The Anonymous collective has been active for years now, and some of the Anonymous members have been arrested, and some of them are still active whistle blowers. In the last years, various posts were made public that Anonymous has had their best time, and that they were a dying breed.
But we had the chance to talk with some Anonymous hacktivists which have been active for a long while. These Anonymous hacktivists had summed up the following tips for people at home and work to ensure that they remain safe on the internet.
VPN
The USE of a VPN is strongly recommended. VPN’s will allow you to hide your public IP address as it will tunnel your device/computer requests via the VPN gateway. For example, if you are using the IPVANISH VPN, your communication will be send via the IPVANISH servers and it will enter the web via the IPVANISH servers. So the IP which is made public, is the IPVANISH server and not your own private ISP IP.
TOR
Now it is possible to combine your VPN and TOR together so it will add an extra security layer, in overall, TOR is slower, but who cares. We are talking about privacy, one mistake is enough to get you in the hands of “evil” people. TOR is a free to use application, and it is worldwide used by journalist, hacktivists and activists to add an extra security layer to their privacy.
Do not use your own name
Well this one actually speaks for itself. If you are going to be Anonymous on the internet, then we strongly urge you NOT to use your own name. Instead, you can use a name generator which you can find on the web. These name generators will create “genuine” looking names. Just make sure that you do not perform harm via the fake names, as it is illegal in ALL countries.
Do not add your family or friends on your Anonymous account
A lot of people make the mistake, to use their Anonymous accounts to communicate and stay in touch with their families and friends. Your identity can be backtracked via your family or friends, so we strongly urge you not to add those people.
Do not communicate publish privately taken pictures
Pictures can give away your location and even your identity. It is strongly recommended to not publish pictures on the internet which you have personally taken.
Specific email
Use a specific email for your Anonymous activities. Just do remember to use a VPN or the TOR network to create that specific email. GMAIL might be forced by authorities to hand over the IP which has been used to register the email account.
Specific password
Use a new and easily to remember password for your Anonymous account.
Use sentences
It is wise to use a long sentence as your password. In this post you can view a 54 character which takes BILLIONS of years to crack.
Change your password
Make sure that you change your password on a weekly or monthly basis. This will ensure that it will not be breached.
Do not install unknown applications
Avoid applications that you do not trust. Also avoid environments that you do not trust.
Use Linux if possible
A lot of exploits and vulnerabilities are active on Windows operating systems, so those environments are targeted more often. So if you are able to use Linux, then make sure that you use it. This will make sure that a lot of attacks will not work on you.
Avoid public hotspots
Do not connect to public hotspots, and if you REALLY have to, make sure that you do not communicate information via that network which might be used to identify you.
We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.