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.
A good password should be at least 8 characters long, be alphanumeric, use special characters, not written down on a post-it, and of course you should never use the same password for more than one site. Most of us have no doubt heard this advice before, but how many actually follow it? The good news is that you can make it much easier to create and store secure passwords by installing a password manager add-on to your web browser.
What these managers feature is secure password generation so you can easily replace all your insecure passwords with secure ones. All your passwords are stored in an encrypted "vault" which you open using the one and only password you have to remember now, the password to your password manager of choice. These add-ons can also help you fill out forms and securely store credit card numbers and other information if you so choose.
Here are two quick options for password managers:
Lastpass: Avalibe as an add-on compatible with all major web browsers and operating systems, including iOS and Android. It comes in both free and paid flavors.
1password: This one is a sandalone application for Windows & Mac as well as Android & iOS. It has a 30-day free trial or you can buy it upfront.
Whenever you visit a site, chances are it installs cookies on you computer, these can be used to track what other sites you visit and beam the information back to the mothership, which can then sell the information to advertisers or use it to serve ads itself, including the kind that seem to follow you around from website to website. Enter tracking blockers. These add-ons for web browsers silently block cookies attempts to track you by preventing them from phoning home to report the data they gather. Here are three easy-to-use options to choose from:
DoNotTrackMe
Made by Abine, this tool is probably the simplest of the three (and meant to be so). The icon shows the number of trackers blocked on any particular site, and the drop-down menu shows a graph displaying the total number of tracking attempts blocked. In addition, there is a small dialogue box at the bottom that prompts you to click and learn more about a particular tracking company. Overall, it's drop-dead simple to use, you can get it here. If you're interested, Abine also has some other privacy tools worth looking into.
Disconnect
Disconnect brings all the same functionality of DNTM and then goes just a bit further, adding the ability to secure your wi-fi connections, and short cuts for enabling/disabling common social networks on a particular site, or white/blacklisting entire sites. Visually it is more streamlined than DNTM, giving it some added appeal. Though it doesn't tally blocked tracking attempts, instead it shows a small graph displaying the amount time & bandwidth saved from using the extension on loading the current page. Currently it is the favourite tracking blocker of this blogger, you can download it for yourself here.
Ghostery
Ghostery may be the most user-friendly of the three...or annoying, depending on how you feel about a pop-up style list of blocked and unblocked trackers on whatever page you just loaded. Mercifully, this can be turned off in the settings. Like DNTM, Ghostery gives you a list of the trackers on the current page and the option to block/unblock them or whitelist the site. Unlike DNTM, it has a one-word description under the name of the tracker telling you if it's an advertiser, beacon, widget, analytics, etc, to help you decide if that element needs to be blocked or not. You can find it here.
Keeping your computer up to speed on the latest patches and updates is one of the easiest ways to plug holes in your digital fortress. If you’re running Windows, go to the start menu & look for Windows Update under all programs, open it up & hit "check for updates" and install anything that comes up, especially if it's security-related, I'll wait. If you’re on a Mac its even easier, when you’re on the desktop, click on the apple icon in the top left and select "check for updates" and install anything that shows up. If you haven’t done this in a while the download/install process may take some time.
In the meanwhile, you should consider turning on automatic updates so that the latest patches get downloaded & installed automatically, here's a quick guide on how to do this for Windows, Mac users can head over here to accomplish the same thing.
Chrome & Firefox check for updates automatically, though Firefox may prompt you to restart the browser to complete the installation. Since you’re thinking about it (and you're reading this), check for updates to your browser plug-ins! Mozilla provides a visual way to see what needs to be updated here.
Other programs like your anti-virus and firewall are probably configured to update automatically, though it never hurts to check and make sure.
With your computer updating itself and plugging security holes on its own, you can have a little more peace of mind.
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