Back in 2013, Edward Snowden revealed that privacy was something of a myth at the time. The National Security Agency (NSA) has been examining data on anyone and everyone, regardless of whether they were US citizens, profiling as many people as it can. While the documents Snowden released forced the NSA to scale things back and offer some transparency, it is down to us to take back something that was previously considered a basic human right.

Sadly, these invasive practices aren’t exclusive to the US, as governments across the world have gone unchecked. To this day, all of them continue to pursue legal grounds that allow for backdoors to monitor your calls, messages and general internet activity.

In order to avoid the eye-in-the-sky that draws increasing similarities to George Orwell’s Big Brother, there are steps we can take. Using encryption to protect your data can make life difficult for surveillance organizations that are tasked to decrypt it. This information will be kept indefinitely until it is cracked, but this is an incredibly lengthy process. As a result, the more encrypted data becomes standard, the less it will be singled out by agencies that don’t wish to waste their time.

How Secure is Encryption?

Following revelations about the scale of the NSA’s deliberate assault on global encryption standards, confidence in encryption has taken a big dent. So let’s examine the current state of play…

Encryption Key Length

Key length is the crudest way of determining how long a cipher will take to break. It is the raw number of ones and zeros used in a cipher. The crudest form of attack on a cipher is known as a brute force attack (or exhaustive key search). This involves trying every possible combination to find the correct one.

If anyone is capable of breaking modern encryption ciphers it is the NSA, but to do so is a considerable challenge. For a brute force attack:

128-bit key

A 128-bit key cipher has 3.4 x10(38) possible keys. Going through each of them would take thousands of operations or more to break.

In 2016 the most powerful supercomputer in the world was the NUDT Tianhe-2 in Guangzhou, China. Almost 3 times as fast as the Fujitsu K, at 33.86 petaflops, it would "only" take it around a third of a billion years to crack a 128-bit AES key.

That’s still a long time and is the figure for breaking just one key!

256-bit key

A 256-bit key would require 2(128) times more computational power to break than a 128-bit one.

The number of years required to brute force a 256-bit cipher is 3.31 x 10(56) - which is about 20000….0000 (total 46 zeros) times the age of Universe (13.5 billion or 1.35 x 10(10) years)!

128-bit Encryption

Until the Edward Snowden revelations, people assumed that 128-bit encryption was in practice uncrackable through brute force. They believed it would be so for around another 100 years (taking Moore’s Law into account).

Moore's Law law states that processor speeds, or overall processing power for computers will double every two years.

In theory, this still holds true. However, the scale of resources that the NSA seems willing to throw at cracking encryption has shaken many experts’ faith in these predictions. Consequently, system administrators the world over are scrambling to upgrade cipher key lengths.

If and when quantum computing becomes available, all bets will be off. Quantum computers will be exponentially more powerful than any existing computer and will make all current encryption ciphers and suites redundant overnight.

In theory, the development of quantum encryption will counter this problem. However, access to quantum computers will initially be the preserve of the most powerful and wealthy governments and corporations only. It is not in the interests of such organizations to democratize encryption.

For the time being, however, strong encryption is your friend.

Note that the US government uses 256-bit encryption to protect ‘sensitive’ data and 128-bit for ‘routine’ encryption needs. However, the cipher it uses is AES. As I discuss below, this is not without problems.

Ciphers

Encryption key length refers to the amount of raw numbers involved. Ciphers are the mathematics used to perform the encryption. It is weaknesses in these algorithms, rather than in the key length, that often leads to encryption breaking.

By far the most common ciphers that you will likely encounter are those OpenVPN uses: Blowfish and AES. In addition to this, RSA is used to encrypt and decrypt a cipher’s keys. SHA-1 or SHA-2 are used as hash functions to authenticate the data.

The most secure VPNs use an AES cipher. Its adoption by the US government has increased its perceived reliability, and consequently its popularity. However, there is reason to believe this trust may be misplaced. If you would like to know more, check out our complete guide to VPN encryption where we take a closer look at what encryption types VPNs employ.

NIST

The United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed and/or certified AES, RSA, SHA-1, and SHA-2. NIST works closely with the NSA in the development of its ciphers.

Given the NSA’s systematic efforts to weaken or build backdoors into international encryption standards, there is every reason to question the integrity of NIST algorithms.

NIST has been quick to deny any wrongdoing ("NIST would not deliberately weaken a cryptographic standard"). It has also has invited public participation in a number of upcoming proposed encryption-related standards in a move designed to bolster public confidence.

The New York Times, however, has accused the NSA of introducing undetectable backdoors, or subverting the public development process to weaken the algorithms, thus circumventing NIST-approved encryption standards.

News that a NIST-certified cryptographic standard – the Dual Elliptic Curve algorithm (Dual_EC_DRGB) had been deliberately weakened not just once, but twice, by the NSA destroyed pretty much any existing trust.

That there might be a deliberate backdoor in Dual_EC_DRGB had already been noticed before. In 2006 researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands noted that an attack against it was easy enough to launch on ‘an ordinary PC.’ Microsoft engineers also flagged up a suspected backdoor in the algorithm.

Where NIST leads, the industry follows.

Despite these concerns, Microsoft, Cisco, Symantec, and RSA all include the algorithm in their products' cryptographic libraries. This is in large part because compliance with NIST standards is a prerequisite to obtaining US government contracts.

NIST-certified cryptographic standards are pretty much ubiquitous worldwide throughout all areas of industry and business that rely on privacy (including the VPN industry). This is all rather chilling.

Perhaps because so much relies on these standards, cryptography experts have been unwilling to face up to the problem.

Find out more about the privacy concerns of US citizens and how you can better protect yourself online in the US with out Best VPNs for the USA guide.

Perfect Forward Secrecy



One of the revelations in the information provided by Edward Snowden is that “another program, code-named Cheesy Name, was aimed at singling out SSL/TLS encryption keys, known as ‘certificates,’ that might be vulnerable to being cracked by GCHQ supercomputers.”

That these certificates can be “singled out” strongly suggests that 1024-bit RSA encryption (commonly used to protect the certificate keys) is weaker than previously thought. The NSA and GCHQ could, therefore, decrypt it much more quickly than expected.

In addition to this, the SHA-1 algorithm widely used to authenticate SSL/TLS connections is fundamentally broken. In both cases, the industry is scrambling fix the weaknesses as fast as it can. It is doing this by moving onto RSA-2048+, Diffie-Hellman, or Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) key exchanges and SHA-2+ hash authentication.

What these issues (and the 2014 Heartbleed Bug fiasco) clearly highlight is the importance of using perfect forward secrecy (PFS) for all SSL/TLS connections.

This is a system whereby a new and unique (with no additional keys derived from it) private encryption key is generated for each session. For this reason, it is also known as an ephemeral key exchange.

Using PFS, if one SSL key is compromised, this does not matter very much because new keys are generated for each connection. They are also often refreshed during connections. To meaningfully access communications these new keys would also need to be compromised. This makes the task so arduous as to be effectively impossible.

Unfortunately, it is common practice (because it’s easy) for companies to use just one private encryption key. If this key is compromised, then the attacker can access all communications encrypted with it.

OpenVPN and PFS

The most widely used VPN protocol is OpenVPN. It is considered very secure. One of the reasons for this is because it allows the use of ephemeral keys.

Sadly this is not implemented by many VPN providers. Without perfect forward secrecy, OpenVPN connections are not considered secure.

It is also worth mentioning here that the HMAC SHA-1 hashes routinely used to authenticate OpenVPN connections are not a weakness. This is because HMAC SHA-1 is much less vulnerable to collision attacks than standard SHA-1 hashes.

The Takeaway – So, is Encryption Secure?

To underestimate the NSA’s ambition or ability to compromise all encryption is a mistake. However, encryption remains the best defense we have against it (and others like it).

To the best of anyone’s knowledge, strong ciphers such as AES (despite misgivings about its NIST certification) and OpenVPN (with perfect forward secrecy) remain secure.

As Bruce Schneier, encryption specialist, at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and privacy advocate famously stated,

“Trust the math. Encryption is your friend. Use it well, and do your best to ensure that nothing can compromise it. That’s how you can remain secure even in the face of the NSA.”

Remember, too that the NSA is not the only potential adversary. However, most criminals and even governments have nowhere near the NSA's ability to circumvent encryption.

Make sure your internet traffic is encrypted, check out the best VPNs in 2020.

The Importance of End-to-end Encryption

End-to-end (e2e) encryption means that you encrypt data on your own device. Only you hold the encryption keys (unless you share them). Without these keys, an adversary will find it extremely difficult to decrypt your data.

Many services and products do not use e2e encryption. Instead, they encrypt your data and hold the keys for you. This can be very convenient, as it allows for easy recovery of lost passwords, syncing across devices, and so forth. It does mean, however, that these third parties could be compelled to hand over your encryption keys.

A case in point is Microsoft. It encrypts all emails and files held in OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive), but it also holds the encryption keys. In 2013 it used these to unlock the emails and files of its 250 million worldwide users for inspection by the NSA.

Strongly avoid services that encrypt your data on their servers, rather than you encrypting your own data on your own machine.

Want to know more? Check out our guide to secure cloud services.

HTTPS

Although strong encryption has recently become trendy, websites have been using strong end-to-end encryption for the last 20 years. After all, if websites were not secure, then online shopping or banking wouldn't be possible.

The encryption protocol used for this is HTTPS, which stands for HTTP Secure (or HTTP over SSL/TLS). It is used for websites that need to secure users’ communications and is the backbone of internet security.

When you visit a non-secure HTTP website, data is transferred unencrypted. This means anyone watching can see everything you do while visiting that site. This includes your transaction details when making payments. It is even possible to alter the data transferred between you and the webserver.

With HTTPS, a cryptographic key exchange occurs when you first connect to the website. All subsequent actions on the website are encrypted, and thus hidden from prying eyes. Anyone watching can see that you have visited a certain website, but cannot see which individual pages you read, or any data transferred.

For example, the ProPrivacy.com website is secured using HTTPS. Unless you are using a VPN while reading this web page, your ISP can see that you have visited www.ProPrivacy.com, but cannot see that you are reading this particular article. HTTPS uses end-to-end encryption.

It is easy to tell if you visit a website secured by HTTPS - just look for a locked padlock icon to the left of the main URL/search bar.

There are issues relating to HTTPS, but in general, it is secure. If it wasn’t, none of the billions of financial transactions and transfers of personal data that happen every day on the internet would be possible. The internet itself (and possibly the world economy!) would collapse overnight.

Metadata

An important limitation to encryption is that it does not necessarily protect users from the collection of metadata.

Even if the contents of emails, voice conversations, or web browsing sessions cannot be easily monitored, knowing when, where, from whom, to whom, and how regularly such communication takes place can tell an adversary a great deal. This is a powerful tool in the wrong hands.

For example, even if you use a securely encrypted messaging service such as WhatsApp, Facebook will still be able to tell who you are messaging, how often you message, how long you usually chat for, and more.

Although the NSA does target individual communications, its primary concern is the collection of metadata. As NSA General Counsel Stewart Baker has openly acknowledged,

"Metadata absolutely tells you everything about somebody’s life. If you have enough metadata, you don’t really need content."

Technologies such as VPNs and Tor can make the collection of metadata very difficult. For example, an ISP cannot collect metadata relating to the browsing history of customers who use a VPN to hide their online activities.

Note, though, that many VPN providers themselves log some metadata. This should be a consideration when choosing a service to protect your privacy.

Please also note that mobile apps typically bypass any VPN that is running on your device and connect directly to their publishers' servers. Using a VPN, for example, will not prevent WhatsApp sending metadata to Facebook.

For more information about using VPNs on mobile, check out our best VPN for iPhone or best VPN for Android guide, where we go into more detail.

Identify Your Threat Model

When considering how to protect your privacy and stay secure on the internet, carefully consider who or what worries you most. Defending yourself against everything is almost impossible. And any attempt to do so will likely seriously degrade the usability (and your enjoyment) of the internet.

Identifying to yourself that being caught downloading an illicit copy of Game of Thrones is a bigger worry than being targeted by a crack NSA TAO team for personalized surveillance is a good start. It will leave you less stressed, with a more useable internet and with more effective defenses against the threats that really matter to you.

As a side note, if you are concerned about staying secure when torrenting, we recommending taking a look at our best VPNs for torrenting guide.

Of course, if your name is Edward Snowden, then TAO teams will be part of your threat model…

Use FOSS Software

The terrifying scale of the NSA’s attack on public cryptography, and its deliberate weakening of common international encryption standards has demonstrated that no proprietary software can be trusted. Even software specifically designed with security in mind.

The NSA has co-opted or coerced hundreds of technology companies into building backdoors into their programs, or otherwise weakening security in order to allow it access. US and UK companies are particularly suspect, although the reports make it clear that companies across the world have acceded to NSA demands.

The problem with proprietary software is that the NSA can fairly easily approach and convince the sole developers and owners to play ball. In addition to this, their source code is kept secret. This makes it easy to add to or modify the code in dodgy ways without anyone noticing.

The best answer to this problem is to use free open-source software (FOSS). Often jointly developed by disparate and otherwise unconnected individuals, the source code is available to everyone to examine and peer-review. This minimizes the chances that someone has tampered with it.

Ideally, this code should also be compatible with other implementations, in order to minimize the possibility of a backdoor being built in.

It is, of course, possible that NSA agents have infiltrated open-source development groups and introduced malicious code without anyone’s knowledge. In addition, the sheer amount of code that many projects involve means that it is often impossible to fully peer-review all of it.

Despite these potential pitfalls, FOSS remains the most reliable and tamper-proof software available. If you truly care about privacy you should try to use it exclusively (up to and including using FOSS operating systems such as Linux).

If you're a Linux user, you might find out best VPNs for Linux guide interesting for additional information about staying secure.

Steps You Can Take to Improve Your Privacy

With the proviso that nothing is perfect, and if “they” really want to get you “they” probably can, there are steps you can take to improve your privacy.

Pay for Stuff Anonymously

One step to improving your privacy is to pay for things anonymously. When it comes to physical goods delivered to an actual address, this isn’t going to happen. Online services are a different kettle of fish, however.

It is increasingly common to find services that accept payment through Bitcoin and the like. A few, such as VPN service Mullvad, will even accept cash sent anonymously by post. To find out more, check out our best VPNs for Bitcoin where we list the best services that let users pay via Bitcoin.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin is a decentralized and open-source virtual currency that operates using peer-to-peer technology (much as BitTorrent and Skype do). The concept is particularly revolutionary and exciting because it does not require a middleman to work (for example a state-controlled bank).

Whether Bitcoins represent a good investment opportunity remains hotly debated and is not within the remit of this guide. It is also completely outside of my area of expertise!

Tor Vs. VPN

Tor is a vital tool for internet users who require the maximum possible anonymity. VPNs, however, are a much more practical privacy tool for day-to-day internet use.

It can also make a handy anti-censorship tool. However, many governments go to great lengths to counter this by blocking access to the network (with varied success).

It is possible to use Tor and VPN together to provide meaningful security benefits.

Other Ways To Stay Private Online

VPN and Tor are the most popular ways to maintain anonymity and evade censorship online, but there are other options. Proxy servers, in particular, are quite popular. In my opinion, however, they are inferior to using a VPN.

Other services which may be of interest include JonDonym, Lahana, I2P and Psiphon. You can combine many such services with Tor and/or VPN for greater security.

Secure Your Web Browsing

It’s not just the NSA who are out to get you: advertisers are too! They use some very sneaky tactics to follow you around the web and build a profile of you in order to sell you stuff. Or to sell this information to others who want to sell you stuff.

Most people who care are aware of HTTP cookies and how to clear them. Most browsers also have a Private Browsing mode that blocks cookies and prevents the browser from saving your internet history.

It is a good idea always to surf using Private Browsing. But this alone is not enough to stop organizations from tracking you across the internet. Your browser leaves many other traces as it goes.

You can use our third party tracking tool to tell what websites are tracking and potentially selling about you.

Clear Cached DNS Entries

To speed up internet access, your browser caches the IP address it receives from your default DNS server (see the section on changing your DNS server later).

In Windows, you can see cached DNS information by typing "ipconfig /displaydns" at the command prompt (cmd.exe).

To clear the DNS cache in Windows, open the command prompt window and type: ipconfig /flushdns [enter]

Clear the cache in OSX 10.4 and under by opening Terminal and typing: lookupd -flushcache [enter]

To clear the cache in OSX 10.5 and above, open Terminal and type: dscacheutil -flushcache [enter]

Clear Flash Cookies

A particularly insidious development is the widespread use of Flash cookies. Disabling cookies in your browser does not always block them, although modern browsers do.

These can track you in a similar manner to regular cookies. They can be located and manually deleted from the following directories:

Windows: C:Users[username]AppDataLocal\MacromediaFlash Player #SharedObjects

C:Users[username]AppDataLocal\MacromediaFlash Player #SharedObjects macOS: [User directory] /Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects

and [User directory] /Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/macromedia.com/support/flashplayer/sys/

A better tactic, however, is to use the CCleaner utility (available for Windows and macOS). This cleans out pesky Flash cookies. It also cleans out a host other rubbish that slows your computer down and leaves traces of your activity behind. To do this, you need to properly configure CCleaner.

Thanks to a growing awareness of Flash cookies, including so-called “zombie cookies” (bits of persistent Flash code which respawn regular cookies when they are modified or deleted), and the fact that most modern browsers include Flash cookies as part of their regular cookie control features, the use of Flash cookies is declining. They still represent a serious threat, however.

Other Web Tracking Technologies

Internet companies are making far too much money to take this user backlash against tracking lying down. They are therefore deploying a number of increasingly devious and sophisticated tracking methods.

Browser Fingerprinting

The way in which your browser is configured (especially the browser plugins used), together with details of your Operating System, allows you to be uniquely identified (and tracked) with a worryingly high degree of accuracy.

A particularly insidious (and ironic) aspect of this is that the more measures you take to avoid tracking (for example by using the plugins listed below), the more unique your browser fingerprint becomes.

The best defense against browser fingerprinting is to use as common and plain vanilla an OS and browser as possible. Unfortunately, this leaves you open to other forms of attack. It also reduces the day-to-day functionality of your computer to such an extent that most of us will find the idea impractical.

The more browser plugins you use, the more unique your browser is. Drat!

Using the Tor browser with Tor disabled is a partial solution to this problem. This will help make your fingerprint look identical to all other Tor users, while still benefiting from the additional hardening built into the Tor browser.

In addition to browser fingerprinting, other forms of fingerprinting are becoming more common. The most prominent of these is canvas fingerprinting, although audio and battery fingerprinting are also possible.

HTML5 Web Storage

Built into HTML5 (the much-vaunted replacement to Flash) is web storage, also known as DOM (Document Object Model) storage. Creepier and much more powerful than cookies, web storage is an analogous way of storing data in a browser.

It is much more persistent, however, and has a much greater storage capacity. It also cannot normally be monitored, read, or selectively removed from your web browser.

All browsers enable web storage by default, but you can turn it off in Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Firefox users can also configure the BetterPrivacy add-on to remove web storage automatically on a regular basis. Chrome users can use the Click&Clean extension.

Remember that using these add-ons will increase your browser fingerprint uniqueness.

ETags

Part of HTTP, the protocol for the World Wide Web, ETags are markers used by your browser to track resource changes at specific URLs. By comparing changes in these markers with a database, websites can build up a fingerprint, which can be used to track you.

ETags can also be used to respawn (zombie-style) HTTP and HTML5 cookies. And once set on one site, they can be used by associate companies to track you as well.

This kind of cache tracking is virtually undetectable, so reliable prevention is very hard. Clearing your cache between each website you visit should work, as should turning off your cache altogether.

These methods are arduous, however, and will negatively impact your browsing experience. The Firefox add-on Secret Agent prevents tracking by ETags, but, again, will likely increase your browser fingerprint (or because of the way it works, maybe not).

History Stealing

Now we start to get really scary. History stealing (also known as history snooping) exploits the web's design. It allows a website you visit to discover your past browsing history.

The bad news is that this information can be combined with social network profiling to identify you. It is also almost impossible to prevent.

The only good news here is that social network fingerprinting, while scarily effective, is not reliable. If you mask your IP address with a good VPN (or Tor) then you will be a long way towards disassociating your real identity from your tracked web-behavior.

Browser Extensions for privacy

Pioneered by Firefox, all modern browsers now support a host of extensions. Many of these aim to improve your privacy while surfing the internet. Here is a list of my favorites that I don’t think anyone should surf without:

A lightweight FOSS ad-blocker that does double duty as an anti-tracking add-on. Chrome and Internet Explorer/Edge users can instead use Ghostery. Many users find this commercial software’s funding model to be somewhat shady, however.

Developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), this is a great FOSS anti-tracking add-on that does double-duty as an ad-blocker. It is widely recommended to run Privacy Badger and uBlock Origin together for maximum protection.

Another essential tool from EFF. HTTPS Everywhere tries to ensure that you always connect to a website using a secure HTTPS connection if one is available.

Self-Destructing Cookies (Firefox)

Automatically deletes cookies when you close the browser tab that set them. This provides a high level of protection from tracking via cookies without “breaking” websites. It also provides protection against Flash/zombie cookies and ETags, and cleans DOM storage.

This is an extremely powerful tool that gives you unparalleled control over which scripts you run on your browser. However, many websites will not play game with NoScript, and it requires a fair bit of technical knowledge to configure and tweak it to work the way that you want it to.

It is easy to add exceptions to a whitelist, but even this requires some understanding of the risks that might be involved. Not for the casual user then, but for web-savvy power-users, NoScript is difficult to beat. ScriptSafe for Chrome performs a similar job.

The last one is particularly worth paying attention to. It is worth keeping NoScript installed even if you “Allow Scripts Globally,” as this still protects against nasty things such as cross-site scripting and clickjacking.

Developed by the team behind uBlock Origin, uMatrix is something of a half-way house between that add-on and NoScript. It provides a great deal of customizable protection, but requires a fair bit of work and know-how to set up correctly.

Note that if you use either NoScript or uMatrix then it is not necessary to also use uBlock Origin and Privacy Badger.

In addition to these extensions, most modern browsers (including mobile ones) include a Do Not Track option. This instructs websites to disable tracking and cross-site tracking when you visit them.

It is definitely worth turning this option on. However, implementation is purely voluntary on behalf of website owners, so no guarantee of privacy.

This is not an exhaustive list of all the great privacy-related browser extensions out there.

I also have an article on how you make Firefox even more secure by changing settings in about:config.

As noted above, you should be aware that using any browser plugin increases the uniqueness of your browser. This makes you more susceptible to being tracked by browser fingerprinting.

Block “Reported Attack Sites” and “Web Forgeries” in Firefox

These setting can be very useful for protecting you against malicious attacks, but impact your privacy by sharing your web traffic in order to work. If the tracking issues outweigh the benefits for you, then you might want to disable them.

Mobile Browser Security

The above extension list concentrates on desktop browsers. It is just as important to protect our browsers on smartphones and tablets.

Unfortunately, most mobile browsers have a great deal of catching-up to do in this regard. Many Firefox extensions, however, will work on the mobile version of the browser. These include:

uBlock Origin

HTTPS Everywhere

Self-Destructing Cookies

To install these add-ons in Firefox for Android or Firefox for iOS, visit Options ->Tools -> Add-ons -> Browse all Firefox Add-ons, and search from them.

Thankfully Private Browsing, Do Not Track, and advanced cookie management are becoming increasingly common on all mobile browsers.

Use a Search Engine that Doesn’t Track You

Most search engines, including Google (in fact particularly Google), store information about you. This includes:

Your IP address.

Date and time of the query.

Query search terms.

Cookie ID – this cookie is deposited in your browser’s cookie folder, and uniquely identifies your computer. With it, a search engine provider can trace a search request back to your computer.

The search engine usually transmits this information to the requested web page. It also transmits it to the owners of third-party advertising banners on that page. As you surf the internet, advertisers build up a (potentially embarrassing and highly inaccurate) profile of you.

This is then used to target adverts tailored to your theoretical needs.

In addition to this, governments and courts around the world regularly request search data from Google and other major search engines. This is usually duly handed over. For more details, see the Google Transparency Report on the number of User Data Requests received, and the number (at least partially) acceded to.

There are some search engines, however, that does not collect users' data. These include:

One of the best-known private search engines, DuckDuckGo pledges not to track its users. Each search event is anonymous. While in theory, an infiltrator could track them, there is no profile attached for them to access.

DuckDuckGo says that it would comply with ordered legal requests, but as it doesn’t track users, “there is nothing useful to give them.” I have found DuckDuckGo to be very good, and through the use of "bangs", it can also be made to search most other popular search engines anonymously too.

Unfortunately, many users do not find DDG’s search results to be as good as those returned by Google. The fact that it is a US-based company also concerns some.

Another popular Google alternative is StartPage. It is based in the Netherlands and returns Google search engine results. StartPage anonymizes these Google searches and promises not to store or share any personal information or use any identifying cookies.

By the same people who run StartPage, Ixquick returns results from a number of other search engines, but not Google. These searches are as private as those made through StartPage.

The above search engines rely on trusting the search engine providers to maintain your anonymity. If this really worries you, then you might like to consider YaCy. It is a decentralized, distributed search engine, built using P2P technology.

This is a fantastic idea, and one that I really hope takes off. For now, however, it is more of an exciting curiosity than a fully-fledged and useful Google alternative.

To see some other alternatives, check out our best private search engine list.

The Filter Bubble

An added benefit of using a search engine that does not track you is that it avoids the “filter bubble” effect. Most search engines use your past search terms (and things you “Like” on social networks) to profile you. They can then return results they think will interest you.

This can result in you only receiving search returns that agree with your point of view. This locks you into a “filter bubble.” You do not get to see alternative viewpoints and opinions because they are downgraded in your search results.

This denies you access to the rich texture and multiplicity of human input. It is also very dangerous, as it can confirm prejudices and prevent you from seeing the “bigger picture.”

Delete Your Google History

You can view the information Google collects about you by signing in to your Google account and visiting My Activity. From here you can also Delete by topic or product. Since you are reading this privacy Guide, you will probably want to Delete -> All time.

Of course, we only have Google’s word that they really delete this data. But it certainly can’t hurt to do this!

In order to prevent Google continuing to collect new information about you, visit Activity Controls. From here you can tell Google to stop collecting information on your use of various Google services.

These measures won’t stop someone who is deliberately spying on you from harvesting your information (such as the NSA). But it will help stop Google from profiling you.

Even if you plan on changing to one of the “no tracking” services listed above, most of us have built up a substantial Google History already, which anyone reading this article will likely want to be deleted.

Of course, deleting and disabling your Google history will mean that many Google services which rely on this information to deliver their highly personalized magic will either cease to function, or not function as well. So say goodbye to Google Now!

Want to have some fun? You can skew the picture that Google is building about you using our Ruin my Search History tool.

Secure Your Email

Most email services provide a secure HTTPS connection. Google has even led the way in fixing the main weakness in SSL implementation. They are therefore secure email services. However, this is no good if the email service simply hands over your information to an adversary, as Google and Microsoft did with the NSA!

The answer lies in end-to-end email encryption. This is where the sender encrypts the email, and only the intended recipient can decrypt it. The biggest problem with using an encrypted email system is that you cannot impose it unilaterally. Your contacts - both recipients and senders - also need to play ball for the whole thing to work.

Trying to convince your granny to use PGP encryption will likely just lead to bafflement. Meanwhile trying to convince your customers to use it might make many of them very suspicious of you!

PGP

Most people regard Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) as the most secure and private way to send and receive emails. Unfortunately, PGP is not easy to use. At all.

This has resulted in a very low number of people willing to use PGP (basically just a few crypto-geeks).

With PGP, only the body of a message is encrypted, but the header, recipient, send time, and so forth, is not. This metadata can still be very valuable to an adversary, even if it can’t read the actual message.

Despite its limitations, PGP remains the only way to send email very securely.

GNU Privacy Guard

PGP was once open-source and free, but is now the property of Symantec. The Free Software Foundation has taken up the open source OpenPGP banner, however, and with major funding from the German government has released GNU Privacy Guard (also known as GnuPG or just GPG).

GnuPG is a free and open source alternative to PGP. It follows the OpenPGP standard and is fully compatible with PGP. It is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. When referring to PGP, most people these days (including myself) mean GnuPG.

Generating a PGP key pair in Gpgwin

Although the basic program uses a simple command-line interface, more sophisticated versions are available for Windows (Gpg4win) and Mac (GPGTools). Alternately, EnigMail adds GnuPG functionality to the Thunderbird and SeaMonkey stand-alone email clients.

PGP on Mobile Devices

Android users should be pleased to know that an Alpha release GnuPG: Command-Line from the Guardian Project is available.

K-9 Mail is a well-regarded email client for Android with PGP support built in. It can be combined with Android Privacy Guard to provide a more user-friendly PGP experience. iOS users can give iPGMail a try.

Use PGP with Your Existing Webmail Service

PGP is a real pain to use. Such a big pain, in fact, that few people bother. Mailvelope is a browser extension for Firefox and Chrome that allows end-to-end PGP encryption within your browser.

It works with popular browser-based webmail services such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! and GMX. It makes using PGP about as painless as it gets. However, it is not as secure as using PGP with a dedicated email client.

Use a Dedicated Encrypted Webmail Service

Encrypted webmail services with a privacy focus have proliferated over the last two years or so. The most notable of these are ProtonMail and Tutanota. These are much easier to use than PGP and, unlike PGP, hide emails’ metadata. Both services now also allow non-users to securely reply to encrypted emails sent to them by users.

Protonmail is much more secure than most webmail services.

Unfortunately, to work, both ProtonMail and Tutanota implement encryption within the browser using JavaScript. This is fundamentally insecure.

The bottom line with such services is they are as easy to use as Gmail, while being much more private and secure. They will also not scan your emails to sell you stuff. However, never regard them as being anywhere near as secure as using PGP with a stand-alone email program.

Other Email Privacy Precautions

I discuss encrypting files and folders elsewhere. However, it is worth noting here that if you just wish to protect files, you can encrypt these before sending them by regular email.

It is also possible to encrypt stored emails by encrypting the email storage folder using a program such as VeraCrypt (discussed later). This page explains where Thunderbird stores email on different platforms (for example).

At the end of the day, emails are an outdated communications system. And when it comes to privacy and security, email is fundamentally broken. End-to-end encrypted VoIP and instant messaging are much more secure ways to communicate online.

Secure Your Voice Conversations

Regular phone calls (landline or mobile) are never secure, and you cannot make them so. It’s not the just the NSA and GCHQ; governments everywhere (where they have not already done so) are keen on recording all citizens’ phone calls.

Unlike emails and internet use, which can be obfuscated (as this article tries to show), phone conversations are always wide open.

Even if you buy anonymous and disposable “burner phones” (behavior which marks you out as either worryingly paranoid or engaged in highly criminal activity), a lot of information can be gathered through the collection of metadata.

Burner phones are also totally pointless unless the people you're calling are equally paranoid and also using burner phones.

VoIP with End-to-end Encryption

If you want to keep your voice conversations completely private, then you need to use VoIP with end-to-end encryption (except, of course, when talking in person).

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) apps allow you to talk over the internet. They often also allow you to make video calls and send Instant Messages.VoIP services allowing cheap or free calls anywhere in the world and have thus become extremely popular. Skype, in particular, has become a household name.

Unfortunately, Skype is now owned by Microsoft. It has perfectly demonstrated the problem with most such services (which is a very similar problem to that with email). VoIP connections to and from a middleman may be secure, but if the middleman just hands over your conversations to the NSA or some other government organization, this security is next to meaningless.

So, as with email, what is needed is end-to-end encryption where an encrypted tunnel is created directly between the participants in a conversation. And no-one else.

Good Skype Alternatives

Signal (Android, iOS) – in addition to being probably the most secure Instant Messaging (IM) app currently available (see below), Signal allows you to make secure VoIP calls.

As with messaging, Signal leverages your regular address book. If a contact also uses Signal then you can start an encrypted VoIP conversation with them. If a contact does not use Signal then you can either invite them to use the app, or talk with them using your regular insecure cellular phone connection.

The encryption Signal uses for VoIP calls is not as strong as the encryption it uses for text messaging. This is probably due to the fact that encrypting and decrypting data uses processing power, so stronger encryption would negatively impact the quality of calls.

For most purposes, this level of encryption should be more than sufficient. But if very high levels of privacy are required then you should probably stick to text messaging instead.

Jitsi (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android) – this free and open-source software offers all the functionality of Skype. Except everything is encrypted using ZRTP. This includes voice calls, videoconferencing, file transfer, and messaging.

The first time you connect to someone it can take a minute or two to set up the encrypted connection (designated by a padlock). But the encryption is subsequently transparent. As a straight Skype replacement for the desktop, Jitsi is difficult to beat.

For more information, check out our list of secure video conferencing apps (AKA Zoom alternatives).

Secure Your Text Messages

This section has a great deal of cross-over with the previous one on VoIP. Many VoIP services, including both Signal and Jitsi, also have chat/IM functionality built in.

Signal (Android, iOS) – developed by crypto-legend Moxie Marlinspike, Signal is widely regarded as the most secure text messaging app available. It is not without issues, but Signal is about as good as it currently gets when it comes to having a secure and private conversation (except whispering to someone in person, of course!).

Signal replaces your phone’s default text messaging app, and uses your phone’s regular contact list. If a contact also uses Signal then any messages sent to or received from them are securely end-to-end encrypted.

If a contact does not use Signal then you can invite them to use the app, or just send an unencrypted text message via regular SMS. The beauty of this system is that Signal is almost transparent in use, which should make it easier to convince friends, family and colleagues to use the app!

For more information, check out our full Signal messenger review.

Jitsi (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android (experimental)) – is a great desktop messenger app, and is very secure. It is almost certainly not quite as secure as Signal, however.

A Note on WhatsApp

The very popular WhatsApp app now uses the same end-to-end encryption developed for Signal. Unlike Signal, however, WhatsApp (owned by Facebook) retains metadata and has other weaknesses not present in the Signal app.

Despite these issues, most of your contacts likely use WhatsApp and are unlikely to be convinced to switch to Signal. Given this all-too-common situation, WhatsApp provides vastly improved security and privacy that your contacts might actually use.

Unfortunately, this argument has been badly undermined by a recent announcement that WhatsApp will start sharing users’ address books with parent company Facebook by default. This can be disabled, but the vast majority of users will not bother to do so.

Facebook is just the tip of the iceberg, find out how other social media platforms track you with our social media privacy index.

Ditch the Cell Phone!

While we are on the subject of phones, I should also mention that when you carry your phone, your every movement can be tracked. And it’s not just by things such as GPS and Google Now/Siri.

Phone towers can easily track even the most modest cell phone. In addition to this, use of Stingray IMSI-catchers has proliferated among police forces the world over.

These devices mimic cell phone towers. They can not only uniquely identify and track individual cell phones, but can intercept phone calls, SMS messages, and unencrypted internet content.

Using an end-to-end encrypted messaging app such as Signal will prevent such interception. However, if you don’t want to be uniquely identified by your phone and tracked, the only real solution is to leave your phone at home.

Secure Your Cloud Storage

As internet speeds increase, server-level storage becomes cheaper, and the different devices we use to access the internet more plentiful, it is becoming increasingly clear that cloud storage is the future.

The problem, of course, is ensuring that files stored in the “the cloud” remain secure and private. And here the big players have proven themselves woefully inadequate. Google, Dropbox, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft have all worked in cahoots with the NSA. They also in their terms and conditions reserve the right to investigate your files and hand them over to the authorities if they receive a court order.

To ensure that your files are secure in the cloud, there are a number of approaches you can take.

Manually Encrypt Your Files Before Uploading Them to the Cloud

The simplest and most secure method is to manually encrypt your files using a program such as VeraCrypt or EncFS. This has the advantage that you can carry on using your favorite cloud storage service, no matter how inherently insecure it is, as you hold all the encryption keys to your files.

As discussed later, mobile apps that can handle VeraCrypt or EncFS files exist, allowing for synchronization across devices and platforms. Features such as file versioning will not work with individual files as the encrypted container hides them, but it is possible to recover past versions of the container.

If you are in the market for a good Dropbox alternative, you may like to check out our best secure backups list.

Use an Automatically Encrypted Cloud Service

These services automatically encrypt files before uploading them to the cloud. Avoid any service that encrypts files server-side, as these are vulnerable to being decrypted by the service provider.

Any changes to files or folders sync with locally decrypted versions before being secured and sent to the cloud.

All services listed below have iOS and Android apps, so you can easily sync across your computers and mobile devices. This convenience comes at a small security price, as the services briefly store your password on their servers to authenticate you and direct you to your files.

TeamDrive - this German cloud backup and file synchronization service is primarily aimed at businesses. It also offers free and low-cost personal accounts. TeamDrive uses proprietary software, but has been certified by the Independent Regional Centre for Data Protection of Schleswig-Holstein.

Tresorit- is based in Switzerland, so users benefit from that country’s strong data protection laws. It provides client-side encryption, although a kink is that users’ data is stored on Microsoft Windows Azure servers. Given widespread distrust of all things US, this is an odd choice. But as client-side encryption ensures the cryptographic keys are kept with the user at all times, it shouldn't be a problem.

SpiderOak– available for all major platforms, SpiderOak offers a “zero knowledge,” secure, automatically encrypted cloud service. It uses a combination of 2048 bit RSA and 256 bit AES to encrypt your files.

Note that all of these cloud services are closed source. This means that we just have to trust them to do what they claim to do (although TeamDrive has been independently audited).

Use Syncthing for Cloudless Syncing

Syncthing is a secure decentralized peer-to-peer (P2P) file synchronization program that can sync files between devices on a local network or over the internet.

Acting more or less as a Dropbox replacement, Syncthing synchronizes files and folders across devices, but does so without storing them in ‘the cloud.’ In many ways, it is therefore similar to BitTorrent Sync, except that it is completely free and open-source (FOSS).

Syncthing allows you to securely backup data without the need to trust a third-party cloud provider. Data is backed up to a computer or server that you directly control, and is at no point stored by a third party.

This is referred to in techie circles as a “BYO (cloud) model,” where you provide the hardware, instead of a third-party commercial vendor. The encryption used is also fully end-to-end, as you encrypt it on your device, and only you can decrypt it. Nobody else holds the encryption keys.

A limitation of the system is that, as it is not a true cloud service, it cannot be used as an extra drive by portable devices with limited storage. On the plus side, however, you are using your own storage, and so are not tied to cloud providers’ data limits (or charges).

Encrypt Your Local Files, Folders, and Drives

While the focus of this document is on internet security and privacy, an important aspect of securing your digital life is to ensure that locally stored files cannot be accessed by unwanted parties.

Of course, it is not just about local storage. You can also encrypt files before emailing them or uploading them to cloud storage.

Windows, Mac macOS, Linux. Mobile support for VeraCrypt containers is available via third-party apps.

VeraCrypt is an open-source full-disk encryption program. With VeraCrypt you can:

Create a virtual encrypted disk (volume) which you can mount and use just like a real disk (and which can be made into a Hidden Volume).

Encrypt an entire partition or storage device (for example a hard drive or USB stick).

Create a partition or storage drive containing an entire operating system (which can be hidden).

All encryption is performed on-the-fly in real-time, making VeraCrypt transparent in operation. The ability to create hidden volumes and hidden operating systems provides plausible deniability, as it should be impossible to prove they exist (as long as all the correct precautions are taken).

Windows, macOS, Linux (Crypt4All Lite for Android is compatible).

This nifty little cross-platform app is very handy for encrypting individual files. Although only individual files can be encrypted, this limitation can be overcome somewhat by creating zip files out of folders, and then encrypting the zip file with AES Crypt.

Full Disk Encryption on Mobile Devices

All new iPhones and iPads now ship with full disk encryption. Some Android devices do as well. If not, you can manually turn it on. Please see How to Encrypt your Android Phone for more details.

Use Antivirus/Anti-malware and Firewall Software

Antivirus software

Note: ProPrivacy has dedicated to guides anti-virus software – we recommend starting with our best anti virus software list. Now, back to the guide…

It almost goes without saying, but as this is an “ultimate guide”, I’ll say it anyway:

Always use anti-virus software, and make sure that it is up-to-date!

Not only can viruses really screw up your system, but they can let hackers enter it. This gives them access to all your (unencrypted) files and emails, webcam, passwords stored in Firefox (if no master password is set), and much more. Keyloggers are particularly dangerous as they can be used to access bank details and track pretty much everything you do on your computer.

It is also worth remembering that not just criminal hackers use viruses! The Syrian government, for example, launched a virus campaign known as Blackshade aimed at ferreting out and spying on political dissidents.

Most people are aware they should be using anti-virus software on their desktop computers, but many neglect their mobile devices. While there are fewer viruses targeting mobile devices at present, smartphones and tablets are sophisticated and powerful computers. As such, they are vulnerable to attack by viruses and need to be protected.

Mac users are famously bad for not installing ant-virus software, citing the “fact” that macOS’s Unix architecture makes virus attacks difficult (this is hotly contested by the way), the fact that most hackers concentrate on Windows because most computers use Windows (true), and the anecdotal evidence of many Mac users who have gone for years without using anti-virus software yet never experienced any problems.

This an illusion, however. Macs are not immune to viruses, and anyone serious about their security should always use good anti-virus software.

Free Vs. Paid-for Antivirus Software

The generally agreed consensus is that free antivirus software is as good at preventing viruses as paid-for alternatives. But paid-for software provides better support and more comprehensive “suites” of software. These are designed to protect your computer from a range of threats, for example by combining antivirus, anti-phishing, anti-malware and firewall functions.

Similar levels of protection are available for free but require the use of various different programs. Also, most free software is for personal use only, and businesses are usually required to pay for a license. A bigger concern, however, is how publishers can afford to offer free anti-virus products. AVG, for example, can sell users' search and browser history data to advertisers in order to "make money" from its free antivirus software.

Although I recommend free products below (as most major anti-virus products have a free version), it may therefore be a very good idea to upgrade to a premium version of the software.

Good Anti-virus Software Options

Windows – the most popular free antivirus programs for Windows are Avast! Free Antivirus and AVG AntiVirus Free Edition (which I recommend avoiding for the reason above). Plenty of others are also available. Personally, I use the built-in Windows Defender for real-time protection, plus run a weekly manual scan using Malwarebytes Free. A paid-for version of Malwarebytes is also available that will do this automatically, plus provide real-time protection. Want to know more, check out our best anti virus guide for Windows 10.

macOS– Avast! Free Antivirus for Mac is well regarded, although other decent free options are available. In fact, free software is better regarded than paid-for options, so I just recommend using one of them! For more information, see our best anti virus apps for Mac.

Android – again, there are a number of options, both free and paid for. I use Malwarebytes because it is nice and lightweight. Avast! is more fully-featured, however, and includes a firewall. Find out more with our best anti virus apps for Android guide.

iOS – Apple is still in denial about the fact that iOS is as vulnerable as any other platform to virus attacks. Indeed, in a move that is as alarming as it is bizarre, it seems that Apple has purged the Store of antivirus apps! I, certainly, have been unable to find any iOS antivirus apps. A VPN will help somewhat as a VPN for iPhone will encrypt your data and protect you from hackers and surveillance.

Linux – the usual suspects: Avast! and Kaspersky are available for Linux. These work very well.

Firewalls

A personal firewall monitors network traffic to and from your computer. It can be configured to allow and disallow traffic based on a set of rules. In use, they can be a bit of pain, but they do help ensure that nothing is accessing your computer and that no program on your computer is accessing the internet when it shouldn’t be.

Both Windows and Mac ship with built-in firewalls. These are, however, only one-way firewalls. They filter incoming traffic, but not outgoing traffic. This makes them much more user-friendly than true two-way firewalls but much less effective, as you cannot monitor or control what programs (including viruses) already installed on your computer are doing.

The biggest problem with using a two-way firewall is determining which programs are ‘ok’ to access the internet and which are potentially malicious. Perfectly legitimate Windows processes can, for instance, appear pretty obscure. Once set up, however, they become fairly transparent in use.

Some Good Two-way Firewall Programs

Windows – Comodo Firewall Free and ZoneAlarm Free Firewall are free and good. Another approach is to use TinyWall. This very lightweight free program is not a firewall per se. It instead adds the ability to monitor outgoing connections to the built-in Windows Firewall.

Glasswire is also not a true Firewall because it does not allow you to create rules or filters, or block specific IP connections. What it does do is present network information in a beautiful and clear manner. This makes it easy to understand what is going on, and therefore easier to make informed decisions about how to deal with it.

macOS – Little Snitch adds the ability to monitor outgoing connections to the built-in macOS firewall. It is great, but is a little pricey at $25.

Android – as noted above, the free Avast! for Android app includes a firewall.

iOS – the only iOS firewall I know of is Firewall iP. It requires a jailbroken device to run.

Linux – there are many Linux firewall programs and dedicated firewall distros available. iptables is bundled with just about every Linux distro. It is an extremely flexible firewall utility for anyone who cares to master it.

Those a little less fearless might prefer a more user-friendly Linux firewall such as Smoothwall Express or pfSense.

Miscellaneous Security Hints, Tips, and Tricks

Use Linux Rather Than a Commercial OS

As I noted near the beginning of this guide, no commercial software can be trusted not to have a back-door built into it by the NSA.

A more secure alternative to Windows (especially Windows 10!) or macOS is Linux. This is a free and open-source operating system. Note, though, that some builds incorporate components which are not open source.

It is far less likely that Linux has been compromised by the NSA. Of course, that's not to say that the NSA hasn’t tried. It is a much more stable and generally secure OS than its commercial rivals.

TAILS is a secure Linux distro favored by Edward Snowden. The default browser is IceWeasel, a Firefox spinoff for Debian that has been given the full Tor Browser Bundle treatment.

Despite great strides made in the right direction, Linux, unfortunately, remains less user-friendly than either Windows or macOS. Less computer-literate users may, therefore, struggle with it.

If you are serious about privacy, however, Linux is the way forward. One of the best things about it is that you can run the entire OS from a Live CD, without the need to install it. This makes it easy to try out different Linux distros. It also adds an extra layer of security when you access the internet.

This is because the OS exists completely separately from your regular OS. The temporary OS could be compromised, but as it exists only in RAM and disappears when you boot back into your normal OS, this is not a major problem.

Example Linux Distributions

There are hundreds of Linux distros out there. These range from full desktop replacements to niche distributions.

Ubuntu – is a very popular Linux distro due to the fact that it is one of the easiest to use. There is a great deal of assistance available for it from an enthusiastic Ubuntu community. It, therefore, makes a good starting point for those interested in using a much more secure operating system.

– is a very popular Linux distro due to the fact that it is one of the easiest to use. There is a great deal of assistance available for it from an enthusiastic Ubuntu community. It, therefore, makes a good starting point for those interested in using a much more secure operating system. Mint – is another popular Linux distro aimed at novice users. It is much more Windows-like than Ubuntu, so Windows refugees are often more comfortable using it than Ubuntu. Mint is built on top of Ubuntu, so most Ubuntu-specific tips and programs also work in Mint. This includes VPN clients.

– is another popular Linux distro aimed at novice users. It is much more Windows-like than Ubuntu, so Windows refugees are often more comfortable using it than Ubuntu. Mint is built on top of Ubuntu, so most Ubuntu-specific tips and programs also work in Mint. This includes VPN clients. Debian – Mint is based on Ubuntu, and Ubuntu is based on Debian. This highly flexible and customizable Linux OS is popular with more experienced users.

– Mint is based on Ubuntu, and Ubuntu is based on Debian. This highly flexible and customizable Linux OS is popular with more experienced users. Tails – is famously is the OS of choice for Edward Snowden. It is very secure, and routes all internet connections through the Tor network. It is, however, a highly specialized privacy tool. As such, it makes a poor general purpose desktop replacement to Windows or macOS.

Ubuntu, Mint and Debian all make great, user-friendly desktop replacements to Windows and macOS. Ubuntu and Mint are widely recommended as good starting points for Linux newbies.

We go into more detail on the subject in our best Linux Distros for privacy guide, if you would like to learn more.

Use a Virtual Machine (VM)

An additional level of security can be achieved by only accessing the internet (or only accessing it for certain tasks) using a ‘virtual machine.’ These are software programs that emulate a hard drive onto which an operating system such as Windows or Linux is installed. Note that VM-ing macOS is tricky.

This effectively emulates a computer through software, which runs on top of your normal OS.

The beauty of this approach is that all files are self-contained within the virtual machine. The “host” computer cannot be infected by viruses caught inside the VM. This is why such a set-up is popular among hardcore P2P downloaders.

The virtual machine can also be entirely encrypted. It can even be “hidden,” using programs such as VeraCrypt (see above).

Virtual machines emulate hardware. They run another whole OS on top of your “standard” OS. Using one therefore requires substantial overheads in terms of processing power and memory use. That said, Linux distros tend to be quite lightweight. This means that many modern computers can handle these overheads with minimal impact on perceived performance.

Popular VM software includes the free VirtualBox and VMWare Player, and the premium ($273.90) enterprise-level VMware Workstation. As noted above, VeraCrypt lets you encrypt an entire OS, or even hide its existence.

Give Whonix a Try

Whonix works inside a VirtualBox virtual machine. This ensures that DNS leaks are not possible, and that “not even malware with root privileges can find out the user’s real IP.”

It consists of two parts, the first of which acts as a Tor gateway (known as Whonix Gateway). The second (known as a Whonix Workstation), is on a completely isolated network. This routes all its connections through the Tor gateway.

This isolation of the workstation away from the internet connection (and all isolated from the host OS inside a VM), makes Whonix highly secure.

A Note on Windows 10

More than any other version of Microsoft’s OS, Windows 10 is a privacy nightmare. Even with all its data collection options disabled, Windows 10 continues to send a great deal of telemetry data back to Microsoft.

This situation has become even worse because of the recent Anniversary Update (vers. 1607) removed the option to disable Cortana. This is a service that collects a great deal of information about you in order to provide a highly personalized computing experience. Much like Google Now, it is very useful, but achieves this usefulness by invading your privacy significantly.

The best advice in terms of privacy is to avoid using Windows altogether. macOS is little better. Use Linux instead. You can always set up your system to dual-boot into either Linux or Windows and only use Windows when absolutely necessary. For example, when playing games, many of which only work in Windows.

If you really must use Windows, then a number of third party apps exist to help tighten up security and privacy much more than playing with Windows settings ever can. These typically get under the hood of Windows, adjusting registry settings and introducing firewall rules to prevent telemetry being sent to Microsoft.

They can be very effective. However, you are giving these programs direct access to the deepest workings of your OS. So let’s just hope that their developers are honest! Use of such apps is very much at your own risk.

I use W10 Privacy. It works well but is not open-source.

Password-protect Your BIOS

Full-disk encryption using VeraCrypt is a great way to physically secure your drives. But for this to be properly effective it is essential to set strong passwords in BIOS for both starting up and modifying the BIOS settings. It is also a good idea to prevent boot-up from any device other than your hard drive.

Disable Flash

It has long been widely known that the Flash Player is an incredibly insecure piece of software (see also Flash Cookies). Many major players in the internet industry have made strong efforts to eradicate its use.

Apple products, for example, no longer support Flash (by default). In addition, YouTube videos are now served up using HTML5 rather than Flash.

The best policy is to disable Flash in your browser.

In Firefox, at the very least set Flash to “Ask to Activate,” so you have a choice about whether to load the Flash content.

If you really must view Flash content then I suggest doing so in a separate browser that you do not use for anything else.

Change DNS Servers and Secure Your DNS with DNSCrypt

We are used to typing domain names that are easy to understand and remember into our web browsers. But these domain names are not the “true” addresses of websites. The “true” address, as understood by a computer, is a set of numbers known as an IP address.

To translate domain names to IP addresses, for example, ProPrivacy.com to its IP address of 104.20.11.58, the Domain Name System (DNS) is used.

By default, this translation process is performed on your ISP’s DNS servers. This ensures your ISP has a record of all websites you visit.

Graffiti in Istanbul encouraging the use of Google Public DNS as an anti-censorship tactic during the government’s 2014 crackdown on Twitter and YouTube.

Fortunately, there are a number of free and secure public DNS servers, including OpenDNS and Comodo Secure DNS. I prefer the non-profit, decentralized, open, uncensored and democratic OpenNIC.

I recommend changing your system settings to use one of these instead of your ISP’s servers.

DNSCrypt

What SSL is to HTTP traffic (turning it into encrypted HTTPS traffic), DNSCrypt is to DNS traffic.

DNS was not built with security in mind, and it is vulnerable to a number of attacks. The most important of these is a “man-in-the-middle” attack known as DNS spoofing (or DNS cache poisoning). This is where the attacker intercepts and redirects a DNS request. This could, for example, be used to redirect a legitimate request for a banking service to a spoof website designed to collect victims' account details and passwords.

The open-source DNSCrypt protocol solves this problem by encrypting your DNS requests. It also authenticates communications between your device and the DNS server.

DNSCrypt is available for most platforms (mobile devices must be rooted/jailbroken), but does require support from your chosen DNS server. This includes many OpenNIC options.

DNS and VPNs

This DNS translation process is usually performed by your ISP. When using a VPN, however, all DNS requests should be sent through your encrypted VPN tunnel. They are then handled by your VPN provider instead.

Using the right scripts, a website can determine which server resolved a DNS request directed to it. This will not allow it to pinpoint your exact real IP address but will allow it to determine your ISP (unless you have changed DNS servers, as outlined above).

This will foil attempts to geo-spoof your location, and allows police and the like to obtain your details from your ISP. ISPs keep records of these things, while good VPN providers do not keep logs.

Most VPN providers run their own dedicated DNS servers in order to perform this DNS translation task themselves. If using a good VPN, therefore, you do not need to change your DNS server or use DNSCrypt, as the DNS requests are encrypted by the VPN.

Unfortunately, DNS requests do not always get sent through the VPN tunnel as they are supposed to. This is known as a DNS leak.

Note that many VPN providers offer “DNS leak protection” as a feature of their custom software. These apps use firewall rules to route all internet traffic through the VPN tunnel, including DNS requests. They are usually very effective.

Use Secure Passwords

We have all been told this often enough to make us want to pull our hair out! Use long complex passwords, using combinations of standard letters, capitals, and numbers. And use a different such password for each service… Argh!

Given that many of us find remembering our own name in the morning a challenge, this kind of advice can be next to useless.

Fortunately, help is at hand!

Low Tech Solutions

Here are some ideas that will vastly improve the security of your passwords, and take almost no effort whatsoever to implement:

Insert a random space into your password – this simple measure greatly reduces the chance of anyone cracking your password. Not only does it introduce another mathematical variable into the equation, but most would-be crackers assume that passwords consist of one continuous word. They, therefore, concentrate their efforts in that direction.

– this simple measure greatly reduces the chance of anyone cracking your password. Not only does it introduce another mathematical variable into the equation, but most would-be crackers assume that passwords consist of one continuous word. They, therefore, concentrate their efforts in that direction. Use a phrase as your password – even better, this method lets you add lots of spaces and use many words in an easy-to-remember manner. Instead of having “pancakes” as your password, you could have ‘I usually like 12 pancakes for breakfast’ instead.

– even better, this method lets you add lots of spaces and use many words in an easy-to-remember manner. Instead of having “pancakes” as your password, you could have ‘I usually like 12 pancakes for breakfast’ instead. Use Diceware – this is a method for creating strong passphrases. Individual words in the passphraseare generated randomly by rolling dice. This introduces a high degree of entropy into the result. Diceware passphrases are therefore well-regarded by cryptographers. The EFF has recently introduced a new expanded Diceware wordlist aimed at further improving Diceware passphrase results.

– this is a method for creating strong passphrases. Individual words in the passphraseare generated randomly by rolling dice. This introduces a high degree of entropy into the result. Diceware passphrases are therefore well-regarded by cryptographers. The EFF has recently introduced a new expanded Diceware wordlist aimed at further improving Diceware passphrase results. Use more than four numbers in your PIN– where possible, use more than four numbers for your PINs. As with adding an extra space to words, this makes the code mathematically much harder to break. Most crackers work on the assumption that only four numbers are used.

High Tech Solutions

Where mortals fear to tread, software developers jump in with both feet! There are a plethora of password management programs available. My pick of the bunch are:

KeePass (multi-platform) – this popular free and open-source (FOSS) password manager will generate complex passwords for you and store them behind strong encryption. A plethora of plugins allows for all sorts of customization and increased capability.

With plugins, you can use the Twofish cipher instead of the default AES, for example, while PassIFox and chromeIPass provide full browser integration. KeePass itself is Windows only, but KeepassX is an open-source clone for macOS and Linux, as are iKeePass for iOS and Keepass2Android for Android.

Sticky Password (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS) – is a great desktop password solution that impressed me with its ability to sync over Wi-Fi and support for so many browsers.

Its security measures also appear to be very tight. Given these solid foundations, the fact that Sticky Password works brilliantly on mobile devices (especially for Firefox mobile users) may be a compelling reason to choose this over its FOSS rival.

If you would like to know more, check out our guide to secure password managers.

Social Networking

Social networking. Where you are encouraged to share every random thought that comes into your head, photos of what you had for dinner, and blow-by-blow accounts of your relationship meltdown.

It is the antithesis of concepts such as privacy and security.

Facebook is “worse” than Twitter in terms of privacy, as it sells every detail of your life to profiling-hungry advertisers. It also hands your private data over to the NSA. But all social networks are inherently about sharing information.

Meanwhile, all commercial networks make a profit from harvesting your personal details, likes, dislike, places you visit, things you talk about, people you hang out with (and what they like, dislike, etc.), and then selling them.

By far the best way to maintain your privacy on social networks is to avoid them altogether. Delete all your existing accounts!

This can be tricky. It is unlikely, for example, that you will be able to remove all traces of your presence on Facebook. Even worse is that these social networks are increasingly where we chat, share photos and otherwise interact with our friends.

They are a primary reason for using the internet and play a central role in our social lives. In short, we aren’t willing to give them up.

Below, then, are some ideas for trying to keep a modicum of privacy when social networking.

Self-censorship

If there are things you don’t want (or that shouldn’t be) made public, don’t post details about them on Facebook! Once posted, it is very difficult to retract anything you have said. Especially if it has been re-posted (or re-tweeted).

Keep private conversations private

It is all too common for people to discuss intimate details of a planned dinner date, or conversely, to have personal rows, using public channels. Make use of Message (Facebook) and DM (Twitter) instead.

This won’t hide your conversations from advertisers, the law, or the NSA, but it will keep potentially embarrassing interactions away from friends and loved ones. They probably really don’t want to hear certain things, anyway!

Use aliases

There is little to stop you from using a false name. In fact, given employers almost routinely check their staff's (and potential staff's) Facebook pages, using at least two aliases is almost a must. Opt for a sensible one with your real name, which is designed to make you look good to employers, and another where friends can post wildly drunken pictures of you.

Remember that it is not just names that you can lie about. You can also happily fib about your date of birth, interests, gender, where you live, or anything else that will put advertisers and other trackers off the scent.

On a more serious note, bloggers living under repressive regimes should always use aliases (together with IP cloaking measures such as a VPN) when publishing posts that may threaten their life or liberty.

Keep checking your privacy settings

Facebook is notorious for continually changing the way its privacy settings work. It also makes its privacy policies as opaque as possible. It is worth regularly checking the privacy settings on all social networks to make sure they are as tight as possible.

Ensure that posts and photos are only shared with Friends, for example, not Friends of Friends or “Public.” In Facebook, ensure that “Review posts friends tag you in before they appear on your timeline” (under Privacy Settings -> Timeline and Tagging) is set to “On”. This can help limit the damage “friends” are able do to your profile.

Avoid All Five Eyes-based Services

The Five Eyes (FVEY) spying alliance includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Edward Snowden has described it as a “supra-national intelligence organization that doesn’t answer to the known laws of its own countries.”

Intelligence is freely shared between security organizations of member countries, a practice that is used to evade legal restrictions on spying on their own citizens. It is, therefore, a very good idea to avoid all dealings with FVEY-based companies.

Indeed, there is a strong argument that you should avoid dealing with any company based in a country belonging to the wider Fourteen Eyes alliance.

The US and NSA Spying

The scope of the NSA’s PRISM spying program is staggering. Edward Snowden’s revelations have demonstrated it has the power to co-opt any US-based company. This includes monitoring information relating to non-US citizens and pretty much anybody else in the world. It also includes monitoring all internet traffic that passes through the US’s internet backbone.

Other countries’ governments seem desperate to increase their own control over their citizens' data. Nothing, however, matches the scale, sophistication, or reach of PRISM. This includes China’s attempts at internet surveillance.

Suggesting that every US-based company may be complicit in handing every user’s personal information over to a secretive and largely unaccountable spying organization might sound the stuff of paranoid science-fiction fantasy. As recent events have proved, however, this is terrifyingly close to the truth…

Note also that due to provisions in both the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), US companies must hand over users' data. This applies even if that user is a non-US citizen, and the data has never been stored in the US.

The UK and GCHQ Spying

The UK’s GCHQ is in bed with the NSA. It also carries out some particularly heinous and ambitious spying projects of its own. According to Edward Snowden, “they [GCHQ] are worse than the US.”

This already bad situation is about to worsen. The impending Investigatory Powers Bill (IPB) “formalizes” this covert spying into law. It also expands the UK government’s surveillance capabilities to a terrifying degree with very little in the way of meaningful oversight.

I therefore strongly recommend avoiding all companies and services based in the UK.

Conclusion

Is Privacy Worth it?

This question is worth considering. Almost all the measures outlined above mark you out for special attention by the likes of the NSA. They also add extra layers of complexity and effort to everyday tasks.

Indeed, much of the cool functionality of new web-based services relies on knowing a lot about you! Google Now is an excellent case in point. An “intelligent personal assistant,” this software’s ability to anticipate what information you require is uncanny.

It can, for example, remind you that you need to leave the office to catch the bus “now” if you want to get home at your usual time. It will also provide navigation to the nearest bus stop, and alternative timetables should you miss the bus.

Some of the most exciting and interesting developments in human-computer interaction rely on a full-scale invasion of privacy. To box yourself in with encryption and other privacy protection methods is to reject the possibilities afforded by these new technologies.

I mainly pose the question ‘is privacy worth it’ as food for thought. Privacy comes with a cost. It is worth thinking about what compromises you are willing to make, and how far you will go, to protect it.

The importance of privacy

In my view, privacy is vitally important. Everyone has a right not to have almost every aspect of their lives recorded, examined and then judged or exploited (depending on who is doing the recording). However maintaining privacy is not easy, and can never be completely guaranteed in the modern world.

What most of us probably want is the ability to share what we want with our friends and with services that improve our lives, without worrying about this information being shared, dissected and used to profile us.

If more people make efforts to improve their privacy, it will make government agencies’ and advertisers’ jobs more difficult. Perhaps even to the point that it could force a change of approach.

Final Words

It may take a bit of effort, but it is entirely possible, and not too cumbersome, to take steps that greatly improve your privacy while online. Many experts differ on what is key to protect your online privacy in 2020, so it's important to remember that nothing is foolproof. However, that is no reason to make things easy for those who would invade aspects of your life that should rightfully be yours and yours alone.

Privacy is a precious but endangered commodity. By implementing at least some of the ideas I have covered in this guide, you not only help to protect your own privacy but also make a valuable contribution to conserving it for everyone.