Sunsetting Statement

This post marks the last of the active life of this blog, which was always intended as a short-term endeavor, an experiment if you will. That said, I have learned quite a bit both in the writing and the research for the posts during this time. Part of it was being consistent about writing these posts even though a lot of times I thought about just blowing them off due to sleepiness, lack of motivation, or any number of other reasons. Second, having to think about how to best explain the function of many of the apps/services I wrote about helped me to make connections to other things, which as a side effect led me to a better understanding of what I was writing about. Arguably I was already somewhat knowledgeable about the subjects beforehand, what prompted me to write about them was what I perceived to be a lack of information as to what the common citizen could do to help protect their security/privacy online, so I made a move to fill the void.

As to the experimental nature of the blog, I was testing the effectiveness of a short-term limited-scope blog in capturing and directing my explorations of a particular subject, in this case computer security for the everyman. In that regard it was very effective, admittedly I made a list of subjects to write about from the very beginning to simplify the process later on, and this helped immensely, as not knowing what to write about was never a possible excuse. I see this as great for future short-term explorations, making a list of everything I might want to look into, then subsequently researching it, and writing about it as proof of having done the legwork.

The public nature of this experiment is another interesting facet. I found that having an imaginary audience online made me feel accountable, anyone could look at my blog and see if I'd skipped a day, of course no one would have cared enough to call me out on it as no one is exactly who read my blog. The perception that this could hypothetically happen however kept me writing. The actual audience of my blog is difficult to estimate, right now it sits at almost 300 views, but with so few it could be google spiders or other bots that are causing the numbers to increase as opposed to actual readership.

Overall I call this experiment a smashing success, its most important contribution that it opens the gate for similar short-term experimental blogs in the future, guiding and documenting research & experimentation.

Most Secure Browser

With all this online security talk, you might be wondering wich browser is the most secure. While I could launch into a discussion on the security merits and flaws any particular browser, that would go beyond the non technical scope of this blog, and be largely pointless since it can be boiled down to this: No browser is the safest.

I can say this with fair certainty because while any particular browser excels in one area, it falters in another, leaving it vulnerable. The essential idea is that nothing is bullet proof,  maybe youve been getting that from this blog, maybe not, but thats all there is to it. No system is 100% safe, or 100% virus-proof, or 100% whathaveyou, given enough inventiveness, you can break anything.

Where does this leave you when looking to use the "safest" browser? At a minimum I would suggest using a browser compatible with the security add-ons that I´ve written about, and others that I haven´t, so probably Firefox or Chrome. Just remember that having all this security isn´t a gurantee (of anything), apply the usual caution when visiting sketchier websites, or downloading suspicious files, & stay safe on the net.

Use Tor

Tor, which stood for "The Onion Routing Project" was originally developed by the navy to aid in concelaing the identities of its users online. It accomplishes this by running a users internet traffic through the Tor network, eventually sending it out to the internet and then routing the response back through the network to the user. These constant reroutings are what provides the anonymity, as it is extemely dificult to track where the traffic travels within the network. Essentially, it protects you from the surveillance of your online activites by third parties. 

Usage case scenarios for this app includes needing to comunicate with others confidentially, avoid surveillance, or being just plain paranoid. Download it or find out more at the Tor website. They also have an android app to privatize your internet traffic while on the go. 

Keep in mind that like Tor, your security depends on having various layers for maximum effectiveness.
 

Antivirus Software

Antivirus software is what rallies the forces once the castle has been stormed, these days antivirus software is a must for anyone connected to the internet, so what are the best antivirus applications for Windows/Mac? Yes, I know Mac users like to think of themselves as immune to viruses, but malware for Mac is on the rise, so it doesn’t hurt to know what your options are (I myself don't use an antivirus for Mac). Since this is a more technical subject, I am deffering to Lifehacker for suggestions of the best antivirus apps.

Windows

Avast! is what Lifehacker recommends as the best antivirus for windows, you can read their article over here, but basically it amounts to its ability to catch viruses, combined with relative ease of use, and the added bonus of being free.


For Mac

Sophos is the recommendation for those who choose to run an antivirus on their Mac, it blocks both Mac and Windows viruses, and is fairly light on system resources. Get the full scoop here.

Send Secure Text Messages

Text messaging is notoriously insecure, anyone can read your messages in transit or on your phone, so what are some options for rendering your communications unreadable while on the wire?

TextSecure

We've talked about Whisper Systems before, and now we're featuring them again for their Secure texting app, TextSecure. TextSecure is a full replacement for the default texting app on your phone. As you might imagine, it enables the encryption of text messages stored on your phone, and, once configured, the sending of encrypted text messages to others who have TextSecure installed. You choose the key messages are encrypted with, making the security as strong as you like. 



Gliph

Another option is to use a completely separate app for sending secure messages. If this is what you're looking for, take a look at Gliph. It works by choosing a set of "artifacts" to be your glyph, to get in touch with others, instead of swapping phone numbers, you swap glyphs. All correspondence between any two users is encrypted, and messages on your device are also encrypted with a user-selected password. An interesting bonus to Gliph is that it allows users to make Bitcoin transactions free of charge. 


Some might propose Snapchat as a secure means on communication since the messages are deleted after a certain interval of time. This is not so because the messages are "deleted" not deleted. Basically what happens is that the app changes the message staus from unread to read, so the app will ignore the ones marked as "read", but they are still on your phone, and can be retrieved fairly minimal effort by anyone with a little know-how. So much for ephemeral messaging. Aside from being able to retrieve supposedly deleted messages, they lack any encryption while in transit, and are as insecure as regular texts in that respect.

Hopefully these suggestions have you sending safer messages instantly.

Alternatives to Google Drive

With Google on the list of companies that (willingly or begrudgingly) handed over data to the NSA, what alternatives are there to Google drive where some of your most personal data may be stored? Lets take a look at a few different options.


Dropbox
 
I've mentioned Dropbox before, but its worth putting on this list too. You get 2 GB for free to start, but if you send out some invites to friends and they accept, you get a 500 MB bonus for each person that signs up with a current maximum of 18 GB. Beyond this, Dropbox offers a few different storage options starting with 100 GB for $9.99/month. In addition, your data is encrypted in their cloud, the downside being that y0u don’t choose the encryption key.



Dump Truck 

Dump Truck by Golden Frog offers 5 GB of space on sign-up, and features 500 MB of additional storage per referral, same as Dropbox. In addition, its pricing plans are nearly identical to Dropbox, though Dumptruck's offeings start at 50 GB for $5/month, followed by 100 GB for $9.99/month. From there, the pricing/GB is the same as Dropbox, minus the discount if you pay for a year of service upfront. It even offers the encryption, though it claims to be more secure than "other services" as it made its own apps, and owns its network and servers, therefore having a higher degree of privacy for users.




SugarSync

SugarSync offers 5 GB free, and slightly different pricing plans than Dropbox & Dump Truck, though the 100 GB for 9.99/month is the same, with a maximum of 250 GB for 24.99/month, it also has special options for businesses. Like the other two, it also offers apps for Windows/Mac/iOS/Android, to easily sync files/folders across devices. This is all done securely as SugarSync, like the others, features file encryption measures for your privacy.

Prey: Recover your stolen devices

                                        

Prey is an app for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android that helps you get back your lost/stolen devices. Its easy to set up and simple to use, the free version lets you track up to 3 devices, like your phone, laptop, and tablet for example. 

All you have to do is install it, login to your account, and your devices can now be tracked making them easier to find if they get lost/stolen. Prey also offers some other tools to help, such as displaying a message on the screen, sounding an alarm, or remote wiping the device. Overall it's a great tool to have in your tool kit and may get you out of a pinch.

You can get it here.