my useful software picks for 2023

Whether you are working in the Cyber Security industry, or you are just keen to learn more about software that can help make your life easier - or boost your productivity, you’re in the right place! This blog post will detail the pieces of software that has supported me throughout my professional career and have helped me surf the web in a secure and enjoyable way. Most of the pieces of software I will list below will be easily searchable through your favourite search engine and I will include links as much as I can. All this information is accurate as of February 2023.

1. Ublock Origin

Given the target audience for this website - this might be a no-brainer. Ublock Origin is a Free, open-source ad blocker which is lightweight and works very well for almost any website.

This is an absolute nescessity when surfing the web, regardless of the web browser you use. It helps that this browser extension is widely available in most web browsers add-ons/extensions’ store. It not only blocks ads on webpages throughout the internet, it also blocks ads from services such as Youtube, and as of right now (Feb 2023) video streaming services such as ITV Hub.

2. Decentraleyes

Decentraleyes is another extension for all major web browsers, which promises to protect you against content tracking. Its primary task is to block connections to major CDNs such as Facebook, Cloudflare and Google (for privacy and anti-tracking purposes), and serve popular web libraries (such as JQuery and AngularJS) locally on the user’s machine.

It’s worth keeping in mind however, using Decentraleyes in particular may break some desired functionality in some wesbites, for example - some CAPTCHAs/human verification tools will be broken using this, as some of them use the Cloudflare CDN to handle human verification requests. However, this is easily handled by using the menu in the extension to disbale Decentraleyes for the page you want to access.

3. Rufus

Rufus is a utility that helps you format and create bootable USB flash drives, such as USB keys/pendrives, memory sticks, etc. I’ve personally found this piece of software invaluable on the occasion I have to write an .iso image to a USB drive.

4. OBS Studio

OBS for short, is a widely-known streaming and content-creation software that is primarily used for video recording and online streaming. There isn’t really much to say about this piece of software as it is very easy to set up and use, and it does exactly what it says on the tin, for free.

I’ve used this on occasion when I want to stream some content easily and quickly to my friends. I haven’t really used this much for video recording but it is very easy to set up with most cameras. It is free and open source.

5. Microsoft Visual Studio Code

Yes, I can already hear you berating me. ‘Vaz, this isn’t truely open source!’ ‘Vaz this isn’t like all of the others you’ve mentioned thus far, it’s made by Microsoft! They’re evil!’ And yes, I do hear you. However this is where my personal preference comes into play and I really do think that this is a very powerful piece of software not just for programming but also for taking notes for example.

It not only has a wide compatabilty and flexibilty regarding programming languages - it also boasts a large library of extensions which fill the gaps and allows it to be a very useful tool in my arsenal.

6. Netlify

You could argue that Netlify doesn’t belong on this list, and I’d be inclined to agree with you. Netlify is a platform for building websites, e-commerce stores and web applications. The reason I include Netlify in this list is because this service has been instrumental in helping me getting this site up and running, by streamlining the process of setting up the backend with zero financial input from me (as of this post). This website has been built and deployed using next.js and starting from one of their templates, I was able to build the site you see before you from this template. With this I am able to deploy my site from Github, and I am able to manage and edit my site from a central private repository from my GitHub account.

Their starter plan is free and includes (as of this post) 100GB of bandwidth a month and 300 build minutes a month. I have never hit either limit and it is more than necessary to allow me to build out this site at my own pace. I have my partner to thank for introducing me to this platform, as she was using it during a coding course she was doing and introduced me to it - and it has been invaluable for me and this website.

7. Pfsense

Pfsense is a leading open-source driven firewall, router, and VPN solution for network edge and cloud secure networking. I have it deployed on my home network, and it has been running for several years now, with little to no input or interventions needed from me. Of course a home network is nothing like the SLA-driven interests of running a business network where downtime is costly and must be avoided as much possible, but much like this website it has served as a learning platform.

Setting this up and using this for my home network has let me learn more about IP subnetting, OpenVPN, network IDS/IPS (Snort) and networking in general. I have to admit, I was initially intimidated with the setup process and I was very concerned about the power usage. Namely, the amount it would add to my electricity bill - but I was smart in the selection of the components and I built a system designed to be used in the way a router should, with plenty of processing overhead for IDS/IPS capability.

8. Steam

If you’re a gamer, and you have a PC that’s capable of playing games - Steam will naturally be one of the pieces of software that pops into the mind for a lot of people. That’s because the platform has been a steadfast constant for almost every PC gamer for a very long time. The steam game catalogue is vast and spans several hundred different genres. New releases are always being added, so you can always expect AAA games that are released on PC as a platform will likely be available on steam. For the retro-gamers out there, there also is a lot of games to choose from - and Steam consistently hold sales throughout the year with discounts ranging from 30 to 90% off!

You might notice that Steam and it’s PC client for example, is proprietary software. However, I’ve included this in my list because I feel that this organsiation has taken significant strides in making gaming accessible to all, which benefits all of us - gamer or not. For example, as of the writing of this article, the Steam Deck has been out for almost a year (25th February 2022) and it has really shaken up the gaming industry, especially the handheld gaming industry. The Steam Deck is a portable handheld gaming PC that runs a modified version of the Arch Linux operating system, called SteamOS. Before Valve attempted this it could be argued that gaming on Linux was more than just a nuisance. I really do believe that this step of mass-producing a Linux-based handheld gaming device has accelerated the rate by which game developers create games for the Linux operating system, which I believe benefits all gamers. Time will only tell if all this work translates to more Linux-based games and more of a focus on gaming for Linux in general. In my about page, I’ve listed some of the games I am playing right now. Check the page out if you’re interested!

9. Password Managers (I currently use Dashlane)

I highly recommend the use of a password manager. The NCSC in the United Kingdom says that the use of a password manager is beneficial because:

1. You can synchronise your passwords across your different devices, making it easier to log on, wherever you are, and whatever you’re using. You can do this by easily copy and pasting the password from the app you choose to use, without ever having to remember a large amount of passwords - just one “Master Password”.
2. It can help spot fake websites, which will protect you from phishing attacks.
3. It can let you know if you’re re-using the same password across different accounts.
4. It can notify you if your password appears within a known data breach so you know if you need to change it.
5. It can work across platforms, so you could (for example) use a single password manager that would work for your iPhone and your Windows desktop.

You can read more about the benefits of using a solution like this, in this really helpful NCSC article. You’ve probably already noticed that I use a non-open source solution for my password manager. But if you want something open-source and free, I would highly recommend KeePass.

I currently use Dashlane and I have been doing so for more than 7 years. It works well for me and so long as a data breach on the level and severity as the one from LastPass doesn’t occur with Dashlane, I will keep using it as apposed to offline FOSS solutions for now.

10. Signal

Signal is an end-to-end-encrypted instant messaging and SMS app. Users can send direct or group messages, photos, and voice messages across multiple devices. The key advantage that it offers over similar apps (such as Whatsapp, iMessage and Telegram, for example) is a strong focus on security and privacy. Some of the reasons why you should swtich to a secure end-to-end encrypted messaging app such as Signal is:

1. End-to-end-encryption: When two or more Signal users start a conversation, they can use end-to-end encryption. This means that no intermediaries - not even at Signal HQ - can read your conversation.
2. Open-source code: Open-sourced code lets security analysts around the world test and examine the app’s inner workings to determine whether it’s secure. They can also report bugs to Signal’s developers so they can improve the app. There’s always a theoretical chance that they aren’t actually using the code they’ve published, but all in all, open-source code means Signal can be trusted to be highly secure.
3. Non-profit status: Signal is a non-profit organization. This reduces the incentive for them to try to collect and profit from user data.

Although I use Whatsapp, Signal and Telegram for messaging - I have found it personally very difficult to stop using Whatsapp for example, because so many of my family members and friends use Whatsapp so often.

11. The Tor Browser (or Orbot for mobile devices)

The Tor Browser is the gold standard for privacy-focused web browsing and .onion routing. You may use this as your regular web browser if you choose, but be prepared for slow-load times as your traffic is heavily encrypted (more so than normal HTTPS) and sent over the Tor network. The use of Tor, and the Tor Network is highly contentious as it has been commonly associated with cyber criminality, organised crime and the global drug trade. However, there are legitimate uses for Tor in areas of the world where the supression of the media is rampant. For example, journalists use Tor to communicate more safely with whistleblowers and dissidents, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) use Tor to allow their workers to connect to their home website while they’re in a foreign country - without notifying everybody nearby that they’re working with that organization.

If you want to route all your trafic from your mobile device through the Tor network, you can use Orbot which is available on both Android and iOS. There are options to force all network traffic through Tor, and to launch on startup, for those who are extra-privacy focused.