The Art of Invisibility: The World's Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data

by Kevin D. Mitnick

To become truly invisible in the digital world you will need to do more than encrypt your messages. You will need to: Remove your true IP address: This is your point of connection to the Internet, your fingerprint. It can show where you are (down to your physical address) and what provider you use. Obscure your hardware and software: When you connect to a website online, a snapshot of the hardware and software you’re using may be collected by the site. There are tricks that can be used to find out if you have particular software installed, such as Adobe Flash. The browser software tells a website what operating system you’re using, what version of that operating system you have, and sometimes what other software you have running on your desktop at the time. Defend your anonymity: Attribution online is hard. Proving that you were at the keyboard when an event occurred is difficult. However, if you walk in front of a camera before going online at Starbucks, or if you just bought a latte at Starbucks with your credit card, these actions can be linked to your online presence a few moments later.