#lazysecurity

[lazytechsupport]

setting up cjdns/ hyperboria on a few machines was surprisingly painless, even on windows

there’s fuck-all to DO on it at the moment, but if I can keep my brain ticking over and get a few people to join then maybe that’ll change

[lazytechsupport]

Broadband ISPs and mobile operators will tonight offer a collective sigh after the Investigatory Powers Bill effectively achieved Royal Asset to become an

“ At present ISPs need to see a warrant before logging what customers do online (for up to 12 months) and related logs are also extremely basic. By comparison the new law introduces a system that will require ISPs to store comparatively detailed Internet Connection Records (e.g. the websites / servers you’ve visited) for all their customers and this will also be accessible“

Without a warrant. Without probable cause. Every server and site someone in the UK connects to will be logged. They were previously hacking devices illegally to obtain information, they’ve also just made that legal.

“It’s also not just the security services that will have access to ICRs, with the Department for Transport / Health, HMRC, NHS, Food Standards Agency, Gambling Commission and various other public authorities also being able to request the data (see the full list);“

List includes: Department for Work and Pensions (oh you were looking at cat videos at midnight last night? Clearly you’re well enough to work) and pretty much every military, police, fire and ambulance service in the UK.

“[T]he only remaining step is a formality, which means getting the Queen to sign a piece of paper. For all intents and purposes this is now the Investigatory Powers Act.“ 

Fuck this shit.

[lazytechsupport]

And on top of that, there is Signal for iOS, I’ll add that to the post.

[lazytechsupport]

Hello visitors curious about keeping your online actions private!

I like rats, post shit and I know stuff about computers. Feel free to send me questions using the link at the top of the page to send me an “ask”. I’ll reply and it will appear as a new post, or you can click here to see only replies to people asking about that and this post.

[lazytechsupport]

I’m not endorsing anything but software here. Just providing some lazy tech support. Feel free to ask if you need any help.

Reduce the amount your browser tells servers about you:

https://www.privacytools.io/

Tor:

https://www.torproject.org/

Secure chat:

Signal (Android)

Signal (iOS)

Tox (pretty much every platform)

VPN: Both of these accept paypal, prepaid credit cards and bitcoin:

NordVPN (My choice)

Windscribe

Others

2FA (two factor authentication):

Noble but worthless, if the government wants to read your email, they will. They don’t log in like you or me, they get access to the server or put a box in the rack that server lives in and listen to everything it sends and receives.

:edit: A great addition about securing the contents of your mail. 

Self destructing email: 10minutemail (recieve only) GuerrillaMail (allows send)

What the fuck are these things?

Tor: sends your data bouncing around between other people’s computers. It hides where the data came from, but not what you’re sending. The US agencies have their own computers in this network and listen for unencrypted data. It is not a VPN.

Signal/Tox: Encrypted chat programs. They’re not discord but they work. Both operate by sending data directly between users and only using the central servers to check that you’re online or not and let you know you have a message. The message itself is encrypted and sent directly from you to the recipient. Tox allows you to burn a user ID and create a new one whenever you like without tying it to an email address or screen name, but exchanging usernames is a pain in the ass. That’s the price of security.

VPN: A secure private connection between your PC and a server somewhere. Network traffic is encrypted on your PC and sent to the server. Web pages will think it is the server sending the information (people often use this to get around region-locked video streaming sites).

Using a VPN and TOR means your data will be encrypted on your machine, sent to a server, decrypted and then bounced around randomly between computers around the world and then sent on to its destination. Data sent back to you will follow a similar path. Some VPN providers, like NordVPN, even have double-layer and TorVPN options in their clients. All this slows things down, pages can take a while to load, but it saves having your own IP appearing in server logs and giving away your location.

If you’re using these services to hide your activity, never ever log in to anywhere directly associated with yourself in the same session. Disconnect from everything, restart your browser and reconnect before you access any site like Twitter, Reddit, Plurk, Tumblr, Facebook, Amazon, your bank or email. These sites will readily give up information on their users that can tie your “hidden” identity to your real one.