Problems with GhostSurf
Surfing the web anonymously is the purpose behind software products like GhostSurf. Once installed, the program takes your web requests and routes them through a remote proxy server making your IP address difficult to track by third-party sites. GhostSurf also contains other products like Track Cleaner designed to clean files off your hard drive. While GhostSurf is highly rated by many of the large technology magazines, it does have its problems.
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Remains of the Data
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According to Ralph Losey from the e-Discovery Team, GhostSurf does not destroy all evidence of your computer surfing. GhostSurf employs super-deletion-total file shredding where even computer forensics specialists cannot recover your files, but it misses things. In the bankruptcy case of United States v. Krause in 2007, Mr. Krause owed $3 million in back taxes. He was ordered by the court to produce his computers for inspection to prove his claims. Before he turned over the computers, he tried to use GhostSurf to erase his computer files which showed he was not destitute. GhostSurf did a good job on most things, but it missed temp email files and "orphan files"--those files no longer associated with a program but remaining on your hard drive. In short, because of a few temporary email and web browser files which GhostSurf missed, Mr. Krause got caught.
Delays
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As with most anonymous surfing programs, there is a delay in connecting to the website where you are going since GhostSurf takes you to the proxy server first to mask your IP address. The amount of delay time depends on the time of day you are surfing. Peak use times on the Internet will slow you down more than off-peak times.
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Switching To Be Seen
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If you are using cookie blocking, encryption on and IP masking, there will be sites that will not load according to Guard Privacy & Online Security. This can be corrected by switching off the cookie blocker or encryption, but it is a hassle to remember to switch these off when you hit a site where you want to go.
Configuration Issues
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According to Tenebril's knowledge base, GhostSurf cannot make all traffic anonymous. Any peer-to-peer clients that run their own protocols cannot be made untraceable by GhostSurf. You will also encounter problems using Google Earth and will need to adjust your privacy settings. Adjusting your privacy settings becomes a site-to-site occurrence if you tend to jump from site to site while surfing.
Banking and Shopping
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Many banking and shopping sites will not allow you to access their site without cookies turned on. As stated above from Tenebril's knowledge base, you must reset your privacy settings to normal in GhostSurf or set up special sites in the program. Special sites allow particular selected sites to leave cookies on your system. Tenebril sets up a list of special sites for you with installation of the program that you can change.
Time and Trust
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While the program is highly rated, configuring the system and setting up your privacy settings, special sites and routing all your requests through proxy servers are time consuming tasks. Another issue with GhostSurf is trust. While you are surfing, all of your requests go through Tenebril's proxy servers which are located all over the world. Again, according to Tenebril, they keep no Internet logs of GhostSurf users' activities, but there is always the issue of trust. While the company says it does not cache any of the traffic, you really have no way of knowing whether they do or not.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Paul Sapiano
