ssllock

We hear about the hackers who steal people’s sensitive information and often even their identities. So some of us decide to take action and employ some software to encrypt all inbound and outbound traffic from our computers.

Nowadays there are several encryption programs that can provide a layer of security to the internet traffic of the user. Many people are not convinced or do not know about their necessity and their value. Business like banks and online retailer’s make internet transactions safe by implementing an encryption/decryption stage between the program one uses to access the internet and the server it connects to on backend. Let’s SSL and TLS in more detail.

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is the time tested security protocol for encrypting information that is sent across the internet.  SSL has been replaced by the new but similar TLS (Transport Layer Security) and it is often used everywhere on the web for email, messaging, faxes, and file transmission.  Typically data is encrypted using 1024-bit and 2048-bit RSA.  In other words, it helps keep people from eavesdropping in on what you’re transmitting between your computer and the destination server.

If you want an extra layer of security you need to encrypt you browser traffic and use a non-Operating System integrated browser like Firefox or Chrome.

Encrypt Firefox traffic

  1. For this you will need an addon
  2. Visit the add-on’s website https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
  3. Click the big blue button that says Encrypt the web
  4. Install https everywhere.
  5. Restart Firefox
  6. Firefox Tools > Add-ons
  7. Click the Extensions tab of the Add-ons window
  8. Then HTTPS-Everywhere Click the Options button
  9.  Click Allow to give it permission.
  10. Enable All

Encrypt Chrome traffic

Same process is going to apply to Chrome and the addon is found at the same site https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere

Your going to want encrypt you chrome Sync as well

  1. Go to Settings
  2. Advanced sync settings
  3. Encrypt all synced data.