Some good Firefox addons to use to increase your security/privacy
18 replies, posted
Here are some great Firefox addons that you should be using to increase your security/privacy online: (this post was written with Firefox 6.0.2 in mind)
[release][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/3FmDZ.png[/IMG]
[u][b]Noscript[/b][/u] - Blocks all javascript/java/flash content from running and you set up a whitelist of what sites you want to allow such content from. This blocks malicious scripts from being run in your browser without your permission. [b]You should definitely be using this addon[/b]. Also if you want to use your settings for noscript on another computer/reformat, you can easily export the whitelist over.
[url]https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/[/url][/release]
[release][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/jd9Uc.jpg[/IMG]
[u][b]HTTPS Everywhere[/b][/u] - Are you using a laptop, taking it to places where you use public networks to get internet access? Starbucks? Mcdonalds? College campus? Then you should get this addon. It protects you from eavesdroppers looking to see exactly what you're browsing and from using exploits to grab your usernames and passwords while you're logging in to sites. Basically it forces any site with https capability to use https over http. It supports over 1000 popular sites including google, facebook, twitter, wikipedia, youtube (YT is supposedly not fully supported yet but still works fine for me), and many others. What this addon will do for example is instead of taking you to the regular wikipedia page like this:
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox[/url]
it will instead take you to something like this:
[url]https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Firefox[/url]
Also when you do a google search, it will take you to google's SSL encrypted search results instead of the standard http results. This makes your browsing experience more private (not fully private (i.e images are loaded unencrypted), but a lot more private than it would normally be)
Lastly, in the really unlikely event that this addon causes a problem with you browsing on a particular site, you can disable https connection on that individual site if need be.
[u]Get the addon here[/u]: [url]https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere[/url][/release]
[release][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/F0n5F.png[/IMG]
[u][b]Adblock Plus[/b][/u] - You probably already know what this addon does. If for some reason you don't - it blocks pop ups and ads. Absolutely something you should be using for a better experience surfing the web. It also blocks web trackers- so you don't really need 'Ghostery' addon for that purpose. [b]I strongly recommend you get this addon if you don't have it.[/b]
[url]https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/[/url][/release]
[release][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/GD9uu.png[/IMG]
[u][b]Better Privacy[/b][/u] - You need this for control over LSOs - flash "super cookies" that are quietly saved without your knowledge and stay on your computer indefinitely and never expire. They are used by marketing companies for advertising purposes.
[quote]BetterPrivacy allows to list and manage Flash-cookies, e.g. to remove those objects automatically on browser startup, browser exit or by a configurable timer function while certain desired Flash cookies can be excluded from automatic deletion. So this extension becomes sort of "install and forget add-on".[/quote]
[url]https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/betterprivacy/[/url][/release]
[release][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/0bv9h.jpg[/IMG]
[u][b]Long URL please[/b][/u] - Converts short URLs to their long URL destination. Useful to know what you're clicking on and where its taking you.
[url]https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/long-url-please/[/url]
[url]https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/long-url-please-mod/[/url] - adds more supported short URL services to the addon[/release]
If anyone else has anything they'd like to add, feel free. Also, I left Ghostery off the list because Adblock plus takes care of blocking trackers, but you can use Ghostery still if you want to get more information about the tracker itself.
Good compilation.
Most, if not all of these, have Chrome versions too.
Also, I never thought to look for a short url -> long url add-on before.
Never knew about that Long Url Please
Thanks!
[img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aagwSIIVLGw/Tb5hKHhVnDI/AAAAAAAAAC0/x7YaamVH9is/s1600/KeyScrambler_logo_big.png[/img]
I swear by [url=http://download.cnet.com/KeyScrambler-Personal/3000-2144_4-10571274.html]KeyScrambler[/url]
Good thread, didn't know about some of this stuff.
How could you make a list about privacy without including TOR?
[QUOTE=Nsybouts;32367341][img]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aagwSIIVLGw/Tb5hKHhVnDI/AAAAAAAAAC0/x7YaamVH9is/s1600/KeyScrambler_logo_big.png[/img]
I swear by [url=http://download.cnet.com/KeyScrambler-Personal/3000-2144_4-10571274.html]KeyScrambler[/url][/QUOTE]
How paranoid do you need to be to run that at all times?
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[url]http://www.ghostery.com/[/url]
[img]http://www.ghostery.com/images/Ghostery-Logo.png[/img]
Ghostery is your window into the invisible web – tags, web bugs, pixels and beacons that are included on web pages in order to get an idea of your online behavior.
Ghostery tracks the trackers and gives you a roll-call of the ad networks, behavioral data providers, web publishers, and other companies interested in your activity.
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[url]http://getfoxyproxy.org/[/url]
[img]http://getfoxyproxy.org/images/menu-top.gif[/img]
FoxyProxy is a set of proxy management tools for Firefox. We also offer reliable, high-bandwidth proxy servers in 35 different countries. With these servers, you can:
GeoIP test. Ensure advertising & local content are reaching their intended markets. Dozens of geographic locations available.
Access your favorite video/audio sites (BBC iplayer, Hulu, ITV, Pandora, NetFlix) from any country
Bypass content-filtering in nations & institutions that censor the web for your "protection"
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[QUOTE=kaze4159;32369841]How could you make a list about privacy without including TOR?[/QUOTE]
I actually left it out intentionally for a couple reasons..
1. It's slow as hell.
2. It's not really secure as you might think it is because you don't know who is hosting these nodes and the data coming out of the exit nodes can be sniffed - like your passwords and other sensitive information you're sending across the TOR network that you don't want people to see. (and you don't know who runs these exit nodes, anyone in the world can set up an exit node for others to use)
[quote]Please keep in mind that TOR does not provide end-to-end encryption, and is certainly not a replacement for SSL. It is indeed possible for the owner of a TOR exit node to sniff traffic as it passes back to the internet and glean passwords. You should only use TOR to prevent data profiling or circumvent firewalls, but under no circumstances should you rely on it for security![/quote]
[url]https://sites.google.com/site/clickdeathsquad/Home/cds-torsetup[/url]
3. This quote below
[quote]I think the moral of the story is that any software that is developed by the DoD and then subsequently released into the public domain has the potential to be subversive. In this case I firmly believe, and have for some time, that the Tor network is a DoD/NSA/FBI/CIA sponsored initiative designed to trap idiots. The concepts here are really simple; encrypt -> move through some nodes -> decrypt -> deliver. Once the traffic is decrypted it can be readily sniffed. It's simple stuff.[/quote]
[url]http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/858730[/url]
However if you aren't worried about any of this, then feel free to get the [u]Tor Browser Bundle[/u] (portable, doesnt require install). It has been updated to include firefox 6 in the bundle. If you want to hide your browsing habits, you need to use SSL (like https) in addition to Tor. Otherwise you are vulnerable to exit node sniffing.
[url]https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en[/url]
Your best bet really if you want to be truly anonymous online (if there is such a thing) is to get a VPN that doesn't keep logs, but who knows if they actually do or not, despite what they say. Take a look at this list of VPN providers. (I'm not guaranteeing anything on this list, and some of them may not actually be legit like the site says, just FYI)
[url]http://www.privacylover.com/vpn-and-ssh-tunneling-providers-for-anonymous-internet-surfing/[/url]
All this was kinda outside the scope of my OP because it was intended to just be a few addons to keep Firefox a bit more secure, not necessarily a guide to staying anonymous online.
[b]And while I'm here I might as well take the time to say - don't ever under any circumstances enter your personal information like credit card info, bank accounts login information or anything of the sort through proxies or TOR (and if you have to, then you need to use SSL such as https). This traffic can all be monitored by the people running the proxy/exit nodes. You don't know whose running those connections so don't put in any information you aren't willing to lose (throwaway accounts are fine). Be smart.[/b]
I highly recommend [url=https://lastpass.com/]lastpass[/url]. It saves all your passwords encrypted with a master password on lastpass's servers and the browser addons let lastpass automatically fill in your username and password if you tell it to. It sounds fishy at first but major tech sites approve of it.
[QUOTE=TommySprat;32373505]I highly recommend [url=https://lastpass.com/]lastpass[/url]. It saves all your passwords encrypted with a master password on lastpass's servers and the browser addons let lastpass automatically fill in your username and password if you tell it to. It sounds fishy at first but major tech sites approve of it.[/QUOTE]
I'm a bit apprehensive about using a service that stores my every bit of my sensitive data on a single outside server.. I'd recommend something like Password Exporter firefox add-on instead, to manage my own passwords. This way I can keep all my saved passwords with firefox and when I need to reformat/move to a new computer I can export them (encrypted) and import them back in on my new machine. I feel more comfortable managing my own sensitive data like passwords than having an outside source having all of it in one place.
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[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/EogQB.jpg[/IMG]
Password Exporter 1.2.1
by Justin Scott (fligtar)
This extension allows you to export your saved passwords and disabled login hosts using XML or CSV files that can be imported later.
[url]https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/password-exporter/[/url]
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Lastpass has been around since 2008. Smart people have also analyzed the traffic between your PC and the lastpass servers and found nothing sensitive i suppose. If they did find something lastpass would have a different reputation.
Not an extention, but I use KeePass. Then I stick that on my Dropbox so I can access it anywhere.
Not sure how secure that is because Dropbox has no secuirty, but I figure the keepass database would be strongly encrypted to make up for it.
Ignore the IE badge please.
[QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;32380948]
Ignore the IE badge please.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I will pretend I didn't see that......
It was a school computer and I didn't have my flash drive, honest.
No script is really good at stopping a few scripts on the website that you are visiting. Really good if you need some added security when browsing questionable sites. Then cookie safe to prevent internet monitoring. Then betterprivacy to get rid of super cookies from being kept in your browser history. Though this is all for Firefox and you can get it all on the Firefox addon website.
try using AV1 on the tv so that the wii will work correct
[QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;32380948]Not an extention, but I use KeePass. Then I stick that on my Dropbox so I can access it anywhere.
Not sure how secure that is because Dropbox has no secuirty, but I figure the keepass database would be strongly encrypted to make up for it.
Ignore the IE badge please.[/QUOTE]
[URL=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/keefox/]I use this[/URL]
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