The Pipeline

Tiptoe through the tulips
When you surf the Internet, you leave virtual tracks everywhere.

Data still lingers on a computer even after you delete it and clear your Web browser’s cache and Internet history files.

That’s why Stealth Ideas has introduced the StealthSurfer II ID Protect, a miniature USB flash drive that lets you surf the Web anonymously, even on a wireless connection.

When you plug the StealthSurfer into a USB slot, the computer immediately recognizes it as a removable disk. No downloads, setup or driver installations are required.

The device comes with several different software programs, including Mozilla Firefox, a customized high-speed Internet browser that includes Anonymizer Anonymous Surfing. By using Firefox with Anonymizer, you can surf in an encrypted mode that masks your IP address and secures your data from Web predators. Anonymizer creates an encrypted path between your computer and the Internet using 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer technology.

Anonymous surfing protects you from threats such as online identity theft, phishing attacks and online tracking. When used from a wireless-enabled laptop PC, anonymous surfing secures all data sent on a wireless connection, whether you’re at home, at work or at public hot spots such as coffee shops and airports. The program works in the background without slowing the Internet connection.

When using Firefox, all cookies, cached files and other downloaded images are stored on the StealthSurfer instead of on the computer. When you’re finished surfing, all of this data goes with you and leaves no trace on the PC. So you don’t need to erase your Internet history.

Another software program included on the StealthSurfer is RoboForm Pass2Go, an application that helps you quickly fill forms and manage user IDs and passwords.

RoboForm simplifies the process of completing online forms by storing multiple user identities, including names, addresses and phone numbers. It also securely stores confidential data, such as passwords, bank accounts numbers and credit card numbers.

Meanwhile, Mozilla’s Thunderbird software lets you securely access an e-mail account anywhere, any time by preventing viruses and blocking spam. Thunderbird can secure Post Office Protocol mail, which you can send via Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express and Web-based e-mail. You can also use Thunderbird for newsgroups, blogs and Rich Site Summary feeds. RSS is an Extensible Markup Language format for syndicating Web content.

Finally, StealthSurfer includes a Web-based e-mail program called Hushmail. You can use Hushmail to send encrypted e-mail messages to other Hushmail users. The program uses standard algorithms to encrypt and decrypt e-mail messages. The process is transparent to users.

The Hush Key Servers take care of public/private key exchange using the Hush Encryption Engine. The software automatically connects to a Hush Key Server to retrieve the necessary public/private key when you want to encrypt or decrypt data.

StealthSurfer is available in memory configurations of 256M to 2G. Prices are $99 to $279.