How to attain Online privacy ?

When i was a writer in a hacking forum( now its been shut down due to  government issues) frequently asked question in the help desk category was-

• How to hide my ip ?
  
• How to change my ip?
• Is there any method which is more secure than proxy?
• How to safeguard identity from hackers ?
• How to connect to news sites, instant messaging services, which are blocked by local Internet providers?
• How to get privacy online?
• How to escape from Internet surveillance?

So in this article I will be giving solution to these questions and the most interesting thing is one solution answers all these questions.I am using a anonymity network called Tor (The Onion Router).Which allow me to change my ip address,I can do almost anything online without leaving a trace.

I will explain how to use Tor and take maximum advantage of this network.Lets us read some history about this network and how online anonymity is provided by this Tor network.

Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet. It also enables software developers to create new communication tools with built-in privacy features. Tor provides the foundation for a range of applications that allow organizations and individuals to share information over public networks without compromising their privacy

How to use the tor Network ?

Operating System	Download Stable	Download Unstable	Help
Windows Vista, XP, 2000, 2003 Server, Millenium, 98SE	0.2.0.32 (sig)	0.2.1.10-alpha(sig/sha1)	Install & configure guide
Tor Browser Bundle for Windows (Contains Tor, Vidalia, Torbutton, Polipo, and Firefox)		0.2.1.8-alpha (sig)	Install & configure guide
Tor IM Browser Bundle for Windows (Contains Tor, Vidalia, Torbutton, Polipo, Firefox, and Pidgin)		0.2.1.8-alpha (sig)	Install & configure guide
Mac Universal Binary (OSX 10.4 & 10.5)	0.2.0.32a (sig)	0.2.1.10-alpha(sig/sha1)	Install & configure guide
Mac PowerPC Only (OSX 10.3)	0.2.0.32a (sig)	0.2.1.10-alpha(sig/sha1)	Install & configure guide
Linux/Unix packages Redhat/CentOS, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, SUSE	Linux/Unix download page		Install & configure guide

How to use Tor more effectively ?

1. Tor only protects Internet applications that are configured to send their traffic through Tor — it doesn’t magically anonymize all your traffic just because you install it. We recommend you use Firefox with the Torbutton extension.
2. Browser plugins such as Java, Flash, ActiveX, RealPlayer, Quicktime, Adobe’s PDF plugin, and others can be manipulated into revealing your IP address. You should probably uninstall your plugins (go to “about:plugins” to see what is installed), or investigate QuickJava or FlashBlock if you really need them. Consider removing extensions that look up more information about the websites you type in (like Google toolbar), as they may bypass Tor and/or broadcast sensitive information. Some people prefer using two browsers (one for Tor, one for unsafe browsing). Torbutton provides many features to protect your anonymity. It can be safely used instead of many plugins, such as FoxyProxy or NoScript.
3. Beware of cookies: if you ever browse without Tor and Privoxy and a site gives you a cookie, that cookie could identify you even when you start using Tor again. You should clear your cookies frequently. CookieCuller can help protect any cookies you do not want to lose.
4. Tor anonymizes the origin of your traffic, and it encrypts everything inside the Tor network, but it can’t encrypt your traffic between the Tor network and its final destination. If you are communicating sensitive information, you should use as much care as you would on the normal scary Internet — use HTTPS or other end-to-end encryption and authentication.
5. While Tor blocks attackers on your local network from discovering or influencing your destination, it opens new risks: malicious or misconfigured Tor exit nodes can send you the wrong page, or even send you embedded Java applets disguised as domains you trust.

17 Responsesto “How to attain Online privacy ?”

1. Candra Dotstry says:

   November 9, 2010 at 10:07 PM

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   Reply
2. Smokey says:

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   July 10, 2011 at 5:13 AM

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4. Clemmie Hinh says:

   August 9, 2011 at 1:20 AM

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   September 2, 2011 at 10:31 PM

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   Reply
6. Luis Dey says:

   September 13, 2011 at 11:47 PM

   Thanks for the article and sharing the knowledge and also thanks the blog commitment that give the new ideas.

   Reply