Source:  The Ultimate Privacy Guide

https://www.bestvpn.com/the-ultimate-privacy-guide/

Ladies and Gentlemen, here it is. We’ve put a lot of effort into this, and it’s very long. We tried to think of every angle in terms of privacy, and the effort was worth it. Almost 13,000 words about how to protect your privacy online. There’s no need to read it at once, just check the index below and click on the parts that interest you.

If you want to contribute, please leave a comment at the bottom!

Update  08 May 2014: in addition to many minor updates, we have included a whole new section on the Heatbleed Bug, have completely revamped the section on Encryption to better reflect the ongoing revelations about the NSA’s concerted attempt to subvert all encryption standards (possibly with NIST help), and have noted the results of the first phase of the ongoing audit of TrueCrypt.

Update 17 June 2014: in a move that is as surprising as it is baffling, the devs behind TrueCrypt have pulled the plug on the popular full-disk encryption program. Conspiracy theories abound, and while some developers seek to fork the software, Phase II of the audit goes ahead. For more details on the story seehere and here. Until the audit is complete, we strongly suggest avoiding TrueCrypt, and migrating TrueCrypt containers to other programs, such as toDiskcryptor  for Windows users, or Dm-crypt/LUKS and bwalex/tc-play (a free TrueCrypt Implementation based on dm-crypt) for Linux users.

Index

Introduction

So how secure is encryption?

·         Encryption key leghth

·         Ciphers

·         NIST

·         NSA attacks on key encryption

·         Perfect Forward Secrecy

·         The takeaway – or So is encryption secure?

·         The importance of end-to-end encryption

·         Metadata

The Heartbleed Bug (change all your passowrds now!)

Use Foss Software

Pay for stuff anonymously

·         Bitcoin

·         Other anonymous payment methods

Anonymise your internet use

·         VPN

·         Tor

·         Other ways to stay anonymous online

Secure your browsing

·         Cached DNS entries

·         Flash Cookies

·         Other web tracking technologies

·         Great browser extensions you should use

·         Block reported attack sites and web forgeries in Firefox

·         Mobile browser security

Use a search engine that doesn’t track you

·         Search Engines that don’t track you

·         Clear your Google History

Secure your email

·         Encrypt your emails using GNU Privacy Guard

·         PGP on mobile devices

·         Encrypted Webmail

·         Encrypt your Gmail

·         Other email precautions

Secure your conversations

·         VoIP with end-to-end encryption

·         Secure your text messages, Instant Messaging and Chat

·         Ditch the cell phone!

Secure your Cloud storage

·         Manually encrypt your files before uploading them to the cloud

·         Use an automatically encrypted cloud service

·         Use BitTorrent Sync Cloudless syncing

Encrypt your local files, folders and drive

·         Use TrueCrypt

o    Auditing the code

o    Mobile options

Use antivirus, anti-malware and firewall software

·         Antivirus

o    Free vs. paid-for antivirus software

o    Some good anti-virus software

·         Anti-malware

·         Firewalls

o    Some good firewall programs

Miscellaneous security hints and tips and tricks

·         Use Linux rather than a commercial OS

·         Use a Virtual Machine

·         Give Whonix a try

·         Password protect your BIOS

·         Secure your Flash Player settings

·         Change DNS servers

·         Use secure passwords

o    Low tech solutions

o    High tech solutions

·         Social networking

·         Avoid all US based services

Conclusion

·         Is privacy worth it?

·         Final words