A contraction of “keystroke logger”, a keylogger is either a piece of software or a hardware device that records input from your device’s keyboard. Although not strictly part of the definition, keylogger software can also often record video and/or audio input from your device’s camera and/or microphone and capture data from your clipboard.  In this […]

Last month, Google launched a new feature for Chrome called IP Protection that makes it easier for the company to spy on you. No surprise, since this is Google’s business model. But what’s concerning is that Google is marketing this as a privacy feature. More and more, Google is using privacy washing, a form of […]

Perfect forward secrecy (PFS) is a cryptographic feature of internet communication protocols that ensures even if a session is compromised, past and future sessions remain secure. It achieves this by using a new and unique private encryption key for each session.  PFS is sometimes known simply as forward secrecy by those uncomfortable with the idea […]

IKEv2 is a VPN protocol used to secure VPN connections. Part of the IPSec protocol suite, it is sometimes (and strictly speaking, more correctly) referred to as IKEv2/IPSec. A VPN protocol is a set of instructions or rules that determine how the connection between your device and the VPN server is made. Learn more about […]

“Amazon and third parties (including advertising and tracking services) collect smart speaker interaction data. We find that Amazon processes voice data to infer user interests and uses it to serve targeted ads on-platform (Echo devices) as well as off-platform (web). Smart speaker interaction leads to as much as 30X higher ad bids from advertisers. Finally, […]

In this article, we discuss DNS — what it is, how it works, and how it impacts online privacy and censorship. All devices that connect directly to the internet are identified by a numerical label known as an IP address. To help make things easier for us humans, this address can also be identified using […]

A virtual private network (VPN) prevents your internet service provider (ISP) from seeing what you do online. However, in doing this, it takes over routing your internet connection to the websites you visit, so it can monitor what you do on the internet instead of your ISP. Unlike your ISP, protecting your privacy is a […]

WireGuard® is a new VPN protocol used to secure the connection between your device and a VPN server.  Learn more about how VPNs work WireGuard uses state-of-the-art cryptography to keep your connection secure and is extremely lightweight. This makes it faster than traditional VPN protocols such as OpenVPN and IKEv2, especially on lower-end hardware. Originally […]

An internet service provider (ISP) is the company that connects you to the internet, resolves domain names, routes internet traffic, and is responsible for helping to maintain the network infrastructure that makes the internet possible.  The term includes mobile (cell phone) operators who provide mobile internet access over wireless cellular networks. ISPs often provide other […]