J. R. Swab

Web Browsers To Increase Privacy & Security

Categories: [Technology]
Tags: [security], [privacy], [open-source]

Web browsers are our gateway to the internet but with so many choices how do we know which is best for us? Being a big nerd, I tend to hop around from browser to browser looking for what fits me. I want the application to not get in the way of serving up pages while allowing me to customize the privacy to suit my desires. Some browsers come with privacy backed in, and others need a bit of an adjustment.

If you are interested in a ton of information about staying private online to increase your security check out privacytools.io

Tor

Tor is by far the most privacy respecting browser anyone can use at the time I write this article. Loading websites do take a little longer than a standard web browser since Tor jumps through a lot of nodes to keep your origin private. This browser has come a long way since the first day I installed several years ago. It's modern, sleek, and comes with privacy-enhancing add-ons by default. These add-ons include HTTPS Everywhere and NoScript. HTTPS Everywhere forces the browser to connect to a site over TLS to ensure that you use the secure connection. NoScript blocks all JavaScript from running when you load a webpage. If the page cannot load without JavaScript, the addon may be disabled temporally to view the content.

If you don't mind waiting an extra second or two when loading a webpage and want the extra security, this is your best bet.

Firefox

Firefox is ranked second on PrivacyTools.io and is my daily driver when it comes to browsing the web. The reason I use this over Tor is that I don't always want to sign into my accounts every session (cookies are lovely when used correctly). The latest version of Firefox comes with the ability to containerize your tabs into groups. Using this container feature lets us put all our social media into one container, our banking in another, and personal stuff in yet another.

The number of containers you can set up is not capped as far as I cant tell.

With the Firefox created Multi-account Container addon you can default specific sites to open in one container or another. This way you can utilize the cookies each site has without them mixing with others significantly reducing adds and social media following you around the web.

Other Great Security Enhancing Add-ons:

• Bitwarden
  • An open-source password manager.
  • Lets us generate a new password for each site.
  • Make sure to use the diceware method to make this apps password
• Cookie AutoDelete
  • Deletes cookies after leaving a webpage.
  • We are able to whitelist sites.
  • This works great with the Multi-account Container addon by Firefox.
• Ghostery
  • Blocks trackers
  • Block Ads
• DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials
  • Shows how much a site can be trusted.
  • Force sites to use encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS).
  • Stops advertisers from tracking us.
• Decentraleyes
  • Evades large delivery networks (CDNs).
  • Complements regular blockers like Ghostery
  • No configuration required.
• Disable WebRTC
  • Easily disable WebRTC (no need to edit Firefox settings).
  • Toggle WebRTC back on/off by clicking the add-on's icon.
• HTTPS Everywhere
  • Force sites to use encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS).
  • No setup needed.
  • Created by the Tor Project and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

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