This is my guide on ways to keep your online data, YOUR data, and other ways to help you stay secure in 2025.

I’ll start by saying this again, privacy is what YOU want it to be. There’s a lot of ways to go about, some are more simple while others are more in-depth and require more effort. If you want to use social media that targets you with ads and tracks and listens to you, but you are aware of that, then by all means! But you have control over how much of your data they get and the ways they track you. Privacy can be a rabbi thole but take it as far as you want, not what others may tell you is/isn’t enough.

While some of this might be at the slight cost of convenience, it ends up being better for you overall in most cases. Keep in mind that Privacy ≠ anonymity.

Anonymity is about keeping yourself unidentified or unidentifiable. The important idea about anonymity is that a person be non-identifiable, unreachable, or untraceable.

While privacy on the other hand is about it not being important if they know who you are but hiding what you are doing. In my case, it’s about hiding it from big tech. My data is for sale as much as any one else, I’m just making sure as little of it as possible is out there for sale. If the product is free, there’s high chances that you are what they are selling to others.

There’s a good article breakdown between the two here by Douglas Crawford at Proton.

Most of these tools are free or have very small price points. The hardware will come down to your personal phone and/or computer. Also don’t forget to be sure to google yourself from time to time and if there’s anything your name is on that you want removed, you can start that process.

Emails

I use the Proton Suite but there’s other alternatives such as Tutanota mail. Some advise against this due to “not having all your eggs in one basket”, but in my opinion, it’s still perfectly acceptable, as long as your security is spread around.

I personally like and prefer proton as they go for privacy as the basis of all of their products. They are a bit slower to release/update things for Linux and iOS, but they do get released for them. Proton is free with options to upgrade into paid plans for more storage, custom domains, additional emails, etc.

Email Alias

Next would be login to SimpleLogin with your Proton account or you can make you own account without using Proton. You’ll be using this to create emails for individual accounts/services you’ll be using and making. An alternative is Anonaddy.

This is insanely helpful when signing up for services or websites as the email alias created will forward all them to your real email. So in the event of a data breach, they don’t get your real email address. You can also disable the alias temporarily and turn it back on whenever you want as to not get spam mail.

VPN

There are really 2 options, ProtonVPN and MullvadVPN. I use ProtonVPN due to me having an active subscription so I get the premium included. It does include a free tier for users though as well.

Payments

Now when making online payments use Privacy.com. This lets you create virtual payment cards for one-time purchases or subscriptions. NOTE: Some services will not let you or will fight you on using these virtual cards.

Browsers

  • Firefox - I myself am a fan of Hardened Firefox(and this guide by brainfucksec), due to the ability to have Containers. “Each container is isolated from the others, so you can access sites logged into different accounts.”. So this will keep sites isolated from each other as to not share cookies and other info with each other.
  • LibreWolf - Is a fork of Firefox that has most of the “hardening” or privacy setting on by default, but it’s a little slower to be updated with normal Firefox. As this is a fork of Firefox, it has the ability to use the containers the same way Firefox does.
  • Brave - Is a chromium based browser that has other privacy and adblocking features built in out-of-the-box. You can let it show you ads and it will pay you a minor amount as you browse but keep in mind that it does also collect some of your data as you browse.

Additionally using uBlock Origin with any browser you do use.

Searching

Rather than use google, you can use something like DuckDuckGo or StartPage. I recommend StartPage

Password Managers

There’s a few out there, there isn’t an exact wrong answer but some have poor reputation from being breached. I myself use Bitwarden. This is free, and if you want to pay to self-host(recommended) and other features, it’s only $10 a year. Super cheap and worth it. There alternatives are ProtonPass, or 1Password.

Keeping In Contact / Messaging

This one is a pain point with/for a lot of people as most people don’t want another app to message someone or to switch off of it. So many people use one or two platforms already so either adding one more or trying to convince someone to switch, isn’t always easy.

  • Signal - This is a great one, minus the caveat that you need a phone number to sign up. They have Signal Usernames, so you don’t need to give people your phone number anymore. Great to use as they also have a Desktop app, capable of sending files, audio messages, and video calls. I use signal the most, though I will be trying to switch to SimpleX.
  • SimpleX - This is also a great one as it doesn’t require a phone number to sign up. You generate a link or a QR Code to share and people find you that way. Also great to use as they also have a desktop app, capable of sending files, audio messages, and doing video calls.
  • Element - Is a way to chat using Matrix. This can uses for individuals or creating chatrooms. Has the ability to search for open/public chatrooms, or create your own. This one replaces Discord
  • MySudo - for creating phone numbers, emails, etc. to use instead of your real personal information. Note: You may need a stock android/iPhone device to sign up for a plan. I had an older stock android phone around, downloaded the app, signed up for the service and logged into the account on my non-stock android phone.

Cloud Storage

I use ProtonDrive, with some self hosting using NextCloud. NextCloud is used if you have a home server or spare machine to set it up on. This is a way to keep important files backed up, or just a way to share larger files for others. If you happen to store any sensitive data on a cloud storage, I recommend encrypting it with Cryptomator to increase security on those files/folders.

Note taking

Most note taking apps have the ability to read your notes. Notes may not seem like a major thing but some people take quick notes that have personal or sensitive information. I use Obsidian and have used Joplin in the past. Both of these are great, but if you want to sync notes, you will need to pay or have a cloud storage of some form to sync notes. Both have a great amount of community plugins that enhance the apps.

Calendar

I use Proton Calendar, this is primarily for me and my spouse to share together. I dont use Calendars too much other than this, but I still want to keep my data private.

2FA/MFA

This should also be used all over with any account that allows this. I recommend using Aegis Authenticator. There are more secure ways such as using a Yubikey and using it’s authenticator, this requires you to carry it with you for use at all times. Bitwarden, also has one built into it’s password manager, but it’s better to keep these separate that way if your Bitwarden somehow gets compromised, they won’t have your 2FA/MFA codes.

AI

If you’re someone who uses AI for various things, I suggest using Lumo. I personally don’t use AI too much or often enough, but this is one that isn’t logging your chats or trying to harvest your chats/data. This one may not be as advanced as others or be able to do as much as others but it is privacy respecting.

Mobile

I personally recommend a Google Pixel Phone - Unlocked, and installing GrapheneOS. iPhones are good alternative over stock android. Using MintMobile instead of a normal carrier. So you’ll be getting a new phone number. When giving out your new phone number to family/friends, make sure you trust them to not give it out to others.

PC

Most machines work but will depend on your use case, but rather than using Windows or Mac OS, go with QuebesOS(for more advanced) or base Debian Linux. I typically use Debian for ease as most things just work with it and it works great for my day to day things.

If you use Windows 11 (as Windows 10 is soon to be unsupported), you’ll want to take some extra steps like running O&O ShutUp10++ and O&O AppBuster. These will remove unnecessary bloat apps and software, as well disable/enable certain features that are built into Windows that collects your data. You can use Chris Titus’s Windows Utility for additional options.

Conclusion

There’s multiple options out there when it comes to your online privacy and security. Take it as far as you want. There’s social media, and services that you are the product they are selling, and plenty of others that you still are the product even if you’re paying. I myself use Social Media in their own container on Firefox, but I don’t have the apps installed on my phone, I just access them via my phones browser if I want/need. I use apps like Discord that collects your data but it’s hard not to use it when a vast majority of people use it but the ones who are privacy conscious/respecting will use the other apps with me.

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