Hello everyone, I’m trying to find out which browsers would be best for my threat model. I realized that two browsers are needed: one for daily usage (extensions to improve my user experience, compatibility with most websites…) and one for logins and data/cookies that need to be preserved between sessions (would still require some extensions other than UBlock, though!).
Assuming a VPN connection would be used for both, my threat model wants the best usability while also keeping the most privacy, making total anonymity or “lesser privacy” an option if needed.
Having said this, I chose Brave for daily usage; despite not liking the chromium monopoly, it’s what I would consider the best choice: max compatibility, can install almost any extension, great user experience even after tweaking with the PG recommendations, while still providing great privacy.
Now the hard part is choosing the other browser:
Mullvad; strongest privacy by far, but is it worth “downgrading” some of it to keep it more usable? It would need some settings tweaked, making it lose the whole anonimity point, the main reason to choose it
Firefox; is the “simple” hardening recommended by PG enough to consider it a good option for logins? On this topic, would basic hardening from Arkenfox be enough? I do not want to put effort into keeping up-to-date Arkenfox and keeping track of all the changes, overrides, etc…
Librewolf; it is a better hardening than normal Firefox, but lots of reading into the forums is making me question my choice of choosing this as my current second browser.
Basically, TL;DR:
If I chose Brave as my daily browser, which would be best for a login browser: badly-used Mullvad, lightly-hardened Firefox (even with some Arkenfox) or Librewolf?
While I do not generally encourage using Mullvad Browser in the way you’re describing, it should not be worse than FF/Arkenfox, so you could use either one.
However, I’m not sure if Mullvad Browser can be modified to not wipe cookies and keep you logged in to sites yet. I know when it first released there was a bug where unchecking the “wipe all data” box had no effect, and I don’t know if that’s been fixed. You’d have to test that, and if it still doesn’t work you’re probably stuck with Firefox.
I would not use Librewolf. They don’t perform testing, they don’t have a security team.
Most people who want a setup like this use Brave for the browser they log in to websites with, and Mullvad Browser for the daily browser. I’m not really sure why you’re going the opposite direction?
I started to write out a long comment but @jonah’s captures most of what I was going to say. Especially:
Most people who want a setup like this use Brave for the browser they log in to websites with, and Mullvad Browser for the daily browser. I’m not really sure why you’re going the opposite direction?
If Brave is used in a two browser strategy, it is typically used as the less locked down/more moderate browser used for accounts, not vice-versa. If your heart is set on the reverse, you could consider just using Brave for everything (you can just use a second profile).
I think the ideal 2 browser approach is:
Mullvad Browser + Mullvad VPN for stronger privacy, and more, sensitive or private browsing.
Brave or Firefox (or Arkenfox) for logins, or low sensitivity browsing.
*imo, a 2 browser approach is really a 3 browser approach. Tor Browser should be above Mullvad Browser.
First of all, thank you all for the responses. Now, my assumption was that Brave could honestly be both a daily and/or a login browser; but all the others options would be definitely be better as login browsers, due to more blocked websites, less compatibility, worse user experience… Especially for how I’m planning to use them! All of these for a traded bonus in privacy.
Now, after all your considerations, I think I would like to keep Brave as a login browser. The question now is: if I had to choose for a daily browser, would a badly-used Mullvad (mainly some extensions now) or a lightly-hardened Firefox (some Arkenfox, but not one that I would keep up-to-date on release) be better?
For example,
Ideal setup
Would this setup still be “ideal” even if Mullvad loses its main focus, the anonymity and blending in with other users? Jonah said it would not be worse, but if you had to make a choice, would you still pick it over just Firefox/Arkenfox? Thank you for your time!
After thinking about it some more, I could probably just use Brave (with extensions) for login usage and Mullvad (no tweaking or extensions) for daily browsing, solving the issue of using Mullvad outside its intended purpose. Thank you all for your answers, I’m marking the first answer as the solution!