Secure Web surfing software

[rubycap]

Hi there,
I m a newbie:) so to say in secure web surfing
I v heard about anonymous proxy servers but i don t know
how to use,which to choose and finally how it works
Are there any suggestions about which software to use in surfing web securely
If you have some please reply, its vital:)
Any reply is welcome
Thank You!!!

[SteveTX]

The easiest thing to use is xB Browser.

Download here (http://xerobank.com/xB_browser.html)

[Woody777]

After trying XB Browser free & downloading from the link provided I am getting an alert from Zone Alarm Pro that signal.exe is attempting to access the internet. Is this part of XB Browser or is it some other malware? This occurs after I exited XB Browser.

[SteveTX]

Signal was telling the Tor process to shut down.

[Genady Prishnikov]

Be sure and use services who don't hide details about who they are. That cannot include XeroBank.

[Woody777]

Yes it works acceptably albeit a tad slow but then it is the free service. I suspect the pay version is much improved. I suspected the alert I got was in fact related to Tor but then I do not take anything for granted these days.

[fuzzylogic]

Depends on what your trying to do with it. Is it to provide a safe connection to the web? or you concerned about privacy and data mining? or just trying to stay anonymous (something i find nigh on impossible on the web at least completely). there are a few solutions at there, for a no software solution that can be used anywhere try the-cloak.com (user pays bandwidth) or proxify.com, make sure the connection is https (an encyrpted connection between you and the server), costs are dependent upon service. Or a SSH tunnel service like anonymizer.com (29.95 annually) and COTSE.com, Cotse also provide a web proxy (costs 5.95 a month). Through these services only provide a encrypted connection for web mostly (SSH will provide an connection to anything that is configured to use it). The last option will provide a tunnel for everything and thats a VPN connection. Some services that provide that are metropipe or swissvpn or xerobank. Again prices are dependent upon whom you use. Be aware that some are US companies and are subject to US laws, so I wouldn't see a problem unless your doing some pretty shady stuff or are truly paranoid about your privacy the choose something that is not incorporated in the US. With xerobank, make up your own mind Grenady has some issues with the transparency behind xerobank and some of Steves connections with metropipe (look to the xerobank thread for a good read on that) and its up to you to decide whom your going through.

Sorry for the massive novel but this will narrow the search down for you and may even provide some conclusions.

[rubycap]

{QUOTE-> The easiest thing to use is xB Browser.
<-QUOTE}
Looks like its similar to firefox
It is firefox to be exact
Basically i want to surf anonymously so that none could keep track on me
It should be as simple as possible for me

[Reve_Etrange]

Could someone sum up the pros and cons for each VPN provider ?
I've read the "Anyone tried Xerobank" topic, but I still don't know what are the best bets. I know it depends, but who would you choose ? I never heard of swissvpn. Is it good ?

Basically, I'm ready to pay for anonymity, reliability and performance (I live in western Europe). Mainly for web traffic, but not exclusively.

[firefox2008]

I use Anonymizer's Total Net Shield.

[SteveTX]

Anonymizer doesn't provide any anonymity. They don't even encrypt their connections, so everyone can see everything you do. Avoid them at all costs.

I provided a comparison chart of anonymity providers recently, it can be viewed here: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=176514&page=23&p=1201804

[LockBox]

I have used anonymizer and never had any issues. What problems did you notice steve? Here is the plan I used http://www.anonymizer.com/consumer/products/total_net_shield/
Secure tunneling creates an impregnable Secure Shell (SSH) connection from your computer to your destination site, protecting you from man in the middle (MITM) attacks and evil twin scams. MITM attackers are able to read, insert, and modify online communications between two parties without either one knowing that their communications had been compromised. Total Net Shield protects you from this attack by encrypting all of your online communications with SSH tunneling.

[Reve_Etrange]

Surprise, surprise, XeroBank and MetroPipe are the only good options according to your chart, lol.

No offence, but I come here to get knowledgeable users' opinion, not sales pitch.

[fuzzylogic]

xerobanks comparsion chart is vastly outdated as anonymizer no longer uses that service which shutdown last year. They now use a SSH tunnel and now is only 29.95 a month.

The pro's of using a VPN connection is that all your web traffic is forced through the server and doesn't require spending time configuring everything to use the encrypted tunnel. Cons are that this doesn't stop other services from revealing your ip such as java, media player and flash. these require additional configuration that can be found elsewhere in these forums. They can also cost alot more then SSH tunnels and SSL proxies.

So if its just web surfing and other stuff you can either use a SSH tunnel from services like COSTE ($5.95 a month), anonymizer ($29.95 a year) and xerobank plus ($10 a month). For a VPN solution have a look at VPNout ($20 of 3 months/20gig limit), vpntunnel (10 pounds a month), swissvpn ($5 a month), xerobank VPN ($35 a month) etc, plenty of info to keep you busy, you can always search the forum. Please stay away from Relakks, even through they are cheap they are a cheap and nasty solution, they constantly drop out and are slow to help anyone.

Should keep you busy =)

[firefox2008]

{QUOTE-> Anonymizer doesn't provide any anonymity. They don't even encrypt their connections, so everyone can see everything you do. Avoid them at all costs.

I provided a comparison chart of anonymity providers recently, it can be viewed here: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=176514&page=23&p=1201804 <-QUOTE}

No encryption as in you don't think their encryption algorithms are any good or do you not know that they use encryption? Prove to me more that Total Net Shield is a waste of my money. Maybe you are right.
I would trust your opinions more if you weren't promoting Xerobank so much. I guess you work in the sales or marketing dept there. There is nothing wrong with that of course but your bias is reason to mistrust your expertise.

[SteveTX]

firefox2008,

Heh, I am part of the development team. About a year ago we started reviewing what was available in the marketplace and designed a whole new network from scratch, and have been busy implementing it. The reason I am biased is because our network is the best. I imagine if some of the other admins of those fly-by-night services had the guts to make their presence on the forums, they would be compelled to admit xb is better. Just wait till 2.0 at next month. I think the game will be changing drastically. Another great option is STunnel's SSH package. I tried that out a couple years ago and it was great.

Steve

[SteveTX]

{QUOTE-> I have used anonymizer and never had any issues. What problems did you notice steve? Here is the plan I used http://www.anonymizer.com/consumer/products/total_net_shield/
Secure tunneling creates an impregnable Secure Shell (SSH) connection from your computer to your destination site, protecting you from man in the middle (MITM) attacks and evil twin scams. MITM attackers are able to read, insert, and modify online communications between two parties without either one knowing that their communications had been compromised. Total Net Shield protects you from this attack by encrypting all of your online communications with SSH tunneling. <-QUOTE}

I reviewed Anonymizer's basic offering prior to my presentation at DefCon. At that time, the software, by default, DOES NOT ENCRYPT YOUR TRAFFIC. All plaintext transfer. It also worked by DLL injection to capture only port 80 traffic! Such terrible design and implementation speaks volumes about the company. They have no interest in providing privacy, and in my opinion, are fleecing their users. Just ask any of their admins who quit. Couple those horrible signals, in addition to US jurisdiction and the patently outrageous lie that they have never compromised a person's privacy by handing over logs, and it paints a very dark picture of what is going on over there. If knowing that it is run by Lance Cotrell makes you blind to those facts and gives you the warm fuzzies, go right ahead.

[Reve_Etrange]

Ok, sorry to hijack your thread. I'll start a new one.