Because of this disturbing condition, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Access is now campaigning for the international deployment of HTTPS through HTTPS Now. They are calling on users to join them in their crusade to improve security measures and make web surfing safer. One of their activities is spreading the word about HTTPS Now and how to take advantage of HTTPS security features by using it correctly.

HTTPS or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure offers optimal protection by using encryption technology. A user’s request is encrypted before the browser sends it to the server. The resulting pages received from the server are also encrypted, making the data contained therein “unreadable” by anyone while it is being sent to the user’s computer. This makes web surfing more secure as compared to HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) alone. However, many websites are still using the HTTP, which is unencrypted and vulnerable to several kinds of threats.

The HTTPS Now campaign is made up of three components. These are protecting web surfing, taking an Internet-wide survey of the status of HTTPS deployment, and helping site operators implement HTTPS. A sub-component of the campaign is the distribution of updated tools that users can use to protect their web browsing.

The first component of the campaign encourages the installation of HTTPS Everywhere by web users. This is a security tool created by the EFF and the Tor Project for the Firefox browser. This tool is capable of automatically encrypting a user’s browsing thereby changing it from HTTP to HTTPS.

The EFF and Access admit that many websites are still using HTTP and are still vulnerable to malicious attacks. That is why the second component of the campaign focuses on calling on users to give feedback on whether or not the sites they visit are using HTTPS. They believe that user-generated information can give a relatively accurate picture of the extent of internet security and HTTPS use.

The third component is providing assistance to website operators regarding available resources in learning how to use HTTPS. These resources are detailed and are tailor-made for the deployment of the tool. Interested website operators are also expected to gain full understanding of the importance of using HTTPS.

The campaign proponents stress the importance of them working together with web users. They believe that web users can give an accurate picture of HTTPS and its status. With all of these components in place, it will be easier for them to target those web operators who still need to update their sites.

These are emotionally charged issues, but the latter is vital to any business occurring at all! For example, if you are a business person, going to foreign countries to conduct negotiations of some sort, communication with your company is a must.

The businessman is now in quite a pickle; he is about to enter a room full of potentially hostile and solid negotiators, and he can’t even reach his peers to know the pertinent issues to discuss! Every time he tried to access the American sites necessary for him to commiserate with his team, he was blocked. Dumbfounded, the talks probably didn’t amount to much, as one party didn’t even know his game plan.

Although the aforementioned scenario is hypothetical, and most people don’t have large deals riding on their Internet access, being censored in a different country can still be quite a nuisance. Take a more pedestrian plight such as homesickness. A quick dissection of the word spells out something every intercontinental traveler can identify with.

Being away from one’s home for an extended period of time is hard on anyone. Humans are creatures of habit, and once rooted into one place, we find it hard to just detach and leave. We are prone to feel as though we have left a part of ourselves behind, and the void can be hard to fill. The Internet is an excellent medium by which to fill that void due to its large content strata. A bored traveler can surf some YouTube and laugh themselves into bliss with funny videos. A homesick traveler can catch up with friends on MySpace, or send and receive pictures with family and loved ones on PhotoBucket. The possibilities are endless. A more levelheaded and economically minded traveler could stay up on the state of affairs in the U.S. economy, or do some online banking.

All of these things are possibilities, but let’s analyze the working traveler. If the sole purpose of the trip was business oriented, then it is essential to have access to everything you need to make money. With today’s jobs and business being so deeply intertwined with the Internet, a good business person couldn’t function without it.

While abroad, these good business people quickly run into the issue that other countries seem to have with free browsing. They are often blocked from sites that are vital to their success and money-making ventures. No need to fear though, there are ways to bypass this blatant censoring.

Using an IP changer is a great and simple way to do this. An IP changer allows a user to hide their IP address while surfing the web freely. By concealing your IP address, the IP changer has done you a great service; you are now completely anonymous.

The problem with these IP changers are that some are unreliable. There is an important rule of thumb: if it’s free, stay away. These free IP changers are often run by criminals hoping to lure the thrifty in and steal the information they put in. While you are invisible to the rest of the internet, the IP changer still clearly know who you are.

Another important service these IP changers provide is getting through the unnecessary and in discriminant blocks some countries create. The proxy sites will often be below the blocking radar, and therefore, you can access them. (The sites are usually blocked in a keyword fashion) The IP Changer site then acts as a middle-man between you and the blocked site you wish to access. By adopting the IP changer’s IP address you could appear as if you are in a different country, but if the IP changer isn’t sophisticated enough to do that, you can still access the site. The IP changer will simply retrieve the information for you, and the website won’t know there is someone else pulling the strings behind the scenes. This will also keep you anonymous and out of trouble with the local police. This also hides your tracks too. If the local government were to dig around on your connection logs, all they would see is the IP changer website over and over again; no incriminating YouTube evidence.

Is not all fun and games with these IP changers however. When browsing for an IP changer, there is quite a variety to choose from. It may seem tempting to go for one of the free ones, but internet security is not the place to be thrifty.  These free IP chagners are often drudgingly slow and offer little or no internet anonymity. They are quite expensive to run, due to the large number of people requiring quite a bit of bandwidth to run.

The search for a reliable IP changer can be an ongoing one, but it doesn’t have to be. Free IP changers go on and offline in a hectic manner, but professional IP changers working on a small fee are 24/7 reliable. While some IP changers can be a bit expensive, a little money goes a long way. Remember this universal rule of thumb: you get what you pay for.

Whether you are on the Internet to do business or just to unwind, and are in another country, an anonymous IP changer is a standard tool of the trade nowadays. The modern business person must always have unrestricted access to the Internet that every normal U.S. citizen is allotted,  and have the ability to remain anonymous even when in a completely different country. An anonymous IP changer is the answer to all of these requirements, and is instrumental to any intercontinental traveler. After a short time of use, the business nomad will feel lost without it.

A big problem is that all information your computer puts out is in ascii text, which is completely readable. A great way to protect you and your text from being read on the Internet is using an encryption service. These assign a sort of code to your text, and make everything you do unreadable unless you have the password. The more bit’s the encryption is, the harder it will be to break. Some change IP proxies offer such high encryption systems, that the NSA would have trouble uncovering the information!

Now, “change IP proxy” was mentioned. A change IP proxy is a program that changes your IP address and allows for anonymous surfing. A change IP proxy can make it look to others as though you are not you anymore; your IP name tag has changed. This also fools the website. A change IP proxy also can fool your ISP and server you get an Internet connection from. After you input your destination site into the change IP server, all of your ISP logs just appear as though you have visited the change IP site a bunch of times; one for each time you visited a different site.

You might feel like this would look suspicious. Well, the most sophisticated change IP proxies actually make it appear as though you have been surfing a legitimate site. An example would be, while you are laughing it up at YouTube, your boss would check your Internet logs, and it would appear as though you have been at a furniture site, or any other site you wished it to appear as.

Always be careful when choosing a change IP service. Be sure to choose one with a reliable reputation and a lucid privacy guarantee. If your funds permit, you should go for a fee-based change IP service. You will be cursing yourself for being thrifty when your free change IP site is crawling along due to heavy traffic!

When connecting to the internet, your computer signs an electronic log-in book, leaving its John Hancock known as an “IP address” on any page you visit. This electronic footprint allows the website to remember its frequent patrons and monitor information you create while browsing. While this may seem like a harmless tactic, sometimes criminals can use this information to locate you. Don’t fret! There are ways to hide your IP address so nobody can invade your privacy, whether it be on the internet at home or from a hotspot.

If you are using a cable connection, you can set up security systems directly from your router that prevents peeping eyes from accessing your data. The most common is the WEP key. This is a encryption that you set up through the use of a password.  That password is converted into a 16 or 21 digit key that ensures a secure tunnel for your computer to pass through. Most cable, DSL, or FIOS system has these capabilities; simply call your provider for assistance in setup.

If you are surfing on a laptop and gain access to the internet via a WiFi card, you are utilizing what is called a “hot spot”. This seems to be the best option; no wires, creating an “invisible connection”, if you will. Sadly, a devious little program called a packet sniffer can pick up and sniff out your internet activities. There is hope though! By employing an anonymous proxy server, you can prevent people from snooping on your internet browsing.

Your internet security is inherently weak. Your passwords, location, and many other of life’s vitals are ripe and ready for the taking for an experienced hacker. Take the initiative and lock in your secure tunnel to the internet; never worry about loosing your on-line identity again!

Let us start by knowing something about IP addresses. Your IP address is the identification of the server (computer) that you use when you connect to the internet. This address contains information that identifies you as the user. Any information that you give during your surfing activities are associated to your IP address. This means that your IP address can be used by unscrupulous people against you.

This is why the use of an anonymous proxy to change your IP address is advised. By using a proxy server, your identity is hidden. Instead of your IP address appearing on the website that you access, it is the proxy server’s address that appears. Even if you have a so called electronic trail, websites cannot use it to lead back to you. Instead, they will just end up to the proxy server’s identity.

However, there are situations when changing your IP address is not enough. Aside from the basic features of anonymous surfing, you must also look for added security such as data encryption. Encryption adds a higher level of protection.

When data is encrypted plain text is converted into non-readable form. Encrypted data cannot be intercepted by criminals.  Even if they do intercept it, they cannot get any useful information. Thus, it is advantageous to choose proxy servers that not only changes IP addresses, but also encrypts data. For encrypted data to become readable, the receiver must use a key to decrypt the message. It can only be read if it returns to its original text form.

Furthermore, there are levels of data encryption that you can choose from. For example you can use 64-bit or 128-bit encryption. Between the two, the 128-bit encryption is the stronger of the two. The 64-bit has the danger of being broken thus exposing all data contained in the text.

Some confidential information that needs to be encrypted is your user names, passwords and credit card information. Without encryption, you could become a victim to any unscrupulous person who intercepts your data.

So make sure to IP change to protect your identity, but be careful when choosing an IP changer. Get one that assures you not only of guaranteed anonymity, but also one that uses 128-bit encryption. With this your personal information remains your own ‘property’, and cannot be used against you.

Using a web proxy (also called anonymous proxy) can change your IP address. There are free web proxies and professional web proxies. By the name itself, a free web proxy is one that does not require any fee for its usage. In the case of professional web proxies, you may be required to pay a one-time fee, an annual fee, or a monthly subscription to use the service.

In addition, an IP changer could allow you to bypass restrictions and browse blocked sites. There are many instances when you can be unfairly blocked from accessing some websites because of your IP address. One who is traveling abroad and wants to view US-based websites might get blocked. It could be due to government restrictions. By changing your IP address, you can get around and surf US-based websites without fear of being tracked.

Both free and professional web proxies can do an IP change. Free proxies abound, and they offer basically the same services previously mentioned. It is recommended that you choose to use a proxy server that uses encryption. Encryption is the process of converting plain text into non-readable form or cyphertext. This provides for more privacy and safety. This encryption happens while information travels between the sender and the receiver.

For the encrypted data to be readable when it reaches the receiver, it must be decrypted. By using a “key” the receiver returns the message or information to its original readable plain text form.

Data encryption has two categories: symmetric and asymmetric. Between the two, asymmetric encryption is considered more secure. In symmetric encryption, both sender and receiver of information share a special single key that encrypts and decrypts text. In asymmetric encryption there is a “pair” of keys created for the user. One key called the “public key” is used for encryption. The receiver to decrypt data uses the other called the “private key”.

There are some points for you to consider when planning to use a free IP changer. You must understand that it is expensive to run a proxy. If you would be allowed to use it without any fee, then there must be some other sources of funds. This is what makes free web proxies questionable as to integrity.

You should be careful about groups of hackers who might be behind these free proxies. They could easily extract useful information like passwords, account numbers and others. You could end up paying a much higher price than is what supposed to be “free”.

Before settling in on one free proxy server, be sure that it could be trusted. It would even be better if you pay a small fee for the services of a professional one. These are legitimate ones and not mere IP changers. They provide secure encrypted service.

Many IP changers that are used for anonymous surfing do not encrypt data. This means that important information such as logins, passwords, and credit card numbers could be recorded and could be leaked by a proxy server.

This is where the concept of encryption becomes very important. By definition, “encryption refers to algorithmic schemes that encode plain text into non-readable or cyphertext, providing privacy.”

Encryption used to be largely used by the military alone, but today, it has become indispensable because of the rapid growth and development of the Internet.  It is now used as one of the most reliable tools to achieve some level of security on the Internet.

For encryption to be reliable, according to the present standards, it has to be 128-bit, or greater. It used to be that the 64-bit encryption was acceptable. For sure, there will be stiffer standards for stronger encryption in the future. This is because the sophistication level of decrypting information also “improves”. When text is encrypted, it would be impossible to intercept useful information while it travels between computers. Anyone who would “listen” to this traveling information will only “hear” unreadable gibberish.

This is why US Military Personnel should always surf anonymously. To maintain security, they should know the advantages of using encryption whenever they are overseas, especially with their personal emails. Since emails could contain valuable and classified information, they should be as secure as possible.

There are encryption programs that feature plug-ins or interfaces specifically provided for email clients, one of those is called PGP (Pretty Good Privacy). This is a very strong military-grade encryption program. Anyone who uses PGP could have the security not only in encrypting email messages, but for their personal files and folders.

Security through email encryption is fast becoming very popular. However, it must be realized that although encryption makes data private, it does not necessarily make it secure. Security is achieved through the use of digital signatures of certificates which the user should approve. Because of this, the sender should carefully choose the recipient of the data – one that they trust.

Encryption eliminates the possibility for anyone to randomly intercept and read information that is passed on the Internet. This should be supported with the careful choice of web sites where important personal information that they provide cannot be stolen. So, no matter in which part of the world US Military Personnel is deployed, with encryption, they can enjoy anonymous surfing, send and receive emails, and feel safer accessing the Internet.