3,5 USD per month other simple are expressVPN, cyberghost or hidemyass. I dont recommend free pseudo VPNs via web, that's not VPNs

lobat999

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Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on November 16, 2019, 08:56:09 AM

Quote from: lobat999 on November 16, 2019, 04:23:01 AM

I guess that is more likely the case but at least it gives us an enhanced privacy as compared to using a normal browser without VPN.

No, it doesn't. It probably makes your privacy worse. Instead of all your traffic simply going through your ISP, you are instead routing all your traffic through Opera's server. They openly admit that they monitor it all, keep logs, pass that data to advertisers, and use it to target you with ads. You'd be better off not using it all.

Did some initial review and found out alarming things just like what you've stated, except for ads targeting since i have adblocking extensions installed.
Nevertheless, I think its time to ditch Opera for VPN browsing and would instead use again ssh tunneling for the mean time.

Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on November 16, 2019, 08:56:09 AM

Quote from: lobat999 on November 16, 2019, 04:23:01 AM

After all, I understand no one is 100 percent safe even with the best security setup on their systems.

Sure, but not being able to achieve 100% safety isn't a reason to expose yourself to unncessary risk. Would you drive with no seatbelt just because you can't be 100% sure you wouldn't die in a crash anyway?

Lol. I get your point. I think its time to find out better alternatives and I'm also considering subscribing to paid VPN service instead.

o_e_l_e_o

legendary

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Quote from: lobat999 on November 16, 2019, 04:23:01 AM

I guess that is more likely the case but at least it gives us an enhanced privacy as compared to using a normal browser without VPN.

No, it doesn't. It probably makes your privacy worse. Instead of all your traffic simply going through your ISP, you are instead routing all your traffic through Opera's server. They openly admit that they monitor it all, keep logs, pass that data to advertisers, and use it to target you with ads. You'd be better off not using it all.

Quote from: lobat999 on November 16, 2019, 04:23:01 AM

Afterall, I understand no one is 100 percent safe even with the best security setup on their systems.

Sure, but not being able to achieve 100% safety isn't a reason to expose yourself to unncessary risk. Would you drive with no seatbelt just because you can't be 100% sure you wouldn't die in a crash anyway?

Quote from: mersal on November 16, 2019, 04:26:57 AM

Yes we can disable their permissions but for using an app like facebook and instagram we have to give those permissions or else we can't upload anything

Good. Stop uploading things. Stop using social media altogether. It is a massive invasion of privacy. If you absolutely can't resist the urge to post stupid selfies and pictures of your food, then do so from a dedicated device that is not linked to any of your crypto activities.

mersal

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Quote from: BitMaxz on November 15, 2019, 02:23:22 PM

Quote from: mersal on November 15, 2019, 02:04:07 AM

Not only our location,our cameras,gallery,file manager and everything can be controlled by someone remotely because we gave them the access to do while installing an app whether its from app market or private sites,so we are not having any privacy as we think. Cheesy

Yeah, you're right but apps will ask you first if you want to allow them to use your camera, file and etc... or not. Some apps can be able to use without allowing them but some are not.

You can always disable them in settings if you doubt someone controlling your SmartPhone with some apps.
I always disable them to make sure my phone files and front camera safe and use a fake GPS app(I use this before in Pokemo GO to make a fake location)
Or use your Smartphone offline and never connect it to the internet.

Yes we can disable their permissions but for using an app like facebook and instagram we have to give those permissions or else we can't upload anything,so we can be able to hide from being spying when we want to use apps which are available at free of cost.

lobat999

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Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on November 15, 2019, 12:42:35 PM

Quote from: lobat999 on November 15, 2019, 10:46:31 AM

With regards to VPN use, I would like to mention Opera Browser which offers a free and user friendly way to connect through VPN.

Opera's free VPN, like all VPNs, is a poor choice. It's not even really a VPN, just a proxy. They collect all your traffic and data, keep logs, and use it to serve you targeted ads: https://www.opera.com/privacy. Have a read of this: https://thatoneprivacysite.net/blog/operas-baked-in-vpn-is-not-a-good-solution-for-your-privacy/

There is no such thing as a truly free VPN. If it is free, then you are the product. As I said above, companies which provide free VPNs are making there money from selling your data, and this makes you less private, not more.

Thanks for sharing this info. I guess that is more likely the case but at least it gives us an enhanced privacy as compared to using a normal browser without VPN. I think its time for me to find other alternatives and reassess my security setup.

Quote from: o_e_l_e_o on November 15, 2019, 12:42:35 PM

Quote from: lobat999 on November 15, 2019, 10:46:31 AM

With regards to TOR use, Brave Browser has also a built in feature that would allow us to browse via TOR.

Why would you use a Tor plug-in in a browser with poor security which lies about being privacy focused, when you could just cut out the middle-man and use the Tor browser?

Its a matter of convenience for me on why I prefer a TOR enabled Brave browser as I see Brave has other features not found in a TOR browser. Afterall, I understand no one is 100 percent safe even with the best security setup on their systems.

Topic: [Tips and Information] Privacy and How to Stay Anonymous Online (Read 870 times)