PART VIII ON THE NETPRAETOR.COM OVERVIEW OF THE NINE MAIN CATEGORIES OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WHICH HAVE THE MOST IMPACT ON END USER DATA PRIVACY AND DATA SECURITY THROUGH DAILY USE.
What Is Cloud Storage
If you’re someone who needs remote access to files without having access to your local storage systems, then chances are good a cloud storage solution can be right for you.
Setup properly, cloud storage provides you with the the ability to easily access and share files remotely without having direct access to the local storage device.
This ease of access and flexibility can provide you with time savings through quick accessibility on any device and redundancy through off-site backups and syncing among multiple devices.
As with anything and especially related to information technology that houses sensitive personal information, cloud storage strengths and weaknesses must be considered.
Starting with the bad news first I’ll go over cloud storage weaknesses, of which some are more important than others and can be deal breakers for use.
Cloud Storage Weaknesses
I. Cost
Without a doubt, when it comes to cloud storage you get what you pay for. Simply, a quality cloud storage solution is going to come with additional costs in one form or another whether that be monetary or trading your data.
As I mentioned in my other post talking about Virtual Private Networks (VPN’s), buyer beware when it comes to any information technology device, application, or service advertised as free.
99% of the time that so called free service is free because you are agreeing to give up your data when accepting their terms and conditions.
Whether paying for cloud storage with your currency or your data, taking a close look at the costs charged by any cloud storage provider is essential.
The monetary costs of quality cloud storage which respects end-user privacy can add up quickly if you are uploading and downloading large volumes of files to and from the cloud frequently.
II. Internet connectivity
Easy access to your data can quickly come to an end if no internet connection is readily available. Cloud storage strengths and weaknesses are predominately dependent on the availability of a reliable internet connection.
If the internet connection is good then large files can be accessed efficiently. If the internet connection is bad or non-existent then you could be cutoff from your critical files at inopertune times.
III. Support and Data Security
Cloud storage providers are not known to provide the best customer service and support. For example, in some cases it can be by design due to the employment of end-to-end encryption. Without access to the encryption keys a cloud storage provider simply can’t provide support to data it cannot access. In those cases the responsibility of file maintenance and recovery is shifted to the customer.
If you’re reading this blog chances are good you care about the privacy and security of your data. If that’s the case then the potential issues posed by end-to-end encryption are actually a good thing and can be mitigated if the right steps are taken when you choose to employ it.
Rather than gambling with the grey area of wondering who is responsible for making sure your files in cloud storage are secure, why not take ownership and accept the stewardship of managing your own data?
Cloud Storage Strengths
I. Costs
Cost is tied to both cloud storage strengths and weaknesses. As noted above the monetary and privacy costs of cloud storage can be a major weakness.
However, with the cost of purchasing suitable quality physical storage rather expensive, especially for large volumes of files, reduced monetary cost of cloud storage can be less expensive per gigabyte or terabyte than using external drives and other storage solutions.
II. Accessibility
In addition to monetary cost savings over physical file storage, cloud storage provides access to your files from anywhere an internet connection is available.
Imagine getting pulled over for accidentally rolling past a stop sign. Thats already a position you don’t want to be in, however making matters worse you realize you left your wallet with drivers license at home. Not only have you failed to stop at a stop sign, now you’re driving without your license.
Given that most people are more likely to leave a wallet or purse at home than their smart phone these days, if you happen to keep a scanned copy of your drivers license syncd in the cloud you could at least produce a copy of your drivers license via the cloud storage application and hopefully mitigate additional problems.
III. Recovery
An additional benefit of storing important files in the cloud is redundancy and the ability to recover important files in the event of a hard drive or device failure. Files stored in the cloud are backed up and reduce the risk of physical storage failure.
IV. Syncing Devices
The best cloud storage providers will do more than just protect your data at rest in the cloud with end-to-end encryption, they will protect your data in transit as you upload and download files with end-to-end encryption as well. In addition to that, a great cloud storage provider will allow for an option that synchronizes your files across multiple devices.
The way syncing works is when you make changes to a file on one device, it will then automatically cascade those changes through the cloud to all the other linked devices as well.
For example, going back to the drivers license scenario above, let’s say you finally made a decision to store a copy of your drivers license in the cloud the day you go for a drive and roll through a stop sign, thus getting pulled over.
If you uploaded your drivers license to your cloud provider from your MacBook Pro prior to leaving the house that day and your settings were configured to automatically sync with the application on your iPhone, its that syncing ability which allowed you to access your drivers license copy later that when you got pulled over and realized your wallet was at home.
That example is just one of the many benefits of syncing files through cloud storage.
V. Security
Not all cloud storage providers are created equal. The best cloud storage providers carefully weigh cloud storage strengths and weaknesses and will enhance the strengths while reducing the weaknesses.
Only the best cloud storage providers add additional layers of security to their services. Again circling back to the drivers license scenario above, you would only want to store sensitive documents like a drivers license on a platform offering the best security with zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption.
Ensuring that your files can only be accessed by you or individuals you designate is best achieved by only using cloud storage offering zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption. This will help to prevent your files being accessed by someone you didn’t authorize.
Cloud Storage Strengths and Weaknesses?
Having reviewed the main elements of cloud storage strengths and weaknesses here are the three cloud storage solutions earning a NETPRAETOR thumbs up broken down by best use case.
Large volumes of data to back up with end-to-end encryption
PART VII ON THE NETPRAETOR.COM OVERVIEW OF THE NINE MAIN CATEGORIES OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WHICH HAVE THE MOST IMPACT ON END USER DATA PRIVACY AND DATA SECURITY THROUGH DAILY USE.
What is collaboration tool software?
Collaboration tools are applications designed with the purpose of enabling people to work together efficiently and securely across audio, video, text, and data transfer channels.
Some reasons for using collaboration tools may be focused solely on a specific channel such as text messaging or video, for example.
Whether for business use with colleagues or personal use with friends and family, if you’re in the market for a specific collaboration tool or uncertain why you need one in the age of COVID19, then continue reading.
No matter the reasons for using collaboration tools one thing is certain, the world as a whole is now seeing the value of staying connected when physical interaction is limited or outright banned as the global pandemic has revealed in such an abrupt and paradigm shifting way.
The 5 best reasons for using collaboration tools below will help you identify the main benefits of online collaboration tools and provide ideas of how you may use them for business and for personal use.
I. Increased security and privacy
There is no doubt, sensitive information is traversing the internet constantly. If you listen to the news even a little, there are too numerous reports to count highlighting data breaches and data compromises from the mishandling of sensitive data.
These compromises can be as simple as an email being accidentally sent to the wrong person or more nefarious acts of not properly encrypted data being intercepted.
Most people do not pay attention to the fact that email communication is inherently insecure. Simply sending emails with sensitive information or attachments is like sending a postcard through the mail with your medical history and tax ID number written on it.
For those reasons it is of paramount importance that only the best collaboration tools are selected to ensure your privacy and the privacy of those whom data you handle.
Collaborating from an encrypted and centralized location with only authorized individuals can protect sensitive information.
II. Travel cost savings
Even before the COVID19 pandemic spread across the globe many businesses and individuals were looking for ways to collaborate remotely in an effort to reduce expensive travel and lodging costs. The COVID19 pandemic has brought a lot of attention to the very important role collaboration tools have across the world.
Eventually when the world fully reopens from the global shutdown, traveling both for work and for fun will resume. When it comes to business travel for meetings, adding up the cost of transport, lodging, and dining out can prove to be very expensive.
Corporations and small businesses alike have valid proof of concept regarding the widespread success and acceptance of empowering remote workforces. The cost savings alone are one of the many reasons for using collaboration tools, now and into the future.
III. Reduction in the number of collaboration software tools used
Selecting the right collaboration tool for the job can mean the difference between more time spent on progress towards profitable goals or wasted time spent troubleshooting issues and dealing with data compromises.
A great collaboration tool will allow for the secure centralized use of many applications from one place, instead of having to sign-in to multiple different applications during a session.
IV. Collaboration in real-time
Simple emails may have been fine in the past, especially when they can be followed up in-person by walking over to a colleagues desk or office. With remote working arrangements quickly becoming the rule rather than the exception, the lack of physical interaction is another one of the many reasons for using collaboration tools.
In this case, collaborating in real time with the right tool allows for audio, video, text, and document sharing among many individuals at one time. This real-time centralzied approach can prove much more productive than tracking document updates via email and provide instant feedback.
V. Increase productivity
Aside from being the next best thing to in-person interaction under global lockdown orders, a boon to productivity is another one of the many reasons for using collaboration tools.
Increased productivity is inherently fostered by excellent collaboration tools. They allow only authorized individuals access to all the information they need in one place. Cutting down on time spent searching for documents can add up to a lot of time saved.
5 Best Reasons For Using Collaboration Tools
Various factors need to be considered before selecting collaboration tools and implementing them. In this post you just read about the 5 best reasons for using them.
Here are the top NETPRAETOR recommended collaboration tools, each earning a coveted NETPRAETOR thumbs up and broken down by best use case.
PART VI ON THE NETPRAETOR.COM OVERVIEW OF THE NINE MAIN CATEGORIES OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WHICH HAVE THE MOST IMPACT ON END USER DATA PRIVACY AND DATA SECURITY THROUGH DAILY USE.
Pandemic Communications
Communications permeate all facets of life and influence it for worse or for better. In the current COVID-19 pandemic era which all of us have suddenly found ourselves unwillingly thrust into, communications (especially electronic) are now more paramount than ever. Citizens in the Untied States and other western countries are seeing their personal rights to assemble temporarily suspended due to these extraordinary circumstances, among other infringements that will be up to the history books to decide.
Additionally, many individuals whose jobs afford them the opportunity to work from home are now doing so, while leveraging technology to stay synchronized with their disparate colleagues. Unfortunately for the many individuals who have been affected with jobs on on hold, essentially hanging in the balance, or let go entirely are also faced with having to leverage emails more frequently.
Email is a very useful method of communication and file sharing which is perfectly suited during shelter-in-place orders such as what most of the world is experiencing right now.
Useful Email, Inherently Unsecure
As great of a communications tool that email is, many people unfortunately have been using personal email accounts over the last two-plus decades without a second thought as to its dangers, of which, there are many.
Thankfully, as time has passed privacy advocates have risen to the challenge of solving the many problems inherent with basic free email services resulting in a growing list of options for all of us!
ProtonMail and Tutanota are the two leaders providing free and paid secure email accounts right now. This post will discuss their many features and benefits while seeking to answer a growing question. ProtonMail vs Tutanota, which is better?
Additionally, it’s understood that many people are fully entrenched with their legacy Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook (previously Hotmail) email accounts to name a few. This post will also seek to answer the question is Gmail secure when used with Apple Mail or Thunderbird email clients?
Legacy Email Providers
You may be wondering why the term “legacy” is being used when speaking of Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook (not the email client) email accounts? NETPRAETOR believes the future of personal email accounts rests with the likes of ProtonMail and Tutanota as will be discussed later in this post.
For now please understand that when “legacy” is used in this post it means an email provider who does not offer end-to-end encrypted email capabilities for emails in transit. Essentially, your emails in transit are either sent in the clear (unencrypted) or (if encrypted) a third-party can decrypt the contents of your email.
It also signifies an email provider that does not provide end-to-end encrypted security for emails at rest. Meaning employees from any of the aforementioned companies can fully access the content of your emails sitting in your inbox, sent folder, junk folder, or trash folder for their own internal purposes or in response to third-party requests.
Is Gmail Secure When Used With Apple Mail or Thunderbird?
Don’t get me wrong, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Outlook Mail (again, not the email client) are fully featured and reliable email accounts. I actually still use Gmail and Outlook Mail in limited capacities with a full understanding of their insecure weaknesses. When I do I also happen to use them both with Apple Mail and Thunderbird depending on the platform being used.
Using a legacy email such as Gmail with the Apple Mail client or the Thunderbird mail client is one of the few advantages (trading security for convenience) they have over the new generation of secure email providers like ProtonMail and Tutanota.
That final advantage of the legacy providers is fading fast as both ProtonMail and Tutanota create innovative ways to integrate their email accounts with well established email clients like Apple Mail and Thunderbird while not having to trade security for convenience.
The question of is Gmail secure for example, when accessing through Apple Mail or Thunderbird is not completely black and white. From the NETPRAETOR perspective the short answer is no due to all the legacy attributes as noted above.
However, for an intermediate to advanced technology aficionado there are creative ways to achieve end-to-end encrypted Gmail’s. I will provide a how-to guide in a later post taking you step-by-step on obtaining an S/MIME encryption certificate from a company like Sectigo, pairing it to your Gmail account and loading it to either Outlook or Thunderbird. That process achieves two things.
I. All future emails you send can be digitally signed, thus providing assurance to recipients that your emails are authentic.
II. If a recipient of one of your digitally signed emails has their own S/MIME encryption certificate loaded into their own email client, you can then begin end-to-end encrypted email correspondence.
To go through this process for secure Gmail is cumbersome at best and you can see why it would take a technology aficionado to have the patience or desire to go through all the necessary steps to implement it.
ProtonMail vs Tutanota
With respect to ProtonMail vs Tutanota its refreshing to see security by design and not as an afterthought. What takes about an hour or more to achieve in securing a Gmail account with an S/MIME certificate loaded into Outlook or Thunderbird, takes less than 5 minutes to setup either a ProtonMail account or Tutanota account.
Both ProtonMail and Tutanota each deserve their own post in order to go over each of their unique nuances and will happen at later dates. However to answer the question of which is better ProtonMail vs Tutanota, the thumbs up would have to go to ProtonMail.
With both ProtonMail and Tutanota you’re going to get the capability for secure emails encrypted in-transit and encrypted at-rest. Employees from either company can’t access client emails even if they wanted to. Where ProtonMail takes a slight lead over Tutanota is when it comes to some of their bundled products that come with paid packages. For example, ProtonMail has also rolled out a full featured no-logs VPN as discussed in my previous post on VPN’s.
In summary, legacy email accounts still serve a purpose and there is no need for an exodus from them. However if you’re looking to use newfound free-time to enhance the security of your communications which have just become an ever more critical cornerstone of our lives due to being stuck indoors while under austere social distancing measures, you can’t go wrong with either ProtonMail or Tutanota.
What do you think? Are there any other email providers you would recommend or do you believe Tutanota deserves the thumbs up over ProtonMail?
PART V ON THE NETPRAETOR.COM OVERVIEW OF THE NINE MAIN CATEGORIES OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WHICH HAVE THE MOST IMPACT ON END USER DATA PRIVACY AND DATA SECURITY THROUGH DAILY USE.
Private Search Engines
Across devices and operating systems, much of the worlds online
activity is funneled through just a few channels known as search
engines. The best analogy for search engines can be understood by
fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Thor movies or comic books.
Think of search engines as the character Heimdall the gatekeeper, his
character has visibility into the universe and nothing passes by his
line of sight without noticing. Queries into search engines function
the same way and nothing escapes their line of sight.
Boil it all down and
Google leads the way with roughly two thirds of all search queries,
while Bing picks up most of the remaining third of global traffic. Of
the small percentage of search engine market share remaining, there
is a handful of search engines competing in that space. Former search
engine leader Yahoo, along with Dogpile, StartPage and DuckDuckGo,
along with many others all operate in this limited space.
Search Engine Competition
From this crowded and small slice of the search engine pie come the two NETPRAETOR recommended private search engines, DuckDuckGo, and StartPage. Of these two private search engines DuckDuckGo has the potential to actually breakout out of this limited space and compete with Bing in terms of search query volume. Part of their success has come from a major endorsement by Apple as part of their privacy awareness campaign. Additionally, DuckDuckGo is more than just a search engine, they are actively educating people about data security and data privacy with their own data privacy campaign.
DuckDuckGo
Instead of
monetizing an individuals entire online activity through user
identifiable tracking across websites and search queries like Google.
DuckDuckGo does not track users across websites or search queries,
nor do they retain user identifiable information. DuckDuckGo simply
serves their users ads based off of each unique search query while
maintaining user anonymity. As more and more individuals realize the
value of maintaining their online privacy, DuckDuckGo has the
potential to change the way search engines make money to the benefit
of end user privacy.
StartPage
For individuals who have been using Google as their primary search engine for many years StartPage is a great alternative. This search engine actually sources their queries from Google and produces their results with all of Google’s tracking elements removed. They can be summed up as a Google proxy service and achieve it by paying Google to remove the trackers. Like DuckDuckGo they monetize in other ways that don’t involve profiling and storing data on their users while advocating for privacy rights.
2 Private Search Engines That Don’t Follow You Around?
Using private search engines like StartPage and DuckDuckGo combined with other NETPRAETOR recommendations can go a long way towards improving data privacy and data security.
Do you think these are two of the best private search engines? Leave your comments below.
Part IV on the NETPRAETOR.com overview of the nine main categories of information technology which have the most impact on end user data privacy and data security through daily use.
Private Web Browsers
Since the mid 1990’s computer web browsers have been in widespread
use, allowing an ever growing segment of the worlds population access
to data stored among the global network of interconnected servers and
computers comprising the internet. As operating systems have evolved
from consumer desktops, to cell phones, tablets, watches, and TV
hubs, web browsers have evolved right along with them.
Like the operating
systems these web browsers function on, there are a myriad of
web-browsers to choose from. In 2020, well over 50% of the world
population accesses the internet using web browsers across all the
above mentioned devices. That amounts to more than 4.3 billion people
accessing the internet, which translates into incalculable amounts of
data being generated, retained, and commoditized by obscure and
unknown data brokers.
Web browsers,
combined with their underlying operating systems and auxiliary
software in use, such as VPN’s, play a critical role in how much
data is, or is not pumped into the all-data consuming abyss that is
the internet.
Of all the web browsers available NETPRAETOR recommends the following private web browsers.
I. Firefox
II. Safari
III. Chromium
Firefox, Safari, and Chromium by default are not inherently the most secure or the most private web browsers. However, all three of them can be configured for very robust security and enhanced privacy when combined with the NETPRAETOR recommended operating systems, VPN software and other best practices.
The NETPRAETOR methodology used in selecting these three private web browsers focused on the following areas.
I. Overall usability and compatibility to cleanly render websites
II. Current or prospective browser fingerprinting countermeasures (tracking via cookies is easily mitigated, browser/OS fingerprinting is the next evolution of tracking internet activity and is more invasive than cookies)
III. Customization for a variable threshold of data privacy and data security postures
With that criteria in place here is a breakdown of the three recommended private web browsers.
Firefox
The lineage of
Firefox dates to the creation of the Mozilla foundation back in 1998.
The Mozilla foundation is a non-profit organization which promotes
open source software and end-user privacy. In terms of browser
market share, Firefox comes in at a distant second to the Google
Chrome web browser. Although second in user market share, it ranks
number one as a NETPRAETOR recommended web browser for data privacy
and data security.
In terms of compatibility with the vast majority of websites, it would be hard to find a website that renders in Google Chrome and not in Mozilla Firefox. Firefox is fast at its job of accessing website and secure due to regular patches. Additionally, Firefox is one of the few open source browsers that has compatibility across multiple operating systems and devices. Someone with an Apple iMac desktop, a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon and a Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G smartphone could use Firefox on each device. If enabled, Firefox Sync would allow all their bookmarks to be available and up-to-date on each device as well.
Those elements
combined with its open source code for transparency and deep browser
history dating back to the earliest days of the internet, make
Firefox the first and best choice for privacy minded minded
individuals.
Additionally,
Mozilla Firefox is spearheading the initiative to make the Internet’s
Domain Name Service (DNS), which is the final insecure frontier of
the internet, secure. This is a topic to be covered in a future post,
however in summary, Firefox is changing the DNS landscape of how
devices communicate with these DNS servers.
Just like there has
been a major push in the last decade for all websites to encrypt
their internet traffic from the browser to the web server by
migrating from ‘HTTP’ to ‘HTTPS’. There is now a growing and
similar push to encrypt the top level traffic a browser initiates to
the DNS server which translates website names into their actual I.P.
address numbers. In the case of Firefox, they have built into their
network settings the ability to enable ‘DNS over HTTPS’ which
encrypts the top level communications a browser initiates before
being forwarded to the web server requested in the address bar.
Overall, this feature is a good direction towards enhancing data
privacy and data security.
Finally, there are
many advanced settings that can be configured and customized.
However, if customized to far, it can cause Firefox to lose is
reliability with rendering websites. Absent, any extreme
customization causing instability, Firefox is the premier web browser
for data security and enhanced data privacy combined with its
multi-platform compatibility.
Safari
As mentioned in Part I of the NETPRAETOR series on information technology which respects end-user privacy, Apple and its line of MacOS derived operating systems is the recommended eco-system of devices for privacy minded individuals. The Safari browser is exclusive to the MacOS eco-system and while it is a closed source browser, it ranks number two as one of the NETPRAETOR recommended private web browsers.
With the Safari web
browser, Apple has built in browser fingerprinting countermeasures
that help to reduce the privacy threat posed by that form of invasive
tracking. Additionally, what Firefox does in terms of cross-platform
compatibility, Safari far surpasses when multiple Apple devices are
in use. Although Safari is limited to Apple devices only, it works
flawlessly, and secure across, iMac’s, Macbook’s, iPhone’s, and
iPad’s and Apple Watches. Depending on how iCloud is configured, as
much information, or as little information, as an individual wants
can be synced across all devices.
Website rendering
and compatibility are on par with both Firefox and Chrome. Unlike
Firefox, Safari does not have features to configure DNS over HTTPS
(DOH) at this time. That being said, if one of the NETPRAETOR
recommended VPN’s are being used, they automatically route all
device traffic including DNS traffic through their encrypted VPN
servers for the ultimate level of data security and data privacy.
Chromium
Google’s Chrome
browser with its proprietary closed source elements is derived from
its open source experimental browser called Chromium. Although it’s
considered an experimental or developmental browser it sees
widespread use among the open source operating system crowds who run
various distributions of Linux and BSD.
If many of the
telemetry gathering and privacy infringing features are turned off,
Chromium is a very fast, stable, and secure web browser which also
has access to many of the Google Chrome extensions that and tailor
the browser for various purposes or features.
Additionally, like Firefox, Chromium is experimenting with DNS over HTTPS (DOH) and is at the forefront of helping to secure the last wild west (insecure) frontier of the internet.
For those reasons Chromium has earned a spot among the top three private web browsers.
3 Best Private Web Browsers in 2020?
This concludes the review Firefox, Safari, and Chromium, the 3 NETPRAETOR recommended private web browsers in 2020? What are your thoughts? Feel free to share below.
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