How To Use Search Encrypt [Chrome, Firefox Browser Extension]
Did you know that most search engines have a profile on file about what kind of person they think you are?
On most search engines, every single search you make is stored and analyzed to build a better idea of what demographic you fit into- all so that the companies can serve you advertisements they think you’re more likely to click on. Your full search history is kept for months on these search engines and can be connected back to you and your family so that you see advertisements across the internet for things you searched for.
While other search engines store every search you ever type, Search Encrypt holds your privacy above everything else. Search Encrypt knows about the dangers of large corporations and individuals trying to gain access to your private information and protects you so that you can search the web without a worry. Your private information is just that — private. Search Encrypt makes sure it stays that way.
How Does It Work?
- Search Encrypt checks the URL of each website you visit. We do not log or store that data anywhere.
- For your privacy, it intercepts the requests if it’s on our list of sites that may track you.
- Search Encrypt encrypts your search locally using industry standard AES-256 encryption.
- Your locally encrypted search term is securely transmitted to our servers.
- To provide you with the most relevant results possible, we then decrypt your search term and securely request results from our search & content partners.
- We aggregate the most relevant results and securely display them to you.
- For added security, your local browsing history, for any search we protect, expires and goes away after 15 minutes of inactivity.
Adding Search Encrypt To Google Chrome
We’ve talked about installing our extension on Chrome before here. Follow these steps:
- In Chrome, go to chrome://extensions/
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Get more extensions”
- Search for “search encrypt” (Or just visit this page)
- Next to Search Encrypt select “+ Add to Chrome”. You will be prompted to add our extension
- Select Add extension. Now you should have our privacy-based extension installed!
Adding Our Extension To Mozilla Firefox
- Select Add-Ons in the Firefox menu, or go to about:addons.
- Click on Extensions, which will take you to a list of your extensions with a search field at the top.
- Search for “search encrypt”
- Next to Search Encrypt select “Install”. You will be prompted to Add Search Encrypt.
- Select Add. The extension has been added to Firefox and your searches are now private!
How To Remove Search Encrypt
How To Remove Search Encrypt from Google Chrome
- Click the Chrome menu icon in the top right of the browser
- Click “More tools”
- Click “Extensions”
- Click on the trash can icon for Search Encrypt
- Click “Remove” on the dialog box that pops up
How To Remove Search Encrypt from Mozilla Firefox
- Click on the “Open menu” button in the top right of the browser
- Click “Add-ons”
- Click “Extensions”
- Click “Remove” on the “Search Encrypt” item
What is Search Encrypt?
Search Encrypt is a search engine that doesn’t track our users’ search history in any user identifiable way. There are other private search engines out there that work in similar ways, including DuckDuckGo and StartPage. Search Encrypt is unique because it uses local encryption on users’ search terms.
Search Encrypt uses expiring encryption keys on your searches. This means after you’re done searching your encrypted search can’t be unscrambled, or decrypted. This lets Search Encrypt feature perfect forward secrecy.
Read More: What is Search Encrypt? Why Should You Use a Private Search Engine?
About Search Encrypt
Search Encrypt is a private search engine that puts user privacy first. By combining encryption and privacy-by-design, Search Encrypt offers perfect forward secrecy.
Learn More ⤵️
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