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@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ This section outlines the steps you can take, to be better protected from threat
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**Security** | **Priority** | **Details and Hints**
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--- | --- | ---
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**Block Ads** | Recommended | Using an ad-blocker can help improve your privacy, by blocking the trackers that ads implement. [uBlock Origin](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock) is a very efficient and open source browser addon, developed by Raymond Hill. <br>When 3rd-party ads are displayed on a webpage, they have the ability to track you, gathering personal information about you and your habits, which can then be sold, or used to show you more targeted ads, and some ads are plain malicious or fake. Blocking ads also makes pages load faster, uses less data and provides a less cluttered experience
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**Ensure Website is Legitimate** | Basic | It may sound obvious, but when you logging into any online accounts, double check the URL is correct. When visiting new websites, look for common signs that it could be unsafe: Browser warnings, redirects, on-site spam and pop-ups. You can also check a website using a tool, such as: [Virus Total URL Scanner](https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/url), [IsLegitSite](https://www.islegitsite.com), [Google Safe Browsing Status](https://transparencyreport.google.com/safe-browsing/search) if you are unsure
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**Watch out for Browser Malware** | Basic | Your system or browser can be compromised by spyware, miners, browser hijackers, malicious redirects, adware etc. You can usually stay protected, just by: ignoring pop-ups, be wary of what your clicking, don't proceed to a website if your browser warns you it may be malicious. Common sighs of browser malware include: default search engine or homepage has been modified, toolbars, unfamiliar extensions or icons, significantly more ads, errors and pages loading much slower than usual. These articles from Heimdal explain [signs of browser malware](https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/warning-signs-operating-system-infected-malware), [how browsers get infected](https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/practical-online-protection-where-malware-hides) and [how to remove browser malware](https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/malware-removal)
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**Use a Privacy-Respecting Browser** | Recommended | [Firefox](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new) and [Brave](https://brave.com) are secure, private-by-default browsers. Both are fast, open source, user-friendly and available on all major operating systems. Your browser has access to everything that you do online, so if possible, avoid Google Chrome, Microsoft IE and Apple Safari as (without correct configuration) all three of them, collect usage data, call home and allow for invasive tracking. See more: [Privacy Browsers](/5_Privacy_Respecting_Software.md#browsers)
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**Understand Your Browser Fingerprint** | Recommended | Browser [Fingerprinting](https://pixelprivacy.com/resources/browser-fingerprinting) is an incredibly accurate method of tracking, where a website identifies you based on your device information, including: browser and OS versions, headers, time zone, installed fonts, plugins and applications and sometimes device hardware among other data points. You can view your fingerprint at [amiunique.org](https://amiunique.org/fp)- The aim is to be as un-unique as possible
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**Manage Cookies** | Recommended | Clearing cookies regularly is one step you can take to help reduce websites from tracking you. Cookies may also store your session token, which if captured, would allow someone to access your accounts without credentials (often called [Session Hijacking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Session_hijacking)). <br>To mitigate this you should [clear cookies](https://kb.iu.edu/d/ahic) often. [Self Destructing Cookies](https://add0n.com/self-destructing-cookies.html) is a browser addon, which will kill cookies when you close the browser
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**Block Third-Party Cookies** | Recommended | [Third-party cookies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie#Privacy_and_third-party_cookies) placed on your device by a website other than the one you’re visiting. This poses a privacy risk, as a 3rd entity can collect data from your current session. [This guide](https://www.digitalcitizen.life/how-disable-third-party-cookies-all-major-browsers) explains how you can disable 3rd-party cookies, and you can [check here](https://www.whatismybrowser.com/detect/are-third-party-cookies-enabled) ensure this worked
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**Block Ads** | Recommended | Using an ad-blocker can help improve your privacy, by blocking the trackers that ads implement. [uBlock Origin](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock) is a very efficient and open source browser addon, developed by Raymond Hill. <br>When 3rd-party ads are displayed on a webpage, they have the ability to track you, gathering personal information about you and your habits, which can then be sold, or used to show you more targeted ads, and some ads are plain malicious or fake. Blocking ads also makes pages load faster, uses less data and provides a less cluttered experience
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**Block Third-Party Trackers** | Recommended | Blocking trackers will help to stop websites, advertisers, analytics and more from tracking you in the background. [Privacy Badger](https://privacybadger.org), [DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials](https://help.duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/desktop/adding-duckduckgo-to-your-browser/), [uBlock Origin](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock) and [uMatrix](https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix) (advanced) are all very effective, open source tracker-blockers available for all major browsers. Alternatively you can block trackers at the network level, with something like [Pi-Hole](https://pi-hole.net) (on your home server) or [Diversion](https://diversion.ch) (Asus routers running Merlin firmware. Some VPNs offer basic tracking blocking (such as [TrackStop on PerfectPrivacy](https://www.perfect-privacy.com/en/features/trackstop?a_aid=securitychecklist))
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**Beware of Redirects** | Optional | While some redirects are harmless, others, such as [Unvalidated redirects](https://www.credera.com/blog/technology-insights/java/top-10-web-security-risks-unvalidated-redirects-forwards-10/) are used in phishing attacks, it can make a malicious link seem legitimate. If you are unsure about a redirect URL, you can check where it forwards to with a tool like [RedirectDetective](https://redirectdetective.com). It is also recommended to disable redirects in your [browser settings](https://appuals.com/how-to-stop-automatic-redirects-on-google-firefox-and-edge/).
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**Do Not Sign Into Your Browser** | Optional | Many browsers allow you to sign in, in order to sync history, bookmarks and other browsing data across devices. However this not only allows for further data collection, but also increases attack surface through providing another avenue for a malicious actor to get hold of personal information. For Chrome users, you can get around forced sign-in by navigating to [chrome://flags](chrome://flags/#account-consistency) and disabling the `account-consistency` flag. If you still need to sync bookmarks + browser data between devices, there are open source [alternatives](/5_Privacy_Respecting_Software.md#bonus-3---self-hosted-services), such as [xBrowserSync](https://www.xbrowsersync.org)
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