Tag Archives: security
How the EPA is Ruining American Industry – Family Security Matters
October 17th, 2011. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.
Family Security Matters How the EPA is Ruining American Industry Family Security Matters First, though cap-and-trade is indeed dead, the Obama administration's EPA has been as successful in curtailing America's ability to use cheap, plentiful coal as if cap-and-trade had been passed. They've done so by promulgating a devilish mix of … and more
Money order scam: Beware of jobs that sound too good – Coos Bay World
August 30th, 2011. Published under Money Order Scams. No Comments.
Money order scam : Beware of jobs that sound too good Coos Bay World John Aaron was sent these counterfeit money orders as part of an employment scam. The only discernable difference between these and real money orders is the security stripe; the real ones use a strip woven into the fiber of the paper, while these fakes …
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Money order scam: Beware of jobs that sound too good – Coos Bay World
Germany’s Renewable Energy ‘Madness’ and its Lessons for America – Family Security Matters
January 21st, 2011. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.
Family Security Matters Germany's Renewable Energy 'Madness' and its Lessons for America Family Security Matters While cap & trade legislation appears doomed at the federal level for now, it is alive and well in California, which seems all too anxious to catch up with … and more
Would Safetouch Security 904-309-5370 Stop Calling, I am on the Do Not Call List
July 12th, 2010. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
Jeez, even when you have had your phone numbers on the do not call list ( www.donotcall.gov ), idiots like Safetouch Security (904) 309-5370 call anyway. They never leave a message when I don’t pick up, then when I do it’s dead air (TCPA – Telephone Consumer Protection Act violation) so I hang up. They call several times a week without fail. I have a security system that a local company installed and maintains, so I don’t need an alarm system and anyone that repeatedly calls my numbers will **NEVER** get a dollar from me. I don’t buy anything over the phone. From what I can find online Safetouch security calls a lot of people on the Do Not Call list . I’ll be glad when the Federal Trade Commission nails them to the wall. Safetouch Security as annoying as they stupid extended car warranty robocallers are. I’ve never done business with you so stop calling. To whom it may concern at Safetouch Security. Your telemarketing tactics aren’t working and annoying consumers especially those on the Federal Do Not Call List is going to land you in hot water. You can bet every time you call us, a report is filed with Do Not Call and the FTC . I am just waiting on the day that the Federal Trade Commission announces an investigation into your telemarketing tactics and sticks you with a huge fine. On Top of that check out all of the consumer complaints against SafeTouch Security . Have you been harassed repeatedly on the phone by Safetouch Security? Give them a piece of your mind and on their own dime:
Twitter Settles Charges that it Failed to Protect Consumers’ Personal Information
June 24th, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Social networking service Twitter has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers and put their privacy at risk by failing to safeguard their personal information, marking the 30th case the FTC has brought targeting faulty data security, and the agency’s first such case against a social networking service. The FTC’s complaint against Twitter charges that serious lapses in the company’s data security allowed hackers to obtain administrative control of Twitter, including access to tweets that consumers had designated private, and the ability to send out phony tweets pretending to be from then-President-elect Barack Obama and Fox News, among others. “When a company promises consumers that their personal information is secure, it must live up to that promise,” said David Vladeck, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Likewise, a company that allows consumers to designate their information as private must use reasonable security to uphold such designations. Consumers who use social networking sites may choose to share some information with others, but they still have a right to expect that their personal information will be kept private and secure.” Twitter allows users to send “tweets” – brief messages of 140 characters or less – to “followers” who sign up to receive such messages via e-mail or phone text. Twitter offers privacy settings through which a user may choose to designate tweets as nonpublic. For instance, users can send “direct messages” to a specified follower such that only the specific author and recipient can view such a message. Twitter users can also click a button labeled “Protect my tweets,” which makes that user’s tweets private so that only approved followers can view them. The privacy policy posted on Twitter’s website stated that “Twitter is very concerned about safeguarding the confidentiality of your personally identifiable information. We employ administrative, physical, and electronic measures designed to protect your information from unauthorized access.” According to the FTC’s complaint, between January and May 2009, hackers who gained administrative control of Twitter were able to view nonpublic user information, gain access to direct messages and protected tweets, and reset any user’s password and send authorized tweets from any user account. In January 2009, a hacker used an automated password-guessing tool to gain administrative control of Twitter, after submitting thousands of guesses into Twitter’s login webpage. The administrative password was a weak, lower case, common dictionary word. Using the password, the hacker reset numerous user passwords and posted some of them on a website, where other people could access them. Using these fraudulently reset passwords, other intruders sent phony tweets from approximately nine user accounts. One tweet was sent from the account of then-President-elect Barack Obama, offering his more than 150,000 followers a chance to win $500 in free gasoline. At least one other phony tweet was sent from the account of Fox News. During a second security breach, in April 2009, a hacker compromised a Twitter employee’s personal e-mail account where two passwords similar to the employee’s Twitter administrative password were stored, in plain text. Using this information, the hacker was able to guess the employee’s Twitter administrative password. The hacker reset at least one Twitter user’s password, and could access private user information and tweets for any Twitter users. According to the FTC’s complaint, Twitter was vulnerable to these attacks because it failed to take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorized administrative control of its system, including: requiring employees to use hard-to-guess administrative passwords that are not used for other programs, websites, or networks; prohibiting employees from storing administrative passwords in plain text within their personal e-mail accounts; suspending or disabling administrative passwords after a reasonable number of unsuccessful login attempts; providing an administrative login webpage that is made known only to authorized persons and is separate from the login page for users; enforcing periodic changes of administrative passwords by, for example, setting them to expire every 90 days; restricting access to administrative controls to employees whose jobs required it; and imposing other reasonable restrictions on administrative access, such as by restricting access to specified IP addresses. Under the terms of the settlement, Twitter will be barred for 20 years from misleading consumers about the extent to which it maintains and protects the security, privacy, and confidentiality of nonpublic consumer information, including the measures it takes to prevent authorized access to information and honor the privacy choices made by consumers. The company also must establish and maintain a comprehensive information security program, which will be assessed by a third party every other year for 10 years. The Commission vote to accept the proposed consent agreement was 5-0. The FTC will publish an announcement regarding the agreement in the Federal Register shortly. The agreement will be subject to public comment for 30 days, beginning today and continuing through July 26, 2010, after which the Commission will decide whether to make it final. Comments should be addressed to the FTC, Office of the Secretary, Room H-135, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The FTC is requesting that any comment filed in paper form near the end of the public comment period be sent by courier or overnight service, if possible, because U.S. postal mail in the Washington area and at the Commission is subject to delay due to heightened security precautions. To submit a comment electronically, please click on: http://public.commentworks.com/ftc/twitter . NOTE: The Commission issues an administrative complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. The complaint is not a finding or ruling that the respondent has actually violated the law. Consent agreements are for settlement purposes only and do not constitute an admission by the defendant of a law violation. When the Commission issues a consent order on a final basis, it carries the force of law with respect to future actions. Each violation of such an order may result in a civil penalty of up to $16,000. The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,800 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC s Web site provides free information on a variety of consumer topics .
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Twitter Settles Charges that it Failed to Protect Consumers’ Personal Information
Does Windows 7 Offer Increased Protection Against Brute Force Password Attacks?
May 26th, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
When you think of attacks on your computer you probably think of the attacks coming from intruders on the outside of your network. But, unless you are on a home network, then there are plenty of forces inside of your corporate network that would love to take it down. The person who tries to take it down may have several issues that are causing this behavior – They may be doing it for the money, meaning someone on the outside is paying them to cause damage to your internal network. Alternatively, they can be upset about the way that they were treated recently. When someone feels that they were wronged, sometimes they can take these types of hostile feelings to the extreme and attempt to retaliate against the company. This may lead them to doing something as boneheaded as trying to take down the company’s network. Even if they are not an advanced black hat hacker, they can find some of the tools that they will need to accomplish this over the internet – you do not need to be a genius hacker to be able to take down a network from the inside – all you need is that one right tool. Does Windows 7 Offer Sufficient Protection In This Area? One of the tools that an attacker from the inside would need is something that would allow them to get your password and username. The username may be a little easier to get than the password but, with the right software tool, the password is not that hard either. An attack that is easy for just the average person to pull off is called a brute force attack . Unfortunately, even though Windows 7 has prepared for a lot of attacks against its software, it is still susceptible to a brute force attack. A brute force attack is when a piece of software just starts to throw out random information in the hopes that it can find the password that an administrator has used to secure their system. It attempts to query the system over and over again until it guesses the right information. Once it does, it then saves the information and uses it at another time. There are different variations of a brute force, such as a dictionary attack , but no matter the variation it can prove to be a very effective attack for someone that is new to hacking. If you have been on the underground scene for a while then you would know that there are quicker ways to get into someone’s computer other than a brute force attack. A brute force attack would be the last option for someone who has had a lot of experience. Microsoft has increased its security a great deal with Windows 7 but a brute force attack may be hard for even them to stop. There are certainly ways to block it, but all a person needs is time and the right time pattern and then they can just make the attempts to guess the password look more natural. Try to make sure that your computer has limited access at work – you do not want anyone trying this with your workstation. Read more on Windows 7 Security Does Windows 7 Offer Increased Protection Against Brute Force Password Attacks? is a post from: Security FAQs
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Does Windows 7 Offer Increased Protection Against Brute Force Password Attacks?
How Could A New ATM Rootkit Turn The World Of Banking On It’s Head?
May 24th, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
The world of banking online is a scary place. People hear all of the news on television about the many break-ins that happen so, even though they may still do it, they are nervous about putting their numbers onto the site. Many of these same people have no such apprehension when they use an ATM machine outside. They feel no pressure that they are going to be robbed or that it is even dangerous to use but the fact is that there are more and more attacks being leveled at ATMs all of the time. ATM Rootkits The bad guys have found out that they are not as secured as people think, so they have found ways to bypass the security. But for the average person there is even more disturbing news that is coming out about the safety of these machines – there are hackers that have figured out a way to place a Rootkit inside of an ATM machine . This is bad news for everybody. So far this attack is not in the wild and it was discovered by security researchers. Even though it was only recently discovered it doesn’t mean that bad guys won’t have it soon – Black hat hackers are always trying to find new and creative ways to exploit anything that will make them money – so it is likely only a matter of time before they figure out how to do this as well. Some people reading this story may have heard of a Rootkit but they do not realize how dangerous it really is. A Rootkit allows a program to sit on a computer and not be able to be detected by the operating system or other software programs that normally detect viruses. It takes a special software program to be able to detect a Rootkit so for someone to be able to install a Rootkit inside of an ATM machine is a big deal. The rootkit could hide inside of it, functioning in a way that would allow the program to be able to capture the banking information of the people who are using the ATM machine. It can then take that information and send it to a server that will store it. Since the infection is a Rootkit it may be able to sit there for months at a time before anyone was able to discover it. With that much time to sit there and gather information, it could possibly gather hundreds of thousands of banking credentials. That is a lot of people that can be put at risk. Luckily for us, the technology that goes into being able to detect a Rootkit has improved over the years – we are now able to detect them better than we were ever able to before. Since we know that an ATM machine is now able to be attacked we can use this knowledge to come up with a solution before there is even a major problem. The new ATM rootkit can cause major problems to the banking industry if not handled properly. It also serves as a timely reminder that computer security applies to the real world too , not only the internet. It is a good thing that we have the technology to combat this problem early on. How Could A New ATM Rootkit Turn The World Of Banking On It’s Head? is a post from: Security FAQs
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How Could A New ATM Rootkit Turn The World Of Banking On It’s Head?
Why Fake Windows Update Sites For Windows 7 Present A Danger
May 19th, 2010. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
There are, unfortunately, a lot of people who use pirated software these days and that includes versions of the Windows operating system. In fact, I would imagine that it is one of the most pirated systems in the world. In China, Microsoft had to pretty much offer a seriously reduced price for Windows since almost everybody over there had a pirated copy of the system. As a business, when you have a system that is pirated so much, you tend to do things that will encourage people to purchase a legitimate copy of the software. One of the things that Microsoft does to promote that mindset is to not allow anyone to update the Windows 7 software without having a legitimate copy. If they do not have a legal copy then they cannot get the updates for their computer . No Security Updates Unfortunately, perhaps, this includes security updates as well. Not having the security updates installed on your computer will leave you open to infections down the line. So people found out that they could get around this restriction by using third party web sites that would deliver all of the Windows updates for them. To get all of the updates that Microsoft were releasing, all they had to do was to go to these sites and download a program that had all of the updates already in the program. They would then install the updates. Afterwards their computer would be up to date just like everyone else’s. Just by the details that I have told you, you can probably figure out that this is a very dangerous thing to do. This way of updating your computer has so many weak points, as far as security goes, that it creates a long list all on its own. The first thing on the list is that you do not know what kind of software is being loaded onto your computer. Sure, there may be some of these third party sites that have been vetted but you never know when they can turn rogue. They can just name a program as part of the software update but in reality it is some vicious tool that they have created to release malware. There are so many pieces to a normal update, that it can be hard to confirm if each piece of software is legitimate or not. Another big hole that getting your security updates like this opens is the fact that a third party server knows your IP address. They also know that you do not have the latest protection on your computer. Both of these two pieces of information put together can lead to a dangerous mess. They can fake you out as if they have installed all of the software on your computer but instead leave a huge hole that they can enter later. This can happen all because you gave them so many details about your computer. The Moral Of This Story? This is a good reason why you should use legitimate copies of software, especially operating systems such as Windows 7. Leaving your computer at the mercy of some third party web site that you cannot fully trust can lead to some bad things happening later on down the line. Do not give them a chance to do that to you. Read more on Windows 7 Security Why Fake Windows Update Sites For Windows 7 Present A Danger is a post from: Security FAQs
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Why Fake Windows Update Sites For Windows 7 Present A Danger
Can I Limit My Exposure To Malware By Reading Web Site RSS Feeds?
May 18th, 2010. Published under Scams. No Comments.
When you think of getting information off of a web page you usually think of it being a simple process – you type the URL of the site that you want to go to in the browser, go to the web page, and then read the content that is on the page. It sounds simple, right? Most of the time it is, but there are times when this is not so simple. Inside of the code that made it possible for you to read the page that you are looking at could be lurking some dangerous malware. Malware can be easily picked up and hidden on a web page. So, unless it is a trusted site, then you are taking a chance that nothing is going to happen to your computer when you actually visit the page. But there are other ways that you can get the information off of the site as well. Subscribe To Your Favourite Sites Via RSS You can use a technology called RSS that will allow you to see the content as well, at least most of the time. Some web pages will limit the amount of lines that the RSS feed shows so that you will be forced to visit the web page itself (this is typically because they are afraid of having their content scraped) . Other RSS feeds will only give you the title of the story that is being discussed – you must, again, visit the web page to get the full details. But by far, most web pages will allow you to read the entire story in the RSS feed itself. They may show little ads in the RSS feed so that they can provide you the content while at the same time they are still able to get paid. RSS Feed Reading May Be Safer If you are reading the information about the web page on an RSS feed then this means that you are less vulnerable to an attack as the majority of attacks happen when you are exposed to the code that is on the actual web page itself. With an RSS feed the actual page is not going to your browser, it is only the content of the site that is being delivered to you. Keep in mind; even though it may be safer to receive the content like this, it is not fool proof. If someone wanted to, they could easily attack the RSS feed as well. The main reason that this is safer at this point is because attackers do not bother with it. There are not that many reported attacks when it comes to the RSS feed. Even though RSS feeds are not one hundred percent safe, they seem to be safer than visiting the actual web page. So if you want to make sure that your computer is not attacked, try subscribing to the RSS feed of a site instead. Can I Limit My Exposure To Malware By Reading Web Site RSS Feeds? is a post from: Security FAQs
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Can I Limit My Exposure To Malware By Reading Web Site RSS Feeds?
Latest Coupons For Panda Offer Discounts Of Up To 40% On Their Security Products
May 17th, 2010. Published under Scams. No Comments.
Panda really do offer good value on their range of internet security products and, luckily for any of you thinking of buying any, that value just got much, much better. I just received an email from Panda which contains the following links in order to get yourself some pretty impresive discounts on their key security products. Check them out now – Coupon USA : Panda Global Protection 2010 – 40% OFF – Exp. 05-31-2010 Coupon USA : Panda Internet Security 2010 – 40% OFF – Exp. 05-31-2010 Coupon USA : Panda Anti-Virus 2010 – 30% OFF – Exp. 05-31-2010 Coupon USA : Antivirus for Netbooks – 20% OFF – Exp. 05-31-2010 Coupon : Panda Active Scan 2.0 Pro – 10% rebate – Exp. 05-31-2010 If you take advantage of any of the great discounts above then please do let me know how you get on with the products. Latest Coupons For Panda Offer Discounts Of Up To 40% On Their Security Products is a post from: Security FAQs
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Latest Coupons For Panda Offer Discounts Of Up To 40% On Their Security Products
How Can You Get Information About A Hacker In A Honeypot?
May 17th, 2010. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
In the game of information security, usually the good guys have to constantly stay a step behind the bad guys so that they can see what they are going to do next. It is a game that is hard to win because you are always on defense. Every now and then though, if you have the right strategy, defense is the best game plan to win. Playing defense allows you to examine what your opponent is doing and lets you form a strategy to counteract it. This is why security professionals use a honeypot. This allows people in security to follow the tactics and patterns of hackers and script kiddies . What Is A Honeypot? If you are new to the security field, or a casual observer, you might be wondering what exactly a honeypot is? It is a weird name for something in the world of security. The name is actually perfect for what it does though. It is a virtual trap that is set up for hackers, that allows them to exploit a server or a fake company network. The phony network is separated from anything of value. Sometimes it might be planted with fake data that might look important, but in actuality means nothing. This is done so that security people can study the exact habits of hackers. It also provides a look at new attacks that security professionals might not be aware of. There is no better way of getting a good look at the procedures and techniques that the bad guys might use, then letting them go wild in a secured system while you watch. Data Collection The most important thing that you can do as a security professional that is running a honeypot is to make sure you collect the right set of data. It is important to know about the exploits that the bad guys are using but that is not the only thing that you want to know about. You also want to make sure that you collect information about where the attacks are originating from, as well as the equipment they are using. Are they using a proxy? Are they using well know tools or do they have new tools that you might not have heard of? Some of the techniques that they use can also let you know if they are a professional or simply a script kiddie. There are several open source projects that will help a security administrator set up their own honeypot on their network. Even though the projects are open source, they are still effective to all but the craftiest hackers. It is a good idea to use these set ups. You can configure them to trap email, spam, and other types of exploits on your system. Setting up a honeypot is a good idea to gather information about people who may try to attack your system. Make sure that you use the information that is gained to your advantage. How Can You Get Information About A Hacker In A Honeypot? is a post from: Security FAQs
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How Can You Get Information About A Hacker In A Honeypot?
Stop Broadcasting Your SSID To Improve Your Wireless Network Security
May 15th, 2010. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
There are certain features that are put into our computers and the accompanying hardware that are there for the convenience of the average user. A lot of the time, however, these conveniences come at the cost of the safety and security of the device. This is the case when it comes to routers and their ability to be able to broadcast the name of the router over the air. I’m talking about the feature that allows a person that is looking for that particular router to be able to easily find it. For example, anyone that comes into your house with a laptop computer or any other wireless device that connects to the internet, can easily find your router. Unfortunately it also lets the bad guys, including your neighbors that like to leech the internet off of you, to know where your router connection is as well. Stop SSID To keep people off of your wireless connection, you can set the router to stop broadcasting your SSID. SSID stands for Service Set IDentifier and it is the name that you see when you search for networks to connect to. If you go to the admin panel of your router you will see that there is an option to turn it off. If you do this then you will be able to hide your router from anyone on the outside that is physically trying to connect to it. It might be a pain for anyone that visits you to try to connect to it but all you have to do is to let them know the name of the network. Hiding your router is easy enough but it is not the only thing that you want to do to keep people off of your network. You will want to set the encryption layer of your network as well. While not having the SSID broadcasting to your neighbors is very effective, there are still ways for people to find the network. So in case they do, you must secure yourself so that they are still not able to connect to your network even if they do find it. To even be more secured you might also want to allow only certain MAC addresses on your network as well. This will allow only certain computers to connect to the network, even though they know the proper keypass and were able to find the network despite the SSID being hidden. Not showing the SSID of the network is only the beginning when it comes to security measures for your network but is a good start and something that you should really think about. Read more about wireless network security . Stop Broadcasting Your SSID To Improve Your Wireless Network Security is a post from: Security FAQs
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Stop Broadcasting Your SSID To Improve Your Wireless Network Security
Why Using Tor And Bittorent Together Will Not Secure Your Online Identity
May 4th, 2010. Published under Scams. No Comments.
When people think of file sharing they probably think of Bittorrent as being the best way to do it. When people think of keeping their identity online safe and protected they probably think of the Tor service. So it is therefore quite natural to think that using the two services together will help you keep your identity safe when you download and upload files online, right? Sadly, that would be a totally incorrect assumption. In fact there was a paper written recently that shows how much of your personal information gets spread around without you knowing it when you use Bittorrent. Also, there are many security holes that get exposed when you try to use Bittorrent and Tor together. Why You Can’t Guarantee Privacy By Using Bittorent And Tor Together I will try to explain a few of the flaws that can happen when you use the two – The first thing that leads you to be exposed when you use Bittorrent over Tor is that some of Bittorrent’s clients such as uStream send your IP address as part of the data packet. Why this is done I really have no idea, but if your IP address is being sent over the line then you really do not have any privacy at all. This is not the fault of Tor; this is the fault of the Bittorrent client. I know that sometimes you think that you know a piece of technology so much that it will keep you safe, but if you do not know how to really look at the data that the program sends, then you can really be in trouble. You must be sure that your data is as safe as you think it is. Another problem that you will run into when you are trying to secure your identity by using Tor and Bittorrent together is that some of the Bittorrent clients will not use the sock proxy that it is supposed to. When you set up Tor it is configured to send the data that it receives over the TCP protocol. This is so that it can have the checks that come along with using TCP. But with Bittorrent you are using the UDP protocol which does not double check its data as much. UDP was designed so that it would send a lot of data as quickly as possible. This means that you have less checks of the data’s integrity along the way. So, since the Bittorrent is set to use UDP, some of the clients that you use for Bittorent will not accept a TCP connection and a TCP connection is exactly what Tor offers. So instead of trying to connect, the Bittorrent client will just ignore it. There are several more reasons why you should not use Bittorrent and Tor together for the sake of privacy. If you would like to learn more you can just do a search on Google – this information is well known now in the security community. So if you want to make sure that your privacy remains secure when you are using Bittorrent then you should find another way to send that data – using Tor will not help you at all. Why Using Tor And Bittorent Together Will Not Secure Your Online Identity is a post from: Security FAQs
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Why Using Tor And Bittorent Together Will Not Secure Your Online Identity
How Can I Protect My Gmail Account?
May 2nd, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
For most people, even though it is still an older technology, email is still the number one way that they do business in the world of the internet. They are used to the ability of checking the account whenever they want and they still might not be comfortable with the real time aspects of most newer communication applications that are out there. Sure, email may be a slower way to communicate than some of the newer applications, but it is still one of the most effective ways to get your message across. Email Accounts Are Appealing To Black Hat Hackers But… black hat hackers know that a lot of people still use email as their main form of communication, so they have focused their latest attacks in getting past this road block. In particular they have focused on getting past the security barriers that are layed down by Google. Google’s Gmail service is one of the most popular email services out there and because of that, it has become a target. When you are dealing with Gmail or any other email accounts, you have to be careful who can gain access to it. There are a couple of steps that you can take to make sure that no one but you is able to access the account. Do not give the log in information to anyone else, or most of these techniques will be rendered moot. The first thing that you want to do before you try to protect your password, is to make sure that you have your reset password details set. In case you are hacked, you can let Google know that you are the real owner by answering a few questions. If you are not able to answer these questions, or if they are not set, then you will not be able to access the account. So make sure that you have this feature set. Password Security Is Paramount After that is done, make sure that you have a password that will not be easy to guess . When creating the password, use symbols, numbers, and Capitalized letters. Also make sure that the word is not a dictionary word. Using all of these precautions, you will be able to keep the attacker from guessing the password. Another thing that you should do, is to access GMail from as few locations as possible. Do not access your account from a public computer if possible. Some people forget to log out when they do this regularly and people are able to get in and see your information. When you log into Gmail, if anything seems off, you can check the IP address of whoever logged in last. At the bottom of the page, Google has set up a feature that is called “Last Known Activity”. You can check this to see if anyone besides you has access your account. To check your IP, go to WhatsmyIP.com and compare it to the ones that are listed on Google. Keep in mind that if you logged in from a remote place, such as work, it will give a different address. Or if you have an ISP that uses dynamic IP addresses, it will not be as effective as well. These are a couple of ways that you can protect your email . Make sure that you use them. How Can I Protect My Gmail Account? is a post from: Security FAQs
How The Storm Worm Highlights The Security Industry’s Dirty Little Secret
April 30th, 2010. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
There is a dirty little secret in the security world. One that only shows it head every once in a blue moon, so it isn’t something that is discussed that much. This secret is that, even though you may have thought that you have gotten rid of a virus, a lot of times it will come back. (This doesn’t just apply to the most popular viruses but to most other malware too). I am not talking about its ability to infect your machine again, I simply mean that it comes back to being in prominence once again. Every so often the security world will see a flare-up of a certain type of malware that will spread across the globe very quickly. It happens quicker than the IT people can hope to patch their machines against the attack. We usually see a heavy boost of activity, and then the security researchers catch up with the technology so that they are now able to stop it, and then it dies down again. But that is not usually the last that you will hear about it. Often there is a re-occurrence. It is usually the same piece of malware, just altered by a little bit so that it can bypass the detection software. The Storm Worm Right now we see this happening once again with the Storm worm . The Storm worm is an infection that hit in 2007 and was a real threat when it came to computer security. The Storm worm was different that other threats because of the fact that it refused to die. When it was introduced to a system it would change the packing code of the Trojan so that the antivirus software would not detect it. There are a couple of other little tricks that it would use to escape detection as well, such as changing the IP address of the servers that it would use to connect to the rest of the bot network. This made this piece of malware a very hard one to stop. Now it is being reported that this particular piece of malware is rearing its head once again. Cheap Copy This new version shares a lot of the same traits as the old one, but it does not seem to be as effective as the original strain of this particular malware. Most likely it is someone who has made a duplicate without all of the necessary resources that the owners of the first strain had. When security experts reverse engineered the new version of the worm they saw that it was missing some of the vital components that made the original version so hard to destroy. Once again a popular piece of malware has flared up but it is only a shadow of the original version. This version of the Storm worm does not seem to be as effective as the original once was but I guess we will soon if it is able to live up to its namesake. Most likely it will not be able to. How The Storm Worm Highlights The Security Industry’s Dirty Little Secret is a post from: Security FAQs
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How The Storm Worm Highlights The Security Industry’s Dirty Little Secret
Al Gore: The Ken Lay of the Great Climate Fraud – mySouTex.com
March 4th, 2010. Published under Fraud, Political Scams. No Comments.
USA Today Al Gore: The Ken Lay of the Great Climate Fraud mySouTex.com At the same time, Gore was secretly setting himself up in the carbon credit trading business, massively enriching himself in the process. … EDITORIAL: Global warming winners Washington Times Global Warming Murder-Suicide: Why Didn't Al Gore Save Them? The New American Stop Al Gore Before He Lies Again and Again and Again! Family Security Matters all 174 news articles
Global Warming Murder-Suicide: Why Didn’t Al Gore Save Them? – The New American
March 3rd, 2010. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.
FOXNews Global Warming Murder-Suicide: Why Didn't Al Gore Save Them? The New American Cap and trade legislation will hurt millions, if not billions, of people worldwide. A cap and trade regime will increase the cost of energy artificially. … Al Gore Returns FOXNews A Blizzard Of Lies From Al Gore Investor’s Business Daily Al Gore: King of Lie-Lie Land Dakota Voice Family Security Matters all 129 news articles
Exclusive: Yes, Virginia: No, These are Not Solutions – They Are Scams – Family Security Matters
March 1st, 2010. Published under Political Scams, Scams. No Comments.
Family Security Matters Exclusive: Yes, Virginia: No, These are Not Solutions – They Are Scams Family Security Matters Congressional shills demanded legislation to roll back the climate by implementing a major tax increase called cap and trade . …
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Exclusive: Yes, Virginia: No, These are Not Solutions – They Are Scams – Family Security Matters
Hackers steal emissions credits – Presseurop (blog)
February 4th, 2010. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.
Help Net Security Hackers steal emissions credits Presseurop (blog) It is not yet known how many companies fell victim to the scam , “but checks in Germany have revealed that three out of four companies investigated were … Hackers make millions through stolen carbon credits Help Net Security all 36 news articles
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How Are Online Ads Used To Scam People?
January 21st, 2010. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
The human race is an imaginative bunch. If there is a problem that is in front of us, we do our best to solve it. The same goes for when we have an objective to achieve. We will pull out our imaginations and come up with something very cunning. This is what hackers and online scam artists do on a daily basis. They see an objective, which is how to get the money that is in your wallet, and figure out a way to accomplish it. Online Classified Ads Scam The latest scam has been using online classified ads to find their victims. There have always been scams when it came to classified ads, even online ones. Craigslist, Ebay and all of the other types of classified web sites, have all had to increase their security over the years. No one wants to visit these places, if all that happens is, them being scammed and their money taken. So there are safe guards in place to help prevent this from happening. But these safeguards deal with just the normal crooks. These days, the online classified ads scams are being done by organized groups of individuals. Organized Crime The groups that are involved with the scams range from organized crime members in the US to criminals operating out of Nigeria. There is just not one group of individuals who are committing these crimes, it has gone international. People have found it lucrative and are taking advantage of it. The range of scams are also great. The different scams include fake electronics, bait and switch, robbery, and even real estate fraud. Some of these scams might need a little bit of explanation so that you know how to avoid them. The bait and switch is especially popular on EBay . It involves someone advertising an item and showing a picture of it in a package. In little letters at the bottom of the page, they say that they are selling the packaging and not the item itself. So when you get only the packaging and you start to complain, they bring up that it is exactly what was advertised. Robbery happens a lot on Craigslist . People will pretend that they are selling something and they need you to pick it up. When you go there with your money, they physically assault you and take the money out of your pocket. This happens more often than people think. Make sure you meet in a public place if possible, when purchasing items off of craigslist. The real estate scam involves people claiming that they have a house for rent or sale. They will tell you that they live there but are out of the country. They then send you a key, and you send them the money. When you get to the place, you find out that the key doesn’t work. This is a relatively new crime that has been happening a lot. Most traces claim that a lot of the real estate scams are originating from Nigeria. Online classifieds are a great way to get a deal but they have their share of risk as well. If you are careful and make sure that read the listing very throughly, you should be able to avoid the scams. How Are Online Ads Used To Scam People? is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009
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Twitter Being Used To Get Information About Potential Targets
January 12th, 2010. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
This is a great time in social media technology. Even though MySpace and some of the other leaders in the field have fallen by the way side, they have been replaced by either technically or socially superior offerings. Twitter & Facebook In the case of technical superiority, the winner is definitely Facebook and it’s huge user base. It allows you to stay connected to individuals and still maintain a great deal of privacy. Some of that has been changed in the past couple of months, but overall they keep your privacy better than any other social media site. Twitter is the other winner in this battle. They have grown a great deal in such a short amount of time. Unfortunately their privacy policy is not as good as Facebook’s. Private Twitter Twitter allows you to have two settings. Your tweets can either be open or they can be private. When they are private, only the people that you choose are allowed to follow you. This seems secured on the outside, but it quickly becomes a setting that people get tired of. Part of the fun of Twitter, is that people that you do not know get to follow you, if you seem like an interesting person. Locking your twitter account eliminates that feature. So most people end up turning it off. This is when the problems begin. Public Twitter People use twitter when they are in the office, on the streets, and at home. This causes the average user to become real comfortable with the service and maybe say things that they didn’t mean to. This includes personal items about themselves and information about their job that should not be spoken about in public. There are ways that you can delete the offending tweet, but most times it will still be picked up by third party devices that hook to twitter. Applications such as tweetdeck will cache the tweet and the people who follow you will still see it. If a hacker or any other kind of criminal is casing a particular target, they can find out who works there. Once they find out who works there, it should be easy to find the workers that use Twitter . Once that information is found out, they can then set those people as part of a list and monitor what they say. Someone in that group will say something valuable about their job. All they need is one person to slip up. Corporations and small businesses need to go over with their workers social media protocol. A firm policy is needed, so they know what they can disclose on social media sites. The companies must realize that these sites have become a huge way that people socialize and they need to plan for it. I wouldn’t go as far as monitor their tweets but an official office policy should be good enough. Especially when you are dealing with sensitive information. Twitter Being Used To Get Information About Potential Targets is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009
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Twitter Being Used To Get Information About Potential Targets
Trend Micro Announces 30% Discount On Internet Security Products
December 24th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
Everybody wants to feel safe and secure when surfing the internet and the best way to achieve that goal is through having quality products protecting your computer. That means an antivirus program at the very least and quite possibly a full internet security suite. One of the most notable security vendors is Trend Micro who have today announced a 30% price reduction on many of their products. Make it a Merry Christmas for both of us by bagging a great discount whilst earning me a commission To benefit from this great discount just use the coupons below between December 25th and January 10th – For United States customers Save 30% off Trend Micro Internet Security! Coupon Code: shoptrendm Save 30% off Trend Micro Antivirus plus AntiSpyware 2010! Coupon Code: shoptrendm Save 30% on Trend Micro Internet Security Pro! Coupon Code: shoptrendm For my fellow Brits Save 30% on Trend Micro Home & Home Office products! Coupon Code: shoptrendm For everyone else Spar 30% av Trend Micros hele linjen av Home og Home Office-produkter! Coupon Code: shoptrendm Bespaar 30% van de gehele lijn van Trend Micro’s van Thuis en Thuiskantoor producten! Coupon Code: shoptrendm Sconto del 30% della intera linea di Trend Micro Home & Home Office prodotti! Coupon Code: shoptrendm Économisez 30% de toute la ligne de Trend Micro of Home & Home Office produits! Acheter maintenant Sparen Sie 30% der gesamten Linie von Trend Micro Home & Home Office Produkte! Coupon Code: shoptrendm Trend Micro Announces 30% Discount On Internet Security Products is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009
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Trend Micro Announces 30% Discount On Internet Security Products
Have Researchers Found A Way To Bypass Microsoft Bitlocker Security Technology?
December 18th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
In the last several iterations of the Microsoft Windows operating system they have touted the availability of higher security on the system. The newer security features included the forced nag screen that came up when installing a program that could be harmful to your computer. Also, the new command that you must have administrative access to be able to change certain settings that could damage the computer. One security feature that was praised above all was the Bitlocker system. You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video This technology allowed people to encrypt their hard drives in case it was stolen. It now seems that the technology has a flaw that allows it to be bypassed. The security test lab named Fraunhofer SIT discovered a way that they could get around the Bitlocker encryption. The way that they bypass the system is completely software based and requires physical access to the machine. It involves booting the system with Bitlocker on it from a separate device. This device can be a USB drive or another computer. Once it is ready, the attacker can then replace the boot code of the Bitlocker system with a piece of code that records the user provided key. Once that key is recorded ,the person is able to reboot the system back to its unmodified state. This attack even works if a person has the Trusted Platform Module turned on. The Trusted Platform Module is another part of the Microsoft security system that until now was not able to be bypassed. I’ve obviously made this sound simpler than it is as I don’t want to be teaching anyone how to do this but, in reality, it is far from simple. It is very involved and not at all easy to pull off. Overall the Bitlocker security system is still a very safe way to encrypt your files and folders. They did not find a way to break the actual encryption, they merely found a way to bypass it. You will not have to worry about your average attacker knowing how to do anything this complicated. The system is still very secured and should keep you worry free. Have Researchers Found A Way To Bypass Microsoft Bitlocker Security Technology? is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009
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In The World Of Online Crime, The Drive By Method Is Most Effective
December 9th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
Everything that you do in this world, if you are to have some kind of success, involves hard work and planning. The average person has the misconception that people who do crime are able to wake up in the morning, do a crime, and then receive a lot of money. This may be true for criminals that make a little bit of money in their endeavors but for the criminals that hope to be able to commit the big score, it takes lots of hard work and careful planning. This is the same reality when it comes to online crime. Viruses And Trojans Virus authors have to be very creative when they create a new infection. They also have to be creative when it comes to delivery. Let’s talk about one of those creative methods. One of the best and most creative methods that are available to malware authors today is to create a Trojan package that is able to upload and install on your computer without the victim having to do anything. Usually when a person gets an infection on their computer they must be part of the process to cause the damage. This is usually done by tricking the person to do some sort of activity. This activity usually involves them installing a program on their computer that is not what it pretends to be. It then starts to take shape and does it’s damage. Most of the time the damage is done behind the scenes and unnoticed by the user. Some advanced virus and Trojan writers have found a way to be able to leave you out of the process and upload the infection on its own. Well to be honest you are not completely out of the process. For this attack to work, they will usually need you to go to a web site that will deliver the attack. Once they trick you into going to the web site then your involvement is no longer needed. There is a method of doing this, that is making the rounds among virus authors now. IFrames It involves having you go to a web site with what is called an IFrame embedded in it. An IFrame is the ability of web page to display another web page on the same screen. This IFrame is then pointed to page where they use a corrupted PDF file to deliver the payload. Once the payload is delivered it is able to execute and infect your computer. This is why it is called the drive by method. It requires you to only pass through to the web site and with no other activity needed. You are then infected. This is not an easy to attack to create so it is not as propagated through the Internet as other attacks would be. As you can see the drive by method of delivering a virus or Trojan can be very effective in its execution. This is why you must be very careful when you go to visit a web site. There are attacks such as these that can be performed and cause you to have a very bad day. In The World Of Online Crime, The Drive By Method Is Most Effective is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009
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In The World Of Online Crime, The Drive By Method Is Most Effective
Hackers Looking To Exploit Windows 7 Already
December 8th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
When it comes to secure operating systems, with the release of Windows 7, Microsoft can finally claim to be one. Windows 7 has proven that Microsoft has taken security seriously and that they have attempted to prove that through their actions. Even though Windows 7 has improved a great deal of security issues that used to be a concern for Microsoft products there are still some legacy issues that continue to be a problem. This is why Windows 7 is becoming a favorite attack vector when it comes to cyber crime. Windows 7 is a trim operating system going by previous Windows OS standards. The reality is that the operating system still has more lines of code than it’s nearest competitors, Mac OS X and Linux. It is because of Windows 7 legacy support that this is still a problem. There are still vendors out there that need a new version of Windows to be able to operate programs that are 20 years old. And Windows 7 still has the ability to do this. To be able to have this feature though, it means that you must leave old code in. The more code that is in a program, the better the chances that a malicious hacker will find an exploit that has not been discovered yet. Security experts have already seen a rise of communication between groups of bad guys discussing vulnerabilities that they have already found. Microsoft has already released security patches for their new operating system and you can expect several more. The large code base and the wide amount of usage means that the Hackers will have fun looking for new and creative ways to attack innocent victims. Some attackers are using old school techniques to exploit the release of Windows 7. They are using emails that either pretend to be a support ticket for the new operating system or the email pretends to have a link that allows you to download an upgrade for the operating system. This is why if you want to do an update of your operating system never go to a third party that pretends to do this. Always visit the official Microsoft web site and follow their instructions on how to update your OS. As you can see, even with all of the security that Microsoft has baked in to Windows 7, the security issue still remains. This is why you must not rely only on software security to keep your computer safe. You must be on the lookout as well and learn to be able to tell when something is wrong. Hackers Looking To Exploit Windows 7 Already is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009
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How To Communicate Securely Through A Network With SSH
December 1st, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
When you take your computer onto a strange network, it pays to be highly suspicious and even paranoid about the situation. There are many tricks that are out there now that allows malicious hackers to gather your information as the packets transmit through the air. Many people need to access their work computer when they are in a remote location and this action requires traveling over strange networks. Some people only need a command line client to be able to access the office server. The SSH protocol allows a command line client to be able to access a work server securely through encrypted data packets. Let’s explain how the program works and why it is one of the best solutions out there. SSH The SSH protocol has been around for a long time. It started in 1995 as a small free project but turned out to be so useful that the project just grew and grew. When the idea of networks first came about, the thoughts of security were secondary to thoughts about the speed of the network. People would use programs such as Telnet to access from remote locations and transmit data back and forth. Then in the late 80’s and throughout the 90’s security proved to be a real big issue and tools were created to address that issue. A replacement for Telnet, which was lacking encryption and other secure features, was needed. This created the desire for a program such as SSH. SSH is just the security protocol and there are plenty of clients that make use of that protocol. The most popular being the putty program. It has gained the respect of the security community and seems to be the favorite by a large margin. Once you have installed a client such as putty you just put in your log in information and pick which type of encryption you would like to use. After that is done you can now use it to log into your server. You can now transmit your data back and forth without the gnawing feeling that somebody can be easily dropping in on your communications. The use of SSH to log into your remote server is one the best ways to make sure that your data stays secure. If you in any way concerned about a network that you are using remotely then make sure that you pick the best way to keep your communication secured. How To Communicate Securely Through A Network With SSH is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009
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Protecting Your Computers With A Personal Firewall
November 28th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
A firewall protects your network from unauthorized trespassers. Many routers have firewall functions built in to check traffic leaving or entering the network, but you also should run a personal firewall on each client computer on your WLAN . Personal firewall software usually costs around $40 and it is often bundled with antivirus software. A personal firewall is an application that runs on your computer and protects it against unauthorized access. Like a hardware firewall, it’s configurable to allow or disallow different types of traffic to enter and leave your PC. Personal firewalls monitor ports, which are numbered software addresses that your computer uses for different networking tasks. For example, a Web server communicates through port 80, an e-mail server through port 25. Many of these ports aren’t needed by your PC, and a good personal firewall closes or blocks unused or unneeded ports to prevent an intruder from accessing your computer through one of them. A personal firewall also can monitor activity on your PC and alert you when an application attempts to reach the Internet or your WLAN. This is important because some worms and Trojan horse software attempt to use your computer to infect other computers, or to “phone home” to a cracker so that he can get into your computer. Personal firewalls are an effective way to protect individual computers on your WLAN. Read more on Firewalls .
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The Threat Of Cloud Computing To Your Company’s Infrastructure
November 26th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
The ideal of Cloud computing has been around for several decades. Only recently has the technology allowed for it to become a reality for practical use. Everyday more and more companies are bringing their sensitive data onto the cloud. This has proven to be a good strategy for corporations to use because of the flexibility that it provides. The ability to be able to quickly update their web resources while at the same time having automated back up capabilities is just the thing that the doctor ordered. But there is a flaw in this type of web hosting that researchers are just now discovering. Cloud Computing Management The first flaw that occurs is more of a management flaw and less of a technical one. If you are business that has their operation hosted on the cloud your hardware will not be hosted in house or in a facility that you control. It will be in the hands of another company that is in a remote location. This leaves you as the customer still responsible for what happens to your data. You must keep a sharp eye out on your cloud provider to make sure that they are keeping your company’s data safe and secure. If you have customers of your own and their data is compromised, blaming your provider will only go so far in their eyes. Technical Flaws There are also several technical flaws that can happen when you host your data on the cloud. Researchers have recently discovered a serious bug that could prove to be a big problem. The problem is that when you have cloud computers on a multi cored server running virtual machines the lack of privacy through the cache on the system is great. When you have a multi cored system the data is transacted back and forth between the cores. This is how the computer processes the data simultaneously so that it can do multiple task at the same time. This is why it is so hard for programmers to adapt to parallel computing. You have to be able to create software without the program running into what is known as a dead lock. When the computer is running the process the data is stored in temporary memory, also known as a cache. Attackers and researchers have figured out ways that they can use this information to able to poison a virtual machine running on the same physical server. Since all of the cores share data that is coming through the cache, poisoned data can be sent to another virtual machine this way. You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video You can also spy on another company’s virtual machine in this same manner. If this knowledge is made into a workable tool, the possibility for abuse is endless. Even though Cloud computing is becoming more and more popular the technology behind it still has some flaws that it needs to address. When it comes to cloud computing privacy was not the first thing on the mind of the people who implemented it. There are tools that are being released to help alleviate this problem but as of right now the possibility of a serious security breach still exist.
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How To Stay Safe On Facebook
November 25th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
Social networking websites have become must visit sites for a great many Internet users. If you are such a person then you probably find that you check your social networking accounts more than your e-mail accounts! In fact, social networking has become a daily activity for millions of Internet users. People have loved Facebook since the day it was launched and that is the reason why, within a span of few years, millions of people have registered to the Facebook network. It is a cool place for people that allows them to get in touch with their friends, share photographs, share videos and much, much more. Security Risks But because of its huge popularity, Facebook has become a huge target for all the spammers, hackers, identity thieves, cyber criminals and every other bad element that exists on Internet. And then you have other threats, such as Koobface , which is a cyber infection that was specially designed to steal the private information of Facebook users. Facebook Security Measures The first step you should take is to mark the privacy settings of your Facebook account. Make sure that you keep you profile private so that strangers cannot peep into it. To do that, simply log into your Facebook account and click on the link named as Settings which can be located at the right side of the page and then click on the option labeled as Privacy. Then click on the option Only Friends which allows you to keep your profile locked from strangers. Whenever you so accept any friend requests ensure that the person is actually your friend because adding strangers could lead to unneccesary risks. Also avoid publishing confidential details, such as your phone number, account number or social security number on your wall as this information could, potentially, be used for identity theft . Facebook Security For Children As per the rules in the Facebook Safety Policy, all users need to be a minimum of 13 years old. If you are a parent, then you need to be aware of your kids’ Facebook activities. You should educate your children about all the benefits, as well as the risk factors, involved in social networking. It would be wonderful if you teach your children to come to you whenever they find a disturbing subject on the Internet as you could then work together to ensure your kid’s safety. Remember that, since you are not seeing the person behind the keyboard, there is a chance that they may not be who they say they are. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you never agree to meet anyone for real. If you do, make sure you have a black belt in karate! (I do, but still wouldn’t choose to meet random strangers from social networking sites!) Once you sign up with Facebook, it automatically becomes your responsibility to report any kind of inappropriate content to the administrators of the Facebook service. Be cautious and have fun in the wonderful world of Facebook. Happy Social Networking!
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How To Stay Safe On Facebook
How Can I Help My Elderly Friends And Relatives Protect Themselves On The Internet?
November 24th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
For many of us, we have grown up in an age of computers and electronic devices all around us. So when the era of the internet came to pass, there was a leap of knowledge that was needed to adjust but the divide was not that great. For the elderly among us, they can remember a time before the digital age and some of the new technology can seem enticing but yet strange and alien at the same time. Most scams run on the internet today are perpetrated against the elderly. Hopefully I can give you some tips to protect your loved ones. Protecting Your Loved Ones Some people will make a joke and say if you want to protect people from the dangers of the Internet then get a Mac or Linux box and tell them not to use Windows. This is funny but not true especially these days. Macs are becoming more and more popular and everyday new exploits are being found that can be used against them. Exploits are becoming more common and big business on all systems so security is a top priority for all of them. The fact is that most people use a Windows version operating system so you will have to show them how to protect themselves on such machines. Email Security The first thing that you will want to tell them is to be skeptical when it comes to email. People believe that it takes a highly technical genius to scam people on the internet. This is simply not true. Most attacks on people, especially the elderly, are low tech email scams. They will either involve sending a link to a person to get their information through phishing or just a straight out direct scam to get the person to send them money. A lot of the elderly believe everything that they read in their emails and have to be told the many, many different ways that people can be scammed through them. Malicious Programs Another thing that they must be instructed on, is not to open any programs that are sent to them outside of their family or friends. Scammers will send friendly looking e-cards and other digital goodies through an email attachment. Most people would not think that an e-card with hearts and flowers on it would hold a digital ticking time bomb. Looks can be deceiving though. The elderly, just like everyone else, must be taught that attachments, no matter what they look like, can be dangerous. Safe Communications A new attack but one that is growing everyday is the use of the software program Skype to send links to a phishing site. There are a lot of elderly people that use Skype as a cheap and easy way to talk to and see videos of their loved ones. Their relatives might set it up for them so they can be confused as to who is sending a link to them. Skype has a lot of spammers now and the elderly must be warned that it has become just like their emails so they must remain vigilant. Hopefully I have gone over several ways that you can help protect the elderly in your life when they use a computer. It is a new world that they are in so maybe you can help them navigate it.
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How Do I Secure Windows 7?
November 23rd, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
All computer users should aspire to work in a safe environment. Regardless of what your profession is, and the purpose behind using your computer, you should always be aware of the dangers and be on the lookout for the means to keep the data stored in your computer secure from all possible external dangers. Since Microsoft have recently released their latest operating system,Windows 7, you may be wondering how you can make your new operating system more secure and safer. Microsoft was mentioning the robust security related features of Windows 7 long before its launch. So, if you can make the best of the features and options offered by Windows 7, you can make your computer much more secure. Below are some of the ways that would enhance the security levels of your computer powered by Windows 7 – Shield your computer with an updated and robust Antivirus program (most preferably Internet Security Package) protection system. This is the first and foremost thing to do while you are trying to keep your computer safe from all the cyber threats regardless of the operating system you are working on. Since the biggest threat for any computer is viruses, malware, Trojans, and other malicious program, you need to be smart while making a choice. Windows 7 offers an amazing data protection scheme namely BitLocker Drive Encryption. Using the BitLocker scheme offered by Win 7, you can either choose to protect the data on the partition of where the operating system is installed or all the partitions. BitLocker will not allow anybody to access the files until and unless they enter the correct password. It is just like protecting your money in a safe protected by a number lock system. Use User Account Control (UAC) as Microsoft have made huge improvements in the system. Depending on the type of the user (Administrator or Normal user) UAC pre-sets the security features of the operating system. If you have logged in as a normal user, then you will be served with the most secured settings whereas the Administrator has the right to tweak the security settings as per his requirements. Windows 7 offers Internet Explorer 8 as the default web browser. So, if you are using IE 8 make sure that you enable the SmartScreen Filter option. SmartScreen is directly connected to Microsoft and their local database which educates and warns you about malicious web sites which could harm you computer. Like any other natural calamity, computer crashes can be unexpected and also destructive in many aspects. So, the wise thing is to be prepared for the worst. Navigate to “Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore” to back up the data on your computer . Always enable the Automatic Updates from Microsoft. This will not only enhance your operating system’s performance but also updates it against all the latest threats and loopholes. The increasing popularity of the internet has led to a larger number of crimes being committed on the web. Only by being proactive about your own security can you minimise the risks of you becoming the next victim.
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How Do I Secure Windows 7?
Being Proactive About WLAN Security
November 21st, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
Perhaps the most important defense is to be proactive in securing your WLAN . Don’t wait for threats to emerge before taking action. Now that you know the threats to your WLAN and some ways to deal with them, you can take what you know and put it to work. Each vendor maintains patches and updates on its Web site. You could go to every Web site and search for all the vulnerabilities that affect your devices. You may even find most of what you’re looking for after quite a while. The best place to start is the Security Focus Web site. Security Focus maintains an exhaustive list of vulnerabilities for hardware and software from every vendor. If it’s vulnerable, it’s listed on their site. Often vulnerabilities are listed on Security Focus even before the developers of an application or device know about the problem. In those rare cases when a company refuses to acknowledge an issue, this Web site may be the only place where you’ll find it listed. Make it a habit to check the site regularly for new threats. Many vendors will send you an email warning you of vulnerabilities if you took the time to register your product (and lets face it, most of us don’t). For the 90 percent of users that use a Microsoft operating system, the Windows Update feature will help you keep the operating system patched and save you from becoming a casualty when the next worm surfaces. Most cracker tools exploit holes that have not been patched. If you don’t maintain your systems, you are remaining vulnerable when you should be safe. Taking the time to patch software and update the firmware on devices will minimize your risk and reduce your headaches.
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Being Proactive About WLAN Security
Exclusive: Oval Office Watch – Saturday, November 21 – Family Security Matters
November 21st, 2009. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.
Exclusive: Oval Office Watch – Saturday, November 21 Family Security Matters The entire Global Warming movement and all the idiocy that goes with it such as Cap & Trade , has become 100% political. There's literally ZERO scientific …
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Exclusive: Oval Office Watch – Saturday, November 21 – Family Security Matters
Cyber Security: Why Is So Important?
November 19th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Do we actually need cyber security? I strongly believe that we do. Everybody has their own thoughts on cyber security, some of which are valid facts, and some of which are misconceptions. The Internet is a dynamic technology and you can never predict the changes that are constantly occurring. Furthermore, every change can lead to more dangerous threats that had not been previously imagined. That is why there have been number of incidents in the past where the Internet has been used as the medium for some serious crimes which are named as ‘Cyber Crimes’. If proper means are not used to tackle this problem then the rate of cyber crime will just continue to increase. Below are some of the reasons behind the need for cyber security – 1.) Who are hackers and what do they do? We all are aware of hackers . But do you actually know how they operate? A hacker could be anyone. He might be your business rival, your friend or any other person who is trying to hijack your computer’s resources. They somehow enter into your computer with the help of many malicious programs and scripts, all of which can be found on the internet or easily coded by someone with a little know how. Once he succeeds in hijacking your computer, then he can misuse your confidential information such as e-mail accounts, bank accounts, credit cards and any other useful information he finds stored on your system. 2.) Online fraud and identity theft. Cyber criminals follow a number of techniques in order to acquire e-mail Ids, credit card numbers, bank account numbers and passwords which are then misused by them. These kinds of scams are known as ‘ phishing ‘. These criminals cheat people by pretending to be spokespeople of big organisations or deceased millionaires and sending emails to their victims which will try to trick them into revealing confidential information. 3.) Cyber thefts are increasing daily. Conventional thefts can be compensated by insurance cover but once you lose your confidential data from your computer, no-one can help you. These kinds of incidents are not only restricted to individuals but huge companies and institutions are falling prey to cyber theft too. 4.) Computer viruses can really mess up your system. Viruses can not only slow your system down, they can make it crash too. There are number of ways in which viruses can enter your computer. One of them is through accessing insecure web sites and downloading infected files. Its not only household computers that can be infected as even big business can be affected too. For example, in 1999 the Melissa virus lead to the termination of many services in Microsoft and other huge companies. 5.) Spyware keeps tabs on your activity. Spyware is a form of malware that can enter your computer and install itself automatically. It is not only meant to spy on you but also steal information from your computer. The dangerous part is that people do not even realize its presence on their computers. Some reports suggest that about 92% of computers are infected by spyware and that users are unaware of it! 6.) Adware is annoying. The main purpose of adware is to pop up unwanted ads as you are surfing the Internet. This can quickly become extremely annoying and frustrating. Nowadays adware is often integrated with spyware in order to exploit your computer to great heights. These are just some of the different ways cyber criminals steal your resources and information. They are always a step ahead and the security industry is forever trying to keep up with their new plans and codes. Therefore, it is very necessary to protect your system for all the threats caused by cyber criminals. Wouldn’t you agree?
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Cyber Security: Why Is So Important?
Security – Windows 7 Vs Mac OSX
November 18th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Comparing the relative levels of security between two vastly different operating systems is, of course, a rather subjective matter. After the much hyped, and sometimes maligned, Windows Vista the spotlight has once again been placed over Microsoft who have recently released Windows 7 . This is hot on the heels of Apple’s latest operating system for the Mac, Snow Leopard. Nowadays security is one of the biggest concerns for any operating system. According to security experts Secunia, Mac OS X is much safer than the Windows operating system as they found only 9 security issues with Mac OS X compared to 29 issues with the Windows product. Does this paint a fair picture though? Everybody knows that the Windows operating system is installed on many more computers than Mac OSX and that makes it a big and lucrative target for malware authors. Therefore isn’t it just a case of scale that makes Windows appear to be less secure on first glance? Windows 7 is, in my opinion, a far better product (in terms of security) than its previous versions. A whole host of features, such as Biometric Framework, fingerprint scanners, BitLocker and others make Windows 7 an amazingly secured operating system. At the same time, the smaller market share of Apple Mac OS X, and the absence of third party programs, makes their operating system harder to hack (or less appealing at the very least). For this reason, systems powered with Mac OS X suffer less attacks than their Windows counterparts, making the Mac appear to be extremely secure. On the other hand, Windows 7 comes with dozens of security tools but its openness makes it’s monster security system look like an ordinary one. Recently Windows Vista post-Service Pack 2 has been named as the safest operating system on the planet. And it is quite obvious that Windows 7 will incorporate all the features of it’s successful predecessor. If you are not satisfied by the security parameters of Windows 7 then you can tweak it further by using third party firewalls, antivirus and other protection programs whereas such a feature is absent in Mac OS X. But, Windows Operating Systems are easily undone by hackers , so the story MIGHT remain the same with Windows 7. So this might compel you to use Mac OS X. Comparing the security levels of Windows 7 and Mac OS X is difficult as both have their benefits and weaknesses. Although operating systems have a major role to play in the security of your computer the ultimate responsibility lies with you, the user. Having a secured Internet connection and good surfing habits are probably a more important consideration than which operating system you use. Which is the most secured Operating System, Windows 7 or Mac OS X? That is a never ending debate and one that can get quite emotional, as evidenced by the comments last time I wrote on the topic of whether an Apple Mac was more secure than a Windows machine . What do you think?
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Security – Windows 7 Vs Mac OSX
How Do I Configure Windows 7’s Firewall?
November 17th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
Since the addition of a Firewall in Windows XP, Microsoft has been working to improve it with each new version of their operating systems. Windows 7 is expected to the best operating system designed by Microsoft so far. Windows 7 comes with a robust firewall included and this can be tweaked by the user according to their needs and computer resources.. Firewall plays a huge role in protecting your computer from external malicious programs. So until and unless you grant permission, external programs will not be able to use the resources of your computer. Like Windows Vista, the fundamental (basic) settings of the Windows 7 firewall can be configured from Control Panel. But unlike Windows Vista, Windows 7 allows you to tweak the advanced settings of it’s firewall directly from your Control Panel, instead of accessing empty MMC. Manually Configure Your Windows 7 Firewall Below is the procedure to manually configure the firewall Settings of Windows 7 – Step 1: Click on the START button and then click on the CONTROL PANEL option. Step 2: Now, in the Control Panel window, locate System and Security and then click on it. Step 3: Once you open the System and Security window from the Control Panel, you can see a direct link to Windows Firewall. Click on it. Step 4: Now, you will be able to access the Windows Firewall window. There, you can see number of options like Turn Windows Firewall on or off, Change notification settings, Restore defaults and Advanced settings on the left side of the panel. And on the right side of the panel you can alter the type of network associated with the firewall settings of your computer which are Home or Work (Private) networks and Public networks. And the Firewall will be ON / ACTIVE for both the networks, which is a default setting. Step 5: Now, you can see the Change Notification settings link on the left side of the panel. Click on it. You can use this option to Turn OFF the firewall settings of your operating system by simply clicking on Turn off Windows Firewall button. Step 6: If you are unhappy with any settings you have selected you can retrieve the default settings by clicking on the option labeled as Use recommended settings which can be located on the right side of the panel or by clicking on the Restore Default link on the left panel. You need to confirm your choice once you click on the Restore Default button. Step 7: You can also alter the Advanced Setting of the Local Computers by clicking on the Advanced Settings button visible on the left panel. Step 8: If you want to tweak the inbound rules, you can click on the link labeled as Inbound Rules on the left side of the panel. If you click on Disable Rule, it will disable the selected rule and if you click on Enable Rule, you can choose the actions you want from the list displayed in Actions Pane. Step 9: You can even keep an eye on the things like Logging settings, General Settings, Firewall State, Active Networks by clicking on the Monitoring option on the left side of the panel. I hope this guide has given you a basic idea of how to set up your firewall in Windows 7.
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How Do I Configure Windows 7’s Firewall?
Trend Micro Internet Security 2010
November 14th, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
Trend Micro Internet Security is an antivirus and internet security program developed by Trend Micro who are based in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the fastest growing such products and is a strong product with which to protect your computer. It is one of the most comprehensive security suites available and offers great protection at an affordable price. Trend Micro has recently unveiled two new versions of its Internet Security products, Trend Micro Internet Security and Trend Micro Internet Security Pro. Trend Micro Internet Security 2010 is very user friendly and provides security to your computers without using too much of your computer ’s resources. It covers basic threat detection to a behavior-based prevention system and security for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices. Here are some of the best elements of Trend Micro’s new Internet Security 2010 pro – The download size of this program is 20% smaller and the quick scan feature on Windows XP and Vista is 20% faster. The program’s booting time is 20% faster and uses 40% less RAM. The program is affordable and offers good protection. The installation of the software is very easy and doesn’t take much of your time. After the installation is finished it performs a quick scan and updates the definition files. Low CPU usage means you can protect your personal information with ease and surf the Internet without slowing down your computer. It safeguards multiple computers – you can install this software on up to three PCs per household. Trend Micro Internet Security has a behavioral engine which is an exceptional tool for preventing malware. Safe surfing on the web – Trend Micro automatically detects and removes viruses, spyware, and other malicious threats from your computer, emails, instant messages, and downloaded files. Automatically prevents suspicious software on USB devices from opening and installing on your computer. Finds and blocks untrustworthy links in email and instant messages Quick Scan allows you to quickly find and remove most malware when you are running short on time. Blocks spam that tries to evade filters by delivering images instead of just text. Protects your internet connection from leechers – It features an important function called Home Network Security Management function which allows you to see and remotely manage other computers in your home network through a graphical home network map and block wireless network trespassers. This is a great feature for blocking people who are trying to access the internet through the connection that you are paying for. Protects your Smart Phones – Trend Micro Internet Security Pro also protects smart phones against viruses, spam, data theft, service disruptions and other malware attacks. Protection against web Threats – With this package you are able to protect your personal information, such as credit card numbers, phone numbers, etc, against data theft. There is an option called data theft prevention settings – using this you are able to protect your information. Exciting new look and good user interface – The new Trend Micro Internet Security has a very good look and excellent user interface The Security Activity Dashboard also lets you view a customizable snapshot of all the security activities on your computers through easy-to-understand charts and graphs. Protect your children online – Trend Micro internet security has enhanced parental controls and helps you to protect your children from inappropriate content when they go online. It automatically blocks websites that contain inappropriate content. You can choose the times when your children are allowed to go online. Trend Micro Internet Security protects you and your family against cybercriminals and inappropriate content without slowing down your computer. Finally, with Trend Micro internet security 2010 you can get Enhanced Protection to Keep Your PC Spyware, Spam & Virus Free. Enjoy surfing the internet safely and peacefully with Trend Micro Internet Security 2010. Take 10% Off Trend Micro Internet Security 2010 Now! Coupon Code: trendsecurity Trend Micro Internet Security 2010 is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009
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Trend Micro Internet Security 2010
What Should I Do If My Website Has Been Hacked?
November 13th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
If you paid attention to yesterday’s post about website security then you should have already minimised the chances of having your own site hacked . But what if it has already happened? How Would I Know That My Site Has Been Hacked? You may have had your web site hacked if one or more of the following is true – The search engines now says you run an attack site You’ve noticed spam email being sent from your account When you search for your own site (yes, we all do it!) your antivirus program suggests it may be being used for phishing You now have some political statement or graffiti all over your pages Of course there may be other signs but the above are the main ones that I can think of. What now? Change Them There Passwords Do it. Do it now. Assuming you still have any kind of access to your website then you need to change all of your passwords – cPanel, email, admin passwords, etc. Remove Old Scripts Next, go through your hosting space and remove every old script installation that you find. Also, update or remove old plugins too because they are also at risk of being hacked. Check Your Error Logs By checking the Error Logs in cPanel you may be able to discover suspicious requests. Typically, a hacker will give themselves access to your website by adding code or files so look for such within your public_html folder. If you find any code or files then take a note of the details, such as date and time that the file was uploaded, the file name, folder it was in, etc and then inform your web host as they may then be able to offer some assistance. Of course it goes without saying that you should then also delete said codes or files. Minimising Risk Web sites are hacked all the time and all you can do is ensure that you have made it as hard a task as possible and then hope that the hacker moves on to an easier target. By keeping your files up-to-date and secure you will have increased the workload for a potential hacker . You then just need to cross your fingers and hope that encourages them to pass you by.
I’m Worried My Web Site Might Get Hacked – What Can I Do?
November 12th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
If you run your own web site then security is something you really ought to be paying attention to. Hackers are targeting websites on a daily basis and for many different reasons. It used to be the case that hackers would merely look to plaster graffiti on your home page to bring attention to themselves (or some cause) but nowadays they also have far more sinister motives. Criminal hackers are now part of large and well organised cyber gangs who see the internet as a huge source of potential profits and they may see your website as a tool that can help them make money, either by stealing your personal information or that of your visitors. Often this can be through the use of Trojans and other types of malware. Here, then, are some tips on securing your website against such attacks – Always Remove Or Update Old Scripts You need to be aware that that old installations are vulnerable. If you run a blog on WordPress then you will know that the platform is regularly updated and that one of the main reasons for that is to patch security holes as and when they are discovered. So, if you have an old installation then you should either update it now or remove it completely if you aren’t using it. Otherwise, a competent hacker could be into your blog in a matter of seconds. Ensure Strong Password Security You should never use easy to guess passwords , or the same password more than once, anywhere on the internet. Think about it – if a hacker finds a password of yours then they may well try to use it everywhere in order to gain access not only to your web site but also to other sensitive areas such as your online banking account. In terms of website security, how would you feel if someone else had access to your cPanel or email account? Cloak Your Folders Another good tip is to keep a blank index.html file in all of the folders inside your public_html folder. This will make sure that the contents cannot easily be viewed on the internet. CPanel offers such a function – check out ‘Index Manager’. It is always a good idea to keep your files and folders as secret as possible. Password Protect Your Admin Folder You should always password protect the admin folder of any scripts you are using as this provides an extra layer of security. Such action is highly recommended and you can do this in cPanel by clicking the ‘Directory Protection’ link.
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Backing Up Your Computer Data Online
November 7th, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
Having your computer data backed up is vital these days. A lot of us store up really important information on our computers and would be at a total loss if that data were to become corrupt or otherwise inaccessible. Some people think that you can only backup your data with CD’s or Floppy discs but they are wrong. Online Backups Not only can you back up your data with CD’s but you can also backup all of your files online without ever using a CD. You will find that there are many websites that you can join that will allow you to log in whenever you want to store and retrieve your data. There are some sites that are free and other sites that you have to pay for. A lot of businesses are backing up their info online just because it’s more convenient. When you decide to back up your computer data online, make sure that you trust the website. Review the policies and see what people say about them. Email the company online before you make your decision as to whether you would like to go with them or not. Another reason why this might work for someone is when they don’t know how to back up the data themselves and need help. A lot of the websites online love helping and will answer any of the questions that you have. Don’t Forget Basic Security Procedures Though Never place data onto a third party website that is really personal or critical though because people do occasionally hack into websites online and could then get all of that information. This doesn’t happen a lot but you should still remember that there is a chance of that happening. The other downfall is if you don’t have another computer in the house, and if you don’t have anyway of getting online, you won’t be able to access your data. If you feel uncomfortable with backing up your data online, you can still back it up yourself with a USB drive or with CDs. With so many options available to the public right now, there isn’t really any excuse for people not to backup their data. No-one wants to think about their computer crashing but the thing is it can happen regardless of how protected your computer is.
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Backing Up Your Computer Data Online
The Greatest Scam on Earth – Family Security Matters
November 6th, 2009. Published under Political Scams. No Comments.
The Greatest Scam on Earth Family Security Matters Cap and Trade is the final solution for American manufacturing and industry, destroying what's left and leaving the rest as government subsidized shells. …
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The Greatest Scam on Earth – Family Security Matters
Assessing The Security Risks To Your WLAN
November 3rd, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
The first step toward safe wireless networking is assessing the situation and determining just how vulnerable you are. I’m not just talking about your Wi-Fi hardware. You have to consider and examine all the elements of your network . That includes client computers, software, network hardware, and even users. Risk analysis is always a good place to start. After all, you can’t defend yourself against something if you don’t even know that it’s threatened. WLAN Risk Analysis A simplified risk analysis for a small network consists of the following steps – 1. Identify hardware and software assets. 2. Determine the value of each asset and cost of replacement. 3. Identify the threats to each asset. 4. Determine the vulnerability to threats. Note : Remember to keep this analysis simple. The goal is simply to get a handle on where you actually stand with regards to WLAN security. For your first task, you need to identify all the assets on the WLAN. Make a list of your hardware, operating systems, and software. The hardware should include computers, access points, routers, wireless NICs, and anything else that connects to your WLAN. Note the manufacturer and model for your entire hardware and firmware version (if known) along with a rough cost estimate for each asset. Next, make a list of software. This might include operating systems, personal firewalls, and antivirus software . For your purposes, you don’t need to check every application on all your computers even though it is good to keep your software patched and up-to-date. You just need to know the operating system and any network software you might be running, along with the approximate cost of each piece. You will learn about the threats that are particular to a WLAN. With this information, you will be able to determine your vulnerability to those threats. Once you have a realistic picture of how vulnerable you are, I’ll show you how to take the information you have compiled about your hardware and software and use it to secure your network.
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Assessing The Security Risks To Your WLAN
The Security Risks Of Facebook Applications
November 3rd, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
I think we all know by now what the most popular social networking site on the Internet is. Twitter is quickly making it’s way to the top of the heap but for now Facebook is still king of the mountain. One of the more popular features that Facebook has added in the past couple of years is the ability to create an application for the people logged into Facebook to use. There have been many companies that made a lot of money off of this feature. Unfortunately there has also been a lot of nefarious characters that have exploited this feature as well. They too are making lots of money from it. I will go over some of the risks of Facebook applications and how to keep yourself safe – Keep Private Information Private One thing that Facebook pulls out of people is their private information. On any other site people would never give the amount of information that they seem give on the Facebook platform. Through most people’s profiles you can find out their first, last and maiden names. You can also find out where they live, where they went to school, and even worse most people will offer up the information of where they lived in the past. A lot of these answers are the answers to questions that you will fill out any kind of credit check online. This is perfect for anybody looking to exploit your credit history or steal your identity. Facebook applications, if you allow them, have access to this information as well. Once you give them permission they can get all of the information that is about you from your Facebook profile. If a person that has evil intentions makes a Facebook app, they can now target all of the people who have allowed the application in their Facebook ecosystem and target them for identity theft . Make sure that before you give an application access to all of your information that you check on the company who has made the app. It is best to Google them to see if they are legitimate or not. Facebook Hackers Facebook applications, for the most part, run in a sandbox that is provided by Facebook themselves. A sandbox is when you have the ability to use a language but certain features of the language that might cause security problems are stripped away. The sandbox that Facebook gives developers to make applications is pretty secure but there have been holes found. So not only can the hackers use an application that was built for malicious use intentionally, they can also find holes in preexisting applications and exploit them too. If you install an application and it is doing anything weird be very suspicious and uninstall it. In the world of the Internet being paranoid is a good thing! So I have gone over a couple of ways that Facebook applications can be used to exploit the average user. I do not want you to get the wrong idea, Facebook applications for the most part are safe. Just like anything else on the internet they can be exploited so it pays to be careful.
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The Security Risks Of Facebook Applications
Just How Secure Are PDF Files?
November 2nd, 2009. Published under Scams. No Comments.
One of the great things about computers and the Internet is how easy it is to create document files and then share them between machines and users. There are several formats that you can use to create files, the two most popular being word documents and PDF files. Hacker Manipulation Over the past couple of years, however, hackers have found that they can manipulate these types of files. They are now able to hide exploits within these files that can compromise your computer. They also use the knowledge that since these files are so popular, they can disguise a harmful .exe file as a pdf file and people will not question whether it is safe or not. We will hopefully show you that for the most part PDF’s are safe but you still need to be careful with them. These types of files have turned into another attack vector for hackers. In the last 12 months Adobe has released patch after patch trying to protect new vulnerabilities found in pdf files. Buffer Overflow There was the vulnerability that was found that let hackers send an attack to your computer through the use of a buffer overflow created when the PDF file was opened. There was also an attack found a month after that that if you were looking at a PDF file in windows explorer, that was all that was needed for it to attack your computer. You didn’t even have to click on it to activate the attack. This is why you have to be careful with opening all types of files on your computer. Most people, even tech savvy people, have never heard that a PDF can be exploited. So people will download them from strange sites and never ever bother to run an antivirus check on them to see if they are secured. Hackers are using your trustful nature against you in this case. Exploited .exe Files Since people are more trustful with opening a strange PDF file more than .exe file there is an older attack that will exploit the trust factor that I talked about above. This is an old trick of hiding your exploited .exe files as PDF files. They shape the name of the file so that it shows up with an PDF icon on the file. This is an easy attack to spot if you have “show file extensions” turned on in your operating system. Just go into your control panel and then go into the file manager. You will then see the option to turn this feature on. Also you can avoid being trapped by this attack by running a virus scan on the file. Any file that you get over the Internet you should run an antivirus scan on anyway, just to be on the safe side. So I have gone over how a PDF file can be dangerous to your system. Now that you know that there is a risk, hopefully you will not take any file lightly.
How Do I Backup My New Windows 7 Computer?
November 1st, 2009. Published under Fraud. No Comments.
In this day and age people are relying more and more on their computers to be able to do their jobs but they are still not paying enough attention to backing them up. Yet every computer user’s worst fear is that something will mess their computer up and they will not be able to access their files. That is why cloud computing is perhaps becoming such an attractive offer. It allows you to back up your files on a remote server. This lessens the chances that all your data will be destroyed by a catastrophe as it won’t all be kept in the same one place. For other people local back up storage may be an alternative for them to consider. Backing Up With Windows 7 Windows 7 offers you several different ways to back up your files. I will go over a couple of them now – If you hit start and look to your right you will see the button that will lead to you to the control panel. Click on it and then look at the top where it says ‘System and Security’. Here you will see the option to back up your computer. Click on this and it will take you to the backup area of your computer. Once you are there you will see that two options are being given to you. The first option is to back up your computer, which is what you want. The second option is to set a restore point on your computer. (This is similar to backing up your computer but instead of just certain files this option actually creates an image of how your entire computer looks at that moment in time). If you subsequently had a problem you could then restore your computer back to how it was at the time you last created a restore point – a very useful feature but not what we are looking for right now. So now that we are again looking at the back up option lets go ahead and press ‘Set up backup’. Once you click that button it will ask you where you want to save your back up to. Pick the drive or Network that you want to save your file information to. After that, Windows will ask you if you want to choose exactly what is backed up or whether you would like windows to choose for you. It is up to you which option is best for you but just remember that if you let Windows pick the backup then it will skip formatted Fat files, and files that are in the “program files” folder. After Windows 7 asks you whether would you like to review the files or not, you can then watch as it starts to backup your files. When it finishes the backup the data will be stored in a backup folder and you will be able to access it anytime you need it. You can either restore all of the files that you backed up or you just a single file. Hopefully the short tutorial above will give you a good idea how to backup your computer using Windows 7 . The backup feature is a great way to feel secure about your data, knowing that it is safe. How Do I Backup My New Windows 7 Computer? is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009
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How Do I Backup My New Windows 7 Computer?
Dancing Skeletons And Other Things That Go Bump At Halloween
October 28th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Malware is an ever-present concern to users of the internet. Or at least it should be. On any given day there are thousands of threats lurking all around the web, just waiting to get onto or into your computer. Special occasions and notable dates tend to bring more ghouls and goblins out of their closets though and Halloween is no exception. I don’t yet know what the biggest threats will be this year but here are some from the past that may be recycled again this Halloween – The Dancing Skeleton Do you think that dancing skeletons are cute or funny? They may be, but then again, it depends on where you get them from. An application that runs an image of a dancing skeleton may be appealing at first glance until you realise that it may just give you more than you bargained for. The application goes by many Halloween themed names but all have the same effect – installation of the Storm Trojan – which gives your computer free entrance to a botnet. Halloween Bargains That Can Leave You Feeling Like A Pumpkin Everyone likes a good deal and retailers don’t need much in the way of reasons to offer them right now. Halloween specials are available on more than just pumpkins but beware of deals that come via email. Identity thieves can spoof emails to appear as though they come from major brand leaders and all you have to do is click the link and pay by credit card in order to save huge amounts of $$$s. Of course you don’t need me to tell you that clicking links in emails and then handing out financial details is stupid. Do you? Halloween e-Cards Yeah, I know, whatever next huh? I only give out cards for birthdays and Christmas but some people give them out just because. If you get a Halloween e-card then make sure you know the sender and the e-card website before clicking on the link to view said card. Otherwise, well, you should know by now. Party On Dude Are you sociable? Wanna go to a Halloween party? Cool… just make sure its with friends and not the stranger who invited you via email – he doesn’t really like you, he just wants you to R.S.V.P. via the malicious link he put in that invite. If you survive all of those then you are halfway home, though you will still have to contend with the great Halloween scam ….
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Dancing Skeletons And Other Things That Go Bump At Halloween
How To Avoid Viruses That Come In The Mail
October 27th, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
There are dozens of attack vectors that people must look out for when they are surfing the Internet. One of the oldest but still effective vectors of attack that you must look out for is the use of email. People still tend to treat email very casually and are not on their guard when they use it. I will show you how email can be used against you and what you can do to keep from getting infected. Beware Of Email Attachments There are many things that you must look out for when you open your email but the number one thing that can get you in trouble is by opening up your attachments. Email attachments are files that are sent to you when you receive an email. They may be in the form of a music file, a pdf, a word document, or a funny little video. All of these types of files can be classified under the term of “attachments”. These files while overall harmless can also be used to send a virus to your computer. Some of these files such as a pdf or a flash file have known exploits that can be taken advantage of to infect your computer. Other files can be disguised to look like one type of file such as a mp3 music file but in actuality be an executable file. This is known as a Trojan. An executable file is a file that runs an actual program on your computer. This program can be the virus or a Trojan itself and you will never know that it is running. Also an email can be used to send a link to someone to direct them towards going to another web page. This can also be used as an attack vector against an unwitting victim. Most links that you will be sent in an email are harmless, but some are not, so it pays to always be prepared. Once the person clicks the link in the email, they will be sent to a web page which can either load a virus onto their computer or ask them vital personal details in a technique called phishing . This is a very popular attack vector and one of the most easiest to implement. You can avoid getting a virus onto your computer several different ways. Some techniques include common sense, others include outside program that will help keep you safe. The first step is to make sure that you only open attachments and visit links sent by people that you know. This is not a hundred percent effective method of avoiding getting infected but it does help slim down the chances. Strange emails that send attachments and links are always a sure sign that someone is up to no good. Avoid clicking these types of emails whenever possible. If you receive a link from a friend, email them back first to verify that they did indeed send a link and their email is not being spoofed. Once that is verified it should be pretty safe to go to that link. Some email programs such yahoo and gmail come with virus scanners already attached but it helps if you have your own anti virus already going on your computer. This is the most effective way to avoid getting attacked. When someone that you know sends you an attachment in your email, just download it onto your computer, and scan it with your antivirus program before you click on it to run it. Always Keep Your Antivirus Program Updated An updated virus scanner is a great way to beat the scammers at their own game. An updated anti virus program is the number one protection. Hopefully we made you more familiar on how people will try to attack your computer through email and have given you the means on how to defeat such an attack. Remember that an updated anti virus program is your best bet. An updated antivirus and the use of your own common sense is the best way to go.
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How To Avoid Viruses That Come In The Mail
Social Security
October 27th, 2009. Published under Tea Party. No Comments.
I recieved this from an e-mail I recieved off of Pogo. I feel it’s worth typing into this tea party website. Social Security Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years. Our Sena
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Social Security
Kaspersky Internet Security 2009
October 23rd, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
If you use a computer and have ever searched for an internet security program or antivirus then you will almost certainly have come across the name Kaspersky. The Russian Security specialist has earned a respectable name in a very short period of time. As you hopefully know by now, a computer without an antivirus program is much like a bank vault without a door. Enter Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 – one of the best all-in-one security packages for all types of users. Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 integrates all the significant programs that can protect your computer from a wide range of external threats. This is achieved through the inclusion of – a robust anti-virus scanner a strong firewall an anti-spyware scanner and parental controls. The quality of these components has led to Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 winning several awards. From the moment you install this internet security program on your computer, you will surely find life easier, as well as being protected from virtually all current threats. Features Below are some of Kaspersky Internet Security 2009’s features which make is a hot favorite in this competitive market – User-friendly graphical interface This is a feature on which the designers have obviously worked really hard. Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 has got a very clean and intuitive interface that is easy to navigate. All it’s features and options are well laid out and this can only help you take care of your computer better. Antivirus Program, Spam and Anti-Phishing Program I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, you must have an antivirus program installed if you are a Windows user. Kaspersky’s antivirus component is supported with a huge database (which can also be updated), which makes sure that your computer is safe from all the latest viral infections. KIS 2009 goes beyond some of the alternative antivirus programs as it is provided with e mail scanner which detects and deletes spam and phishing emails too. KIS 2009 also introduces Secunia vulnerability scanning, which is one of it’s best features. KIS 2009 scans all the applications that are installed on your computer to let you know about the vulnerable programs and by removing those applications you can enhance the security parameters of your computer. This makes KIS 2009 far more advanced than some other basic antivirus programs that you could get elsewhere. Robust Firewall Having an alternative firewall to the default Windows one is always beneficial. Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 offers its users robust Firewall protection against many different types of rogue applications and programs. KIS 2009 also allows its users to customize the settings of the Firewall as per their own individual requirements. Proactive defense tool and Parental Control If standard antivirus programs are meant to protect your system from standard viruses then KIS 2009 features its Proactive defense tool which detects any king of suspicious activity on your computer and terminates such applications. Parental Control features enable you to customize the settings of your computer to ensure a safe browsing environment for your kids. The Kaspersky brand is highly popular because they ensure a high level of trust in the minds of their users when it comes to protecting their computers for any viral threats such as rootkits, spam, malware and adware. Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 is extremely worthy of your money and is undoubtedly one the best options available on the market today. Kaspersky Internet Security 2009 is a post from: Scam Types dot Com Check out The Best Internet Security Programs Of 2009
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Kaspersky Internet Security 2009
Windows 7 Has Improved Security Features Built In
October 22nd, 2009. Published under Fraud, Scams. No Comments.
Microsoft has brought a new entrant into the operating system wars and it’s name is Windows 7 . After Windows Vista has pretty much turned out to be a dud, even though the security in the system proved to be much improved over previous version of Windows, Microsoft seems to have found a winner in Windows 7 and especially in their expanded security front. The tools are now easier to use and the capabilities of the security that are built in has been expanded as well. I will go over with you, the built in tools that you should be utilizing to keep Windows 7 a fun experience. User Account Control (UAC) The first thing that the people over at Microsoft have done to make the dealing with security of Windows a better experience is to make the UAC (User Account Control) a more pleasurable item to work with. The UAC now allows less software events to make it create a pop up. This will cause more users to not want to turn it off so they will have a sane computing experience! The main problem in Windows Vista was the fact that this pop up would go off an insane amount of times, causing many of the complaints that Vista received. The new UAC also has four levels of security warnings, ranging from “always notify” to “never notify”. “Never notify” is a better option than to turn it off completely. Even though you do not see the pop up warnings, UAC is still working in the background, allowing you to still be protected. BitLocker Encryption An innovation that Microsoft introduced in Vista was the BitLocker feature. This allowed you to encrypt and protect your hard drive. This feature was limited in Vista to protecting your main partition and other drives surrounding it. Now you are able to encrypt and protect portable media as well. This is a big improvement and will allow you to feel safe if you ever lose your thumb drive while walking around your city or neighborhood. Also Microsoft has allowed BitLocker to be used without the TPM chip being built onto the computer motherboard. This allows everyone to have the option of having their drives protected. It is not the default choice and you will have to activate the ability to use Bitlocker without the chip. Additional Security Features Microsoft has many more new and improved security features that have been built into Windows 7. This list includes the new Direct Access, which allows workers to seamlessly connect to their work network automatically and securely, as well as Applocker, which prevents unauthorized scripts and programs from running on the machine. These are mostly security features that will interest IT administrators so I will not go into detail about them here. Overall Microsoft has done well in improving their security features in Windows 7. Being built upon a decent security scheme, such as Vista, and making it more user friendly as well has created a better overall experience. It has really brought them into the world of having a grade A security system.
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Windows 7 Has Improved Security Features Built In