Your every click, search, and purchase is being harvested, correlated, and monetized — or worse, weaponized — by corporations, governments, and criminals.

In 2025 the default internet is a panopticon. Achieving real privacy requires deliberate, layered defenses. This guide is for people who want the maximum realistic privacy without descending into complete paranoia (though the paranoid tier is included at the end).

This guide is for people who want the maximum realistic privacy without descending into complete paranoia (though the paranoid tier is included at the end).

This level stops almost all casual tracking, behavioral advertising, and cross-site profiling while remaining convenient for daily work and browsing.

1. Switch to a hardened browser:

• Alternative: Mullvad Browser (from the Mullvad VPN team, identical fingerprint on every install)

• Acceptable mainstream: Brave (but disable “Brave Rewards” and Google sync)

2. Essential extensions (install these in order):

• uBlock Origin (wide spectrum blocking mode)

• ClearURLs

• Cookie AutoDelete (keep cookies only for the current session on most sites)

• Decentraleyes / LocalCDN

• User-Agent Switcher (set to a common Windows 11 + Firefox string to defeat basic fingerprinting)

• Bitwarden (password manager — never reuse passwords)

3. Search engine:

• DuckDuckGo → Startpage → SearXNG instance (self-hosted or trusted public instance) in that order

4. VPN — the single biggest bang-for-buck upgrade. Best choices in 2025 (independently audited, RAM-only servers, no-logs proven in court/real-world):

• Mullvad (accepts cash by mail, €5/month flat, WireGuard only)

• IVPN (similar ethics, slightly more features)

• ProtonVPN (free tier is decent, paid is excellent)

5. DNS:

Always enable kill-switch and auto-connect. Use WireGuard protocol.

• Encrypted DNS over HTTPS (DoH) or Oblivious DoH (ODoH)

• Best providers: Mullvad DNS, NextDNS (custom blocklists), or Quad9 with malware + ads blocking

6. Email:

• ProtonMail or Tutanota for main account

• SimpleLogin /Addy.io / AnonAddy for aliases (create unlimited aliases for every service, forward to your real inbox, delete when compromised)

7. Phone / Mobile:

• GrapheneOS (Pixel phones only) or CalyxOS

• Disable Google Play Services when possible

• Use Shelter or Insular to sandbox work apps

With just these changes you are already in the top 1–2 % of privacy-protected users.

This is where you start making real trade-offs in convenience for major gains.

1. Browser compartmentalization:

• Use different browser profiles or containers (Firefox Multi-Account Containers + Temporary Containers extension)

• Work → one container/profile

• Banking → separate profile

• Social media → separate profile

• High-risk browsing → Mullvad Browser or Tor Browser

2. Full-disk encryption + secure boot:

• Windows: BitLocker + VeraCrypt hidden volume for truly sensitive files

• macOS: FileVault + disable telemetry via Little Snitch or Lulu

• Linux: LUKS encryption (standard on most distros)

3. Operating system choice:

• Daily driver: Fedora Silverblue, Debian, or Arch with hardened kernel

• Extremely serious: Qubes OS (compartmentalizes everything into disposable VMs)

4. Network hardening:

• Run your VPN inside a dedicated Whonix-Workstation VM (forces all traffic through Tor even if VPN leaks)

• Or use Mullvad + their “DAITA” (Defense Against AI-guided Traffic Analysis) feature if available in 2025

• Use bandwidth monitors — for example, Little Snitch or Endian / Lulu

5. Communication:

• Signal for messaging (username privacy enabled)

• Session or SimpleX for metadata-resistant messaging

• Molly-FOSS (hardened Signal fork) on mobile

• Jitsi or self-hosted Nextcloud Talk for video calls

6. Avoid cloud sync entirely:

• Use Syncthing instead of Dropbox/Google Drive/OneDrive

• Encrypt files locally with Cryptomator or VeraCrypt before any cloud upload

This is what I personally run in 2025 for anything sensitive.

1. Primary browsing → Tor Browser:

• Accept the speed hit. Use “Safest” security level.

• For faster Tor: Orbot + Mullvad VPN (VPN → Tor) or the reverse (Tor → VPN) depending on threat model.

2. Operating system:

• Qubes OS + Whonix for anything that must touch the internet

• All other work done in disposable VMs that are destroyed after use

3. Live systems for highest-risk activity:

• Tails OS from a USB stick (amnesic, routes everything through Tor)

• Never plug the Tails USB into a machine you care about keeping secret

4. Hardware:

• Buy laptops with Coreboot/Libreboot when possible (ThinkPad X220/T440p era still best in 2025)

• Disable Intel ME / AMD PSP via me_cleaner or equivalent

• Use external Hardware Security Key (YubiKey or Nitrokey) for 2FA everywhere possible

I highly recommend to purchase a hardware wallet directly from the manufacturer’s website rather than online retailers like Amazon/eBay. It is also advised to use an alternative email address or a virtual office to protect your personal information in case of a data leak.

5. Identity separation:

• Never mix identities. Use completely separate devices or VMs for: Work, Personal life, Activism / high-risk activity

• Burner SIMs or VoIP numbers (MySudo, Jumptalk) bought with cash/Monero

6. Financial privacy:

• Pay for everything privacy-respecting with cash or privacy coins (Monero preferred)

• Mullvad and Proton accept cash/Monero

7. Physical OPSEC:

• Faraday bag for phone when not in use

• Cover cameras with tape or use laptops with physical kill switches (Framework, System76, older ThinkPads)

Study Kerckhoffs’s principle — The principle which holds that a cryptosystem should be secure, even if everything about the system, except the key, is public knowledge. This concept is widely embraced by cryptographers, in contrast to security through obscurity, which is not.

Below you will find a checklist for basic digital hygiene and privacy.

Lists that are identical in spirit and structure save lives and billions of dollars every single day for people in completely different professions: airline pilots run through them before every takeoff, surgeons before cutting, nuclear plant engineers before starting a reactor, astronauts before stepping into open space.

Mistakes in those fields are simply too expensive, which is why professionals worldwide trust not their memory or “roughly,” but a simple paper or digital list that cannot be skipped.

Privacy today is exactly the same kind of domain: one forgotten detail can cost you money, reputation, or even freedom. That’s why this checklist isn’t just for “paranoids” and tech geeks; it’s for absolutely everyone who doesn’t want to wake up one day and discover their entire life is publicly exposed.

Print it, screenshot it, copy it by hand into a notebook, save it in your notes app; whatever works best for you. The important thing is to keep it within reach and run through it at least once a month. It will take you 10–15 minutes, but it will give you a level of confidence that no amount of money can buy.

[ ] Install Brave or Mullvad Browser

[ ] Install uBlock Origin + Cookie AutoDelete + Bitwarden

[ ] Create ProtonMail + SimpleLogin account

[ ] Subscribe to Mullvad or IVPN (pay with Monero/cash)

[ ] Enable full-disk encryption

[ ] Switch phone to GrapheneOS (if Pixel) or at least disable Google services

[ ] Start using Signal with disappearing messages

[ ] Delete or compartmentalize Facebook/Google/Instagram accounts

[ ] More useful tips can be found here and here

Do these eight things and you will be more private than 99.9 % of internet users while still being able to work effectively. The harsh truth: perfect privacy does not exist.

Anonymity isn’t a tool it’s a lifestyle. It’s a mindset. If you use Tor but pay for your VPN with a personal CC, you are doxxing yourself. Keep this in mind.

But the difference between “average user” and “Tier 3” is the difference between being a sitting duck and being effectively invisible to almost all adversaries short of nation-state actors with physical access. Choose your tier, implement it completely, and never relax. The trackers never do.

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