E-mail

• Download Page Download Plugin

  Thunderbird + Enigmail

  To receive and send encrypted e-mails that only you and the sender can read, use the Thunderbird e-mail client with the Enigmail plugin. If you are using an e-mail client besides Thunderbird, there are other secure plugins.

Chat/IM

• Download Pidgin Download OTR

  Pidgin + OTR

  To receive and send encrypted chat messages that only you and the sender can read, use the Pidgin IM client with the OTR plugin. For Windows and Linux.

• Download Page

  Adium

  For secure messaging on Mac OS X, use Adium with OTR enabled. Why install three separate instant messengers when you can connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo and GoogleTalk in a single, beautiful app? Plus it's 100% free and open source.

Web Browsing

• Download Page

  Adblock Plus

  Sick of seeing ads everywhere? Tired of online ad companies tracking your every move? Install the Adblock Plus plugin for Firefox and get rid of the clutter.

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  Better Privacy

  This Firefox plugin keeps sites from tracking you using Flash Cookies and other "super cookies."

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  HTTPS Everywhere

  HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox extension that encrypts your communications with a number of major websites, like Google Search, Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, and most of Amazon.

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  Vidalia

  This TOR frontend keeps you anonymous on the web using military-grade techniques. For use with Firefox see: TorButton.

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  Protected Search

  This Firefox plugin keeps Google from tracking your searches and connecting them to other sites you might visit.

• Web Site

  Panopticlick

  Can websites identify you simply by looking at the characteristics of the browser you use to visit them? This EFF website will tell you how unique your browser's "fingerprint" is.

Hard Drive Encryption

• Download Page

  TrueCrypt

  TrueCrypt encrypts some or all of your hard drive so others can't get at your data. What's more, it's free and open source.

Podcasts and Websites

• Download Page

  Security Now!

  To keep up to speed on the latest threats to your privacy and how to combat them, listen to the Security Now! podcast.

• Download Page

  The Access Guide to "Protecting Your Security Online"

  Written for people using phones and the net in the Middle East and North Africa. A good overview for anyone.

Worth a Look

• Website

  Ghostery

  Browser plugin that lets you see how you're being tracked. A little distracting, since you are tracked so often! Worth installing for an hour just to get a sense of the tracking in a typical session.

• Website

  Netalyzr

  This website, from the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, will test your network and report what it finds. A good place to start in understanding your network.

• Download Page

  Certificate Patrol

  If you're concerned that not all SSL Certification Authorities are to be trusted, this is a Firefox plugin to try. It locally caches all certificates it has seen so far, and issues a warning whenever it sees one for the first time, or when something has changed and it's not clear why. This comes with some false positives though, as some major sites use different certificates for the same domain name.

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