h4k.com

Adblock Plus is a Firefox extension that is used to block annoying and intrusive web advertisements along with other unscrupulous Internet tracking companies. After installing it and restarting Firefox it will display a subscription screen. Click the “Cancel” button then when Firefox loads go to “Tools” then “Adblock Plus…” and import the block list below in the Adblock Plus Preferences window.

The list below is a modified version of the EasyList ad blocking list combined with the tracking element list. There are no pre-white-listed sites. If you come across a web site that is not rendered correctly, working properly, or the tracking capabilities need to be enabled then add that single web site to the white-list. This is done by clicking on the down arrow next to the “ABP” button in Firefox for options to disable and enable Adblock Plus for this site.

If a subscription is not used and an imported list is not use then the multitude of tracking and otherwise spamming domains will need to be added manually to the block list. This is not always the best method because some of the tracking mechanisms are hidden in the HTML code and cannot be seen at all unless each pages’ code is analyzed. This is a good way to selectively block companies however.

Adblock Plus can be downloaded here:
http://adblockplus.org

Adblock Plus modified block list with tracking and advertising companies:
http://h4k.com/files/adblock.txt (License)

Extensions expand the capabilities of Firefox and allow for browser customization. To install an extension from a web site Firefox will first warn you with a bright yellow bar at the top that it has prevented the site from installing it. This feature prevents unknown web sites from installing potentially dangerous extensions. If the site offering the extension can reasonably be trusted then click on the “Edit Options…” button, click on “Allow” to add the domain to the allowed sites list, then click “Close”. Now to install the extension click on the install link and Firefox will open a window with an “Install Now” button. The extension will install and probably require that you restart Firefox to enable it.

It is not a good idea install extensions from many different websites. Extensions make updates to Firefox and it is possible to create malicious ones that seem innocuous. Some other good, trustworthy sites with lots of extensions include mozilla.org extensions and the mozdev.org extension room. By default Firefox trusts addons.mozilla.org and update.mozilla.org, two parent sites, so downloading an extension from either of these hosts will not cause the warning bar to appear.

SSH clients are used to connect to SSH enabled computers. Many versions of Linux have a command line client built in and it is also included in OS X. To connect to a computer over SSH launch terminal and type:

ssh account_name@computer_ip_address

There are also some good, free graphical clients available:

Ubuntu: Built into the operating system. Go to Places –> Connect to server… then set service type to SSH.

OS X: Fugu
http://rsug.itd.umich.edu/software/fugu/

Windows: Putty
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/

A classic technology news site. Some interesting and worthwhile community insight can usually be found by setting the comment threshold to 4 or 5 on the various submissions.

http://slashdot.org

There is also a section dedicated to security here: http://slashdot.org/search.pl?tid=172

A good forum for all things Ubuntu: sharing opinions, troubleshooting, and asking and answering questions.

http://ubuntuforums.org

Ubuntu is a fast, secure, and functional operating system based on Debian Linux. It is free and can be downloaded directly from the company’s web page. The desktop version is a live CD so the operating system can be loaded and tested without affecting any of the data or current operating system loaded on the hard drive.

The standard desktop version installation offers the option to automatically partition the hard drive so multiple operating systems can be on the computer at once. When the computer boots it will ask if you want to load into Ubuntu or the other operating system.

For extra security, if Ubuntu is going to be installed then the alternate version is recommended. This version is available by checking the alternate version box at the bottom of the download page. The alternate version offers the option for whole disk encryption during the install process. Whole disk encryption protects all the data and the entire operating system from unauthorized access if the computer is stolen or lost.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

The SSH protocol can be used to securely connect to a remote computer. SSH access can be enabled in OS X by going to Preferences –> Sharing –> checking Remote Login On.

There are many client applications that can be used to connect to a computer running SSH (see here). When connecting to a computer over SSH a secure client application should ask to verify the key. The key is used to verify that the machine being connected to is the intended one. The OS X SSH key can be displayed by using the Terminal, which is located under Applications –> Utilities. After opening Terminal type:

ssh-keygen -l -f /etc/ssh_host_rsa_key

The key will be displayed as 16 hexadecimal characters separated by colons. If the string displayed by the SSH client does not match the one displayed in Terminal then it is likely there is a man-in-the-middle attack occurring and the connection should be terminated.

A secure, customizable, and free open source web browser that is easy to use. Versions are available for Linux, OS X, and Windows.

It is significantly more secure than Microsoft Internet Explorer and recommended because of this. Read more about the security features here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Firefox#Security

Firefox home page and download link:

http://www.firefox.com