In today’s digital world, it seems like everyone is trying to watch you online. Identity thieves, bosses, competitors, marketers, your ISP and even the kid next door.

Privacy software can give you a safe haven from these prying eyes, but which ones work and which ones are hype? These 5 points will make you an educated buyer and help you pick the best privacy software solution for your needs.

The best solutions are those which protect you from the three main ways your privacy can be compromised (see Internet Privacy 101 For Businesses and For Individuals to learn about the 3 ways)


1 – It Should Not Leave Recoverable Records Of Your Online Activities
Good privacy software will allow you to completely remove all traces and records of your activities online and do it in a way that cannot be undone. This will keep prying eyes from reconstructing a record of your online activities from remnants on your hard drive.

Many programs delete the records of your online activity, but deleted files can easily be recovered by someone who knows what they are doing. Files must be “Shredded” by the privacy software - Overwritten with junk data more than 35 times so they become unrecoverable.

An alternate (and perhaps better), solution is to do your sensitive surfing in an environment which does not create any records to begin with and therefore needs no “cleaning up”.


2 - It Should Let You Surf Privately and Securely
Any action you take online leaves behind your digital “fingerprint” and your Internet Service Provider is required by law to keep a record of all your surfing and e-mail activity for 3 years. Anyone who gains access to these records can recreate a “map” of all your online activities, as well as find out where you are located. (Link to privacy scan)

To protect yourself, leave someone else’s fingerprints instead of your own. This can be done with privacy software that first passes your internet traffic through a Proxy Server before sending it out over the internet

To ensure that your Internet Service Provider is not recording all your activities, the privacy software should be equipped with a secure communications channel between your computer and the proxy server.


3 – It Should Protect Your Important Files And E-Mails
When you save files and send e-mails, they are an easy target for snoops. By encrypting them, you make it impossible for anyone without your password to access them.

The strength of encryption is in large part based upon two things, the type of encryption and the length of its key. It is generally better to get privacy software with the largest key size you can find as it is then harder to decrypt.

For e-mail encryption, both parties must have compatible encryption programs (though they do not need to be made by the same company). One of the most widespread e-mail encryption systems is called PGP, so any privacy software which is compatible with it should have no trouble communicating with most other owners of e-mail encryption programs.


4 - It Should Provide a Sterile Working Environment Free Of Threats
Many of the threats to your privacy can come from within your own computer such as Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses, and Keyloggers. The privacy software you choose should allow you to work in an environment free of such threats.

There are many programs which are designed to remove one or more of these threats, but the majority of them are designed to be reactive. When a new threat is created, it must first be detected by the software company and then they must develop a “cure”. This cure must be added to the threat definition files and finally your computer must download those files to protect you.

The result of this is that there is always a window of time (sometimes spanning several months), during which you are not protected against new threats. Any organized identity theft ring with resources will be constantly creating new threats to stay a step ahead of the protection companies.

It is always better to have a proactive solution which creates an environment where threats cannot run and install themselves at all.


5 – The Privacy Software Company Should Not Have Your Private Keys
Most privacy software solutions allow their creators full access to your information. If you are using a “secure” online e-mail program where the encryption and decryption happens on their side, should their systems be compromised or they are forced to reveal information by court order, there is nothing you can do to protect yourself.

A truly secure solution will allow you to create and store your keys and passwords entirely on your computer or USB jump drive without ever transmitting the private component of them to the software company.

IMPORTANT: When searching for software, it is best to look for a holistic solution which will protect against many or all the different threats discussed above.

Mixing and matching software solutions is comparable to building a car with a Ford engine, a Honda chassis, a Mercedes interior and a Lexus body. It may be possible to put them together, but you will have many headaches down the road because the parts were not designed to work together.

Follow these guidelines and you will a far more savvy privacy software shopper.