There’s a multitude of reviews for every VPN product out there and no shortage of vpn review platforms, moreover every major technology site seems to have a dedicated section for reviews and vpn reviews in particular.
However, being passionate about data security as we are, we recently discovered a new site, vpnetic.com, that contains all the good stuff in terms of VPN reviews with dozens of reviews for every popular VPN service and a bunch of new comers and new names in addition to the most coveted.
All good stuff, no nonsense . They also do analysis on IT and security related topics such as: cloud storage and software, they give advice on password managers and antivirus, so they focus both on the educative and the lucrative. If you too are looking to set yourself up with a VPN service checking their reviews out first is probably for the best as you can get a tone of information about a lot of VPN providers, all in one place. You can also expect to get a good VPN deal with their affiliate links.
RESIST FALLING FOR A FREE VPN DEAL
Beyond reviews, it is important to choose a paid VPN service as going with a free one might defeat the purpose of having a VPN service in the first place by harming your computer.
“When the product is free. You are the product”
A VPN service implies having servers in various countries, so the maintenance or renting costs can amount a few figures, depending on volume.
While most legit businesses will offer 7 days of free trial, a free connection on a indefinite period of time is sure to get its profit elsewhere; in ways that may harm your security and defeat the whole purpose of having a VPN in the first place.
Even more compelling evidence on the security risks one might face when exposed to a FREE vpn surface once you start doing research. Take the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) the federal government agency for scientific research of Australia. In a study performed a few years ago, they analyzed no less than 283 VPN services only to find that 75% of the free ones contained tracking possibilities. You can read the entire CSIRO white paper here.
We list the most common of these corrupt practices that some VPN providers have been revealed to apply, while others admit as comme d’habitude use in their lawyer-eese terms of service or in very fine print.
SELLING USERS BANDWIDTH
using their users as servers by converting them into a botnet, some VPN providers appropriate their user bandwidth as their own and are resellling it through third parties or sister companies.
In other words, by searching a bargain you can be faced with two main issues:
1. Slower computer and internet connection: as you’re sharing your bandwidth and processor with others;
2. Higher Security Risks: assuming responsibility for what other users do online, that can be tracked down back to your IP.
DATA COLLECTION
In depth analytics of your use data can be sold to third parties companies also. In this case, your FREE VPN becomes a data collection machine that can use your browsing history and online habits to target you with spam, ads and may even compromise your banking accounts or hold you for ransom. Choosing a VPN provider, like My IP.io, that goes on a “no log kept” policies is the best approach to the matter.
ADS
modifying the web code to show ads is a common practice for “free” VPN services.
CSIRO identified FREE vpn apps “actively injecting JavaScript codes using frames for advertising and tracking purposes, while the static analysis of source code revealed apps that actively use up to 5 different third party tracking libraries.”
TRACKING LIBRARIES
The same study examined through ApkTool “the presence of embedded third party libraries (in the form of external hat files) for analytics, tracking or advertising purposes in the source code of free android apps. […] Since most VPN apps intend to provide online anonymity, the lower presence of tracking libraries is actually meaningful. However, we identified the presence of at least one tracking library in 75% of the FREE VPN apps claiming to protect user’s privacy” is stated in the same study.
POOR ENCRYPTION OR LACK THEREOF
The CSIRO research revealed worrisome aspects regarding encryption: “18% of the VPN apps implement tunneling protocols without encryption despite promising online anonymity and security to their users. In fact approximately 84% and 66% of the analyzed VPN apps do not tunnel IPv6 and DNS traffic through the tunnel interface respectively due to lack of IPv6 support, misconfigurations or developer-induced errors. Both the lack of strong encryption and traffic leakage can ease online tracking activities and by surveillance agencies.”
MALWARE
According to the CSIRO study “38% of the analyzed VPN apps by CSIRO have at least one positive malware report according to VirusTotaagencies.”
The Paid vs. The FREE VPN Issue
A good VPN will have its own servers and encryption protocols designed for it, reducing possible security failures to a minimum. Free VPN servicesare often an open door to malware and can be easily used by scammers.
In the FREE vs. PAID matter, its is important to understand that most legit businesses will offer 7 days of free trial, but a free connection on an indefinite period of time is sure to get its profit elsewhere; in ways that can harm your security and defeat the whole purpose of having a VPN in the first place.
We suggest you do yourself a favor and invest a good 5 bucks for a reliable VPN like the dedicated VPN you can get from My IP.io or from another reliable provider. You can check reviews for MyIP.io too on VPNetic.com here.
As a general rule, mundane but so incredibly important, reading the company’s Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy, before buying a vpn service is a thing you should really consider. Ideally, these documents are in plain English and not lawyer-eese.
All in all, when choosing a VPN service one should check reviews and avoid free VPN deals beforehand. VPNetic is the this month’s finding in terms of vpn reviewing platforms. Go give it a try, browse through and make an informed decision when setting yourself up with bulletproof VPN protection
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Credits: illustration by Toqa Liza
At MyIP we believe in the power of small acts of kindness done consistently. We believe in global solidarity and global support. That is why we are writing to let you know how we can enable you to stay safe offline and online.
We remain fully operational so that you can remain home.
During these moments of social anxiety and economic uncertainty, we remain fully operational, while taking all necessary precautions to ensure the health of our employees and the same level of performance of our service.
Credits: illustration by Toqa Liza
This is how we are handling the situation
Even if we can’t be closer physically, we remain connected.
We enabled all our employees to work remotely while keeping the same working hours in place.
If you need support on all things MyIP.io or want to say hi, feel free to reach out to us via live chat, email, phone or by leaving a ticket inside your member’s profile.
MyIP.io is a cloud-based company and can easily adapt to fulfill orders and requirements from anywhere on the globe.
You are safe with us.
The storm will pass, but the decisions we take now might change or greatly impact our future.
Credits: illustration by Toqa Liza
At MyIP.io, we take data security very seriously. That’s why we want you to be in charge of your online footprint and not compromise while in distress.
Our VPN service is geared with military-grade encryption so that your personal information doesn’t “fly” to unknown servers where it can be stored indefinitely. We operate by a strict “no logs” policy (read it here).
Encryption of our service.
Keep in mind that we offer static IPs, on all dedicated plans and tier 1 peering.
Our VPNs support all the latest security protocols including SSTP, PPTP, IPSec, L2TP, SSTP and 128bit – AES, OpenVPN cipher.
When using our service you can easily switch between protocols, although we recommend you stick with the defaults.
Credits: illustration by Toqa Liza
The power of what you can control. Stay safe. Stay home.
Whether you’re using our service to work from home, access personalized content overseas or unblock geo-restrictions, rest assured you can count on us. We will be providing you with great connectivity, no disruption of our service and round the clock technical support, as usual.
Guiding your way to recovery
On our road to global recovery, we advise you get your information from official sources, only. We recommend that you refer to sites such as World Health Organization’s or CDC and avoid all non-essential contact during this time, contributing to flattening the curve. Together, we can do this!
In the end, it is not the world that’s getting increasingly complicated, but it is only us that are becoming more aware. And to that, we say: “alright, alright, alright!”
Credits: The Washington Post / Tech Privacy Series 2019, by Matt Chinworth
Heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran only three days into the year, bush fires of catastrophic proportions in Australia, and a novel coronavirus spreading fast in China and 2020 seems like is off to a rough start.
Is the world becoming an increasingly complicated place or are we simply becoming more aware?
History would disagree with the premise. 2020 seems like a walk in the park compared to 1945 of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or 1941, the deadliest year of the Holocaust, when 6 million Jews died at the hands of Nazis. And if we continue to go back by the same principle, naturally, matters only worsen, like in 1914 when World War I begins or 1492 when Columbus reaches what is now America setting in motion a vicious process of enslavement and destruction causing the near-decimation of the indigenous, native population.
I could go as far as mentioning the plague or even the asteroid that stroke the dinosaurs, but I feel like we’re getting a little bit ahead of ourselves. And perhaps the mere comparison is just as unsettling and ultimately defeats the purpose of my premise, and I digress.
From the pragmatic to the existential, to the obscure, 2020 debuts with significant challenges, from Burkina Faso to Venezuela to Australia.
Maybe not as critical as all of the above, but certainly troubling is Microsoft’s 250 million customer service and support records that were breached due to server misconfigurations, leading to a rough start of the year in Silicone Valley, as well.
Microsoft Data Breach – What happened?
Credits: Security@Me, behance.com
More than 250 million Microsoft customer service and support records were exposed for two full days. The data consisted of 14 years of customer and support records, dating back to 2005, mainly logs containing personally identifiable information such as email and IP addresses, payment information, locations, claims, cases, resolutions, and remarks. While payment information was redacted, everything else was in plain text form, so anyone with an internet connection could have accessed the data.
A team of security researchers first discovered the data breach at Comparitech, who spotted 5 Elasticsearch servers where Microsoft stored the data set. Shortly after, they notified Microsoft, which secured the data, conducted an investigation in the next two days, and issued an apology.
According to Microsoft, there were no signs of malicious use, assuring users that most personally identifiable information was scrapped before it was stored. For the rest of the information that was entered in non-standard formats, some of the data may have survived automatic scrubbing remaining as plaintext. On all these accounts, Microsoft claims everyone affected by the latter, was personally notified.
What caused the data breach?
Upon investigation, Microsoft admitted to having misconfigured rules following a change in the database network security group. The company says they will be auditing policies and implement new tools to redact stored sensitive information and a new system to better monitor misconfigurations.
What does the incident tell us about 2020?
After the 250 million records data breach, happening end of December, Microsoft experienced more security issues as 2020 started. An emergency security update was pushed after the NSA found a glitch in Microsoft’s cryptographic system.
According to Chris DeRamus (Co-Founder of DivvyCloud), misconfigurations tell us a lot about the current state of affairs in 2020 network security:
“Misconfiguring a cloud server can have massive consequences, especially when the server contains hundreds of millions of customers’ records. Aside from this incident with Microsoft, we have seen misconfigured Elasticsearch servers become an increasingly common culprit that recently caused data leaks at companies including Rubrik, Voipo, Gearbest, Meditab, and Dow Jones.
[…] What sticks out about this incident is the fact that in early November 2019, Microsoft announced that it will honor CCPA throughout the U.S., and it was the first company to extend GDPR rights to customers around the world. This shows that even a forward-thinking company like Microsoft, who is unrelentingly dedicated to protecting their customers, can suffer a data breach due to misconfigurations. If they can be affected, anyone can.”
He then goes on by saying that being compliant does not necessarily imply being secure in 2020, primarily for cloud and multi-cloud environments, as cloud by nature is made to accommodate frequent changes. Continuous automated cloud security strategy to detect and remediate misconfiguration needs to be in place, in real-time.
In 2020 data is the currency and sometimes even a political weapon to be reckoned with. In other words, data is today an informational, political and economic asset capable of traveling the speed of light in a vacuum( able to operate at 99.7% the speed of light according to researchers at the University of Southampton in England, source: Extreme Tech).
The digital world is now creating tangible value from big data so expect internet privacy to take an even more prominent route in the future. (Ain’t no going back)
Nowadays, security must come in layers, not only in the corporate environment but on a personal level also.
The number one thing you need to get in line with is being more security-aware. Having a VPN connection, for starters. It’s really simple to use and just like that poof! your data travels through an encrypted tunnel, safe from prying eyes and encrypted all the while.
It won’t save you from server misconfigurations, but it will make you less vulnerable while online.
Fact is, not only in Silicon Valley but across the continents, 2020 seems like a challenging time to be alive. Provided we survive the climate change, nuclear race and everything else in between, technology can either save or endanger us, leading to simplification, complication or both. And maybe, this is just the way things should go. In order to simplify, we must first face all possible complications, readjust, re-adapt and ultimately learn. In the meantime, reminding ourselves that trouble doesn’t operate on the Gregorian calendar is probably the most accurate image we should keep in mind about 2020.
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Naturally, the entity most impacted by the legislation was Google, the all-encompasing, larger than life search engine. Virtually anyone can request delisting of an URL that contains information, in their name by submitting a form where they state the reason for the delisting that is later analyzed for approval.
Credits: Google G-NEO remix by Katt Phatt
What is the right to be forgotten?
The right to be forgotten or otherwise colloquially known as “search delisting” is basically a right to privacy “whereby individuals can request that search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo delist URLs from across the Internet that contain “inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant, or excessive” information surfaced by queries containing the name of the requester [7]. Critically, the ruling requires that search engine operators make the determination for whether an individual’s right to privacy outweighs the public’s right to access lawful information when delisting URLs.” (as stated by Google, read the whole document here)
Search delisting by the numbers
5 years after, more than 3 million delisting requests have been made since the law first came into effect on May 2014.
The scope of the ruling however, is still a question for debate about how search engines discern and resolve these requests, sometimes standing between a rock and a hard place, between the right to privacy and censorship.
First of all, the data set includes all requests filed with Google Search from May 30, 2014 to May 31, 2019.
Who wants to exercise the right to be forgotten more?
Out of the total requesting entities, no less than 84.3% are private individuals.
As far as hostnames go, half are social networks and forums, while the other half include directory sites that aggregate contact details and personal content from other sites such as Profile Engine.
What does it all mean?
Our Google Activity Should Be Nobody’s Business. Literally. And the EU directive is a good step in the right direction, as far as it does not border on the illegal or censorship. Beyond the matter at hand, there are businesses taking place in the search bar and far beyond, not only pay per click systems but extensive data collection of all your Google activity, is at the basis of high profiling well.. you, with a big emphasis on your shopping preferences or political affiliation.
Taking a privacy stance when it comes to using the internet is the new “drink responsibly”, so prior to feeling entitled to a private life while online, let’s just start with a clear mind in recognizing how much of what we put out there is actually in our power, slash hands, slash keyboards.
And yet another important amendment before you go, let’s also rise above the inclination of brand association, of trying to find a scape goat. Meaning that regardless if it’s Facebook, Google or big telecom names like say Verizon or Comcast, whichever the brand hype media is taking a stand towards, let’s just admit that privacy breaches and privacy concerns are virtually everywhere. High and low.
So, with realistic expectations of what the online environment means today from two main perspectives as informational medium and marketing tool, we can manage to reach a clearer understanding of what to do in order to preserve privacy, while enjoying all of the perks the online world brings to the table.
For enhanced privacy, people are also turning to VPNs to reclaim or preserve online freedom and privacy and we strongly advise that you do the same.
No longer an exotic tool,VPNs are now entering the mainstream and given the context it’s easy to understand why.
Simply put, when you’re using aVPN, all your data travels through a tunnel encrypted from end to end. In other words, not even your ISP will be able make sense of your data, since you’ll have all your online data happen elsewhere, not going through your ISP servers and encrypted all the while.
Credits: Memories of Tomorrow by Tatsuro Kiuch
Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 2020
Wear sunscreen
I’ll just start with a musical reference right there. If you’re an 80s kid, that used to be lurking the night through your parents living room at 1 AM looking to be just a little of a rebel (or otherwise), while listing to VH1 in the background, you’ll get it.
For everyone else, behold the masterpiece:
You probably won’t mind me taking just a few moments of your life with this intro, worst case scenario, you’d be adding one to your playlist.
It’s a word spoken song relating to a famous essay- written by the Chicago Tribune columnist, Mary Schmich back in 1997.
The song was released 2 years later by Baz Luhrmann, filmmaker and producer of the acclaimed Moulin rouge (2001) and the Great Gatsby (2013) and consists of some good piece of life advice, while unwinding a filmstrip of retro advertisement(that somehow reminds me of the elevator scene of Vanilla Sky- did I say that out loud?It has a similar allure and nostalgia to it.).
Back to reality. The rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience ( and a collection of some serious online security experts, but no biggie). I will dispense this advice now:
2019 was ringing alarm bells in online security in a major way and judging by the status of the some of the biggest laws out there, the net neutrality repeal in the US and the copyright directive in the EU, there’s no telling how the whole Orwellian scenario ordeal will play out in 2020. Even with Trump’s impeachment on Wednesday, it’s still too soon to tell.
In the meantime, if I could offer you one tip for the future, a VPN would be it.
However, there’s a whole list that I have piled up here, just for your peace of mind. (You are welcome!)
Want to know how to boost your online security and minimize your online footprint in 2020, at the end of this whimsical musical moment? then, keep on scrolling, here’s the crash-course on what you should pay attention to:
- Password Managers
Keeps all your passwords safe, all in one place.
1Password is described by its creators as a tool that “remembers all your passwords for you, and keeps them safe and secure behind the one password that only you know.[..] Just add your passwords and let 1Password do the rest.” You can use the tool to periodically re-new your passwords with new strong ones that lo and behold, you don’t have to remember.
will store your data creating alternate passwords for different levels of access to your device.
- OS
- linux is by far one of the most secure operating systems out there,
- Browsers
Brave is the bold, fast-performing, privacy-oriented newcomer dressed in a minimalist attire. The browser updates every 8–9 weeks and it’s still working towards a version v1.0 for desktop. Brave offers a fairly customized browsing experience as it allows the user to remove selected data every time the user closes the app.
A default ad blocker and an HTTPS function allows its users to browse unencrypted sites more secure.
Owned by a nonprofit organization, Mozilla is the caliber alternative to Chrome, also harboring a more hyped, privacy-focused version: Quantum.
Mozilla is updated by volunteers with a 6 to 10 week frequency, making it a bit slower than the competition, but keeping an overall regularity to its updates.
Security features include malware protection, add-ons warnings, but perhaps the most important things is the fact that Firefox is open-source and ONG owned.
Tor is probably the true rebel out of the bunch. Based on Firefox, Tor was designed to let users access the world wide web via the Tor network, encrypting traffic and bouncing your data across a network of relays composed of thousands of volunteered computers.
Following Firefox’s bug fixes, most Tor updates happen with a frequency of about 2 weeks. Browsing history of users is not tracked by Tor and cookies are cleared after each session. Add the no script policy and privacy features and you will get a pretty safe browsing experience, probably the safest.
Out of the bunch, Tor is the most secure web browser, for enhanced security and privacy you can always turn to a VPN. A good VPN will have its own servers and encryption protocols designed for it, reducing possible security failures to a minimum. Free VPN services are often an open door to malware and can be easily used by scammers.
- VPNs
a reliable VPN service that keeps your data extra safe, traveling through a tunnel encrypted from end to end, so nobody, not even your ISP will be able to make sense of it, since all your information will go through the VPN server and not your ISP’s. You will also be able to bypass geo-restriction.
Having a robust VPN to encrypt your personal data is nowadays, the only way to Zion.
And as we’re not looking to exhaust the “hide everything I do” reasoning; we mainly believe that a VPN is not paramount to activity that borders on illegal, but the very symbol of your right to the privacy acumen. My IP.io stands for data security and flexibility in the professional VPN understanding.
Across the world, businesses use VPNs to connect to remote data centers, or for employees to connect remotely to the physical network of their workplace, while individuals can use VPNs to get access to network resources when they’re not physically on the same LAN (local area network), or as a method for securing and encrypting their information from the potential liabilities that lie ahead once exposed to unsecured networks such as public WiFis or hotspots.
Adding an extra hop to the route between your PC and sites like Facebook, your data location can be easily camouflaged.
- Messaging APPs:
Signal encrypted messaging and voice-calling similar with Telegraph or Wire.
- Ad Blocker
a native Safari content blocker entirely supported by its users. You’ll be able to block ads, ad networks, scripts designed to track your activity and many more. Just give it a spin!
I’ve started with the sunscreen song, for a reason. Notice how simple Schmick’s advice is? Could online security advice be just as simple? If you peel off the jargon, yes.
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Credits: Voice Day Campaign | NYT & Amazon Alexa T.S Abe
From bluetooth headphones to home assistants to activity trackers to pet feeders, today’s devices are becoming increasingly ubiquitous and portable. Created in close relation to the internet or entirely dependent on it, these sets of devices make up what we today call the internet of things. Based on an intricate system of interrelated computing devices, the internet of things operates (oh, well) in the all encompassing internet. Every such gadget in the chain, inside this ecosystem of devices is provided with an unique identifier (UID) and has the ability to transfer data over a network.
However plain and straightforward these facts are, we tend to dismiss or disregard them completely when it comes to our online privacy.
Take AI voice assistants like Alexa. Basically, a household consumer electronic that can make phone calls, read the news or tell you jokes. Apart from the mundane, Alexa can turn on lights or the heat, if connected to a wifi smart plug or the thermostat and can even lock the door. All through bluetooth.
Credits: Voice Day Campaign | NYT & Amazon Alexa T.S Abe
Voice requests to Alexa are feeding it’s speech recognition system and we’re not saying it shouldn’t. All that we ask here is caution and a proper understanding of how devices like Alexa work inside the broader topic of IoT( Internet of Things). And perhaps a VPN connection to encrypt your data.
The so-called Disappearing computer phenomenon, a historical time aiming to replace the actual interaction trough screens and keyboards with seamless, sensed interaction, unfolds before our very eyes. But as the Internet of Things evolves, so should our privacy awareness.
Recent DDoS attacks nowadays use household consumer electronic devices to access a wide variety of data. Hence, the liability.
What today feels like an open, uncensored internet, may in a not so distant future evolve into a far-reaching, sensing, predictable internet. And it’s not just browsing histories, passwords or financial information that’s at stake, it’s planes, cars, homes and even pacemakers, that are now connected to the internet.
Apart from potential security breaches, understanding that algorithms curate the news we read or in severe cases decide what someone of our age/gender/status may be interested in or should be is just as important, when in comes to data security.
Road to Zion
As we arrive to a new age kicking and screaming all the way, we might even find our way to Zion. I somehow, take solace in that.
Until Zion, let’s take it each step at a time and see how the 2019 digital world looks like.
In the sharing, internet economy, data is the currency and sometimes even a political weapon to be reckoned with. In other words, data is today an informational, political and economic asset capable of traveling the speed of light in a vacuum, when going through state of the art optical fibers. Able to operate at 99.7% the speed of light according to researchers at the University of Southampton in England (source: Extreme Tech).
The digital world is now creating tangible value from big data so expect internet privacy to take an even more prominent route in the future (Ain’t no going back).
Nowadays, security must come in layers, not only in the corporate environment, but on a personal level also.
The number one thing you need to get in line with is having a VPN connection. It’s really simple to use and just like that poof! your data travels through an encrypted tunnel, safe from prying eyes and encrypted all the while.
It won’t save you from all the threats out there, but it will make you less vulnerable.
If all else fails, get a pigeon. Until then, stay smart.
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Credits:Data Structures by Dimitris Ladopoulos
Not all servers were created equal
Uplinks
What you can take away from this
A large server portfolio is usually perceived as better connectivity and an overall higher speed, when it comes to a VPN service. While the inclination to follow the above logic makes sense, connectivity and speed, particularly, doesn’t have much to do with the actual numbers of servers.
There’s a far more intricate story that dictates connectivity, going behind the scenes that can determine wether or not a VPN provider deserves the hype it gets, or more importantly, has the expected level of performance. Server types, processors, memory, storage options and bandwidth are the actual forces that go into play.
A good VPN will have its own servers and encryption protocols designed for it, reducing possible security failures to a minimum. Free VPN services are often an open door to malware and can be easily used by scammers.
In the FREE vs. PAID matter, its is important to understand that most legit businesses will offer 7 days of free trial, but a free connection on a indefinite period of time is sure to get its profit elsewhere; in ways that can harm your security and defeat the whole purpose of having a VPN in the first place.
We suggest you do yourself a favor and invest a good 5 bucks for a reliable VPN like the dedicated VPN you can get from My IP.io or from another reliable provider.
Credits: Dangers of the Internet — Unpublished by Kati Szilagyi
In the words of Mark Zuckerberg “the future is private”. A bold statement, you might say, considering it comes from the man under scrutiny over inappropriate sharing of user data (in one of the biggest scandals in social media, thus far).
I know, I know. And I agree, but still, don’t let the hype cloud your judgement, the man is still the most relevant voice in the social media phenomenon, with or without $5 bn in fines. It makes no difference.
What’s even more interesting here is that not just the future of Facebook-that’s not of the essence, but the digital world as a whole might be relying on the same principle in the coming digital era.
here is why:
When news about Facebook — Cambridge Analytics broke, the digital world as a whole was going largely unregulated, in a time when social media was gaining a lot of influence and started playing a major role in protests, riots and social movements, influencing elections.
A year later, the digital environment entered a new phase that demanded better security and created a new wave of shifts and changes in which a few strong players had each a personal stake in.
A. There were the users, wanting a change in how their personal data is handled, migrating to instagram, which truth be told was not such a smart move, as instagram also owned by Facebook, did not offer better security at the time (nor in present). But the migration is not important, in the sense that whether is facebook or instagram, we are talking about the same entity owning both larger than life platforms.
B. There were the electoral interests fighting to close the new found “Pandora’s box” that social media was threatening to become.
C. And then, in an oversimplified scenario (let’s keep things simple for a while) there was Facebook. Maybe not the de facto creator of social media, but most certainly it’s first, biggest, most successful promoter, to say the least.
Now, a year later, the platform is taking a privacy-focused approach saying it wants to “unify its messaging products around concepts like ephemerality and encryption”(The Verge).
But why is this relevant?
It the light of today’s digital environment events, counting what’s app security breach as the most recent, the privacy-focused approach is now a trend and one that’s going stay, evolve and diversify, going far beyond just social media.
The Data Mining Issue
When it comes to data mining, government is not the only one invested in making sense of your personal data, nor is it the biggest beneficiary. The advertising industry is. And no, this is not just a black mirror scenario. It’s already happening.
Your credit card history can be bought from your bank, monitoring tools can be built-in a lot of devices you are already using on a daily, trackers can be embedded in any web page and are actively extracting data to better understand and adapt to your buying preferences and behavior.
Not saying all trackers are cunningly mining data for obscure reasons. Some of them are simply trying to make your online experience better, faster or more pleasing. Not everybody out there is selling your data to 3rd party advertising agencies banking on your consumption behavior.
We all have a price. A reservation price, at least.
However, in a not so distant future, a lot of what you’re putting out there, your online footprint can and will be used to predict your “reservation price”.
Simply put, the reservation price is the value you are willing to pay in exchange of a good or service. According to Wikipedia, on the demand side the reservation price is the highest price that a buyer is willing to pay; on the supply side, it is the lowest price at which a seller is willing to sell a good or service.
Naturally this value can change constantly and can vary a lot depending on context. Say you just finished your morning pilates, you will naturally be inclined to pay more for the same bottle of water that you can buy at the corner shop later. If enough about your daily routine is known and accessible, you could be faced with customized offerings based on your reservation price for a particular good or service.
If data mining goes at the same rate as today, merchants can and will identify customers before even making the purchase. This tactic is already in use and no longer a secret for flight fares, that may vary depending on your IP geolocation.
Best place to hide is in plain sight. A few strategies to keep yourself out of the loop.
- Get a VPN service for all your devices:
The number one thing you need to get in line with is having a VPN connection. It’s really simple to use and just like that poof! your data travels through an encrypted tunnel, safe from prying eyes and encrypted all the while. You basically need to pay a monthly subscription and rock on. It’s important that you don’t chose a free VPN as free VPN services are sure to get their profits elsewhere and it’s usually on your broadband expense. So avoid using unreliable free services that offer protection, but are in fact jeopardizing it.
Taking hold of your own digital footprint requires savvy, educated users, that know their rights and are not willing to compromise when it comes to their own privacy.
It’s easy to understand why more and more people resort to using a VPN service, rather than letting their information “fly” to unknown servers where they can be stored indefinitely.
2. Clear Cookies
You can look at cookies as clutter, piling up your desk, constantly demanding more and more of your attention or space.
To get around this kind of clutter you can install a cookie cleaner software or use your browser’s incognito mode. it won’t make you untraceable, but it will open a cookie free window.
3. Get an Ad Blocker
a native Safari content blocker entirely supported by its users. You’ll be able to block ads, ad networks, scripts designed to track your activity and many more. Just give it a spin!
4. Go with encrypted messaging Apps
encrypted messaging and voice-calling similar with Telegraph or Wire, as advertising agencies are already using keyword alerts to serve particular ads.
20 years have passed since the Matrix was released… hard to believe, I know. Even harder to accept, without feeling a little bit old, especially if you remember being a bright young thing when the movie hit the big screen, back in 1999. Sounds prehistoric? Well, you’re right, it kind of is.
The ideas in the movies however,are more relevant today than ever. The dystopian future in which artificial intelligence takes over humankind, could be one of the supercuts, but the movie itself abounds in symbolisms, referring to the greater, bigger, more meaningful themes of the 21st century and beyond. It is perhaps a new syntax of sci fi/ action movies, the perfect mix of special effects, narrative and style, underpinning philosophical themes. This whole mix is what makes the movie, much more than just a sci-fi, but a cult film, a classic of its genre.
When news about WhatsApp security breach broke, there was something in the way the hacking took place, that screamed to me: THE MATRIX. I’m getting a lot of that, lately.
Not sure if I was following the Aristotelian mimesis or the Oscar Wilde anti-mimesis, in my thought process, but one thing was for sure: there really was “a glitch in the system”.
Remember how Neo uses the phone to “exit” the Matrix? Well, WhatsApp hackers used the same principle, a phone call, only this time to “enter”.
In the words of Oscar Wilde or Lana del Rey’s gods and monsters song, I guess life really imitates art. I find this version to be more poetic than prophetic, so I’m sorry Aristotel, I’m taking the Del Rey — Wilde route, this time around.
Game of phones
Back to reality. Only last week, one of the largest communication apps, WhatsApp, amounting more than 1.5 billion users, was the target of an unprecedented hack, that revealed quite a vulnerability in its security system.
Even though, the app is popular for having end to end encryption on all messages going through its servers, hackers managed to enter the system via in-app voice calls. Basically, the users affected by the hack, got one or two calls from a number unknown to them, which delivered a code in the process of calling. Regardless if the user answered the call or not, the code was shipped.
Nothing a user could’ve done, short of not having the app altogether, could have prevented the infection. WhatsApp has since resolved the security breach and patched the flaw, while urging their users to update the app sooner rather than later.
However this particular security breach is very important from another aspect, that of the technology the hackers used. The hacking tool involved in the cyber attack is reportedly similar, if not identical, to the spyware and surveillance tools used by governments to capture high profile criminals and is often nearly impossible to track. As in this case, hackers could even erase records of the call used to inject the code, after the fact.
The alleged culprit? A company, known as the largest player in the business of surveillance tools, the Israeli cyber security company NSO Group is believed to be the developer of the tool. Even though the hacking tool gives a few cues and has the distinguishing marks of the type of surveillance tools developed by the company, NSO denies the allegations.
The target? Human Rights activists and apparently one lawyer in particular.
The motive? Let’s give a little more context. The alleged targeted lawyer, who spoke in condition of anonymity, is helping a Saudi dissident and several Mexican journalists build a civil case against the NSO. The NSO Group claims to only sell surveillance tools for legitimate targets, selling exclusively to law enforcement and intelligence agencies, but is suspected to do otherwise, in practice, targeting honest individuals and not high profile criminals or terrorists, being involved in illegal surveillance and thus violating human rights.
These are, in a nutshell, the facts so far of last week’s “Game of Phones” finale. But in real life.
Still, the case looks a lot more like Matrix to me. Am I taking it too far? I can’t tell.
Maybe I’m in too deep on this one, but the phone metaphor still echoes in my head. And no, I don’t suppose they’ll open a portal in spacetime any time soon through a phone call, but suffice to say they opened a very dense, resourceful and highly popular messaging app, in the meantime.
And so, could it be that these devices we so often use, be nothing more than pocket-sized surveillance devices we gladly accept?
Ok, that’s an oversimplification and I take that back, but the thought is worth to ponder upon, as it might lead to savvier users and a safer digital environment. As we arrive to a new age kicking and screaming all the way, we might even find our way to Zion. I somehow, take solace in that.
2019
Until Zion, let’s take it each step at a time and see how the 2019 digital world looks like.
In the sharing, internet economy, data is the currency and sometimes even a political weapon to be reckoned with. In other words, data is today an informational, political and economic asset capable of traveling the speed of light in a vacuum, when going through state of the art optical fibers. Able to operate at 99.7% the speed of light according to researchers at the University of Southampton in England. (source: Extreme Tech)
The digital world is now creating tangible value from big data so expect internet privacy to take an even more prominent route in the future. (Ain’t no going back)
Nowadays, security must come in layers, not only in the corporate environment, but on a personal level also.
The number one thing you need to get in line with is having a VPN connection. It’s really simple to use and just like that poof! your data travels through an encrypted tunnel, safe from prying eyes and encrypted all the while.
It won’t save you from all the threats out there, but it will make you less vulnerable.
]]>Photo Credit: Online Privacy Risks by Angel Roxas
Web browsers. We use them on a regular, so much so we don’t even realize they’re there, we perceive them as a given, a tool that comes with the territory of internet access. Still, not all web browsers were created equal. Today, we take the measure of some of the most popular web browsers on the market through a security lens and see which one scores best on the challenge.
Frequency of updates, embedded security tools and features are indicators of a good reliable web browser in terms of privacy. Taking the aforementioned criteria into account, here are the most secure web browsers ranked
8. Internet Explorer
Once upon a time, there was Internet Explorer. An undeniable favorite, holding monopoly in the early ages of the proto-internet, Internet Explorer is today a “deserted”web browser, especially since Microsoft introduced Edge. In terms of updates, Microsoft stopped making major updates to IE, as the focus shifted to its successor.
Securitywise, IE can detect malicious or potentially harmful sites, but is lagging behind on a lot of security features of its competitors.
Privacywise, you can toggle pop up blockers, have a tracking protection feature, preventing listed sites from dropping cookies upon subscribing in advance to a protection list, but that’s mainly about it, as the browser itself is closed-source (packed widgets remain undisclosed and obscure to the “naked eye”).
7. Edge
As the name suggests, the descendant of Internet Explorer really has an edge in terms of speed over what has otherwise become a meme for delayed effects, in general.
In what updates are concerned, Edge updates twice an year on average. That’s still a low frequency on updates, when compared to competitors on the market.
The fact that it runs in a sandbox makes all browser processes contained and the extension support is limited which could potentially limit malicious questionable extensions you may download accidentally.
All in all, privacy and security wise, Edge only ranks at the bottom of the list and it’s still not a very secure browser.
6. Opera
Developed by the person who also created the CSS web standard, Opera is not only an ingenious browser with a cute face, but it is also a staple for privacy oriented web browsers, the poster child of private web browsing. It runs on Google Chromium system, using Google Chrome’s open-source, tweaked to add features of its own.
Updating every 4 to 6 weeks, Opera comes close to a very healthy update frequency, which is once every 3–4 weeks.
From a security standpoint, Opera has integrated fraud and malware protection, has a built-in free VPN, an ad blocker, social messengers like what’s app and facebook messenger, battery saver a VR player among its main features.
The built in VPN however, is known to be tracking logs and bandwidth, so not exactly the best choice for a VPN service as it may actually defeat the purpose of using such a tool.
5. Google Chrome
At almost 80% market share, Google Chrome is leading the rankings for obvious reasons. Those reasons can be summed up to the fact that Chrome is simply a Google product. Just like the web search, YouTube, Gmail or Google Docs, it is only natural that people are naturally drawn to it, considering the dominant role Google is playing in the online world.
There are usually 6 weeks between its updates as Google automatically updates Chrome. Securitywise, Chrome regularly scores the highest on security test and Google is actively requesting hackers to discover vulnerabilities that the company can later improve. Still, the fact that Chrome is owned by Google, the larger than life company, that virtually knows “everything” about its users should serve as a bit of warning, in what privacy is concerned.
The standard Chrome version is closed source, everything (if anything) packed inside the code is therefore obscure. Truth be told, there is also an open-source version of Chrome available.
4. Apple Safari
Safari, the default web browser for Mac is usually perceived as being more secure, since Mac devices are arguably less vulnerable to malware. Chrome’s popularity however, pushed it to a marginal fate similar to that of Internet Explorer.
Updates are irregular, but tend to be on the slow side, as weeks between updates can vary between 9 and 47 weeks.
Despite its irregular updates, Safari does a pretty god job security wise, by running web pages contained, in a sandbox, thus preventing malware to infect the entire browser. Safari also introduced a password manager meant to improve the quality and strength of your passwords.
The only culprit of Safari is the fact that is closed sourced, otherwise making a close to perfect impression in terms of security and privacy.
3. Brave
Brave is the bold, fast-performing, privacy-oriented newcomer dressed in a minimalist attire. The browser updates every 8–9 weeks an its still working towards a version v1.0 for t desktop. Brave offers a fairly customized browsing experience as it allows the user to remove selected data every time the user closes the app.
A default ad blocker and an HTTPS function allows its users to browse unencrypted sites more secure.
2. Mozilla Firefox
Owned by a nonprofit organization, Mozilla it’s the caliber alternative for Chrome, also harboring a more hyped, privacy-focused version: Quantum.
Mozilla is updated by volunteers with a 6 to 10 weeks frequency, making it a bit slower than the competition, but keeping an overall regularity to its updates.
Security features include malware protection, add-ons warnings, but perhaps the most important things is the fact that Firefox is open-source.
1. Tor Browser
Tor is probably the true rebel out of the bunch. Based on Firefox, Tor was designed to let users access the world wide web via the Tor network, encrypting traffic and bouncing your data across a network of relays composed of thousands of volunteers computers.
Following Firefox’s bug fixes, most Tor updates happen with a frequency of about 2 weeks. Browsing history of users is not tracked by Tor and cookies are cleared after each session. Add the no script policy and privacy features and you will get a pretty safe browsing experience, probably the safest.
Out of bunch, Tor is the most secure web browser, for enhanced security and privacy you can always turn to a VPN. A good VPN will have its own servers and encryption protocols designed for it, reducing possible security failures to a minimum. Free VPN services are often an open door to malware and can be easily used by scammers.
In the FREE vs. PAID matter, its is important to understand that most legit businesses will offer 7 days of free trial, but a free connection on a indefinite period of time is sure to get its profit elsewhere; in ways that can harm your security and defeat the whole purpose of having a VPN in the first place.
We suggest you do yourself a favor and invest a good 5 bucks for a reliable VPN like the dedicated VPN you can get from My IP.io or from another reliable provider.
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