This article will give you some keys for secure surfing on the Internet – in minimizing the risks.

You have to think about security and privacy if you do the following :

• Using e-mail to exchange sensitive/private information
• Buying stuff on the Internet
• Bank account transactions
• Do the mentioned tasks above from different computers or places

Basic measures

• Do not communicate ANY sensitive data (IDs, passwords, etc) to anybody else, nor communicate them by e-mail.
• Use strong passwords like – Ya/*12X+25q – , don’t use your telephone number or birthday!
• Surf on the Internet in a user session ONLY !
• Run a firewall in stealth mode
• Update all software on you computer on a regular basis
• Install program(s) to protect you from malware like : viruses, trojans, spyware and rootkits. Scan your computer on a regular basis for malware.

Internet browser

• Use the newest version
• Configure your browser as strict as possible, use eventually an LSO (flash cookie) cleaner plugin and a script blocker like NoScript
• Enable private browsing, this allows you to browse the Internet without saving any information about which sites and pages you’ve visited.

Specific e-mail measures

• Configure your e-mail connection secure, check the presence of https://. Avoid http://

Money related measures

• By stuff only from known, trusted Websites like ebay, Amazon, Priceminister, etc or check if there is a digital certificate like VeriSign or TRUSTe

• Use a specific and restricted bank account for buying stuff on the Internet
• Use the visual keyboard (on screen keyboard) to login

Measures on a remote computer

• Use only the visual keyboard (on screen keyboard) to login
• Use the Tails live operating system. You can start it on almost any computer from a DVD, USB stick, or SD card. It helps you to :
  • Use the Internet anonymously and circumvent censorship. All connections to the Internet are forced to go through the Tor network
  • Leave no trace on the computer you are using unless you ask it explicitly
  • Use state-of-the-art cryptographic tools to encrypt your files, emails and instant messaging

The same article in French