How To Use Google Safely?

Posted by Batool Shamim (1) Comment

Who is your best buddy online? Certainly, it is Google. But, There is a private-us that we want to hide from Google, right? How about those searches that you do and don’t want anybody to know about them? And what about all that sensitive information stored in your Gmail and other Google accounts?

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Yes may be all that information is of no use to Google but still a determined hacker can easily get his hands on all that information and he can use that for his purposes.

Google has and will have records of everything that you do online but if we do those things with proper care and take some precautions, then you can keep Google as your best friend and still hide yourself from Google. Well, here is a guide reflecting all the security measures necessary to help you hide yourself from Google:

Key:

Defcon 2; security measures under this heading are good for average person and provides a good defense against general attacks.

Defcon 1; security measures under this heading are advanced and good against determined hackers; moreover these techniques may also use third-party tools.

You can have a good look at both options and decide what suits you and what will suit your grand-ma computer.

Google Knows What You Searched last Summer! Hide Your-Private-Self

If you bother to see ‘Google Web History Page’ – you will be shocked to see all the records of your searches while you were logged in to your Google account and these are stored from years by default. No wonder if you find some entries which you don’t want to share with anybody.

Defcon 2

Yes, one can easily hide your searches through web after logging out of your Google Account. But, safe bet is to unsubscribe ‘Google Web History’ service from your Google account settings, and permanently hiding your searches from Google.

Now there is none search records associated to your ID in Google database but Google will still store history associated to your IP. Although this won’t be of any use to Google but a determined person may use it and work his way to you. So, remove your custom or entire history from Google Account settings and moreover you can also put this feature on pause for any search you don’t want to leave tracks of.

Defcon 1

A determined person can use Google server Logs associated to your IP to reach you. To counter that you can use web anonymously by using Anonymizer, Tor or Phzilla Firefox extension. What this will do is – use proxies to prevent any searches to direct back at your Computer by straying in various place and cities.

Google Has Eyes Everywhere; How to Hide Yourself?

Since Google use cookies to save your logs and status associating different services moreover, some cookies are also stored in your hard disk. Hence, Google can use those logs and info from your hard disk too. Moreover services owned by Google like double-click, an ad service, also help Google to keep track of visitors as they browse different websites.

So, by all that information Google can easily figure which site you have visited and at what time you visited. Of course, you can hide all that from Google too.

Defcon 2

By setting up your browser you can block all third-party cookies storage. And if some site or you want a site to store cookies you can easily add it to exception. Hence, removing previously stored cookies also makes sense – previously stored cookies won’t delete themselves just by blocking new ones.

Double click service! You can’t avoid cookie stored by this service unless you installing opt-out cookie. Care is to be taken when you install opt-out cookie, whenever you delete all cookies stored, opt-out cookie will also get deleted. A ‘How-to Install’ for opt-out cookie is provided by Google.

Best Way is to use the ‘Incognito mode’ or ‘start private browsing’ feature, depending on your browser. Almost all popular browsers have private browsing feature. When you end the session, Incognito feature will erase all the history and cache. This is an effective method not only to hide yourself from Google moreover from any other person who uses that computer, only if you remember to click that mode.

Defcon 1

Safest bet is to completely block the ads and scripts. Ad blocking Add-ons are available for almost all browsers like AdBlock or Adsweep. This may turn some sites unusable but that can be countered by allowing that junk on specific sites.

What about script that get load by some ads hence providing path to third parties for peeking in your system? Well you can easily turn the Java and other scripts from security settings in your browser or ‘No Script’ a Fire Fox add-on can be used.

Don’t Trust Your Sensitive Information On Any System

Since Google has all of your data and tracks of every thing that you do, it’s no wonder Hackers are after Google. Not possible? Yes it is, even though Google has best geeks and techies working for them but still in December 2009 some intruders were able to get in Google’s inner network.

These intruders got their hands on some valuable source code and some personal info about a Chinese human-rights activist. So, what happens if an outsider gets hand on your valuable information?

Defcon 2

“If it’s absolutely critical intellectual property, don’t use [online] services,” said Mark Kadrich, CEO of The Security Consortium. Hence, one has to understand that no system is 100% safe, doesn’t matter it belongs to whom. Make wise choice about what you can afford sharing with Google because if someone, like some corporate or government agent, get their hands on your sensitive info what can they do with it.

Defcon 1

Encrypting all of your sensitive data and emails – will be an advanced-step towards hiding yourself from Google. It can be easily done by using either Firefox extension, FireGPG or PGP desktop home from PGP corp. and its open source relative GnuPG, but you will have to insist others to send you emails via same encryption or all you see will be plain text .

Dont Leave Your Security On Passwords

Your Google password is key to your sensitive information. And simple, easy to remember, passwords can easily be guessed by using simple tools. Well we don’t only setup easy passwords but we keep one for dozen sites right? So these passwords are easy to guess and any one by using simple tools can break in your account.

Defcon 2

Password management programs, like Roboform or Keepass, can be effective since these can generate complex and good combos for your passwords.

Defcon 1

For advanced security one can use multi-factor authorization. Services like MyOneLogin and SecureAuth are effective. These services will enhance security for your accounts by requiring more information for authorization depending on what way you prefer.

Passwords Can Be Good For Nothing

Yes, even after all those precautions and security measures and using complex passwords, passwords can be cracked only if you are not careful. For instance, if you give your private information on a forum designed for this purpose then it’s your fault because you weren’t careful enough to observe the fishy things about that forum, for instance its URL must be the fishier part in it.

Defcon 2

Upgrade your browsers to latest versions strictly if you are using IE 6 because it’s full of flaws. Perform security and malware checks regularly – even on Macs and don’t click on pop-ups no matter how much lottery you will win by clicking, even close them via keyboard using ALT + F4 combo.

Defcon 1

For advanced security one can use sand box, virtual desktop environments or browser sandbox with good security programs. Sand boxes are really a great option to run a program in a secure way. More advanced technique is to set up an isolated virtual desktop via virtualization software’s which will enhance security. Yet, A good firewall with a good security service is necessary along all these precautions to maximize security.

No system is 100% safe even after taking above security precautions. In the end it all comes upon how careful you are about your privacy and sensitive information; for instance, you will have to decide that how much you can afford to share with Google and what would you like to hide from Google.