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Brave logoBrave is a relatively new Web Browser that is available for Windows, Linux, Android and Mac. The developers of Brave are Brendan Eich, former CEO of Firefox, and his team. Their slogan is

“You deserve a better Internet – So we reimagined what a browser should be”.

Well, that is true to a certain extent, and in some aspects not quite.

Brave is based on Google Chrome (which IMHO does not respect the user’s privacy), and has made quite a few changes to make it more secure.

brave startpage

This is how Brave greets you.

 

Let’s take a look at the Pros and Cons:

Pros:

  • HTTPS enforcing enabled by default
  • Brave clear history, cookies etc. when you close it, but only if you configure it explicitly.
  • its has an integrated Ad blocker and claims that pages load (3 to 6 times) faster due to this, this may be true, I didn’t check, it depends a lot on the number of ads on a given page.
  • If you select a Private Window, it uses the Tor network to hide your IP address
  • sites that do not work with Firefox, only with Chrome, will (usually) work in Brave

Cons:

  • customized Ads are Brave’s business model, but it seems paradoxical that a browser first blocks Ads and then presents you with its own, customized ads. Some are over the Moon about this system, while others remain skeptical.
  • this may be a minor glitch, but it didn’t clear my history on exit although I had selected it
  • is it faster than Firefox with an adblocker extension? not 3 to 6 times faster at least.
  • if you register your Passwords in Brave, it does not propose to set a master password like Firefox does.

 

To be fair, with Firefox, you have to make more changes and add extensions to get a more secure browser. In Brave, most of these features are enabled by default.

Brave is definitely worth a try if you are looking for a (more) secure Web Browser!!

 

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shield logo

Keep your browser safe !

In these times of almost global Corona lockdown, we rely on the internet more than usual. So it’s a good time to check some of the tools we use every day, such as the browser. We at LxCast recommend Firefox, but its standard settings are more aimed at functionality than security. So let’s change that!

 

 

Safer Firefox settings

Click on the “Burger” Menu on the upper right-hand side of Firefox, select “Preferences”

an then “Privacy & Security”.

  • The first thing is to select “Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed”.
  • Then, storing passwords in your Firefox is handy. I recommend however that you only use it for less important passwords, for the rest, a separate password manager program is recommended. If you choose to store passwords in Firefox, be sure to set a Master Password (and write it down, in a Password Manager and/or on paper that you safely store somewhere!). Otherwise, everyone who has access to your computer (at the office for example) can see and steal your passwords!

Add some Browser Extensions

Click on the “Burger” Menu on the upper right-hand side of Firefox, select “Add-ons” in the menu, then “Extensions” and search for

screenshot of recommended extensions

Recommended extensions for Firefox

  • https everywhere – forces sites to use a secure https connection
  • uBlock – Blocks Ads
  • Privacy badger or Ghostery – block trackers on websites

Now I am aware that Firefox has its own content blockers, but I prefer separate extensions like Pivacy badger or Ghostery, because you have more options to set them up, and disable them for certain sites if necessary.

Control your history

Many sites read your browsing history to track you and send you ads.To put an end to this, select “use custom settings for history” and tick the boxes like in the screenshot, especially “Clear history when Firefox closes”.

firefox history screenshot

 

Disable PDF in the Browser

Last but not least, if you come across a PDF file on the web, by default Firefox and many other browsers will automatically open it in the browser, like a web page. However, (bad, evil) hackers can use this to infect your system with malware. You can change this setting in Firefox via Menu > Preferences > General > Applications as described here. The PDF document will then open in your local document viewer.

 

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This is a little podcast podcast episode I made for Hacker Public Radio on what to check, read, and update if you want to upgrade your Linux PC with an Solid State Disk.

Basically you need a few upgrades in your PCs BIOS or UEFI,

Some commands I mentioned that you should check out:

Check SSD disk specs:

sudo hdparm -I /dev/sdb

Check for TRIM support:

sudo hdparm -I /dev/sdb | grep -i TRIM

Perform TRIM support

sudo fstrim -v /

Detailed SSD Info

Update: As a HPR listener pointed out, TRIM: Fragmentation of files isn’t the problem on SSDs, but wear levelling is, i.e. the SSD’s controller needs to know which blocks it can reuse for leveling out the wear on the flash cells. Thanks!

 

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This is a little preview of a clip I did for Hacker Public Radio:

http://hackerpublicradio.org/eps.php?id=1603

This year’s GUADEC, the Gnome Users and Developers Conference was held in Strasbourg, France. Keynote Speaker was free software activist Matthew Garrett.
He held an inspiring speech on the Linux and Gnome desktop and laid out his vision for both.
Afterwards, I was able to ask him a few questions.

Enjoy.

Links:

/https://www.guadec.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Garrett