Rethinking Online Anonymity with Lance Cottrell

In a world of cybersecurity and online privacy, anonymity seems to be the key. VPNs are often promoted as the cure-all to our internet needs. Let’s talk about some of those misconceptions.

Today’s guest is Lance Cottrell. Lance founded Anonymizer in 1995 and is an internationally recognized expert in cryptography, online privacy, and internet security. He is the principal author on multiple internet privacy and security technology patents. Lance stayed on as Chief Scientist as Anonymizer was acquired by Intrepid, and now advises start-ups through his platform.

Show Notes:

• [1:09] - Lance shares his background and how he spent the start of his career and into founding Anonymizer.
• [3:03] - To continue destigmatizing being a victim of a scam, Lance shares his own experience as a victim himself.
• [5:38] - In-person scammers are very believable. They learn through building a relationship the things that you want.
• [9:47] - There are two reasons why people commit treason - revenge and justice.
• [10:42] - Prior to founding Anonymizer, Lance had fantastic access to the internet in the early 90s and became involved in the open-source community.
• [13:58] - Lance describes how Anonymizer did business-wise and where it capped.
• [17:40] - There are different types of customers for Anonymizer, general consumers as well as government entities.
• [20:30] - There were certainly times where someone would come to Anonymizer and they had done something that was really pretty dire.
• [23:28] - Anonymizer was able to develop some new technologies that Lance describes.
• [25:35] - If you need to trust someone, research who that someone is and understand if you can.
• [27:11] - The biggest mistake is thinking your IP address is the important thing.
• [29:19] - Actually achieving anonymity or pseudonymity and maintaining overtime is incredibly challenging.
• [31:09] - Human behavior tends to give away anonymity.
• [33:47] - People don’t think anywhere near enough on the threat model.
• [34:58] - When are VPNs actually beneficial?
• [37:32] - Be very specific about what you want to protect.
• [40:05] - Obsession and trying to run your life around trying to be anonymous is not helpful.
• [41:41] - Lance discusses some of the interesting aspects of the psychology of criminals.
• [43:10] - Lance shares some parting advice and the basic things to do to stay protected.

Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review. 

Links and Resources:

• Podcast Web Page
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• Easy Prey on Pinterest
• Lance Cottrell on LinkedIn
• Lance Cottrell Website
• Feel the Boot - The Science of Startups