InfoWorld - Security Adviser: 9 steps to make you completely anonymous online

The default state of Internet privacy is a travesty. But if you're willing to work hard, you can experience the next best thing to absolute Internet anonymity

By Roger A. Grimes
Aug 25, 2015

I'm still in shock over the Ashley Madison hack, which exposed more than 37 million users. No, my name and email address are not on the list. No, I'm not morally outraged over the number of people who were either lying to a significant other or hoping to have a liaison with someone lying to a significant other.

However, I can't believe 37 million people thought there was such a thing as real, long-lasting privacy on the Internet. Who are these people?

Do they simply ignore the constant stream of stories about hacked websites, hacked businesses, and stolen personal information? Or did they believe that Ashley Madison's crackerjack security team had magically accomplished what no one else has ever done: Keep hackers out?

Haven't they heard about everyone's naked photos ending up everywhere? Have they never been notified that their credit card was compromised? How deep does your head have to be in the sand to think that anything you do anything online, much less cheating, will remain private? Oh well -- millions of people still fall for Nigerian email scams or install anything the Internet tells them to install.

But this latest incident got me thinking: Could it be possible to establish true, lasting privacy on the Internet? Here's my best guess at what it would take to remain anonymous over the long term, without your online identity outing your real identity.

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