It’s Sunday and the prophet has a burden to share: Learn how to surf the Net safely.
Most Internet users are not sufficiently paranoid, and they leave way too many doors open for the kind of activity they engage. Most Internet users are brain-dead careless as it is, lacking any level of cynicism such as they might have in meat-space. One of my clients gets a pile of spyware almost weekly because of airhead habits.
The first thing to change is that person in the mirror: Are you a sucker for entertainment? Shopping and bargains? Do you chase the first search engine links to show up when you hunt for a particular artist or act? Have you not heard of search engine rankings and manipulation of “search engine optimization”? Has it not occurred to you that suckering Net surfers is about the most lucrative criminal activity on earth right now? Most Internet users are frankly stupid; not just careless, but egregiously hatefully stupid and impatient with any kind of precautions.
But if it occurs to you to think about it because you could prevent the worst of it, here are some things you can consider.
1. Think about compsec. What do you have on your computer? Pictures, documents, spreadsheets, banking information? Do you let your browser save passwords? Do you know if that saved password is secure? Whatever is on your computer is vulnerable. First, back up your important files to another device or at least to one of the free cloud services like DropBox. Windows has a functional back-up utility built right into the Control Panel; learn it. Second, think about where you are sending your computer into virtual space. What could be on the other side of that link? Are you aware most browsers can be re-directed multiple times in a second through a series of servers and addresses to places you never imagined? Are you aware that any given webpage might have active content served up from other sites?
2. Think about site content. Are you aware that any given webpage is downloading more than text, colors and images? Lots of hidden images called “web bugs” that do nothing more than load your browser cache with lots of unique identifying tags hidden in the image are on many sites. It’s actually not even an image, but your browser accepts it as one. The next site you visit can read those tags and track you all over the Net. Each webpage is likely to have a lot of scripting that controls how things are displayed, but can also download all sorts of junk you never notice, more scripts that do things to harm your computer. There is a large and thriving business where crooks and governments trade information about how to sneak stuff through your web browser and past your anti-virus and anti-malware defenses. Windows is full of such holes not yet patched.
3. Learn about web browsers. Install several different ones and learn how each does one or another thing better than another. Some have extra extensions you can add that make them work differently. Most have built-in security and privacy controls that people never examine. Several of them allow you to create multiple profiles within the browser, each with different settings. Learn how to turn off various features that make your browser an open door for malware; learn to surf without all those bells and whistles if you don’t really need them for various different kinds of sites. Learn how each kind of browser saves your passwords and whether it’s a good idea. Chrome doesn’t encrypt them, but there are add-ons that do; Firefox does encrypt. The new Opera browser does not (so far), because it’s built a lot like Chrome. Seamonkey does because it’s the same guts as Firefox, and with even more options to control how it works. There are dozens of variations built on the same guts as those, and many more with entirely different guts.
4. Learn about communication security: email, chat and encryption. Does it matter whether something is encrypted? That depends on what you are sending and who is on the other end. Could that person have a secret life that would get you in trouble? There’s only so much you can do before it makes you a hermit, so think in terms of balancing needs. On the other hand, make a game of learning encryption with some of your online friends. Do it right; exchange your encryption keys in person on a removable file device, then install them into your encryption keyring. If it really, really matters, learn how the worst criminals avoid getting caught. Learn how to research terminology in compsec that is unfamiliar to you. Ask questions of people who know.
5. Get real. Most of my computer ministry clients are poor benighted souls who imagine that their political views somehow place them under siege from the opposition. They imagine the opposition has threatening powers that they must fight. Just getting people to think that way is part of what political agitators try to do. So if you allow propagandists to win control of your thinking, you’ll be paranoid about things that don’t matter and won’t happen or can’t be fixed, while remaining totally a fool about things that do matter. The various government spy agencies are one kind of threat; the commercial spying operations are another entirely. Worst of all, they both work together entirely too much. Computers are just a tool, though admittedly one of the most important and ubiquitous tools in the world today. Learn what your computer can and cannot do against the fabric of what really matters in this world.
6. Consider using an operating system that is more secure in terms of giving you control. In terms of what’s available with easy access and price, sometimes Windows is the best choice. It’s also going to be always the most easily cracked by bad guys. Part of the problem is that there is so very much you cannot possibly know about it. Even genuine Windows experts have trouble understanding some parts of the system. Those who know it best will not tell you what they know without charging high fees. The Open Source world is just the opposite; the people involved are eager to tell you what they know. You will unlikely never need to know most of it, but the openness is itself a form of assurance that you can trust them. Also, keep in mind: If your computer has enough power, you can always run Windows emulators or virtual machines — it really isn’t that hard. You can install Linux and run Windows inside your computer as a separate environment, then shut it down when you don’t need it. You can also run Linux in a virtual machine on your Windows desktop for safer surfing. You can install Cygwin on your Windows computer and have the Linux commandline at your fingertips, or run the X server and run a Linux desktop in Windows. You can also learn to run Linux from a CD or DVD, booting into a different OS completely that cannot be changed by crackers or malware.
Nothing is impervious to determined cracking, but we can raise the price for such attacks. How much does it matter? Don’t be lazy. The threats are real, and get worse depending on your activities. It’s not getting any better. Some recommendations you can research:
Browsers: Chrome/Chromium, Opera (both the newer webkit and the older version), Firefox (research variations like Pale Moon), Seamonkey.
Browser extensions: Ghostery, Adblock, Click&Clean. Several different password safes.
Browser cache cleaners: CCleaner, Bleachbit.
Private search engines: Startpage.com, DuckDuckGo.com.
Encryption: GnuPG is currently the best for free.
Cygwin: A way to run Linux stuff on Windows, particularly useful for Lynx browser.
Email clients: Opera Mail, Seamonkey, Thunderbird, Claws. Each has unique features for security, and most of them will can work with GnuPG for direct encryption and decryption.
More: If any part of the name says “toolbar” it’s bad for you, even if it comes from your anti-virus provider. Never install anything regarding coupons. Never install software associated with any social website, news site, etc. Check the site Ninite.com for an installer for any item you use, because it strips out bundled advertising junk. Look at the list of stuff they offer, because it tends to be safer than alternatives not listed. Avoid anything made by Adobe if you can. Never trust McAfee or Norton. Don’t use any Google services unless you have to; same goes for Yahoo and the other popular web portals. Use them for throw-away accounts; learn how to kill them and do it often. Learn how to get webmail accounts based in foreign countries.
