Cryptography: essential tools for private and anonymous computer

[io.kent]

An anonymous system provides the ability for individuals to reveal his identity only when they want, this is the essence of privacy. Likewise privacy in an open society requires cryptography.

- A Cypherpunk's Manifesto In a society like ours, transformed into a quasi-infinite network of communicating entities, where privacy and anonymity are hidden behind illusory cloud computing, cryptography is the only sure way.

Unfortunately, the topic remains obscure to most network users:

do not know why it is important to have privacy and anonymity, and ignore that there are tools-many of them free-that give us those rights. do not have to be experts in algebra top of cryptography to help because every time we have more and better tools that provide. Here are some of them; recommend combining two or more of them depending on the context. Obviously, there are other tools:

recommend or discuss your experience with them. Tor Browser Bundle Tor is the ultimate tool for network anonymity. The simple installation of Tor Browser Bundle lets you surf the web anonymously, although at the cost of performance. In Android can use Orbot. Cryptocat install the plugin for your favorite browser and you can take private conversations (because communication is encrypted) and now anonymous (OTR protocol used). Pidgin with OTR will serve you well for all chat protocols (including Messenger). N-1 where traditional social networks (say Facebook) are true surveillance machines explicit (user data) and implicit (all connections) free social networking and decentralized as N-1 arrives to save the day. Among other features, it is possible to send encrypted messages. Ubuntu 12.10: Full Disk Encryption The latest version of Ubuntu to easily encrypt an entire hard disk from the main installer (previously did from the alternative installer). This is protection from the same base. Meanwhile, TrueCrypt is an option on all operating systems. Thunderbird + Enigmail is a Thunderbird email client Mozilla family. Enigmail, the plug that allows sending encrypted emails, emails that should only be seen by the recipient. On computers both tools provide a high level of security. OpenVPN A VPN is encrypted over the Internet network.

Typically used to create tunnels in the network that provide access to services denied by the current network while offering a degree of privacy.

There are many VPN services on the net, mostly paid, including Hamachi is very easy to use. OpenVPN is free and allows us to create our own home VPN service albeit with some difficulty. Spotflux want to change this paradigm to be in the cloud, but you have to trust them.

HTTPS Everywhere HTTPS encrypted data can be transmitted between your browser and the web server.

HTTPS Everywhere forces the server, if any, to offer the safest option (though not infallible). darknets When all else fails, when private and anonymous communication is vital, there are only darknets, these hidden networks, parallel or independent internet.

The Tor network is one of them. Freenet is a pioneer among anti-censorship darknets.

But there are others who seek to be alternatives to Internet, truly independent and decentralized as Meshnet Project, in turn based on dozens of open source projects. The Serval Project Mobile goes down that road, and in combination with projects like CSipSimple can become a network of independent mobile and safe.

Source: ALT1040