How to be Secure & Anonymous Online for FREE!

[nickdiaz209]

Forgot about that. I always rename that program though as anyone who sees a file named stripper thinks they found your porn.

 

[hisser]

Icmag strips EXIF data though, but its always better to strip it yourself before you upload anywhere, thanks guys!

 

[Hydro-Soil]

as always, Google is your friend

Well... google is really "not" your friend. But you're correct in that they do have the best search engine on the web. LOL

Stay Safe!

 

[Beaker]

Hi, So I have just started using Tails OS. My old username is byebye and im starting over, hopefully more secure and less paranoid.

maybe someone could answer just a few questions I have? remember, I know VERY little about all this pc securety stuff, lol. so try to dumb it down a bit lol

*When Im surfing this site with Tails often a warning about "unencripted info is on this page and a third party my view it" well what does it matter if Im using this program? I mean arent most web site viewable by third parties?

*What is the best way to download pics if using TailsOS?
*Is Tails OS a good secure program to use? It was a real bitch to download and get working, but im not a pc guy so no suprise there....but i did get it workin

well any info would be a big help, and any tips ar advice about this new OS im using would be great.

 

[hisser]

Hi Beaker, it means parts of the webpage you are viewing isn't encrypted using the HTTPS protocol, and can be viewable by 3rd party intercepting your connection using man-in-the-middle attack, even if you use TOR that can happen at the exit node point, your location will still be hidden but your data won't be, thats why its always better to use TOR with a VPN.

You can hook up a USB memstick to save images to in TailsOS.

Its a good OS but you need VPN too

 

[d3cryption]

Well... google is really "not" your friend. But you're correct in that they do have the best search engine on the web. LOL

Stay Safe!

startpage.com is great of private searching...

 

[hisser]

https://www.duckduckgo.com/ is also a good choice for a search engine

 

[village green]

So we need to download TOR and a VPN? We should also use Linux or a USB if we want to leave no trace on a computer. Is that about it?

 

[d3cryption]

So we need to download TOR and a VPN? We should also use Linux or a USB if we want to leave no trace on a computer. Is that about it?

in theory , it would be safe.. but what most people dont realize is that alot of tor nodes are honeypots..... vpns are good.. alot of them do keep logs. so do your search buying running......

-if buying a vpn, buy one from a different country with a prepaid credit.....

-one thing most people including myself do that fucks us in the long run is have a vpn or 2....logging in xyz.com through vpn server aaa.bbb.sss.eee
then logging in xyz.com through vpn server aaa.sss.bbb.eee
not often but one of two times you log in from 127.0.0.1 (home)...

point is, even though you hiding behind a vpn 98% of the time, that 2 percent can come back and fuck you...........

making sure you're using https, is good... but I've had lots of fun, in coffee shops, with sslstrip.....

alot of people should learn how to recognize when they're being arp-spoof'd, how to monitor all current network connections.....
java-applet-attacks.....

changing mac address ( which leo can learn where the computer was originally bought, and if/whome it was registered under.....

full disk encryption + hidden partitions is the way to go
adding 2 part authentication (computer login in)
always try to be behind a router, instead of directly to the internet (nat vs non nat)

being safe and anonymous is more than just buying a vpn, socks 5 proxies, using tor, fire, linux, etc.. it's more of a lifestyle, and alot of the time takes discipline......


hope this helps people who are reading this a little bit more..

 

[Cosmic Surfer]

I knew most of that but I thank you for your spirit of sharing and trying to help
peace man

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Always use a new blank browser TAB/Window when visiting another website, web servers know where you came from & where you left to!

You can also block referral headers in Firefox.

Open a blank tab.

Type about:config in the URL space and press enter. Agree to proceed.

Type referer in the filter box and press enter.

Look for network.http.sendRefererHeader in the return.

By default it's set to 2 to refer headers, i.e tells your current site where you came from.

Right click on the value, click modify in the sub window and change the value to 0 to block all referral headers.

Another good add-on for Firefox is NoScript. Some web pages have scores of script and NoScript allows the user to open only those needed.

 

[Beaker]

thanks Hisser,

im gona get set up w a vpn.

earlier tonite i was running a walware scan and as it was scanning i saw something strange fly by...
...a file named "sniffer" in my temp internet files, and one named "tracker". i did a search for them and can not find them anywhere.

*could leo put that on my pc? are they common files?
how can i find out if they are leos?

i looked at some of the online sniffer programs that u can bye. just not to sure about any of this? an i run my own program to track any of leos activity if he is in fact monitoring my activity(would not be a suprise unfortunetly)

any help would be greatly appriciated.
thanks

 

[Bueno Time]

I just use Tor to browse, post, and upload pics to ICMAG. I use Exif Pilot to remove data from images before uploading too.

 

[hisser]

Beaker, I doubt these were left in the temp folder on purpose, since its temporary it would be better to store it in a permanent folder like windows/system32 etc, it's probably stored there by your web browser, a good tool to use to clean useless files is Ccleaner

did the malware scan state these files were malicious?

 

[Beaker]

Thanks for info Hisser. No the scan did not pick these up, i saw them flash by while the scan was taking place. I am very paranoid, but for good reasons.

Thanks Brother

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

...i saw something strange fly by...
...a file named "sniffer" in my temp internet files, and one named "tracker". i did a search for them and can not find them anywhere.

*could leo put that on my pc? are they common files?
how can i find out if they are leos?

File and or session trackers are common for net meeting and flash.

Can't tell you anything about "sniffer" specifically but it may be coming from your malware program's whitelist. Some scans read file names versus examining their content.

If you're interested, you can open your malware program folder and look for the whitelist file. If the whitelist references a "sniffer", this may be what you're seeing during scans, i.e. nothing to worry about.

If you want to look further, you can search "sniffer" in your OS explorer. Any file that comes back with "sniffer" in the title is definitely worth investigating.

 

[dddaver]

You can also block referral headers in Firefox.

Open a blank tab.

Type about:config in the URL space and press enter. Agree to proceed.

Type referer in the filter box and press enter.

Look for network.http.sendRefererHeader in the return.

By default it's set to 2 to refer headers, i.e tells your current site where you came from.

Right click on the value, click modify in the sub window and change the value to 0 to block all referral headers.

Another good add-on for Firefox is NoScript. Some web pages have scores of script and NoScript allows the user to open only those needed.

I did that Referral Headers thing but when I tried to log into Verizon it kept telling me something was wrong with my browser, so I set that Modify # back to 2 and then they let me in. That was the only place that had that problem though and I had surfed around some before that,

 

[ScrubNinja]

Hi Hisser, great thread! A few things:

Ghostery: Am I the only one who thinks this is spyware? Look up the company behind Ghostery (They used to be known as Better Advertising if that's a hint). Read their statement about who they are and what they do. I'm paraphrasing but if I convert their statement to my cynical mindset, it says "we act as a go between to pass info between you, and the government (and a bunch of other people)".

Evidon is a new type of company that brings trust to online advertising by working as an intermediary between consumers, advertisers, industry self-regulatory programs, and government.

In fairness they go on to state that they're not doing anything shifty. But I'm sorry, I lost all trust at the bolded parts.

Virtual Machines: Hi there Oldone. Just letting you know you're still at the mercy/security of your host OS when using a VM. A lot of data is still exchanged/stored between the VM and your host OS. There's some info in the Tails docs here:

https://tails.boum.org/doc/advanced_topics/virtualization/index.en.html
https://tails.boum.org/doc/advanced_topics/virtualization/tips/index.en.html (these are 2 separate links in case they look the same)

EXIF removal: Just a heads up, exif is just one method to tag info into a picture or file. Any file can be "tagged". If you run Linux, you could use Metadata Anonymisation Toolkit which covers more than exif/images, and is included with Tails.

every format can be watermarked, even plain text !

About the VPN, it seems to me like a potentially bad idea. Plenty of these HideMyAss style VPN companies have turned and given their users data to authorities & they will openly state that in their terms. None of those commercial entities are going to be a hero & go to jail for you when shit gets hectic.

And anytime I see a company state that they don't log anything, I just wonder what creative names they have got for logging. Maybe they call it "performing a backup" or "analysis" or "transferral to a seperate system" or similar. That's how they get ya.

 

[d3cryption]

Hi Hisser, great thread! A few things:

Ghostery: Am I the only one who thinks this is spyware? Look up the company behind Ghostery (They used to be known as Better Advertising if that's a hint). Read their statement about who they are and what they do. I'm paraphrasing but if I convert their statement to my cynical mindset, it says "we act as a go between to pass info between you, and the government (and a bunch of other people)".



In fairness they go on to state that they're not doing anything shifty. But I'm sorry, I lost all trust at the bolded parts.

Virtual Machines: Hi there Oldone. Just letting you know you're still at the mercy/security of your host OS when using a VM. A lot of data is still exchanged/stored between the VM and your host OS. There's some info in the Tails docs here:

https://tails.boum.org/doc/advanced_topics/virtualization/index.en.html
https://tails.boum.org/doc/advanced_topics/virtualization/tips/index.en.html (these are 2 separate links in case they look the same)

EXIF removal: Just a heads up, exif is just one method to tag info into a picture or file. Any file can be "tagged". If you run Linux, you could use Metadata Anonymisation Toolkit which covers more than exif/images, and is included with Tails.



About the VPN, it seems to me like a potentially bad idea. Plenty of these HideMyAss style VPN companies have turned and given their users data to authorities & they will openly state that in their terms. None of those commercial entities are going to be a hero & go to jail for you when shit gets hectic.

And anytime I see a company state that they don't log anything, I just wonder what creative names they have got for logging. Maybe they call it "performing a backup" or "analysis" or "transferral to a seperate system" or similar. That's how they get ya.

I never liked ghostery...

 

[hisser]

Hi ScrubNinja

This is a quote from Ghostery's FAQs:

Ghostery users are anonymous. If you elect to download the Ghostery plug in, you'll note there are no registrations or sign ups required. The Ghostery plug-in does not place session cookies into your browser. Neither the Ghostery application nor Evidon receives any data from Ghostery users unless the user opts-in to participate in GhostRank. In that case, data is collected in aggregate form and without any personal information, for research and industry monitoring purposes (more on GhostRank below). GhostRank data is never used for advertising targeting purposes. GhostRank is a true opt-in feature - all the other features of Ghostery are fully available whether or not GhostRank is enabled.

But why trust words or strangers? This is where your firewall comes in! simply don't allow transmission of any suspicious connections.

The reason I trust(a little) Privitize VPN is because its endorsed by thepiratebay.org, and its located in Sweden too, it might be made by the same guys, and we all know why governments hate TPB so much you should ALWAYS use a VPN in combination with TOR or another VPN

As d3cryption said earlier, its a lifestyle, its a combination of things that will strengthen your privacy and anonymity, the most important thing IMHO is to not share your personal information in the first place!

You can also make your own VPN by getting a dedicated virtual server but this will cost more $$ & time for sure.

Still feeling paranoid about revealing your location? "borrowing" WiFi from a hated neighbor always works

Cheers