The Internet holds a wealth of information for people questioning all kinds of things about themselves.
In most cases the internet is extremely helpful - sometimes even lifesaving.
Unfortunately however, every click on a web page, every questionnaire you fill out, every time you give out personal identifying information, you risk “outing” yourself in potentially BIG ways.
To get the information and support we need to understand ourselves, we often have to trade our own identity as a sort of “ticket” to the show.
Your information is highly valuable to other people and you need to protect it.
The key to security, safety, and anonymity is minimizing how much information you provide for what you need. Minimize what leaks out of your own computer or other device, your local network, and the Internet, for others to collect.
This blog covers the basics you can do to cover your tracks on a purely technological level - ranging from the easiest ways, to advanced techniques. It’s not exhaustive and following this doesn’t guarantee 100% protection, but it will help in most circumstances.
I'm also planning to continually update this, so it’s going to get big. Every month we'll ask a new expert in online security to add their own take to this blog post. We'll also order this post from easiest to do, to hardest.
In preparation for that gradual expansion, I’m adding a quick table of contents here. You can check back every month to see the new parts, and I'll be in the comments below to answer questions:
In most cases the internet is extremely helpful - sometimes even lifesaving.
Unfortunately however, every click on a web page, every questionnaire you fill out, every time you give out personal identifying information, you risk “outing” yourself in potentially BIG ways.
To get the information and support we need to understand ourselves, we often have to trade our own identity as a sort of “ticket” to the show.
Your information is highly valuable to other people and you need to protect it.
The key to security, safety, and anonymity is minimizing how much information you provide for what you need. Minimize what leaks out of your own computer or other device, your local network, and the Internet, for others to collect.
This blog covers the basics you can do to cover your tracks on a purely technological level - ranging from the easiest ways, to advanced techniques. It’s not exhaustive and following this doesn’t guarantee 100% protection, but it will help in most circumstances.
I'm also planning to continually update this, so it’s going to get big. Every month we'll ask a new expert in online security to add their own take to this blog post. We'll also order this post from easiest to do, to hardest.
In preparation for that gradual expansion, I’m adding a quick table of contents here. You can check back every month to see the new parts, and I'll be in the comments below to answer questions:
What We'll Cover:
Net-Safety 101:
Net-Safety 201:
- 5 easy steps to protect yourself [Infographic]
- Use Incognito/private mode and clear your history.**
- Beware out-links to platforms that don't respect your data as much.**
- Use a second e-mail (or disposable e-mail) that people don’t know and you don’t regularly use
- Always log out and delete any files you generate or download**
- Use an un-monitored network
Net-Safety 201:
**= new!
Use Incognito/private mode and clear your history
Ironically, if you’re reading this and you haven’t done these things below, you’re already at risk. Every major browser has a private or incognito browsing session that you can start.
Before you start doing any searching, exploring, clicking…start a private/incognito session.
You can either click around to find it or use a hotkey to open an incognito or private browsing session
(Ctrl + P for Firefox and IE, Ctrl + N for Chrome, for example).
If you happen to forget to browse privately, you can alternatively clear your browser’s history. Realize, however, if you do have someone looking over your shoulder, seeing an empty history will raise suspicions – usually you can delete history back to a specific time: an hour, a day, etc.
When you clear the browser’s history, clear EVERYTHING. Cookies, and cache store way more information than you will be comfortable with anyone seeing, check every box you can.
Remember, private browsing and dumping your history aren’t silver bullets. Being in incognito mode and logged into those platforms does not protect you from people looking over your shoulder. I've provided some links to the five major browsers' private mode and clearing browser history information:
Before you start doing any searching, exploring, clicking…start a private/incognito session.
You can either click around to find it or use a hotkey to open an incognito or private browsing session
(Ctrl + P for Firefox and IE, Ctrl + N for Chrome, for example).
If you happen to forget to browse privately, you can alternatively clear your browser’s history. Realize, however, if you do have someone looking over your shoulder, seeing an empty history will raise suspicions – usually you can delete history back to a specific time: an hour, a day, etc.
When you clear the browser’s history, clear EVERYTHING. Cookies, and cache store way more information than you will be comfortable with anyone seeing, check every box you can.
Remember, private browsing and dumping your history aren’t silver bullets. Being in incognito mode and logged into those platforms does not protect you from people looking over your shoulder. I've provided some links to the five major browsers' private mode and clearing browser history information:
- Firefox private session and clearing history
- Chrome private session and clearing history
- Edge private session and clearing history
- Opera private session and clearing history
- IE private session and clearing history
You can Learn more about the importance of private browsing to stop cookies here too!
Out-links are risky. Beware.
Some resources you use will take you out of the platform you're on and over to Facebook, YouTube, or some other platform. Each platform has ways to protect your information, but it’s tricky and they all handle it differently.
For example, if someone else has access to your account on those platforms (say you leave it on all the time on your mobile device and someone else looks through that device), they will still be able to see what you were doing, even with all the privacy settings in the world turned on.
Limit where you go and consider where you are browsing to all the time – I'd like to reiterate that private browsing and dumping your history aren’t silver bullets. There are tools you can use to track how sites use your information but we'll go into those in a later blog as they are a bit complicated.
For now, just remember that different platforms treat your information differently, so be careful when you click on a link that takes you to another site.
For example, if someone else has access to your account on those platforms (say you leave it on all the time on your mobile device and someone else looks through that device), they will still be able to see what you were doing, even with all the privacy settings in the world turned on.
Limit where you go and consider where you are browsing to all the time – I'd like to reiterate that private browsing and dumping your history aren’t silver bullets. There are tools you can use to track how sites use your information but we'll go into those in a later blog as they are a bit complicated.
For now, just remember that different platforms treat your information differently, so be careful when you click on a link that takes you to another site.
How do they do this? Well, they use Cookies so you should know how they work in this blog.
Email isn’t as secure as you think
Companies, schools, and parents all usually have access to official and personal e-mail accounts. If you have to correspond with someone or use an e-mail to gain access to resources or services, you may want to consider, in a private browsing session, creating a new e-mail account that you can use explicitly for research and contacting resources, that is less likely to be compromised.
Signing up for a new Gmail or Hotmail account can work well enough for most people, but these services request personal information, and usually request some way to get back to you, an alternative e-mail and/or phone number. There's also a lot ofother problems with privacy to beware of too.
If you choose to create a new e-mail account, don’t provide any alternative contact information and limit what information you do provide. Keep in mind though, if you forget your password, you will be locked out of that account with no way to recover.
There are alternatives to regular e-mail accounts that allow you to be even more anonymous. Guerrillamail.com, and Fastmail are good examples. Here you get a disposable, one-hour active e-mail account before all the information is GONE.
Signing up for a new Gmail or Hotmail account can work well enough for most people, but these services request personal information, and usually request some way to get back to you, an alternative e-mail and/or phone number. There's also a lot ofother problems with privacy to beware of too.
If you choose to create a new e-mail account, don’t provide any alternative contact information and limit what information you do provide. Keep in mind though, if you forget your password, you will be locked out of that account with no way to recover.
There are alternatives to regular e-mail accounts that allow you to be even more anonymous. Guerrillamail.com, and Fastmail are good examples. Here you get a disposable, one-hour active e-mail account before all the information is GONE.
Get in the habit of logging out and deleting yourself.
On the surface these seem like no-brainers, but convenience is quite the enchantress. Look at how Facebook Messenger took over texting apps by asking you to provide it your whole contacts book.
Logging out:
When you are done accessing your e-mail, or any other resource, be sure to log out of each resource as you finish using it and before closing your browser. Clearing your history or using a private browsing session will help keep prying eyes out, but if your email session stays active, it can still be accessed without knowing your password…so, again, log out!
Deleting files:
If you download any files, including viewing PDF documents, for example, or take notes in a program like a notepad, be sure you delete these items if you think they could contain information that would give up what you’re trying to protect if someone saw it. Downloads are not protected by private/incognito sessions and the file itself is not cleared alongside your browser's download history.
If a document isn’t on a web page, like a Word-format document or a PDF, it has to be downloaded to be viewed. Here are the ways to view what you downloaded in each browser:
Logging out:
When you are done accessing your e-mail, or any other resource, be sure to log out of each resource as you finish using it and before closing your browser. Clearing your history or using a private browsing session will help keep prying eyes out, but if your email session stays active, it can still be accessed without knowing your password…so, again, log out!
Deleting files:
If you download any files, including viewing PDF documents, for example, or take notes in a program like a notepad, be sure you delete these items if you think they could contain information that would give up what you’re trying to protect if someone saw it. Downloads are not protected by private/incognito sessions and the file itself is not cleared alongside your browser's download history.
If a document isn’t on a web page, like a Word-format document or a PDF, it has to be downloaded to be viewed. Here are the ways to view what you downloaded in each browser:
How do sites record documents? They use Cookies so you should know how they work in this blog.
Know what your network knows
This one takes some knowing of how the internet works but it could probably save you the most.
Most networks you access are vulnerable to monitoring. Any time you have to log in to a computer, your activity is subject to being recorded. At home, some people use different home network monitoring tools like Disney’s Circle, which will collect things like browsing history from each device in the home in addition to your device's recording. Schools and businesses also often track browsing history. Even more advanced anonymity techniques like using Tor, won’t prevent this kind of tracking.
If the monitoring is sophisticated enough, it’s safer not to use any devices on that network.
Coffee shops and libraries with hotspots or public computers will help protect you if you think your home or office network is being monitored. However, these open networks are often monitored themselves, by people that want your credit card or banking information.
Still, these people are very unlikely to be interested in your searches, so search for the information you need, and don’t buy anything, or access anything “secure” (like a bank account) in public.
Most networks you access are vulnerable to monitoring. Any time you have to log in to a computer, your activity is subject to being recorded. At home, some people use different home network monitoring tools like Disney’s Circle, which will collect things like browsing history from each device in the home in addition to your device's recording. Schools and businesses also often track browsing history. Even more advanced anonymity techniques like using Tor, won’t prevent this kind of tracking.
If the monitoring is sophisticated enough, it’s safer not to use any devices on that network.
Coffee shops and libraries with hotspots or public computers will help protect you if you think your home or office network is being monitored. However, these open networks are often monitored themselves, by people that want your credit card or banking information.
Still, these people are very unlikely to be interested in your searches, so search for the information you need, and don’t buy anything, or access anything “secure” (like a bank account) in public.
Net-safety 201: Hide your net "location"
with Tor - The Onion Browser
Now we're getting to the more "complicated" part of this blog and the first "full-blog" addition. This is more complicated, but can save your parents or ISPs from seeing your activity.
If you'd like to read more on this, we have a full description here.
If you'd like to read more on this, we have a full description here.
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One of the more advanced ways to protect your identity on the internet is to hide your IP Address - basically the envelope that carries your data to and from so the internet knows your computer is asking for the data and can send what you requested back to you. It works just like snail mail. You send a request and your IP address includes a "from" address. They save that address to their address book and send what you requested back to you.
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Tor, the onion browser puts several other senders between you, and the destination, which anonymizes your IP address under several layers of protection (hence the onion metaphor).
Read the full article on Tor to better understand Tor's benefit to keeping you safe
Read the full article on Tor to better understand Tor's benefit to keeping you safe
So Let's Recap:
Net-Safety 101:
Net-Safety 201:
- 5 easy steps to protect yourself [Infographic]
- Use Incognito/private mode and clear your history.**
- Beware out-links to platforms that don't respect your data as much.**
- Use a second e-mail (or disposable e-mail) that people don’t know and you don’t regularly use
- Always log out and delete any files you generate or download**
- Use an un-monitored network
Net-Safety 201:
To Conclude:
As it stands, these steps will usually be enough to keep you from outing yourself unintentionally. There are more advanced steps you can take to move your anonymity to the next level if you feel you need to do that, such as using Tor, Virtual Private Networks, GPG, etc.
A couple of checklists you can follow to utilize these more advanced techniques are here and here for further protecting your privacy, but require more technical prowess.
Stay safe. We're here for you but can only do so much. Let me know if you have any questions.
A couple of checklists you can follow to utilize these more advanced techniques are here and here for further protecting your privacy, but require more technical prowess.
Stay safe. We're here for you but can only do so much. Let me know if you have any questions.
This Article is curated by Jerri P
Jerri joined RESCQU.NET to assist in attaining secure and safe technological systems. Jerry did their masters in computer technology on computer languages and enforcing SSL documentation. They now help us with the closet-friendly partner organization program, and inform you of the dangers of searching the internet unprotected.
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