How to be anonymous on internet and secure your privacy
Do you think you can download illegal and copy protected content and think nobody will know about it? Can you get away with visiting sites providing illicit content without anyone having the faintest clue? Do you think your identity is unknown to the world outside? But how can someone else know what you've been doing on the Internet? It is your computer and your Internet connection after all. Wrong! Almost anyone can follow the trails left behind by web surfers and very easily. Every time you get to the Web, you leave behind information such as IP numbers, browser identifications, and cookie information and so on and hackers are always prowling on the Web to get their hands on such information.
Today there are monitoring bodies analyzing trails on the Internet to convict those who indulge in music or film piracy. Many of you might have been victims of a flood of spams, phishing mails and calls from telephone operators. All of this is possible thanks to advertisers and shady online dealers, who are cunning and know exactly what we have been upto on the Web. They employ smart methods to spy on our interests and surfing habits. But the good news is there are myriad ways with the help of which you can escape this data espionage. Find out how.
Cookies
With session IDs, i.e. temporary cookies, website operators mark individual clients during an online session. They use these markings mainly to send visitors personalized shopping tips during their rummage through an online shop. By following the typical movement patterns within the periphery of the site, client profiles are created. But commercial suppliers are only not satisfied with personalized shopping tips for potential customers. They are curious about the habits and likings of customers and mark them with long-term saved cookies this is best done by marking them for a time period of several years. Figuratively speaking, the user is marked with something like a barcode.
The markings used by commercial suppliers consist exclusively of a text input and contain no executable code. Thus viruses or other harmful software cannot reach the home PC. Often cookies offer the comfort of entering the username and password of frequently used web sites automatically. However, cookies are not a security risk unless they fall in wrong hands. Normally, a web server can read only those cookies that are meant for its domain. However, if a hacker gets lucky enough to access foreign cookies through Cross Site Scripting attacks, he could pose as the victim and use the account that he hacked into by using the foreign cookies.Cookies are not only created by web sites but also by advertising banners that are found on several sites. These banners are basically sub-sites within a site and can also create cookies. With the help of these banner-cookies, advertising companies collect information about surfers. Apart from username, cookies reveal details like the web site last visited and the contents viewed by the surfer. Thus, a user can be identified through different web offers. The profile created via Cross Site Tracking is then used by marketing firms to bombard the surfer with personalized advertising.
How you can protect yourself from cookie tracing
· Seal Internet Explorer: You can protect against curious snoopers with the help of cookies by using the built-in resources of Internet Explorer. Select the option 'Override automatic cookie handling' under 'Tools Internet Options | Privacy | Advanced' to keep the number secure. In this setting, you have to manually accept or reject each cookie. However, this gets very complicated over a period of time. It is therefore better to change the privacy setting in the browser to 'Medium' or 'High'. Cookies that are already saved on your computer can be deleted under the 'General' settings. If this is too difficult for you then you can remove individual cookies by selecting 'Viewfiles' under 'General Settings'. Since a lot of cookies are long lasting, it is advisable that "C:\Documents and Settings\ Default User\Cookies" be cleaned regularly. Using anti-cookie tools like Cookie Cooker, you can comfortably defend yourself (http:// www.cookiecooker.de/index_en.htm) against data collectors and profilers, it is possible to use different identities (with usernames and passwords) and still avail the advantages offered by cookies. The free web filter Privoxy (www.privoxy. org) also provides protection against cookies. However, unlike Cookie Cookerthis tool is not friendly for beginners.
Web bugs
Web bugs, also known as Clear GIFs, work much more artfully than cookies. These digital bugs in the form of mini graphics can hide in any web site ore-mail in the HTML format. Often, behind the merely 1-pixel, transparent and thus invisible mini picture hides a server related script that is linked to a web site. So, as soon as you open a page with a Clear GIF image, the web bug will be reloaded from the server. This way, every site that can read the contents of the Clear GIF image can keep a track of where you are coming from. But your problems just begin there. To spy on the surfing habits of users, not only online portals but advertising exploiters also plant bugs, mostly combined with a script that polls browser information and send it. In this case, the web bug does not send the user data to the operator of the site that has been surfed but to the data collector who planted the web bug. The data collector, in turn, exchanges your collected data with other data collectors. This data is basically information about your IP address, URLs of all the sites you visited along with details of the amount of time you spent on each. The worst thing about web bugs is that all of this data can be combined with information obtained via a cookie. And since web bugs now hide in several commercial sites, this information gives rise to profiles detailing user interests —the longer user surfs, the more detailed it becomes. In connection with e-mails, web bugs are used mainly by spam senders. The Clear GIF image automatically notifies when you read your message and also whether the written e-mail address is valid.How you can protect yourself from webugs
Beating web bugs is a tough job because unlike cookies they cannot be blocked on the browser.· Mail client configuration: Spam flood ca n be brought under control, at least to some extent, if you prevent the automatic display of HTML and the automatic loading of pictures in your mail program.
· Using bug filter: The Privoxy filter also protects you against bugs on web sites. This efficient tool recognizes web bugs and filters them automatically from the data stream.Browser
In the standard setting,you inform each web server what your name is and what version number you are using. You also have to give details about the OS, the hardware on which it runs and the last web site you visited.How you can protect yourself from browser tracing
Usually, data collectors use snooper scripts written in JavaScript to get information from the browser.· Switching off JavaScripts: The simplest way to defend yourself against data tapping is to completely switch off JavaScript. For that select 'Tools | Internet options' in Internet Explorer. Then, select 'Security' and click on 'Custom level'. Under 'Settings | Active Scripting', select 'Deactivate'. This must be done individually for each browser used. This process is much simpler using Privoxy. It only needs to be installed and configured once and it works for all browsers used.
IP address
Communication on the Internet happens with Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol, together referred to as TCP/IP. These protocols ensure all data packets reach their receivers. For that, each PC connected to the Internet is given a one-time, unique 'house number'—known as the IP address. Large organizations and educational universities have fixed or static IP addresses. As opposed to this, those who log in via POTS, ISDN, DSL or mobile networks, receive a new dynamic IP address every time they dial in. So they might presume that they are anonymous as dial-up users—after all, the IP address used each time is not unique to a user.
But you could not be more wrong! The providers keep an exact account of who surfs the Internet, when, for how long and with which address—even though the permission for saving IP addresses is restricted. An IP address saved during an online shopping session can reveal the buyer's identity even months after he has made his purchase. This process is used on a wider scale by organizations following copyright protection policy. These organizations can systematically sift through information sharing sites with the help of crawler programs to search for suppliers of copyright protected music, films and software. Once found, the crawler program saves the supplier's IP address and the data. On the basis of this knowledge, the client company files a report against those indulging in piracy. It is for the criminal prosecution authorities then to extract personal data related to the IP address from the provider.
How you can protect yourself IP ADDRESS TRACING
The simplest way to to surf without revealing your IP address is by using a free proxy server which acts as a mediator between you and the web server. Instead of surfing to the target URL directly, enter the desired URL in the proxy. This then fetches and displays the page content in the browser window. This process helps you remain invisible for the called server. It only 'sees' the IP address of the proxy. An extensive list of such proxys is given under http://www.proxytop.net/.
· Commercial anonymizers: Originally started as a free service, you now have to pay 30 US dollars to use this anonymizer service (www. anonymizer.com). After entering its own details, it uses a network made of thousands of private proxy computers.
· The JAP project: Free anonymization services are transparent as they disclose their procedures and technologies. The JAP research project with its anonymization service AN.ON (http://anon.inf.tu-dresden. de/index_en.html) is promising. A user needs to install the client software JAP on his computer. Instead of connecting directly to a web server, users connect through Mixes-intermediate systems, which function like proxies. But the data that is exchanged between a client system and a mix is in an encoded form. Two to three of these mixes simultaneously connect the usertothe mix cascades (sequence of linked mixes). Only the last mix in the cascade decodes the encoded data such that the web server can evaluate it. The HTTP reply travels in the same fashion as the HTTP request. To enhance security, the mix cascades are not run in a predetermined sequence. The data is thus safe even if a mix-operator works together with an attacker. Even if he intercepts the data, he cannot decode the encrypted form. Since this service is still in the developmental phase, you might experience noticeable delays while surfing.
· Anonymizer TOR. The Onion Router (http://tor.eff.org) is another free anonymizer service. As opposed to AN.ON, TOR does not rely on mix servers. Instead, every user can install this service into his system and thus create a system of several hundred mini proxies. Each system decides the path of the data packets independently. Each intermediately connected system recognizes only that PC to which the received data is supposed to be forwarded. A snoop-PC thus seldom has a chance to have access to the data. Not only that, the snooper's task becomes tougher as a different route is chosen for every request. So, even if he were to encode a request and trace it back to the user, the next page would get him nowhere and make it impossible for him to relate it to the same person.
· Dream-Team JAP and TOR. In this version the TOR service is integrated into the JAP software by AN.ON. So you are not directed to the simple TOR interface any longer. Together, these two services develop a tremendous veiling potential, keeping not only web accesses but also information sharing platforms, FTP downloads and even chats behind closed doors.Surfing in a hotspot or cyber cafe
Wireless networks are rampant these days in hotels and shopping malls and are also used by commercial service providers. Since many of these wireless networks are not secured, you can connect to them using a laptop and surf anonymously without bothering about who's keeping track of you. In case of cyber cafes where you don't need to submit your identity proof, you surf by paying for the network services on an hourly basis. Since you simply pay in cash at the counter, you can surf anonymously.© 2008 proxytop.net
