How to Stay Online as Anonymous?

The internet is an integral part of our lives, but it's crucial to prioritize online security to safeguard personal information and prevent cyber threats. Here are essential tips to stay online completely anonymous to enhance your online security and protect yourself from potential risks.

1. SECURE WEB-MAIL WITH EXTENSIONS

If you're using a popular webmail service, such as Gmail or Yahoo Mail, and you don't or can't make the switch to a more secure service, then consider installing Mailvelope. ' Mailvelope' is a browser extension for Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox that brings OpenPGP encryption to your webmail service. Similar extensions exist, such as - SecureGmail, which encrypts and decrypts emails you send through Gmail. Using this extension means the unencrypted text should never reach Google servers. Recipients will need to install the extension in order to decrypt and read the encrypted email.

2. INCOGNITO

This is perhaps one of the most basic privacy options that just about anyone can take advantage of. The top four most popular browsers - Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Safari - have a private browsing mode, which can be found in their respective settings menus. With private browsing activated, your browser will not store cookies or internet history on your computer. This has very limited uses and is perhaps really only effective at hiding your browsing history from your significant other, siblings or parents. Private browsing does not securely hide your identity or browsing activities beyond your local machine as your IP address can still be tracked.

3. DON'T USE SOCIAL MEDIA

The amount of personal data that social networking sites like Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter have harvested from their billions of users is shocking. Head to facebook.com/settings and click 'Download a copy of your Facebook data' and you might be surprised to see just how much information is on file. Everything from who you have poked, what events you have or have not attended and when and where you have logged into your account is logged and saved. Similar levels of data harvesting occurs on all major social media sites. This is the price you pay for using a 'free' service. The only sure-fire way to avoid giving up this information is to delete your accounts entirely. A word of warning, 'deactivating' your account is not the same as deleting it. Deactivating your account is sort of like putting it into hibernation - all your information is stored and can be re-activated if you have second thoughts. Always delete rather than deactivate an account if you wish to completely wipe it.

4. BLOCK AND MANAGE TRACKERS

A large amount of websites track and collect the browsing habits of the users that visit them. These trackers are invisible and most people aren't aware that they're being tracked. ' Ghostery' is a free browser extension - available on all major web browsers - that will reveal these trackers, also known as web bugs. You can then decide which web bugs you're comfortable with tracking you and which ones you'd like to block. In total, Ghostery keeps track of over 1,900 companies. Each company has a profile in the Ghostery Knowledge Library, allowing you to better understand who and why someone is keeping tabs on you and what action you would like to take.

5. ENCRYPTED E-MAIL

Most of the well known and popular email services - Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook - are not particularly privacy-friendly. For full Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encrypted emails, consider signing up to a more secure provider. ' Hushmail' is currently very popular, it provides a private email account with no ads, built-in encryption and unlimited email aliases. A limited free service is offered, with more features available for a monthly subscription fee. However, Hushmail is not above the law and in the past it has been forced to reveal user data to U.S. authorities following a court order. The company also logs user IP addresses. MyKolab - is a similar service that has not revealed any user information in the past, however, they are also obliged to provide access to lawful interception requests so this still remains a possibility.

6. TEMPORARY E-MAIL

Disposable Email Addresses (DEAs) are anonymous and temporary. They allow users to quickly create new email addresses as-and-when they're needed, which can then be disposed of after use. This is particularly useful for avoiding spam when filling in forms on websites that require an email address to proceed. Keeping your real email address away from spammers is crucial to protecting your identity online and DEAs are a great solution. Popular providers of this service include ' Guerrilla Mail' and ' Mailinator' , although there are hundreds out there to choose from. Most DEAs are not particularly secure, so it is not advised to use these services to send sensitive information - rather, use them as a way to avoid giving away your own information in situations where you are obliged to do so.

7. VPN

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are one of the most effective ways to protect your privacy online. A VPN essentially hides your IP address - your unique online identifier - and runs all your online data via a secure and encrypted virtual tunnel, which can keep websites from tracking your online activity or even knowing which country you're browsing from. These days, there are many VPNs to choose from. 'Hotspot Shield' ,'TorGuard', 'CyberGhost' and 'HideMyAss' are some of the more popular ones that are currently available. Most of them require a small monthly subscription fee and they don't all provide the same list of features, so it's worth shopping around for a VPN that suits you.

8. TOR

Originally developed with the U.S. Navy in mind as a way to protect government communications, 'Tor' is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet. 'Tor' anonymity network allows access to the 'deep' or 'hidden' web, where websites can be created anonymously and individuals can communicate privately with each other. When using the Tor browser - which can be downloaded for free from torproject.org - it is very difficult for websites or individuals to track your online activity and location. However, while Tor is quite effective at protecting your online anonymity, it can be slow, complicated and restricting. It's also worth noting that while the network can and has been used for good, it has also been used for illicit purposes, such as selling drugs and distributing images of child abuse.

9. PROXY SERVERA

proxy server is a computer through which your online activity can be processed, essentially acting as an intermediary between your computer and the internet. As such, this can be a great way to maintain your online anonymity as the proxy basically masks your IP address with its own. If the proxy is based in a different country than your own, you can fool websites and trackers into thinking you're browsing from a completely different continent. There are many ways to use proxies and there are various free and paid services on offer. HideMyAss.com/proxy has a limited free web proxy service that you can start using immediately if you'd like try it out.

10. HTTPS EVERYWHERE

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is the encrypted version of HTTP, the technology protocol which determines how web servers and browsers respond to commands and how messages are sent and received. The Electronic Frontier Foundation's (EFF) 'HTTPS Everywhere' is a neat little extension - available on Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera - that forces websites to use HTTPS, even when they default to the less secure and unencrypted HTTP. By EFF's own admission it's still feasible for some attackers to break HTTPS, but it's certainly not a bad idea to install their extension as HTTPS is still far more secure than HTTP and will certainly help to protect your privacy and consequently maintain your anonymity. EFF is a nonprofit organization that seeks to defend civil liberties in the digital world.

11. DESTROY COOKIES

Cookies are little bits of code that are automatically downloaded from a website and stored on your system. Cookies allow websites to quickly and easily remember if you've been there before - if you have, the website may then alter certain variables based on the information that has been stored in the cookie in order to give you a more personalized and potentially useful experience. However, some cookies can be very intrusive, logging information such as how long you've been visiting a particular website, how many clicks you've made and what content you seem to prefer reading. It doesn't hurt, then, to occasionally wipe your system of any and all cookies. Admittedly this won't do a huge amount to protect your anonymity, but it will make it harder for websites to learn and understand your viewing habits. You can delete cookies from within your browser, but to make sure you nuke the lot, you can use an app like CCleaner, which is free and powerful.

12. USE ALTERNATIVE SEARCH ENGINES

Like most people, you probably use Google to search for things online. Google is an undeniably accurate, fast and efficient search engine, however, this is largely helped by its personalized search system. This is a feature that uses your past search history, rather than just relying on the terms you've typed into the search bar, to present you with results that are more relevant to your personal tastes. To do this, Google keeps track of your search habits in a number of ways, including browser cookies. You can turn off this personalized search by clicking Search Tools > All Results > Verbatim. But if you really want to make sure Google isn't tracking your searches, consider using a different search engine entirely, such as DuckDuckGo, which promises never to track your searches and emphasizes protecting searchers privacy and avoiding filter bubble of personalized search results.

CONCLUSION

Staying anonymous online requires vigilance and proactive measures. By implementing these fundamental security practices and staying away from the social media and search engine trackers, you can significantly reduce the likelihood of falling victim to cyber threats and maintain a safer online presence.