DoH update

 Support for DNS over HTTPS (DoH) in browsers has improved since I last researched it.

In "Brave", it is just a simple click to enable it.

 

For other browsers like "Firefox", you can refer to this link to enable DoH using "OpenDNS".

However, the "OpenDNS" option fails for some sites so I switched to "Cloudflare" instead.

DNS security on Android

 Android has come a long way. I only recently found out that I can define my own DNS settings instead of relying on my ISP's DNS servers which I don't trust to be secure enough.

Whilst my go-to DNS on "Desktops" is "OpenDNS" but it is not compatible with the "Private DNS Mode" in "Android". 

I am using the DNS offering from "Cloudflare" instead. "Google" is an option but do note that you will be surrendering even more information about your traffic to them.  

Easily access the section by searching DNS in "Android" then entering the DNS service's hostname that you want to use into the "Private DNS provider hostname" field. 

Latest "extension"

 Been awhile since I've updated on what useful privacy "extensions" that I use in "Firefox". "HTTPS Everywhere" and "uBlock Origin" I've used for years but "Adnauseam" is a new one.

"DNS over HTTPS"

I've always liked "Firefox" but been using "Chrome" and "Brave" more in recent times. I may just go back to "Firefox" with their latest feature "DNS over HTTPS".
You can enable it from "Network Settings".

Privacy update

Been awhile since I've posted. Not as paranoid as I used to be but still cautious and thus I have 2 new tools to recommend.
I use Brave browser more nowadays because it is built with privacy in mind. However, I installed uBlock Origin plugins for Chrome and Firefox when not on Brave.

Bluetooth

For some strange reason, Bluetooth is always persistently enabled on Ubuntu when you boot up even if you had turned it off in a previous session.

Easy solution is to add the highlighted line to the /etc/rc.local file.

Browser security updated

It has been awhile since I have updated this "Blog" and decided to start by refreshing my list of recommended "Firefox" security addons.

v5.0

I updated the "ubuntuprivacy" script to kill "Firefox" before proceeding to clear your browser history.

#!/bin/sh
echo "\033[0;34mProceeding to clean your system to ensure your privacy.\033[0m"
echo
echo "\033[0;31mWiping Firefox history and cache.\033[0m"
sudo killall firefox
#sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/*.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/addons.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/chromeappsstore.sqlite
#sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/content-prefs.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/cookies.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/downloads.sqlite
#sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/extensions.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/formhistory.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/permissions.sqlite
#sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/places.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/search.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/urlclassifier3.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/webappsstore.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/Cache/*
echo "\033[0;32mFirefox history and cache wiped.\033[0m"
echo "\033[0;31mWiping Trash.\033[0m"
sudo srm -rllv .local/share/Trash/
echo "\033[0;32mTrash wiped.\033[0m"
echo "\033[0;31mWiping Applications history and cache.\033[0m"
sudo srm -rllv .recently-used
sudo srm -rllv .recently-used.xbel
sudo srm -rllv .thumbnails
sudo srm -rllv .macromedia/Flash_Player/#SharedObjects/*
#sudo srm -rllv .openoffice.org/*/user/temp
#sudo srm -rllv .openoffice.org/*/user/backup
sudo srm -rllv .libreoffice/*/user/temp/*
sudo srm -rllv .libreoffice/*/user/backup/*
sudo srm -rllv .purple/logs/*/*
sudo srm -rllv .xsession-errors
sudo srm -rllv .gimp-*/tmp
echo "\033[0;32mApplications history wiped.\033[0m"

#"ubuntuprivacy" written by commandrine.
#Please send comments and queries to commandrine[at]gmail[dot]com.
#Version 5.0 dated 31st March 2013.
#Pre-requisite is having "secure-delete" installed. Install it using "sudo apt-get install secure-delete".
#Save this script to your home folder. Run "sudo chmod +x ubuntuprivacy.sh" to make it executable.

Browser security

I was asked by a friend to recommend a list of tools to protect his browser and secure his surfing experience.
A picture speaks a thousand words.

Insecure passwords

Was in the middle of a "Penetration Testing" exercise and came across an application that sends the users' credentials in cleartext. I was surprised as I rarely encounter this scenario.
This got me thinking if popular apps such as "Facebook" and "Gmail" send our credentials in cleartext too? Fired up "Paros" and the rest they say is history.

"SecureBrowsing"

My latest column explores the "Firefox" addon called "SecureBrowsing". Here is the excerpt.
"The Internet is a dangerous place to venture because it is rife with websites hosting malware and malicious code deployed o compromise your systems. How do you thwart hackers from fulfilling their insidious objectives?"

"Tamper Data"

My latest column explores the "Firefox" addon called "Tamper Data". Here is the excerpt.
"HTTP Proxies are a necessary tool in the arsenal of a penetration tester. Common HTTP Proxies harnessed for testing web applications for vulnerabilities include Paros, Burp and Webscarab. My personal favourite is Paros, which is written in Java and thus, platform independent. However, I recently discovered a comparable tool called Tamper Data."

"jhead"

My latest column explores a tool called "jhead". Here is the excerpt.
"Smartphones are feature packed and owned by nearly everyone in developed countries. We cannot get by with our daily lifes without them. They provide us with a pocket sized gadget to surf the World Wide Web, direct us to where we want to go via the built-in Global Positioning System (GPS)and even permit us to take videos as well as photographs on the go. The caveat of this device is that it records a lot of sensitive data about its owner by default."

"WebHTTrack"

My latest column on the "Linux" version of "HTTrack". Here is the excerpt.
"HTTrack Website Copier is aopen source tool to download an entire website from the Internet locally onto your desktop for offline browsing. It is a Windowssoftware that spawned WebHTTrack, its Linux/Unix/BSDrelease. The tool dumps and mirrors the complete contents of the source website you specify to a local directory by replicating the exact directory structure, files and links.
This is beneficial for a security practitioner who wants to perform offline security testing against a website without impacting the server hosting it ."

The latest issue of "Hakin9" also features an article by my friend, Remus Ho.

"Secure Deletion"

My latest column on ensuring endpoint privacy using secure deletion. Here is the excerpt.
"The Internet has empowered us to do more with our electronic devices. We do everything from our taxes to shopping and sending private messages. Our devices become a hotbed of personal data that is of interest to malicious parties. Deletion of files and caching is insufficient in preventing harvesting of your information that resides on your devices. The solution is secure deletion or wiping to overwrite those files with random data to eliminate the chances of data recovery."

"Secure Your DNS"

My latest and first column of the year is out. Here is the excerpt.
"Do you trust your ISP’s DNS setup? I don’t! DNS is susceptible to attack by malicious entities to target innocent victims just like any other protocol. The solution is to engage OpenDNS as your trusted DNS service which is harnessed by home and enterprise networks globally."

v4.0

I upgraded "Firefox" to v8 and realised that it was sluggish due to configs being wiped by v3.0 of my "ubuntuprivacy" script. I modified the script as follows.

#!/bin/sh
echo "\033[0;34mProceeding to clean your system to ensure your privacy.\033[0m"
echo
echo "\033[0;31mWiping Firefox history and cache.\033[0m"
#sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/*.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/addons.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/chromeappsstore.sqlite
#sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/content-prefs.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/cookies.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/downloads.sqlite
#sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/extensions.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/formhistory.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/permissions.sqlite
#sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/places.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/search.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/urlclassifier3.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/webappsstore.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/Cache/*
echo "\033[0;32mFirefox history and cache wiped.\033[0m"
echo "\033[0;31mWiping Trash.\033[0m"
sudo srm -rllv .local/share/Trash/
echo "\033[0;32mTrash wiped.\033[0m"
echo "\033[0;31mWiping Applications history and cache.\033[0m"
sudo srm -rllv .recently-used
sudo srm -rllv .recently-used.xbel
sudo srm -rllv .thumbnails
sudo srm -rllv .macromedia/Flash_Player/#SharedObjects/*
#sudo srm -rllv .openoffice.org/*/user/temp
#sudo srm -rllv .openoffice.org/*/user/backup
sudo srm -rllv .libreoffice/*/user/temp/*
sudo srm -rllv .libreoffice/*/user/backup/*
sudo srm -rllv .purple/logs/*/*
sudo srm -rllv .xsession-errors
sudo srm -rllv .gimp-*/tmp
echo "\033[0;32mApplications history wiped.\033[0m"

#"ubuntuprivacy" written by commandrine.
#Please send comments and queries to commandrine[at]gmail[dot]com.
#Version 4.0 dated 9th Nov 2011.
#Pre-requisite is having "secure-delete" installed. Install it using "sudo apt-get install secure-delete".
#Save this script to your home folder. Run "sudo chmod +x ubuntuprivacy.sh" to make it executable.

You can also download the script from here.

"HTTPS Everywhere"

Finished this column months ahead of schedule and it was finally published in this month's issue of "Hakin9".
An excerpt of it below.
"HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox extension that was developed and is maintained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). It was first released in June 2010 and is not available from Mozilla but can be downloaded from EFF’s site (https://www.eff.org/files/https-everywhere-latest.xpi)."
I should really get started on my next column draft.

"Prey: From Praying to Preying"

My new column is out in Hakin9 magazine. It was 2 months overdue so it is a relief that it is finally published.
An excerpt of it in the "Tool Time" column this month.
"Since the issue 7/2010 article Prey: A new hope, there have been developments in the device tracking tool. It has been enhanced to now be able to monitor lost Android smartphones and tablets when activated. There was a reported case in May 2011 where a Californian harnessed evidence collected from a similar tool, Hidden, to recover his stolen Macbook."

v3.0

I updated "ubuntuprivacy.sh" to comment out wiping of OpenOffice history and include wiping of LibreOffice history.

#!/bin/sh
echo "\033[0;34mProceeding to clean your system to ensure your privacy.\033[0m"
echo
echo "\033[0;31mWiping Firefox history and cache.\033[0m"
#sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/*.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/addons.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/chromeappsstore.sqlite
#sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/content-prefs.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/cookies.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/downloads.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/extensions.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/formhistory.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/permissions.sqlite
#sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/places.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/search.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/urlclassifier3.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/webappsstore.sqlite
sudo srm -rllv .mozilla/firefox/*.default/Cache/*
echo "\033[0;32mFirefox history and cache wiped.\033[0m"
echo "\033[0;31mWiping Trash.\033[0m"
sudo srm -rllv .local/share/Trash/
echo "\033[0;32mTrash wiped.\033[0m"
echo "\033[0;31mWiping Applications history and cache.\033[0m"
sudo srm -rllv .recently-used
sudo srm -rllv .recently-used.xbel
sudo srm -rllv .thumbnails
sudo srm -rllv .macromedia/Flash_Player/#SharedObjects/*
#sudo srm -rllv .openoffice.org/*/user/temp
#sudo srm -rllv .openoffice.org/*/user/backup
sudo srm -rllv .libreoffice/*/user/temp/*
sudo srm -rllv .libreoffice/*/user/backup/*
sudo srm -rllv .purple/logs/*/*
sudo srm -rllv .xsession-errors
sudo srm -rllv .gimp-*/tmp
echo "\033[0;32mApplications history wiped.\033[0m"

#"ubuntuprivacy" written by commandrine.
#Please send comments and queries to commandrine[at]gmail[dot]com.
#Version 3.0 dated 22th July 2011.
#Pre-requisite is having "secure-delete" installed. Install it using "sudo apt-get install secure-delete".
#Save this script to your home folder. Run "sudo chmod +x ubuntuprivacy.sh" to make it executable.

The wiping of Flash cookies (which I blogged about previously) is also appended into this version.