Having your traffic constantly
encrypted/obfuscated is the only other way to securely browse
anonymously in this day and age. The great part about this method is
that your data can be securely accessed (without prying eyes) from
virtually anywhere you want. From a public wifi hotspot to an ISP
provided Internet connection, data transmitted to and from the
computer is completely secure. The are a host of VPN services out
there, and all of them cost an incredibly small amount. But before we
get into that, let's describe exactly how a VPN works to do all this
great stuff. Don't worry, I will describe how a VPN works in the most
simplest way I can.
VPN's (Virtual Private Networks) are
essentially what they say they are; they are secure networks in which
only approved users can access. There are two versions of a VPN:
site-to-site VPNs, and remote access (for the purposes of this blog,
we'll only focus on the remote access portion). VPN works by
establishing a secure tunnel from your comptuer to that network. All
data sent through that tunnel is encrypted, so there is already a
layer of protection. The data you access will also be unknown because
you are connected to the VPN.
So your Internet connection is
connected to another network (VPN) through an encrypted tunnel. Plus,
your VPN is making all the “request” to websites for you, and
then sending you that data. Anyone watching your connection will see
that you are only connected to a VPN, and that you are sending
encrypted data. The website cannot know who you are, because you are
not making the request, your VPN is! In addition, the data being sent
to the site and the data sent to you are encrypted! And because the
data is being routed through the higly secure VPN, anyone that
actually operated the VPN (setup properly) cannot know either!
As a result, VPN's allow a user to
bypass everything from censorship restrictions to geographic
restrictions. You can connect to virtually any websites that are on
the web, because you are not requesting the data, your VPN is.
Utilizing a secure VPN, combined with the “Tails” operating
system, and the TOR web browser makes the user as anonymous as the
user can be.
Torrentfreak.com provides an excellent
list on the different VPN providers who take VPN seriously (provided
at the end of article). Lifehacker also did a top five best VPNs out
there, which provide a handy list.
In the following tech post after this
one, I will list some add-ons that can be downloaded by firefox users
that can help encrypt traffic, keep track of your bookmarks, etc.
These add-ons will genrally provide more functionality to firefox and
in some cases keep the user slightly more protected on the web. Make
no mistake however; the only way to stay completely anonymous is
through the methods that were listed previously.
Links:
http://lifehacker.com/5759186/five-best-vpn-service-providers
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