Virtual Private Networking VPN service providers - Karl Bode - techdirt

[gadget42]

Virtual Private Networking VPN service providers - Karl Bode -  techdirt

techdirt:
https://www.techdirt.com/2022/04/21/researchers-again-show-how-major-vpns-quietly-undermine-user-security/

consumer reports:
https://www.consumerreports.org/vpn-services/vpn-testing-poor-privacy-security-hyperbolic-claims-a1103787639/

consumer reports white paper(1.6MB-48page-pdf):
(disabled the direct link but easily repaired)digital-lab-wp.consumerreports.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/VPN-White-Paper.pdf

sharing is caring

[chattrhand]

Thank you for this interesting links concerning VPNs.

For private users they are useless, even dangerous, expensive with sticky payment.

The most notable risk is the famous PLoBSaK. Problem Located Between Seat and Keyboard.

A better help are firefox-esr or firefox_getLatest or brave browser  that even has a TOR anonymizer onboard. And the ease of updating tinycore extensions!

The main advantage of TinyCore is the Rundown with No Backup, the most reliable way to kill cookies, webscripts and all the toys that websites place on your computer while surfing. My  .X.d/autostart  places a white exittc with Backup Option set to "No" on my screen.

This is also a way to do online banking, as bank sites require an actual browser with no addons. Therefore I have one "unarmed" tc-installation that must never be used for anything else. I recommend a separate tc-installation for every of your banking accounts with the name of this bank. Use keepassx to hide your credentials.

There is always an clean "unarmed" installation on my stick. Banking installations that have caught a virus are thrown away with  sudo rm -rf  and replaced with a new copy. (don't forget to update!)

For normal use my firefox settings are: tracking protection "strict", password saving "Never", no firefox studies and empty page when opening.
My firefox addons:
- NoScript   to block unwanted webscripts  and/or
- uBlock   to block cookies and that NoScript doesn't
- Idontcareaboutcookies   to accelerate entering a web site avoiding the risk of clickjacking

btw: feel free to move this post to a better place in this forum.

[gadget42]

didn't want to start a new thread so posting these here.

https://blog.cloudflare.com/how-to-augment-or-replace-your-vpn/

https://zerotrustroadmap.org/

modified-20220623-0136-added link

[Rich]

Hi chattrhand

... The main advantage of TinyCore is the Rundown with No Backup, the most reliable way to kill cookies, webscripts and all the toys that websites place on your computer while surfing. My  .X.d/autostart  places a white exittc with Backup Option set to "No" on my screen. ...

You can set the default actions of  exittc  from your  ~/.profile  file.

This is the line that makes it default to running a backup:

Code: [Select]

export BACKUP=1Change the 1 to a 0 and it will default to  No Backup  the next time you boot up.

You can also change the default shutdown behavior by adding:

Code: [Select]

export EXITPROMPT=rebootValid values are "shutdown", "reboot", or "prompt"

[chattrhand]

Hi Rich,
in my .X.d/autostart  script I have two lines that place two exittc rectangles at left bottom corner of my screen, partly overlapping and leaving [sdb1/tceXYZ] free.

export BACKUP=1 ; exittc -g 160x130+50+910 -ti 'MIT BACKUP' -bg grey &

export BACKUP=0 ; exittc -g 160x130+5+850 -ti 'ohneBACKUP' -bg white &

The grey one should appear first, the white one then cover it partly. SHOULD, it doesn't sometimes.
I inserted the alsa sound test lines between, but only a  sleep 1 helped.

.

[Rich]

Hi chattrhand
I'm surprised an ALSA sound test did not provide enough delay, unless you sent that command
into the background too.