Privacy and ways to protection

1 Abstract
2 Introduction
3 pmrivacy-based browsers
Chromium
Brave
Epic
Tor
Mozilla firefox
DuckDuckGo
4 Privacy search engine
DuckDuckGo
Qwant
Swisscows
5 Information Google and other big companies are tracking users
Why this tracking is an issue ?
Encrypting internet connection with VPN
6 Making communication private
Using encrypted email(s)
Limiting information shared privately and publicly
Be cautious of phishing scam

Abstract
I was inspired to write this post after reading this post by Charles Tim, saw that it will be more useful in our local board.
People gives less concern about their privacy online, like what big companies like Google or sites they visit do with their data. This data collected by big companies like Google or the sites they visit are personal information that shouldn’t be shared with anyone, though big companies like Google or sites they visit never speaks of the fact that there is a possibility of them selling those data to third parties which can use the data to steal from such individual or blackmailing them or any other cybercrime. People should be cautious of the browsers, search engines, VPNs, emails and many others like social media they use and the data they share there.

Introduction
People store their bitcoin and other digital assets and even important business credentials on their phones, tablets and computers without really being cautious about their privacy, such carelessness can give hackers an opportunity to enter into an individual device and steal their bitcoin or other digital assets or credentials. Aside stealing digital assets or business credentials, Hackers may steal really important information of such individual. This among the reason why it is very important for One to be very cautious about their privacy, since we are in the digital age and cyber crime is increasing as day goes by.
People use the internet without the knowledge of reasons for privacy protection. People are using various search engines and browsers that pleases them, accepting every terms from the browsers, sites or APPs they use without ever reading them and also accepting cookies without knowing what they are use for and they don’t even bother to do research to know the dangers of what they are doing. People ignorance on privacy are the reasons their device are being hack or they being scammed.

What are cookies ?
Cookies are data that websites drop on visitors browser storage in order to keep track of where the user have visited on the web. It is use to identify a user on the web, to keep track of visitors like their Log in details ( in order to be use for auto sign in) , presenting webpages just as the user would prefer. The data are collected from the users when they accept cookies, such data include the user location and IP address, personal data like email address and phone number, Log in information, minutes spent on sites, items added to cart and others. There is nothing bad until the sites or browser choose to sell them to third party (though some websites ask for permissions for third party cookies ) which may use it against the user , though the site may even choose to use it against the user, this are reasons why users should read the cookies they to accept before accepting them in order which of their data is being collected, be careful of sites they giving their consent in collecting their data and also try to avoid to site that request for cookies.

Fingerprinting :
this is more recent threat on user privacy on the internet, though user can delete cookies or turn off third party cookies, sites can still track users through fingerprinting which can be stop only when the user get a new device or use a browser that can change the information. This doesn`t need user IP address, it uses javascript to collect details about the hardware and other component of the user device which makes such device unique from every other devices, it generate an ID through this and it is use to track such user activities online.

Privacy browsers
What is Chromium :
Chromium is an open source browser develop by Google, though it is a browser itself but many other browsers are built using its source code, some offer privacy while others are malicious, staling users data, infecting users device with malware and others. The Chromium browser itself offer privacy if one can set it though it has a complex set up and unless you are have advance knowledge it is advisable not set up yourself in order not to accidently make your privacy public. Its update speed is among the fastest because new update are being released almost everyday. The red flag of Chromium is from the fact that though it is an open source Google still has some control over it .

Brave browser :
This is among the most secured browser, though it is relatively new but on default i.e without using extensions, it is a privacy base browser.
Pros
1 Offer protection from fingerprinting, blocks Ad and trackers by default
2 If users accept ad viewing, they earn token called BAT (Basic attention token) which users can use as they please i.e they can choose to withdraw, gift to a content writers or websites or simply exchange for other coins.
3 It is fast just like Chrome since they are built on Chromium and It removes those Google features which obstruct users privacy.
4 It offers a private browsing mode that uses Tor to make users Anonymous.
5 It has a good user interface and offer customizable features and extensions to improve Privacy.
6 ino
Cons
1 It is still relatively new
2 The extensions and customization it offer are few compare to other privacy browsers
3 It is not as transparent as it seems because someone caught them autocompleting URL of certain crypto site with their affiliate link .
4 It is built on Chromium source code
5 Requires KYC to earn BAT token

Epic browser :
This is another privacy browser built on Chromium source code. They their promise on delivering extreme privacy, no Auto-syncing, no Auto-spell and others by default
Pros
1 It blocks ads, cookies, fingerprinting and trackers by default, You can see the numbers of cookies and trackers blocked.
2 Other default features are present like automatically deleting browsing history, no login data are stored and no save links for autosuggestion when typing web address.
3 Uses DuckDuckGo as default search engine
4 It can be customize for your own convenience at the expense of your privacy
5 Built proxy that anonymize users and offer strong protection for users IP
Cons
1 Its blocks RTC calls that can review users IP ( as this can give information about user location and device details) address and this can make it hard for some people.
2 It is built on Chromium source code

Tor browser :
When it comes to being anonymous online Tor browser is the best, it has been consistent in protection of user privacy for long . when changing the settings you should be careful not to compromise your privacy ( changing settings should be done my advance users).
Pros
1 It blocks ads, cookies, fingerprinting and trackers by default
2 When it comes to user privacy Tor browser is the best
3 It uses DuckDuckGo as default search engine

Cons
1 It is quite slow because of the means it use for protection of user privacy which is onion routing
2 It support few majority of extension and users should be careful when changing settings since they compromise privacy (This should be done by advance users)
3 It main focus is user privacy and lacks in some areas of security like not having anti-malware technology and blocks plug-ins by design

Mozilla Firefox browser :
Aside being among the most used browser in world, it is an open source browser and it offer privacy and security to users. It has an enhanced privacy features.
Pros
1 It blocks ads, cookies, fingerprinting and trackers by default
2 customizing extensions can be done easily
3 It has an impressive collection of security features in it add ons
4 It is trusted by millions, since has existed for long and its an open source code
Cons
1 It enable telemetry, pocket and startup profiling data collection which send user usage and performance data to Mozilla by default. Though these can be disable in settings

DuckduckGo browser :
At first DuckDuckGo was only a privacy search engine but it does has it browser now though it has not fully integrated to a browser, it browser is currently available on mobile while for desktops, its still in progress. It mobile app provide private search, website protection, blockers and more.

Other privacy browsers
Mullvad browser
Vivaldi
Freenet
Waterfox
These browser listed can also block JavaScript to prevent fingerprinting but blocking JavaScript makes most websites unable to work or function well since most websites are also built with JavaScript. You can use extensions to make your Chrome and Safari browser to gain some privacy but you should know that using extensions for Chrome is really complex. Get a good knowledge of the extension you want to use because there can be malicious extensions also.
Privacy search engine
Some criteria to know a good privacy search engine include :
1 Doesn`t track user data
2 Has an easy to use interface
3 Search results are delivered appropriately
4 Offer customizable options for users
5 Transparent with users

DuckDuckGo :
DuckDuck is one of the most (if not the most) used privacy search engine, its extension is compatible with Chromium base browsers, Firefox, Safari, Chrome and other browsers. If you are interested in local search results DuckDuckGo is the best. It user interface is similar to google search. They generate income by displaying ads in the right side bar which is still much better than google ads and through small commissions they earn from eCommerce site like Amazon since they may add their affiliate code to the site and then being paid when user makes purchase there.

Qwant :
This is a metasearch engine, it primarily get search results from Bing though it also has it own capabilities of getting search results. It has one of the best user experience with features to narrow search results like news, images, social, or videos though they are not personalized to user preference since it doesn`t store users data . It has products like Qwant Maps, Qwant music, Qwant boards ( similar to pinterest) and Qwant junior ( for kids). It has extensions for Chrome and Firefox and apps available for IOS and Android. One of the ways they earn is through affiliate deals with sites such as eBay and so for some searches these sites may make it to the top of result pages.

Swisscows :
Its based is in Switzerland and it is available in eight language ( English, Italian and Spanish included ). Most of it search results is from Bing since it partners with Bing. It search result delivering system differs from other search engine. No ads since it relies on donations from users and businesses. Swisscows is ideal for family use since it child-friendly by filtering adult content such as pornography and violence. It has a good user interface, users can look specifically for images, videos, or music and some other features. It has additional tools including a translation tool like google translate.
Others
MetaGer
Mojeek
Searx
Startpage
Brave search

Information Google and other big companies are tracking
Personal information
Unique identifiers like IP address
Activity like search terms, time spent on activity
Location info
Getting people from public sources like advertisers
Though the amount of data collected from this areas listed above varies by this big companies, like Apple,they keep mainly data they need to uphold users account and Amazon since they depend less on advertising revenue while companies like
Facebook, Google and Twitter which are advertising revenue dependent collect more data from users. Out of all the user data collecting from big companies google is the most hungry, weather when using Gmail or Google Maps, Google still find ways from collecting users data.

Why this tracking is an issue ?
This companies especially google may customers some positive reasons for collecting their data like for personalisation, while others may not see the ads as an issue more rather as an assistant to get quickly what they want. The fact that it do have a pros doesn`t there are no cons, This users data can be sold sometimes highest bidders and even if they are cautious of who they user data to that doesn`t mean those (the third parties) would do the same and soon the user data would be with some group of people who may use it against such users which might be stealing of such user funds, business documents or Identity or even blackmailing and any other cybercrime. Aside selling their database might be hack and such users privacy would be compromise.

Encrypting internet connection with VPN
A VPN (virtual private network) establishes a secure connection between a user and the internet. A secure VPN disguises users IP address when they use the internet and also secure against external attacks because only the user can access the data in encrypted through the VPN. There are features a secure VPN should have that ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the data transferred to the network. This features include :
1 Secure encryption
2 Open source VPN protocols
3 No logs policy i.e they do not keep record of user activity
4 kill switch ( This automatically disconnects user device from the internet when network drops)
5 DNS leak protection
6 Multi factor authentication
7 RAM-only servers i.e data is deleted from servers on server reboot
8 Obfuscation mode i.e VPNs can get pass anti-VPN technology use by Governments and some websites with concealment using obfuscation and mode.
Some of the best VPNs are : NORDVPN, Express VPN, Proton VPN. Though they also have their pros and cons but you can see them all here

Making your communications private
Keeping your data safe online is crucial. When transfer data on the internet there are trace which attackers can follow to get those data and this should be avoided, so when sending confidential information it is advisable to encrypt them using End-to-end encryption (E2EE) since it is the most secure form of encryption. Though some platform may offer encryption of your information but the kind of encryption they offer may not be E2EE, they may be able to still get the info you passed even when they encrypt them because theirs is not E2EE, some may lie that they do offer E2EE and which they don`t.

Using encrypted email(s)
Top email companies like Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook and others may offer a feature of encryption like transiting encryption which can encryption your data while transiting but not when at rest I.e it can be hack when it get to the receiver end. This feature is also limited i.e they can always do it since they need acceptance from the other mailing service. Though the information using the mailing services like gmail are not encrypted on basic, there are some end-to-end mail services like proton mail

Limiting information shared privately and publicly
The most common place to get information of most people is through Social media. People don`t think about their details they share online filling every bit of details requested by the social media for them correctly and when compiled can form a complete or mini ID for such person, this include ( Name, date of birth, home address, workplace and others). You should try to limit the information you share online if its possible don`t use your name, date of birth or don`t post about your place of work and others. Limiting information shared online is not restricted to social media, there are others like those platform requesting for kyc.
Identity theft is too common and when can see it here from the those fraudsters (Yahoo guys or girls) works they go to social media find a User which as enough info they need online and still his/her identity. Aside this, some identity are stolen by sending their details through direct message, some lost their funds just from the fact that they sent them their login details and also even send verification pin to just because they trust someone they met online.
Be cautious of phishing scam
This has been existing for long and its still growing, more people are still victimized. Phishing scammers attempts to steal login credentials, information about such person/company, money or infect device with malware. Phishing scam are mainly through sending message to possible victims by email or any electronic communication like facebook, twitter, whatsapp and others , also by clicking, visiting or downloading from unsecured sites or sites. It can even be done in this forum and that the reason you see most veteran members usually pressed on the fact that they did not click on some link sent by some users especially Newbies.
Here are some ways to prevent phishing scam
1 Be careful of the site you visit or link you click
2 Be careful of where you download and also who is sending to you
3 When you get emailed or message from e-communication, check if the domain is same with the one you use and know that most (if not all) financial services like banks or exchanges ( like binance and others) don`t request for users to provide their password or 2FA.
3 There are some dangers in using public Wifi through it scammers can be able to send malware to your device, so its better to use a secure VPN when you use a public Wifi.
4 Don`t trust anyone online, be cautious of what you send to others
5 Be careful of the sites you give access to your account like bank details, e-mail and others ( including KYC).
6 Don't ignore system update on your device especially pertaining to your security
7 Be careful of where you store your password and other important documents online and also try to use a strong password you can remember.
8 Install good and trustworthy Anti-Virus don't just go and download any random one because you may lost what you are trying to protect through it.
9 Don't be tempted to click on pop ups they can contain malware
10 Try to have at least a basic knowledge in Cyber security

Keep your phone and simply lock

Cybercrime is increasing fast in Nigeria, people have been victimised when their phone or device is lost or stolen, with sim card even if your phone is locked it still possible for criminals to steal money from your bank account since the sim is not locked, when you using phone locked try to use different passwords especially for your money app like wallet and bank app, also be careful of who you share your password with (Those we trust may have malicious plans against you) pray God separate us from them. Your type of phone matter on the Locked you use Samsung, IPhone and some others has good biometric locked but that doesn't mean all does like Itel. Use the best lock for your device.

Conclusion
Keeping data secure online can not be 100%, you have to find what works for you best. Cybercrime continue to grow so we have to be cautious of what we do online and also when you are searching for privacy, Switzerland, Belgium and others are good because those countries are privacy countries (I.e if you don't want the government to collect your data).