Change your online habits

PRIVACY

Last updated: 19 January 2022


When protecting your online privacy, no single solution exists. Instead, it's about changing your habits and using certain tools. Below are a few of our recommendations.

Simple ways to reclaim your privacy

Increase awareness

Think about and discuss aspects of your own privacy. To help you get started, read about the fundamentals of privacy.

Use a VPN

Choose one that you really trust.

Switch to a privacy-friendly search engine

Many search engines track, save, and share your every search. Find one that keeps your searches to you. We recommend DuckDuckGo.

Browse in “privacy” mode

This helps to prevent cookies and other tracking techniques from being used. We recommend Firefox. Once open, use the shortcut command Ctrl+Shift+P or click on the hamburger menu and choose "New Private Window”.

Close and open a new privacy window frequently. Ideally, open a new window for each site that you visit.

Terminate cookie-based tracking

Use the “Strict” setting in Firefox’s Enhanced Tracking Protection to prevent website cookies from following you across multiple sites. Here’s how.

Use a privacy-focused messaging app

We recommend Signal – and here's why.

Check for https

Especially when dealing with money online, make sure that the end of the URL’s prefix has an 's' – https. This means that your connection with the service is secured with end-to-end encryption.

Consider the business model

For the online services you use, consider their business model and how they make their money. In a world of big data, when something is “free”, it’s very likely that you are the product.

Think before you click

Always be careful and mindful about which sites you visit, which attachments you open, and which links you click.

Perform a connection check

While connected to Mullvad VPN, use our connection check to get a quick overview of your connection status. Your browser could still be leaking information and therefore jeopardizing your privacy.

Next step

Up next: use Privacy tools for your browser.