In the age of social media we’ve all gotten a little complacent about giving up privacy in exchange for convenience. Well… not ALL of us, but the majority of people that use social networks have even if they don’t always realize how exposed they are.
Now I’m not here to freak you out or make you any more paranoid than you already are but… there are times when a little added caution can go a long way to protecting your privacy, keeping you secure, or just warding off any unnecessary embarrassment.
With that, here are 3 of my favorite tools for the security minded geek.
Cyber Dust
You guys have heard me talk about Cyber Dust on Geek Beat Live and I’ve been promoting it every chance I get. For instant messaging, Cyber Dust is a must because the messages you send and receive never touch your device’s hard drive and disappear, er, self destruct… leaving no trace of the message behind.
Messages may include text, images, and video without worrying that they’re going to make it on the web somewhere. So all those embarrassing things you wish you hadn’t texted? Yeah.. there you go.
Better still, if someone takes a screenshot of the message you sent YOU get a notification that it was taken so you can out that person as the rat that outed you if they pass it along to anyone.
Does Cyber Dust really work?
Well, a forensic investigator recently undertook an attempt to see if any messages could be recovered from devices with Cyber Dust installed. He found nada… zilch, except on an Android device where they were able to recover some bits thanks to the keylogger, but nothing from the Cyber Dust app itself.
Forensic review of Cyber Dust – http://prodigital4n6.blogspot.com/2015/01/searching-for-artifacts-in-private.html
Cyber Dust also has blast, list, and group capabilities, so check it out and chat securely. The communities that are building there are pretty awesome too…
I’m working on an in-depth video on Cyber Dust so keep your eyes peeled for that and connect with me on Cyber Dust at +vsellis to be the first to see it.
Cyber Dust is available on Android, iOS, and Windows Mobile.
Tor
Sounds like a monster Godzilla would fight right??
If you’re browsing on your desktop and want to keep things secure, take a look at the Tor browser. Tor directs Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer network of more than six thousand relays to conceal your location and usage from anyone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis.
It would be a mischaracterization to call any tool 100% secure, including Tor, since it does have its weak points at the boundaries of the Tor network but as browsers go it’s solid on security and better than anything else I’ve found. But I still wouldn’t advise using it for posting embarrassing pictures of your co-workers while at work. Just in case…
SpiderOak
That just sounds like a codeword… I like it already!
SpiderOak is a file storage service not unlike DropBox or Box.com, but unlike the others, they have you encrypt data locally before you send it up so no one at SpiderOak, or in between your computer and SpiderOak, have any idea what that data actually is.
Data access is also password protected so your information stays nice and secure.
If you want to store files securely in the cloud, SpiderOak is the way to go and is available on Mac, PC, Linux, Android, and iOS.
Stay Safe Out There
Ok, that should get even the most paranoid among us chatting, browsing, and storing stuff securely. Now of course it’s possible to abuse technologies like this too, and we’re not endorsing any such thing. We just want to make sure you continue to enjoy your right to privacy, even as you post things you probably shouldn’t on Facebook…and Twitter… and Instagram… and Vine, and don’t get me started on YouTube…
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Scott,
I want all of these !!!!!!!!!
MOM
Thanks Matthew. Yeah, Tor unfortunately won’t work in all circumstances, not to mention the sites that still run flash for video but in general, it’s a good option. Sorry to hear hulu was blocking it though.
All great suggestions. I’m firmly in the “It’s not that I’m paranoid, it’s more am I paranoid ENOUGH?” camp. My Dropbox folder is a giant TrueCrypt volume, because reasons.
One caveat with Tor; if you are a Hulu user, they will block you. I even tried just having Tor off when I went to Hulu, but they already had flagged me as a “private VPN user” and put a block on my IP/account. It took about 4 days arguing with customer service to get the block removed, although they promised to block me again if I tried to run their service through Tor.