My 2021 Annual Security recommendations. These are recommendations I think you should follow to help keep your data and privacy safe online.

Browser: Firefox – Its open source and is the backbone of Tor for a reason. I much prefer firefox to any other browser. Chrome is a close second but I do not like that its not open source. Download it here: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

Most secure browser: Tor. Tor is designed for those times when you don’t want anyone to see what you are doing. TOR blocks your ISP, the government, etc. from seeing what you are doing online. It keeps everything you are searching very secure. Researchers, journalists, the government, and criminals all use tor when they want their tracks to be private. The bad thing about Tor is that its slow because its rerouting your data and some functions on various websites won’t work. https://www.torproject.org

Mobile Browser – Firefox Focus is my preferred go to mobile browser. Focus is really fast and simple. If you want more privacy, there are various tor browsers for the mobile web https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/focus

Most Secure Mobile Browser – Onion Browser. Uses TOR, so just like TOR its going to be slower and not work on every site, but its very secure. https://onionbrowser.com/

Security add on for your browser/adblock:

uBlock – Works for Firefox and chrome and keeps away ads and other nonsense. This helps many pages load faster too. This is my go to addon when I install a new browser. https://www.ublock.org/

HTTPS Everywhere – forces the browser to go to the https version of the website. It helps when transmitting secure data, for example, what you would want a site you log into to use. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/https-everywhere/

Search Engine – DuckDuckGo. It doesn’t track or store what you are searching. https://duckduckgo.com/

Email: Protonmail – Anonymous email. Doesn’t track you. Keep your data/emails private and safe. https://protonmail.com/

VPN, Antivirus, Malware, Firewall:

VPN – Cyberghost and Norton (though many others are great too). When you use a VPN your entire computer is hidden from your ISP vs TOR which just hides the browser. A VPN is a must when using public wifi like at a hotel or starbucks. https://www.cyberghostvpn.com/en_US/ and https://us.norton.com/products/norton-secure-vpn

Antivirus – Honestly, windows defender that comes on your machine is probably good enough. Its all I personally use. While I think Windows Defender is enough for most people, if you want the best, Norton would be my go to choice for antivirus, malware, and adware.

Malware/adware – Malwarebytes – its free and very powerful. I use this every few weeks to check my machine. I recommend using this whenever your computer is acting slow/funky. Please consider buying the full version to support them. https://www.malwarebytes.com/

Firewall – I don’t use a firewall anymore now that windows defender does the job for me. But if I were to need the extra protection, I would use Zonealarm. A firewall is designed to stop all traffic you don’t approve to and from the internet – https://www.zonealarm.com/software/free-firewall/

All in one Antivirus/VPN/Malware/Firewall – Norton. It’s cheap and powerful. It also can run on multiple devices. https://amzn.to/2Pv9c0b

Check out my recent interview: Esports Biz Show: College Esports with Professor & Esports Program Coordinator at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Dr. Ray Pastore

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/college-esports-professor-esports-program-coordinator/id1475204179?i=1000501744041

Check out my presentation that I did for AERA on gaming in education:

UNCW Esports certificate deadline for graduate students for Spring is Oct 15th! So if you are going to apply be sure to submit your application by that date!

https://uncw.edu/ed/esports/

Check out the latest UNCW Esports Promo Video!