First of all, I’m referring to Linux. Second, I don’t really understand how to use Apparmor profiles when it comes to securing a browser installed as a Snap package.
That being said, would a browser from Snap still be a better option than Flatpak (flathub)?
Also, would a browser such as Chrome, Chromium, or Brave be more secure than using something such as Ungoogled chromium, Librewolf, or Mullvad?
My thinking on this is Chrome or Chromium is more up to date. However, Ungoogled chromium or Mullvad for instance has more things disabled in the browser leaving me to believe that they would have a much smaller attack surface?
I understand that this isn’t necessarily a privacy question. Instead, it’s more to do with security, but any input would be appreciated.
It’s best to avoid Flatpak when installing Chromium or Firefox based browsers. Snap seems to provide better support for browser sandboxing, but it’s still recommended against for some browsers such as Brave.
Chromium-based browsers like Brave should have better sandboxing than Firefox-based browsers, so in a sense yes. However, if you’re only using this for trusted websites like banking, it shouldn’t matter much.
One important thing to note is the quality of “Chromium” varies depending on which build you’re using as there is not an official build provided by Google. I heard in the past there were some security issues with how some Linux distributions built Chromium (like Fedora) though that might be fixed now.
Any of the recommended browsers should be fine for your use case of logging into trusted websites. If you want to get the best of both worlds (security & privacy) stick with Brave.
What about using Tor with a VPN for banking and social media? If not, what is the most harden browser in terms of privacy and security for banking and social media?
Banks will often block VPNs and Tor, or at least it’ll be a red flag for them if you try using one. If you never want to leak your true IP, you could consider self-hosting a VPN on a VPS or maybe use Windscribe’s residential static IPs. But your ISP and bank are already tied to your identity so I don’t see much benefit in trying to obfuscate your true IP address from your bank.
The Tor Browser is the most private browser whereas Mullvad Browser is virtually the same thing minus Tor. Many people still choose to use other recommended browsers instead, any of them are fine for personal use like banking. As for social media, the Tor Browser is always going to be the most anonymous but they will often block Tor users or at the very least require you provide a phone number.
You can try purchasing a VoIP number anonymously but some platforms might detect and block sign-ups from VoIP numbers, so you’d have to either pay more for a “real” (but internet-accessible) number or purchase a burner phone with a pre-paid plan in cash.
If all of this sounds too complicated, just use Brave (or Firefox if you wanna stick it to big tech) and don’t think much more about it.
Right, and I get that social media and banks already know my identity. I guess my goal with using the best possible browser is to minimize cross-app/site tracking more than anything else.