How to Surf Safely and Anonymously with a Smartphone

Remaining anonymous on the net remains a beautiful dream but, you can take measures to protect your privacy. The bitter truth is known to everyone – your activities are monitored by different interested parties from ISP, your government and the companies that want to advertise their services/products. There is no one hundred per cent anonymity on the Internet but you must take precautions to protect your privacy as much as possible. Smartphones and tablets are the worst devices when monitored. While it is normal to have an interest in various things, almost all Governments are dangerous. Android and iOS are not great around privacy by default. When browsing the web, you may step into malicious links, phishing links and compromised links. The first and foremost important thing in the digital world is avoiding suddenly click a link without examination of the javascript. Maintaining the privacy of the employees reduces the risk of social engineering attacks or extortion. The more criminally motivated attackers can learn about the key people within an organization, the more targeted and effective their attacks will become.

Use a VPN

A VPN is first line defense. It creates a secure, encrypted tunnel to connect to the web. Most of the VPN service providers have Android apps pressing their button establish a connection to provide a basic security. We have discussed about zero log VPN, military grade encryption, optimizing VPN to give you some idea of how to use a VPN.

VPNs are a good thing. Use them whenever you can. But don’t expect anonymity.

Use a better browser

The largest and most effective software project is still Tor. But here, too, there are technical limitations that have not yet been eliminated despite escalating security research. Tor is optimized for low-latency web browsing and only supports TCP. When trying to access various well-known websites, Tor will also not work, as most of these sites generally block access via Tor.

While Tor doesn’t guarantee one hundred per cent anonymity when browsing the web, it’s the best tool available in this regard. Like so many things in life, the Tor project is a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it is used by journalists and bloggers to research or publish anonymously, on the other hand, it is also used by criminal hackers for various malicious purposes.

Should you ever meet someone who complains about the dark web against which someone finally has something enterprise should – remind this someone gladly that bank robbers flee from the scene of the crime after work is done, but no one comes up with the idea of wanting to ban cars and roads. There is an official app for Android devices and an app authorized by the Tor project but an unofficial app for iOS.

Use a better messaging app

Signal is a better project than most of the messengers. You can operate your own Signal server on an anonymous server :

To date, we have not tested their system on our server, but enough individual security experts have tested Signal and certified it as safe.

Use a better Email client

ProtonMail is known as a secure system. However, anything running on the transparent net is not secure themselves as the IP address is available. Moreover, a man-in-the-middle attack is enough to get inside the system.

Use a better search engine

Google is more deeply connected than Bing to a vast data collection infrastructure. Bing is considered as “safe” for ordinary searches. It is generally accepted that DuckDuckGo, StartPage, SearX, Qwant, Swisscows, Disconnect, Peekier are safer than the rest.

Know about the Zero Knowledge Services

Google, Office 365, DropBox in many cases are PRISM providers, cooperating with state actors as part of mass surveillance programs. In our opinion, there are various European and Asian providers which are less likely to be under a Governmental program.

You could counteract these by encrypting your data before uploading. For example, you could acquire knowledge in dealing with PGP. Or you can opt for providers who are committed to the zero-knowledge principle. However, you can never be sure that corresponding state actors also have appropriate backdoors in these cases!

Block hundred of sensors

Mobile apps generally tend to claim far more permissions than necessary. As a result, personal data is regularly extracted and transmitted to the app developers. Does every app need access to your smartphone’s microphone, your whereabouts or your address book?

Use virtual currency

Amazon like online shopping services has no alternative. The best way of remaining private when buying goods would be to simply buy goods with cash from your local brick and mortar store. If you wish to buy goods from Amazon with some privacy, your best bet would be to get a PO box. When possible, use virtual currencies for the digital products which you disliked to be traced by someone else.

Do not keep private data on your smartphone/h3>
 

Keep the scans/images of various credit/debit cards, ID cards or any personal images on a separate memory card.

 

Conclusion

No single method proved to be effective against data collection or mass surveillance programs. Surfing via public WiFi, with VPN, from Tor browser with a popular model of the smartphone while GPS is off will provide some security when compared to taking no precaution at all.