How to make your smartphone as safe as possible (CONT'D)

[Демитрий]

How to make your smartphone as safe as possible (CONT'D)

TOR ON ANDROID

To have anonymous access to sites, you can use a couple of Android applications: Orbot and Orfox. Orbot directs Internet traffic through the anonymous Tor network. Orfox is the mobile version of Firefox that uses Orbot and provides additional protection for your privacy. Together, these two applications let you bypass online filters and visit websites anonymously, the same thing that Tor Browser provides for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

You can learn more about anonymity and circumvention of censorship in the corresponding guide.

PHOTO AND RECORD
Smartphones allow you to take photos, record sound, shoot video. All these are powerful tools for documenting events and disseminating information about them. It is necessary to respect the privacy and security of those who appear in the frame and on the record. For example, if you recorded an important event, and then the phone fell into the wrong hands, this can lead to troubles both for you and the heroes of your report. Some tips on what to do to manage these risks:

• Think about how you can safely and quickly upload recorded files to the network and delete them from your device.
• Use tools to blur the faces of people who appear in your photos and videos, as well as distort the voices of those you record.
• Find out with what programs and settings to get rid of metadata in media files. Examples of such metadata are the GPS coordinates of the places where photos were taken, the parameters of the camera that was used for shooting.

The Guardian Project developers have created and maintain a free open source application called ObscuraCam, which works with photos and videos: it blurs faces and deletes metadata.

If you need to save faces, voices and metadata, then it is especially important that your device is encrypted. Files that you copy from a device elsewhere for storage or transfer must also be encrypted. Driven by this idea, Guardian Project programmers developed the Proof Mode application, the antipode of ObscuraCam. Proof Mode “pulls” the maximum metadata from the material, which can help establish the authenticity of the image or video. This metadata is stored separately from the corresponding images and videos; transmit them only through secure channels.

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MOBILE PHONES

• Connect the phone to the computer only if you are sure that there is no malicious code on the computer. For more information, see our guide to protecting your computer from viruses and phishing.
• As with a computer, be careful when connecting to a wi-fi network without a password.
• Turn off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Near Field Communication (NFC) when not using these features. Turn them on only when necessary and only to connect to trusted networks and devices. If possible, use a cable to transfer data.
• Keep track of the behavior and functioning of your smartphone. Pay attention to unknown programs and running processes, strange messages, technical failures. If you are unfamiliar with any functions and applications on the phone or you are not using them, disable them or remove them if possible.

Source: How to make your smartphone as safe as possible

 

[Матушкин Андрей Николаевич]