With an early 2011 release of Firefox 4, Mozilla took a step towards allowing the user to opt-out of such tracking by adding a new ‘Do Not Track’ option to their web browser. This feature sends a small bit of header information with each HTTP request, asking that the current website to disable tracking for you. This is only a “request” to not track your activities – websites you visit are not required to respect this request, and until more websites are upgraded to respond to this request, many of the sites you visit will still track you.

In late 2011, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome released similar ‘Do Not Track’ features.

These browser based ‘Do Not Track’ options do nothing more than make a simple request to not be tracked. It does not provide any anonymity, and your online activities can still be tracked by websites and by your internet service provider. For full privacy in your online activities, use an anonymous VPN service and enable Firefox ‘Private Browsing.’ Firefox’s ‘private browsing’ feature keeps browsing history and search terms from being stored on your computer, while an anonymous VPN service will create a secure connection between you and the internet ensuring that your internet activity cannot be tracked or recorded by your internet service provider or by the websites you visit. Check out our article on recommended anonymous VPN tools to keep your web browsing anonymous.

To enable “Do Not Track” in Firefox, click Tools->Options->Security and select “Tell web sites I do not want to be tracked.”

I was looking for a tool to protect myself online in two specific situations — first was being vulnerable using Bittorrent, and the second being vulnerable while traveling and using unsecured wifi hotspots. I needed a reliable way to hide my IP address, to use Bittorrent anonymously, and to secure the web safely and anonymously. After researching different VPN services, I decided Hide My Ass was the one to sign up for.

Installation was quick and easy. The application opens to a nice dashboard. From here you see a list of available servers to connect to, and a connection log. I just entered my newly created password, selected a server nearby, one in Chicago, and hit “connect to VPN.” I then see in the “Connection Log” below, a breakdown of what’s going on – it can’t connect to the server I selected – the remote server does not seem to be responding. So, I switch servers and… presto.. I’m anonymous.

I checked it for myself on whatmyipaddress.org, and sure enough, I had an anonymous IP address. Quickly, I began experimenting — setting my IP address to a German location, and then to one in Panama. I used checkmytorrentip.com to double check that I was anonymous on bittorrent. Sure enough, all of my internet traffic was now being routed securely through Panama. I was untraceable, anonymous. And it was so quick and easy.

When I connected to far away servers, such as the one in Panama, I noticed that my connection did slow – my torrents all slowed to a snails pass. But, once I was going through a server closer to my location, my download speeds appeared average.

One great feature about the program is the “Secure IP Bind” – it allows you to specify which programs on your computer are required to use the VPN. I quickly enabled this for Bittorrent – ensuring that I never use Bittorrent on my regular connection. HMA can also switch IP addresses for you randomly at set intervals.

I think Hide My Ass is a good product. I will be renewing my subscription — and I recommend it!

So how can you protect yourself from this type of hacking?
If you use public Wi-Fi connections, your best solution is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service such as Hide My Ass. VPN services create a secure tunnel for all your internet traffic — keeping you anonymous (with an anonymous IP address) and also protecting you from hackers using Firesheep or other hacking software. Check out Hide My Ass for a web proxy tool as well as professional VPN solutions that are easy to install and use. That should keep you safe!

This three day exercise included teams from the U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, and West Point. During the CDX, network specialists challenge the academy teams to defend their networks against sophisticated cyberattacks.

Check out the Navy Postgraduate Schools’ video on their involvment in the exercise. Also check out the NSA homepage for more video about the CyberDefense Exercise 2010.

To do this, we’ve found SpoofCard. SpoofCard allows you to create fake caller ID, make anonymous phone calls, and change your voice on the phone. You can call someone directly from your phone, and have the caller ID display what you want it to display. You can also disguise your voice, and record calls. They now also include international spoof phone calls.

SpoofCard is similar to buying a calling card. You purchase credits that equate to minutes, depending on where you are calling. 25 Credits (equal to 25 minutes of call time in the USA) cost $4.95.

This is a great tool for anyone wanting to make anonymous phone calls, and to spoof their ID on the phone. Visit SpoofCard.

Private Proxy is a downloadable tool that connects you through and anonymous proxy server. Your IP address is replaced by a proxy IP address — and your IP address is changed automatically every 30 minutes.

Installation of the application was quick and easy. I signed up for a 7 day free trial, and had my software downloaded and installed in just a few minutes. When I first launched the application, I was prompted for a username and password. Upon first connection, my login credentials were rejected. After a few attempts, I was finally able to connect.

I had to make a few changes to my Firefox connection settings in order to start browsing the internet. I was disappointed with the Private Proxy guide to setting up Firefox — it was basically a bunch of notated screenshots that were hard to follow. I didn’t have to make any adjustments to my Internet Explorer settings.

Once I was connected to the proxy servers, I found that I had been assigned a new anonymous IP Address. I did a quick IP address trace, and I found that my anonymous IP address cooresponded to a web host in New Jersey. So, I was certainly surfing anonymously through a proxy server.

I found browsing using the proxy servers only slightly slower than normal. I found video downloads from Youtube to be just as fast as normal. I had some intermitent connection problems. Twice during testing, I lost the connection to the proxy server, and I had to reconnect through the application.

In order to access secure SSL site (https), be sure to check “Auto-detect proxy settings” in the Connection Options of your web browser.

I found the Private Proxy tool light weight and easy to use. Once set up and configured correctly, Private Proxy is a great affordable solution for IP masking. I recommend this product as an easy was to stay anonymous.

Go to Privacy Proxy >>>

How does an anonymous remailer work?

An anonymous remailer is a server that accepts properly formatted incoming email messages and resends them anonymously. To use an anonymous remailer, simply send a properly formatted email message to the email address of the remailer. For this tutorial, we will be using a Cypherpunk [cpunk] (Type 1 remailer). A list of reliable remailers is available here.

How to use a Cypherpunk Anonymous Remailer

• Create a new message in your email software (or using Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.).
• Insert the address of the remailer your are using as the recipient in the To: field. (For the example below, we have used remailer@cypherpunks.to )
• Give the message a subject .
• On the first line of the body of your email, type “::” (two colons).
• On the line immediately following, type “Anon-To: “, followed by the address of the final recipient of your message.
• Leave one black line and then type your message .
• Click send and your message will be sent.

For example, create a new email to be sent to: remailer@cypherpunks.to. Set the subject as whatever you like.
Add the following to the body of the email. Do not include the angle brackets (” > “) in your email:
> ::
> Anon-To: recipient@address.com
>
> Type your message here.

The above example, uses thecypherpunks.to remailer. Once sent, the email will be remailed anonymously by cypherpunks to recipient@address.com. The recipient will not be able to determine where or from whom the message originated.

Some remailers will strip the subject line of the original email. In order to have a subject for the recipient to view, you must specify in the headers section, after ## in the message: Any headers after the ## will be seen by the recipient.

To: remailer@cypherpunks.to
Subject: Testing anonymous email
> Body:
> ::
> Anon-To: recipient@address.com
>
> ##
> Subject: Subject of message
>
> Type your message here.

The above example made use of the remailer@cypherpunks.to remailer. There are many remailers out there, and new ones pop up all the time. For the above examples you will want to choose a Cypherpunk [cpunk] remailer. Other reliable Cypherpunk remailers include:

remailer@dizum.com
anon@deuxpi.ca
mix@remailer.metacolo.com
randseed@melontraffickers.com

View a full list of reliable remailers with statistics.

To receive specific instructions on each remailer, send a message with the subject “remailer-help” to the remailer you wish to use. You will receive back an email with instructions and details specific to that remailer.

Other Variations on Cypherpunk Remailers

To post to a newsgroup, use the Anon-Post-To: field. Your message will look like this:

> To: remailer@cypherpunks.to
> Subject: Testing anonymous newsgroup posting
>
> Body:
> ::
> Anon-Post-To: alt.test
>
> ##
> Subject: Subject of message
>
> Type your newsgroup posting here.

You can delay when a message is resent by the remailer. This can be useful because your mailserver may have a record of you sending a message to a remailer. This information leakage permits possible “traffic analysis.” For example, if someone receives an anonymous message shortly after you sent a message to a remailer it is likely that you are the true sender. This can be solved by asking the remailer to delay before it resends your message. If you use, in the header the Latent-Time: field, the remailer will hold your message for a specified amount of time. Latent-Time: +1:00 would delay the message for one hour. You may randomize this number by adding “r” after the time. Latent-Time: +3:00r would delay the message for a random amount of time, up to three hours.

The body of a message using Latent-Time: will look like this:
> ::
> Anon-To: recipient@address.com
> Latent Time: +5:00
>
> ##
> Subject: Subject of message
>
> Type your message here.

You can use a random delay by adding “r”, for example “Latent-Time: +5:00r” would delay the message for up to five hours. Another method of avoiding traffic analisys is to send empty messages to a remailer. You can use “Null:” instead of “Anon-To:” and the remailer will discard your message.