2017
SecureDrop protects the anonymity of whistle-blowers
SecureDrop is an open-source project created by (the late) Aaron Swartz with support from Kevin Poulsen and James Dolan. The entire raison d'être of SecureDrop is to create a safe information exchange mechanism between media organizations and whistleblowers. The solution requires two servers: a TOR facing server to store messages and files a private server that monitors the security of the first server When a message or files are dropped on the first server, the information is encrypted with GPG for secure storage.
Alternative ways to get the TOR browser
Tor is an incredible power privacy enhancing tool that every security-conscious netizen should have in their arsenal. It doesn't replace a VPN service, since TOR isn't optimized for high bandwidth usage (like streaming music/videos) but it definitely has a place in my internet usage portfolio. To use TOR, you need access to a small kit of software that includes the TOR router and the TOR browser (a locked down customized version of the Mozilla Firefox browser). <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/4bf3ee060e.jpg" alt=""> The Great Firewall of China site test tool confirms that the TOR Project website is blocked.
The New York Times now available on TOR
“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” — Voltaire When the average consumer thinks about TOR (which isn't very often), they imagine that it is the ugly, damp & rancid underbelly of the internet. Reality is that TOR is a US government-funded project to create anonymity on the internet. It is a platform that allows everyone to have a voice without fear of punishment or even death (think political activists).
Karma releases an anonymizing hotspot
Open a magazine, newspaper, your local nightly news or almost internet blog, and you will be confronted with news about another security breach. Breaches, breaches everywhere. Concerned netizens are trying to find ways to protect themselves when online and to protect their privacy. In response, I have written a bunch of articles (such as): KeepSolid VPN Unlimited Review Review of Private Internet Access (PIA) Honest review of the ProtonVPN service Honest review of the Tunnelbear VPN service VyprVPN Review Review of HideMyAss VPN (HMA) The above reviews were VPN services, but what if you wanted a piece of hardware that was portable and could be used with any WIFI enabled device?
The start of the end for Symantec cert trust on Google's Chrome
A little history Early 2017, a security researcher (Andrew Ayer from SSLMate) discovered that three certificate authorities (Symantec Trust Network, GeoTrust Inc., and Thawte Inc), owned by Symantec, had improperly issued 108 TLS certificates. It is important to understand that these improperly issued certificates would allow a threat actor to spoof or impersonate a website that was using HTTPS. 9 of these certificates were issued without the knowledge of the domain owners. 99 were issued without proper validation of domain ownership.
Google Chrome to block "bad" ads in February
The Sultan of Search, Google, announced in June that it would introduce ad blocking tech in an upcoming version of the Google Chrome browser (and Chromebook). We can now confirm that this feature will make it into our browser on February 15 (2018). Chrome 64 will be delivered on January 23 and Chrome 65 on March 6. Either this feature will be part of Chrome 64 and turned on with a remote trigger, or it will be a server-side function. We will have to wait and see how Google implements this feature.
Review of the Morakniv Garberg outdoor knife
What is the best outdoor knife? Those who know me well know that I love the outdoors and I love knives. If I were stranded on an island and could only bring one home comfort, it would be an outdoor knife. Having many outdoor enthusiast readers, I am regularly asked what knife I like best. When I first started studying survival skills, I had the misguided belief that the more expensive your equipment, the better it must be. I quickly learned that this wasn't always the case and sometimes even the most basic tool, used correctly, could be a lifesaver.
Google Home forced me to switch to Spotify
Tech titans Google and Amazon chose Christmas 2017 to battle it out for your love and money. These smart speakers are designed to quickly provide access to each company's ecosystem and make your life easier. At least that is the promise. I am heavily invested in the Google ecosystem and have been for over ten years. In addition to using their free services, I pay for Google Music, storage, have an android phone (so I buy apps), etc. I signed up for the free Google Apps service in 2007 (predecessor to GSuite) when each domain was given 100 free user accounts.
Was Google, Apple, Facebook & Microsoft traffic redirected to Russia?
TL;DR: Internet traffic to and from major tech companies (Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitch, NTT Communications and Riot Games) were redirected through a Russian provider Wednesday. This appears to have been a deliberate hijack and not an error. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BGP is a routing and reachability protocol used on internet backbones around the world. It is what allows carriers to find routing information between each other (in simple terms). 2 BGP monitoring services have reported short changes to the routing of key internet giants, and they do not believe this was a mistake.
How do I test the speed of my VPN service
How can you test the speed (performance) of my VPN service provider? I receive this question regularly, and I thought it was about time I wrote an article about it. When evaluating internet speed, there are dozens or hundreds of different parameters that can influence your final score. In the world of VPN, these may include: The distance between you and the VPN server - even though most of your traffic is flowing at the speed of light, users have become accustomed to super speedy internet and even the slightest delay is noticed.
How do I test my VPN to determine if it is leaking?
When something leaks, it's usually bad news. A leaking pipe in the kitchen or a leaking radiator. The same principle applies to your VPN. When a poorly designed VPN fails and leaks your data, that's the start of a bad day. Unfortunately, there is no visible indication that your VPN is leaking. Obviously, well-designed VPN services do not leak, my favourites being: VyprVPN Review Honest review of the ProtonVPN service Honest review of the Tunnelbear VPN service
Do you need a dual-SIM smartphone?
Do I need a dual-sim phone? The answer is probably not. Most people sign a carrier contract and live with that service for two years. There is a small niche group that could benefit from a dual-SIM phone, and this is an article for them. Who are these mythical "special" people: users with a personal and professional mobile phone line that want to carry one phone users that travel often and want to use a low-cost SIM in their destination users that live in regions were carriers aren't national providers, and "
Amazon Music Unlimited expands to 28 more countries. So what?
Amazon Music Unlimited is (in my opinion) just another streaming music service, but since it's Amazon, it's worth mentioning. It is expanding to 28 additional countries, so the world a little more inclusive today. Similar to another (nameless) streaming service, Amazon Music Unlimited stresses the fact that its playlists are "human curated". The requisite PR created launch statement can be found here. “Customers can choose from content hand-curated by Amazon Music experts, build their own playlists, or find new favorites through Amazon’s personalized recommendations either on the Amazon Music app or Web Player.
Google's Chrome Remote Desktop has been refreshed and is still free
Chrome Remote Desktop has been around for years and has always been a free and reliable alternative to products like TeamViewer, GoToMyPC, and many more. Not only was (and is) it a free service but even the most non-technical user could get it setup and running in a matter of minutes: download the Chrome extension, install a mini app, set up a local password and voila. Long live Progressive Web Apps I will write about Progressive Web Apps in a future article but I am in love with them.
AI.Type Android Keyboard leaks data from 31M users
ZDNet got the scoop on this significant leak. AI.type, a third-party keyboard replacement for Android has leaked data for its 31 million users online. How did this happen? A database administrator didn't secure the database. Anyone with basic skills could access and query the unprotected database and "have fun" with the 577 GB of data it contained. What type of data leaked? The leak includes fun elements like name, email address, precise user geolocation data, city and country. Researchers have also found [that some records contain] phone numbers, IP addresses dates of birth, gender, etc.
3 writing tips when using Google Apps
Google apps have hundreds of features (some from Google, some from third parties) most users don't know about. In this short article, I want to share four tips that will make your life writing in Google apps easier (useful for students and professionals alike). Voice Typing Over the years, I have spent hundreds of dollars on voice typing apps for Mac and Windows (most going to the Dragon Naturally speaking product line from Nuance software). For 85% of users, these expensive & complicated products are overkill, and Google makes it's excellent voice recognition engine available for free to all Google Docs users.
Skyroam Solis Review: a traveller's best friend?
I've been using a Skyroam hotspot for many years now and my 2 most popular blog posts (for the old device and service) are here: Skyroam Global Hotspot review The hidden danger of using the SkyRoam global WIFI Hotspot They recently upgraded their back-end service and global WIFI hotspot, and I wanted to test and review it for you. Solis is the latest version of the Global WIFI hotspot sold by Skyroam. For those new to this company, they offer a small portable global WIFI hotspot that works in 100+ countries, costs $10US a day for unlimited data and is activated on demand.
Trick to get a VPN Unlimited lifetime account for $18
I've written about the VPN Unlimited service before, you should go read the review. If you check out the VPN Unlimited purchase page, you will see that they are running a promo and selling it for $149.99. Normally StackSocial sells this same plan for $49.99 but wait ... <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/f39a0c5db6.jpg" alt=""> They are currently running a promo and have marked it down to $29.99, but wait ... <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/005bb5dc17.jpg" alt=""> If you add it to your cart and use the code CYBER40 at checkout, the price drops to $18.
Canada Promo : Buy a Google Pixelbook and a free Google Home
If you buy Google new premium Chromebook, the Pixelbook, you now receive a free Google Home. This promo is live now and runs until December 31, 2017, and is open to Canadian customers. To receive your free Google Home, all you have to do is add it to your shopping cart with the Pixelbook, and the price will be $0. Offer is available while supplies last (shouldn't be a problem) and remember that the Pixelbook is not available in Quebec (probably since they don't offer french keyboard, box and manuals.
Improve your internet security right now, easily and for free
Quad9 is a new DNS service launched by a non-profit consortium (founding members are IBM Security, Packet Clearing House & Global Cyber Alliance). The promise of the Quad9 DNS service is good security using the knowledge of some of the world's leading security research firms, by merely changing your default DNS server and ALL for free. The service is (not so creatively) called Quad9 because the DNS address is 9.9.9.9 Is the Quad9 service fast? I used the free DNS Benchmark tool by Steve Gibson with connections from Canada, the USA, the UK and Switzerland.