How to protect yourself and your privacy II

Privacy is one of the biggest problems in this new electronic age, Andy Grove

Privacy is an inherent human right, and a requirement for maintaining the human condition with dignity and respect, Bruce Schneier

We are living in difficult times, there is no doubt about it. Privacy is both a human right and a necessity, and big companies, tech titans, governments, small companies, and hackers constantly attacking and diminishing our privacy has a corrosive and perversive effect on all of us.

Unfortunately, there is a plethora of malware, such as ransomware, viruses, spyware, computer worms, and Trojan horses attacking our privacy.

As an introduction you can read our article How to protect yourself and your privacy. This article is designed to illustrate other actions you can take to protect yourself and your privacy in these uncertain times:

1. Between Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, etc., Google knows too much about us. Use search engines that respect your privacy like DuckDuckGo, search anonymously, find instantly; Startpage, the world’s most private search engine, and searx.
2. Use a privacy-focused browser: Brave, a fast, private, and secure web browser for PC, Mac and mobile; or Firefox. Google’s Chrome browser is a privacy nightmare. Do not install unnecessary extensions, plugins or themes to the web browser.
3. If privacy is a big concern for you, use Tor. It is a software that enables its users to browse and communicate anonymously on the Internet. “It protects your privacy, defends yourself against network surveillance and traffic analysis.”
4. Hardening your browser: HTTPS everywhere is an extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure. uBlock Origin is a wide-spectrum blocker. It blocks ads, trackers, and malware sites. It is highly recommended. Privacy Badger is a browser extension that automatically learns to block invisible trackers.
5. Email services are not safe, they are completely insecure. Do not send sensitive data or private information in an email, whether written in the body or as an attachment. Best options are Proton Mail (a free ProtonMail account supports 500 MB of email storage), Tutanota, Mailfence (a free Mailfence account provides 500 MB), Posteo, and mailbox.org.
6. Messaging: Telegram. Avoid Google, big tech, and social media (Twitter and Facebook); they use and justify censorship to control what information is available to us, and threaten our privacy.

   “Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook restricting a story about Joe Biden’s son during the 2020 election was based on FBI misinformation warnings” (BBC). “The FBI colluded with Big Tech to silence news stories weeks before the 2020 election in an attempt to control your access to information,” Kevin McCarthy.

7. VPN: Proton VPN has a free version of Proton VPN to the public.
8. Use free and open source operating systems (Windows is a nightmare; macOS is better; and GNU/Linux distributions are the best), applications (LibreOffice/OpenOffice -Microsoft Office-, Gimp -Photoshop-, VLC, 7zip, Audacity, KeePassXC), and drivers. Besides, there are security best practices for Windows and macOS.
9. Clean your PC of unneeded data, trackers, cookies, junk files, etc.
10. OnionShare is an open source tool that lets you securely and anonymously share files, host websites, and chat with friends using the Tor network.
11. Mobile platforms. Your best options are: Stock Android is the basic OS which is released by Google; iOS; use custom ROMs (Graphene OS). GrapheneOS is the most private and secure mobile OS.

    Dumb phones are cheap, they simplify your life, take your mobile experience back to the basics, and can improve your productivity, social life, privacy and security.

12. Use a password manager to store and manage all your passwords, so you don’t need to try to memorize a bunch of unique, complex passwords for all of your personal and work accounts
13. Set a password in your BIOS. It ensures that no one can boot your computer and enter it if they do not know the password, thus improving security.
14. Use laptop locks as an easy and cheap way of securing your laptop at your workplace or in public places.
15. If you have a computer or laptop with important, private, or sensitive files, data, and information, you should encrypt your entire drive.
16. Use Linux as much as possible. Install Windows/Linux in a virtual machine, use a double-boot system with both Windows and Linux operating system installed, or use GNU/Linux (Tails, Ubuntu) from a USB drive.
17. Sign-in using a security key, i.e., a physical security key, e.g., YubiKey 5 NFC or Titan Security Key.

Credits: Techlore, Hard Configuration.

Basic hacking. PhoneInfoga

PhoneInfoga is one of the most advanced tools to scan phone numbers using only free resources.

1. Installation. # Download latest release in the current directory: curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sundowndev/phoneinfoga/master/support/scripts/install | bash
2. Use. phoneinfoga scan -n “telephone_number”

Use the Raspberry Pi 4 for Hacking

1. Install Kali Linux Raspberry Pi 2, 3, 4 and 400 (img.xz).
2. Use Raspberry PI Imager, Choose OS: Use custom.
3. Start the Raspberry Pi (Username and Password: kali) and update the system: sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade.
4. Put the internal card into wireless monitor mode: iw phy `iw dev wlan0 info | gawk ‘/wiphy/ {printf “phy” $2}’` interface add mon0 type monitor, ifconfig mon0 up, test it (airodump-ng mon0).
5. Wifite Requirements: sudo apt install hcxdumptool hcxtools libpcap-dev python2.7-dev libssl-dev zlib1g-dev libpcap-dev. git clone https://github.com/JPaulMora/Pyrit.git​, cd Pyrit, sudo python setup.py clean, sudo python setup.py build, sudo python setup.py install.
6. sudo wifite –kill