Online Anonymity? What is it? Why would you need it? Where can you get it?

As an IT expert and in the security field for over 15 years now, these are questions I get asked on a regular basis. There are many reasons why a person might want to remain anonymous online. One can be anonymous in literally any protocol they desire from sending email, posting to newsgroups or web boards to surfing the internet.

Many do not know that when you visit a website, you reveal a lot of information to the site you visit. Most importantly, you reveal your IP address to the site you visit. Your IP address can be compared to your telephone number. Basically, its a number that can be traced right back to you through your ISP. Armed with your IP address (your computers physical address on the internet) a hacker can initiate many probes against your PC to look for weakness without you ever knowing it. Your IP address is revealed in email, newsgroup postings, web chat forums and IRC as well as many other protocols including P2P (peer to peer or file sharing) programs.

Luckily, there are ways to spoof (fake) your IP address in literally every online protocol. There are many services available to assist you in this venture. One that I like is Ultimate Anonymity ( http://www.ultimate-anonymity.com ) using a service like Ultimate Anonymity allows you to remain anonymous in any of the protocols mentioned here. they have been around for over 10 years and deliver cutting edge privacy and security tools as well including easy file encryption, a cool program that allows you to hide sensitive data within images on your PC, encrypted private chat, software to remove evidence and old files from your hard drive. Truly a complete one stop privacy shop.

I urge anyone remotely interested in online privacy, anonymity or security to check them out.

Peace

Samuel Walters

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