Also, I would like to say that any of these browsers would be a good choice in terms of both security and privacy. I suppose that Comodo IceDragon may provide slightly higher security, since it has Comodo DNS Servers to also block known dangerous sites, but any of the browsers are really very good.
How To Increase Security
Use These Add-ons
Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users
- Web of Trust (WOT): With this installed if you happen upon a potentially dangerous site WOT covers the screen with a warning and waits for you to decide whether to stay or leave. If you combine this with your own good sense then you will be protected from many online dangers. Also, if you choose, you can ignore the WOT warning and go to the site anyway. Please note that for sites which are largely concerned with political or religious content the ratings may be less accurate. This is because community driven services such as WOT can become tainted by individual's own biases. However, in terms of malicious sites, phishing sites, scam sites, and similar content, I find this service to be very reliable and I would not go online without it.
- BitDefender TrafficLight: With this installed if you happen upon a dangerous site, which is blacklisted by BitDefender, it will block the page from loading. These include malicious pages, phishing sites, and fraudulent sites. The only advice I have for this add-on is that after installing it you should go to the settings for it and disable the option for "Search Result Analyzer". This is to address a potential privacy concern in which your search results would be sent to BitDefender's servers.
- LinkExtend: This will show you the safety rating of the page from multiple services. It includes those of WOT, McAfee SiteAdvisor, Web Security Guard, Browser Defender, Norton Safe Web, and Google Safe Browsing. That said, although it can let you know if a site is known to be dangerous it will not automatically stop you from visiting the page. Note that after installing this, and restarting your browser, it will automatically start a wizard. I would advise that most users leave the options as default, although some may prefer to make a few tweaks. However, after finishing the wizard it will prevent you with a list of other programs which can be installed. I would advise that you do not install any of these and instead cancel this window.
- Adblock Plus: This allows you to subscribe to many different filter lists, which help block unwanted or malicious content. These can be found on this page. You can subscribe to any of the lists on that page, but be aware that subscribing to too many will slow down your browsing experience. I'd advise subscribing to the EasyPrivacy+EasyList combination and Malware Domains. Note that after doing this you should go into your subscriptions and delete the Easylist one, as it will be covered by the combination list and is redundant.
- NoScript: This add-on will block nearly all scripts, and other possibly dangerous content, from executing. This means that even if you stumble upon a dangerous site you cannot be attacked unless you manually add the scripts on that site to your whitelist. Thus you are protected from harmful scripts and many privacy threats. However, many sites use these scripts, and plugins, for legitimate purposes. Thus these sites will not work correctly unless you manually add the scripts on that site to your whitelist. Using NoScript takes some getting used to, but if you are serious about staying safe online this add-on is a must have.
How To Increase Your Privacy
All of these browsers provide users with the option to start the browser in Private Browsing mode. What this means is that if you are running in this mode most privacy traces will be cleared as soon as the browser is closed. This is not nearly enough to adequately protect your privacy, but it is a good start. I would also advise that you change your default search engine to one which is discussed in section 2.
How to change configuration for improved privacy
Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users
Go to the dropdown menu and click on options. Then go to the Privacy
tab. Make sure that the option that reads "Tell websites I do not want
to be tracked" is selected. Now, under "History" select "Use custom
settings for history" from the dropdown menu. Make sure that the option
to "Accept third-party cookies" is unchecked. This will prevent sites
from loading cookies that are not from the site that you are currently
on. Thus almost all tracking cookies will be blocked. The only time you
may have problems and need to temporarily disable this is sometimes when
a legitimate site redirects you to another page. That said, in most
cases it will work fine.Recommended Only For More Advanced Users
More advanced users may wish to prevent cookies from being set at all. To do this please use the Cookie Controller add-on, which is explained below. However, if blocking cookies globally, and whitelisting them manually, seems like too much of a hassle you can instead select the option to only keep the cookies until the browser is closed, which is an option from the dropdown menu under the history section of the privacy tab.
Some users may also want to select the option to Clear history when the browser closes. To do this you can click on "Settings" and select the type of data you would like to have removed. I would advise removing the cookies, cache, and "Offline Website Data" as this will be able to remove most types of tracking data. That said, nearly all information will be lost each time you close your browser, but if you're willing to make the sacrifice it will certainly help improve your privacy. Once you're done making your changes to the settings you can click OK to save them.
Use These Add-ons
Recommended For Both Beginner and Advanced Users
- HTTPS Everywhere: This forces many sites, which have the option to encrypt your connection, to actually encrypt it. Therefore your connection with these sites will be much more secure.
- LastPass: This is a secure password manager with automatic password and form filling. It not only helps protect your passwords, and sensitive data, but also allows you to confidently create strong passwords and change them often. This is very important at times like this where passwords are constantly being stolen from numerous sites.
-
Do Not Track Me: This
will help to stop third-parties, ad agencies, and search engines from
tracking the webpages you visit. More information is given in this review.
Note that if you use this with Comodo IceDragon it will work. However,
it will mess up parts of the top bar. To get around this right click on
the top bar and make sure "Add-on bar" is selected. Then select the
option to "Customize...". Once this is done drag the Do Not Track Plus
icon from the top bar to the customize window. Then drag it from there
to the add-on bar, which is at the bottom. This should fix any cosmetic
issues related to this add-on.
- Ghostery: When prompted follow the wizard. I recommend that you do not enable GhostRank. Enabling this would allow Ghostery to anomously send information about the pages visited and objects blocked, which would be used for statistical purposes. I would suggest you select the options to choose the options to block all 3pes and then to also block all known bad cookies. This add-on provides protection very similar to that of Do Not Track Plus, but I have seen no problems running both of them alongside each other.
- BetterPrivacy: This will automatically prompt you to delete all local shared objects (LSO's) from your computer each time Firefox closes. For more information on why these are such a privacy risk please read this article.
- RequestPolicy: This will block cross-site requests by default. Thus you will be protected from Cross-site request forgery, which otherwise could send information about your browsing habits to unknown parties. When installing this I would advise that you leave the settings at default. Also, I would advise that you do not whitelist any sites unless you are experiencing difficulties.
- Cookie Monster: This add-on extends your privacy protection by blocking all cookies by default. It allows you to quickly and easily allow or block cookies globally and then manually add exceptions for individual sites. Like NoScript this takes some getting used to since many sites will not work correctly without cookies enabled. However, if protecting your privacy is important then this is a must have.
- Secret Agent: This add-on will impede most of the fingerprinting-based tracking that is used to track users. After installed it will continually randomize your browser profile. Thus it is not possible to fingerprint your actual browser. However, sometimes this will cause sites to not work correctly. In those cases you may need to disable it for those sites.
How to Modify Firefox (And Firefox Variants) To Achieve Improved Security And Privacy