Security & Privacy

We endorse free and open software, as well as a healthy privacy and security culture online. Four easy steps for privacy/security and against mass surveillance are:

  • Email encryption with PGP/GnuPG: use the enigmail addon in Thunderbird, or GPGTools in Apple's Mail
  • Private (audio and typed) chats and video conferencing with Signal or Wire (instead of Skype, which does not offer good privacy)
  • Anonymous online browsing with the Tor Browser (browsing could be slower though)
  • Plugins/Add-ons like NoScript or AdBlock Plus for Firefox (names may differ for other browsers)

Good instructions and a lot more software for privacy and against mass surveillance can be found here:

Lectures about Security and Privacy are also held by the ZID and are announced on their course-offering-page.

Mathematics and mathematicians (and of course computer scientists and programmers) play a particularly important role when it comes to mass surveillance. Some discussion is ongoing in the AMS Notices, the LMS Newsletter, and math blogs like the n-Category Cafe. See the post "Math and Mass Surveillance: A Roundup" for a partial summary.

IT-Security Tipps

For further information about the following points please visit the ZID homepage (only available in German):

  • Software-Security
  • Hardware-Security
  • Detecting PC infections
  • Browser Security
  • Mail Security
  • Mobile Security