Security Update – Links & Tips

SecurityHere are some infosec-related resources, tips, and interesting things I’ve come across in the last few days, all of which are related to to cyber security and you. Hope you find this stuff useful.

Edit: Here’s a late-breaker to add to the list:

  • Surveillance Self-Defense is the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s guide to defending yourself and your friends from surveillance by using secure technology and developing careful practices.

 

 

 

Photo by Brad & Ying

Things I have recently quit

images1. LinkedIn. I deleted my profile and completely quit this most useless of social networks. In all the years I kept up my profile and made connections, I got absolutely nothing in return. Even when searching for a job, it was useless. In retrospect, it’s like the Classmates.com of the aughts.

2. Dropbox. First they looked at user files, then they hired Condoleezza (why does her name have two z’s) Rice as their “privacy advisor.” Besides, I wasn’t really using it anyway.

3. Facebook. Again. But then I had to rejoin. It’s a very necessary evil, unfortunately, being in a band and trying to connect to fans, venues, and clients.

Private Security Drones

Send In The Drones
Send In The Drones

They are coming in 2014, according to this. Just imagine what it will be like walking out of the mall to your car, looking up to see a drone checking you out. And you know that sooner or later they will be outfitted with tasers. This is the impending wave of the future.

I look forward to seeing what types of countermeasures will be developed. Could it be something as simple as a TV-B-Gone (which, as I recently learned, is a great gift for 7 and 9 year-old boys)? Or would it need to be something more complex such as a hand-held Electromagnetic Pulse Generator? (I know what I’m asking for next birthday).

Hide Yourself From Social Networks (and others)

Did you know that Facebook gets a report every time you visit a site with a Facebook “Like” button, even if you never click the button, are not a Facebook user, or are not logged in?

That, and more you should be aware of here in this Consumer Reports article.

Priv3 for Firefox will silently prevent the cookies from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ from being installed in your browser, thus protecting you from being tracked everywhere you go online.

Take it a step further and install CSFire to block not only the big four social networks, but any site that surreptitiously makes requests to third parties without your knowing it. It takes a little more management to unblock sites you want to function this way, but it will greatly increase your overall online privacy (and safety).

One of the above, paired with AdBlock Plus and NoScript will go a long way toward keeping you safe online.

 

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