The transition to Russian analogues of foreign services, as well as the use of domestic operating systems and open source software, will reduce the risks of surveillance and hacking of devices. This opinion was expressed in a conversation with RT by Igor Bederov, director of the investigation department of T.Hunter, NTI SafeNet (SafeNet) market expert.
“Google, Facebook*, Facebook Messenger* and WhatsApp* services transmit personal and geolocation information about users to software developers. Therefore, it is mandatory to leave these services, especially for Russian officials,” Bederov said.
According to him, the Russian market now has alternatives to almost all services from the Google ecosystem. As a replacement for Gmail, in addition to Mail.Ru and Yandex Mail, the expert recommended the secure email service Tuta Mail.
For reliable data storage, instead of Google Drive, you can use Russian file hosting services, including, for example, Yandex Disk, SberDisk, MEGA. Google Maps, according to Bederov, can easily replace Yandex Maps, 2GIS and OpenStreetMap.
Another way to increase the security of a personal device is to use authenticators and password managers that will encrypt all complex combinations of characters and hide them behind a unique master password, Bederov added.
In addition, a reliable way to protect yourself from surveillance is to use free software.
“Free alternative software not only does not share your data with IT corporations, as can be seen from the traffic analysis results, but can also work without access to the Internet… In addition, the use of free software allows you to build additional encryption into communications,” Bederov said.
Previously, the Gosuslugi portal recommended that users with a Gmail account specify an alternative email service due to possible problems with receiving a confirmation code.
* Recognized as extremist, banned on the territory of Russia by decision of the Tverskoy Court of Moscow dated March 21, 2022.
