Worried about government backdoors and hackers? What are the most secure Laptop Brands?

[jsimenhoff]

In light of the revelations that the government, ISPs, and big business can pretty much spy on whomever whenever they want, security and privacy is now a top concern for someone in the market for laptops. In addition to the vast government's vast metadata collecting apparatus, many consumers are facing a constant and persistent barrage of malware attacks and hacker ransomware. Security and Privacy is important.

Which are the best laptop brands for a purchaser focused on security and privacy?

 

[1shado1]

Heck, thought you were posting the answer to the question (such as a link to an article), LOL!

 

[Guest]

Nothing is 100%, however, I could give you some thoughts:
1) There are some laptops (https/www.crowdsupply.com/purism/librem-15) that incorporate physical 'kill' switches for WiFi, Bluetooth, Camera and Mic.
2) If purchasing an open-source computer with physical kill switches is not your fancy, purchase an HP or Dell directly from the manufacturer. Most network devices (switches, routers, phones) are 'infected' when they come into touch with 'third-party' vendors.
3) Run a rapidly evolving or non-mainstream OS such as Linux or OpenBSD. Windows, OS X, Android and iOS are highly targeted.
4) Even if your firmware is current (BIOS, HDD, SSD, video card, and even optical drive), re-download the firmware, performs an SHA256, md5sum or equivalent, and bounce the hash against what the manufacturer has posted. Then re-flash your firmware. Dump your firmware output, find some geeky friends with the same hardware and compare.
5) Get some foil tape to put over your webcam.
6) Run a non-persistent OS such as Puppy Linux or LPS (Lightweight Portable Security). You can actually copy the ISO from pretty much any Linux distribution to a media, use the 'toram' option in grub. The only downside to the 'toram' option is that any changes you make will not be saved.
7) Update, update, update. The longer a specific version of some software/firmware is out there, the better the chance someone will discover and take advantage of an exploit.

I personally like Dell laptops and only purchase directly from Dell.

-Hope this help.

 

[Rexer]

Heck, thought you were posting the answer to the question (such as a link to an article), LOL!

Lol. Me too. I didn't know there was a safe laptop. I always have to make it safe. I'm always alarmed Obama will hijack my computer screen and announce, "This is an nationwide news bulletin. I'm your new Windows. Thank You".

 

[jazzy2945]

Is not the laptop you should worry about, is what you do with it. You can have the most secure device (Desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, etc.), but if you visit all kind of website and click on everything there will be nothing to save you. Only you can prevent Forrest fire. Oops, wrong commercial. Only you can prevent hacking.

 

[Rexer]

Is not the laptop you should worry about, is what you do with it. You can have the most secure device (Desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, etc.), but if you visit all kind of website and click on everything there will be nothing to save you. Only you can prevent Forrest fire. Oops, wrong commercial. Only you can prevent hacking.

Yeah, I agree, don't go nowhere strange without expecting it to be bad. Don't open Email that's unrecognizable if you think Hillary's hiding in it. Even with a great anti-virus sometimes one gets by and you gotta chase the critter down. There's no sure thing because of the clever wit hackers come up with.
I got ransomware once and he claimed he had all my information in hostage. It took a second to think this out as he screwed around to gain control of my computer so I reached for the plug and pulled it out, unplugged my internet cable (shut down the internet) and restarted it, then ran Avast! boot scan to clean out any work the intruder did. He left a folder I put in the trash. Ran Spybot and ComboFix after, to make sure he wasn't hiding anything anywhere.
I have two computers I mainly work with. I use one to cruise around the internet, the other I use for book keeping, writing, purchasing and business and playing games. I use Avast! antivirus with Google Chrome and Super Anti-spyware in real time.
I keep a second anti-spyware (Spybot) to do manual clean-ups with Malwarebytes and Rogue Killer for anything that might get deep seated in my registry. I run these at the end of the month or whenever I suspect an intrusion in the registry path or files in C/: drive.
There's really no assurance or guarantee that you'll be 100% safe so if you do cruise trashy sites and mythical places, do it on a machine that's not a value to your life's work. Buy a cheapie 2nd computer at Goodwill and build it to exist in a trench. It takes some of the worry out.

 

[jsimenhoff]

Is not the laptop you should worry about, is what you do with it. You can have the most secure device (Desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, etc.), but if you visit all kind of website and click on everything there will be nothing to save you. Only you can prevent Forrest fire. Oops, wrong commercial. Only you can prevent hacking.

Yeah, I agree, don't go nowhere strange without expecting it to be bad. Don't open Email that's unrecognizable if you think Hillary's hiding in it. Even with a great anti-virus sometimes one gets by and you gotta chase the critter down. There's no sure thing because of the clever wit hackers come up with.
I got ransomware once and he claimed he had all my information in hostage. It took a second to think this out as he screwed around to gain control of my computer so I reached for the plug and pulled it out, unplugged my internet cable (shut down the internet) and restarted it, then ran Avast! boot scan to clean out any work the intruder did. He left a folder I put in the trash. Ran Spybot and ComboFix after, to make sure he wasn't hiding anything anywhere.
I have two computers I mainly work with. I use one to cruise around the internet, the other I use for book keeping, writing, purchasing and business and playing games. I use Avast! antivirus with Google Chrome and Super Anti-spyware in real time.
I keep a second anti-spyware (Spybot) to do manual clean-ups with Malwarebytes and Rogue Killer for anything that might get deep seated in my registry. I run these at the end of the month or whenever I suspect an intrusion in the registry path or files in C/: drive.
There's really no assurance or guarantee that you'll be 100% safe so if you do cruise trashy sites and mythical places, do it on a machine that's not a value to your life's work. Buy a cheapie 2nd computer at Goodwill and build it to exist in a trench. It takes some of the worry out.

Are there any laptop brands that have these security capabilities built in?