It just so happens that any activity on the Internet does not go unnoticed. Whether it's a banal search for information, sending messages, surfing websites, online shopping - all this leaves traces with which it is easy enough to find out most of the confidential data about you. Which can be used by intruders for criminal purposes. And there is no way to physically completely hide the fact of your presence on the Internet - well, or completely abandon it, which is impossible nowadays! However, there are certain technologies through which it is possible to greatly complicate the process of collecting information about you from the network, making it unprofitable for intruders and other "collectors" of confidential information.

Before making any attempts to "anonymize" your online activities, you should clearly understand why you personally need secrecy and from whom you plan to protect confidential data. Since different tools are used for different tasks, it is not difficult to guess.

Here are a few of the main "collectors" of confidential information on the web: Corporations, Employers, Search Engines, Intruders, Law enforcement agencies.

Let's look at the most effective tools for anonymity on the web today.

1. Proxy and SOCKS

A proxy server (connection) is an intermediate service that is an intermediary (proxy from English - intermediary) between the user's computer and the Internet. That is, it provides anonymity by spoofing the subscriber's IP address. Depending on the degree of security, proxy servers are divided into:

HTTP servers (regular) - pass only HTTP traffic through themselves, adding proxy usage data to it.

SOCKS servers - pass through any traffic without adding anything to it.

These servers help to maintain anonymity to bypass various regional restrictions and ensure the basic security of confidential information. It is suitable if you want to remain anonymous for search engines, corporations and inexperienced attackers.

Advantages of proxy servers:

availability and cheapness (there are free servers).

Minuses:

the proxy service must be trusted;
proxy protocols do not support traffic encryption;
it is necessary to constantly filter traffic for HTTP servers;
you need to configure for each new application or install special software.
2. VPN

Virtual Private Network (VPN) or on the mighty "virtual private network" is a technology by which one or more connections are created on top of another network. At the same time, the connection between the subscriber and the VPN server is encrypted, which creates the most anonymous Internet access. And it will be such not only for web resources, but also for providers, unlike proxy servers, this cannot be achieved there.

Now there are the following VPN protocols:

OpenVPN is an open, secure, and therefore popular protocol that helps to maintain anonymity on the network, but requires the installation of a separate client;
SSTP security is comparable to OpenVPN, but there is no need to install additional software, however, there are limitations in platforms (Win7, Win8, Vista SP1);
L2TP + IPSec. This bundle provides increased anonymity of data, since it has two levels of protection. The L2TP tunnel protocol allows you to remain anonymous when transmitting traffic, and IPsec encrypts it;
PPTP security is not at such a high level compared to the others, but it is easy to install and configure.
The main advantages of VPN is that it provides maximum traffic security and at the same time does not require a long and complicated setup.

Among the disadvantages, we can note the negative impact on the connection speed and additional load on the device. In addition, there is a leak of the IP address through Flash and Java applications.

3. Anonymizers (CGI proxy)
Anonymizers or CGI proxies are servers, when using which its users only need to enter the address of the site of interest and nothing else. Anonymous traffic is also created here by IP spoofing, but that's it.

Positive:

simplicity;
availability and relative cheapness.
Minuses:

you need to trust the proxy server;
there is no encryption - only the address is anonymous.
It is not worth using them to protect against intruders, since anonymizers make anonymous only the traffic that passes through their site (server). All other Internet connections of your device remain unprotected.

4. SSH tunnels

SSH tunnel is a technology for creating anonymous connections on the Internet via SSH protocol. Its trick is that the information is encrypted at one end of the tunnel and decrypted at the second. The provider and web resources are used here only for traffic transmission.

Advantages of SSH tunnels:

minimal impact on internet speed;
enhanced data security;
stability.
Minuses:

the decryption key can be stolen;
increased load on the device.
SSH tunnels, as a rule, are used on top of a VPN, thus, the security of confidential data is preserved and the most anonymous access to web resources is provided, when using it, it must be remembered.

5. Tor Browser