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.

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.

Back up your computer

Backing up your data is an important step in securing your information, because if your hard drive crashes, chances are you still want access to your files. There are several ways to go about this, you can get an external hard drive and store your data on there (possibly with the help of a backup  utility) or you can use a cloud service like Dropbox and sync just your most important files, or your entire computer if you're willing to cough up some cash. Lets take a look.




Dropbox

Dropbox offers 2 GB free on sign-up, and for $9.99/month, you can get 100 GB, with other plans offering 200 or 500 GB, which is probably plenty for most people. The advantages here are that you can download an app that will sync the contents of a folder from your computer to the cloud, the bonus being that you can access them anywhere. Best of all, it encrypts your data for extra security.



External Hard Drive

If you go the external hard drive route,  you probably want to use a back-up utility to handle backups for you & help keep you sane. On Mac you can use the built in Time Machine tool to manage backups, if you're running Windows, then Crashplan is for you! It comes in both free and paid flavors.





Another important thing to remember about backups is to have one off-site that way if your house burns down and everything is destroyed, your data is safe on the hard drive you keep at work, or in the cloud.

Encrypting Mobile Phone Calls

RedPhone is an Android app developed by Whisper Systems, (which oddly enough, is owned by Twitter). Rather than being a hotline to the Kremlin, once installed and configured, it gives you the option of encrypting calls you make to others who also have RedPhone installed on their phones. the integration is seamless, as you can continue to use the built-in dialler as normal, with the added bonus of RedPhone giving you the option of encrypting the call if it detects that the person you called also has RedPhone installed.

RedPhone can be downloaded here. I also recommend checking out their blog, as it's much more interesting (and less technical) than you'd expect.