'Website Security' Category Archive

Posted on Apr 13th, 2007

If you constantly deal with bank or electronic accounts, it must be your worst nightmare–to wake up and learn that you are a bankrupt. Some crook stole your personal data and all the money you have been sweating blood for years has flown to somebody else’s account. Almost everybody must have heard that such a tradegy is called identity theft and millions of people in the USA alone suffer the same every year. Poor consolation for its victims, isn’t it?

Unfortunately, businessmen frequently are targets for identity thieves, especially online. Lots of articles on identity theft, "how-to-avoid" tips, and scary stories about the victims circulate through the Web and other media. The authors remind people again and again that they should be cautious when giving anybody their private info as well as care for their PCs’ security. But in spite of all their effort identity theft is still the most rapidly growing crime.

Software developers are doing their best, too. They can’t be of much help if somebody plainly looks over your shoulder and writes your credit card number down. It’s for you to take care and never reveal your personal info to anybody who asks for it. What they can do is to create new solutions to the urgent problems like data stealing. Keylogging spyware–the very programs that make lots of such crime possible–are pretty much written about lately. These programs secretly monitor everything users do on their PCs.

Keyloggers are used–by themselves or as a part of a virus or a Trojan — much more widely than PC users think; it is an open secret that the lion’s share of identity theft that happens online is because of keylogging spyware. The losses caused by stealing PINs, logins, and other valuable data, are well comparable with the damage from viruses. Actually, if a virus or a Trojan contains a built-in key logger module (and it often does), the end user finds himself in a pretty tough situation. The problem is that most anti-keylogging programs warn users when it is too late. The data have already been captured and sent. Why does it happen?

Almost all anti-spy software existing at the present moment works using the same scheme: spy program is detected and then blocked or eliminated. Detecting viruses or spy software is the crucial step of the whole process–all the protection depends on whether the anti-spy software is able to detect as many spies as possible. Signature bases which all these products depend on, is actually the "list" of signatures – small pieces of spy programs’ codes. Anti-virus or anti-spy program actually scans the system and compares its codes with those in signature bases. So, in this case only the spies whose signatures already are in the base will be detected and eventually "caught". As long as anti-spy software is regularly updated and the system doesn’t come across some unknown spyware product, everything is all right.

The problem is that lots of programs which could be used for stealing data are not included into signature bases right now. Some of them will never be.

There is good deal of people capable of creating something brand-new spy, unknown to anti-spyware developers. The period of time when a new spy already exists, but the updates have not been released yet, is the very time when hackers make their biggest profits.

Spy programs can be created for the specific purpose, such as industrial espionage, so they will never be represented in the base. Moreover, some monitoring programs can be used as spy programs as well, though they are not always included into signature bases. As we can see, a signature base is the weak spot of anti-spy protection; it is, so to speak, a joint in the armor. Information thieves also know about it.

Fortunately, software developers are constantly looking for new solutions. One of the new trends in anti-spyware developing is not to use signature bases as means of detecting spyware. There is three basic advantages in such an approach. First, the product gets rid of its the least reliable part; second, there is no so urgent need for updates anymore; and last, but certainly not least-–the product becomes capable of blocking the destructive activity of even unknown spyware. To read more about this new approach follow the link in the signature.

When products of such a kind become widespread, there would be much more problems for hackers in future. However, there is no guarantee that no innovative spy software appears in response.

Whether we like it or not, all malware "evolves" very quickly; new schemes are being developed, and new software which online criminals create and utilize becomes more and more malicious and "selective". New keyloggers as well as keylogger-containing viruses and Trojans, appear all the time; the losses these programs may cause to a business are enormous. That is why in some businesses there is an acute need for separate anti-keylogging protection.

Alexandra Gamanenko currently works at the Raytown Corporation, LLC — an innovative software developing company company. visit its website at http://www.anti-keyloggers.com

Posted on Apr 8th, 2007

Computer security for most can be described in 2 words, firewall and antivirus.

Until recently could one install a firewall and an antivirus program and feel quite secure. The risk of something “bad” succeeding with infecting your computer or a hacker to breach your firewall was not likely.

This as internet was filled with computer completely without protection. Easier to attack or infect the completely open computer then fight all installed counter measurements. The viruses spread quickly and if you had protection, you where protected.

The new era has come.

But look around. Read about all new versions of spam control software, software firewalls, antivirus software and similar products.

Of course are they still a good protection against all the normal threats on internet, but the new main focus is the protection they offer against new threats.

Yes, they actually all try to come up with more and more cleaver ways of protecting you from threats not even present!

And how can they do this?

The answer is quite simple.

Most attacks and viruses use variations of known methods to attack or infect. And the new technologies that are being invented all search for “how things are done” instead of “exactly this or that”.

How to find viruses.

The old way, a known virus can be found by using a signature, a known piece of code inside.

The new way, now they look for known actions certain viruses use to accomplish an infection or spreading.

How to recognize an attack.

The old way. Someone connecting to your computer in any way at all (stop them).

The new way, someone connecting via this protocol, to this port, more then 3 times per second and so on.

A couple of examples.

Norton Antivirus 2005 ™ has, Internet Worm Protection. Panda Antivirus ™ has, Trueprevent.

Other companies will follow and this will expand into other areas like firewalls and spam protection.

What’s in it for you?

New protection will catch more virus, more attacks but they will most probably require more configuration from your side as well as a better understanding of how they work. And as always, a more complex system is more likely to give you problems.

So here you are, probably a bit more secure and with a bit more technical problems.

Kenth "The Designer" Nasstrom is the founder of The Designed Software Series. His software can be found at http://www.kndata.com and he also owns http://www.free-newslettertemplates.com as well as http://www.costa-rican-information.com

Posted on Apr 6th, 2007

No, this article isn’t about some new, lose-20-pounds-in-a-week, certified-by-some-tan-Southern-California-doctor diet. It’s about cookies on your computer - what they are, why they are there, and what to do about them. Computer cookies actually have quite a bit in common with their baked counterparts - some are good, some are bad, and they have expiration dates.

Cookies are small text files that a server places onto your hard drive whenever you access a given domain. Cookies typically contain information that the website uses to either customize the page you are viewing or otherwise make your web browsing experience more convenient and enjoyable. The information is stored on your hard drive and accessed whenever you go back to the website that originally gave you the cookie. They usually include an expiration date at which point they will be erased from your computer - it could be when you close your browser; or hours, days, months, or years after it is placed. Some don’t expire at all. At the time of this writing I had a cookie stored on my computer that wasn’t set to expire until Wednesday, February 25th, 2195 at 3:45:13 am - I deleted it.

Before you run out to your browser’s options and delete and block all cookies, let me mention a few common uses of cookies:

* Cookies store information for ’shopping carts’ at online stores. When you select an item and place it in the shopping cart, a cookie is created to remember the item and the price so that you can keep shopping. When you are done shopping you simply click the button to check out and the site accesses the information stored in the cookies to complete your order.

* Cookies can be used to remember logins and passwords. While this initially sounds a little disheartening, the purpose is really to save you time. Sites will remember the information for you so you don’t have to type it in each time you want to access information.

* Cookies help websites customize their content and layout for you. If you are a diehard fan of the local college’s basketball team, and you always access the stats and score from the game at a website, that site might use a cookie to send you straight to your team’s page.

* Cookies help identify whether you have already visited a site. They can also count how many times you have visited the site in a given period of time.

* Cookies remember the last page or position you were on at the site. Like a virtual bookmark, this is especially helpful if you are reading online or accessing several pages of information.

There are many other ways cookies can be used, and there is obvious potential for abuse. You probably wouldn’t eat a cookie given to you by a complete stranger, especially if you didn’t know what was in it. The same common-sense principle holds true while you’re online, and exercising a little caution can save you from a lot of heartache later on. Blocking any and all cookies will guarantee no personal information is leaked through the cookies, but many sites will either not be able to or will choose not to interact with you.

The trick, then, is to let the good cookies through while screening out the bad ones, not at all dissimilar to what you do when you hover over the cookie tray at a party - you take the ones you want and leave the rest behind. This can be accomplished in a few different ways.

First, you can periodically delete all the cookies on your hard drive. This will systematically wipe out all unwanted cookies that have made their way to your computer. Unfortunately, it will also take care of all the good cookies too. If you only use the internet occasionally (i.e. a few minutes a week), this option might work for you.

Second, you can try to go about it manually. Many browsers that allow you to block cookies also include a feature that allows you to include a list of sites from which you will allow cookies. The advantage of this method is it places virtually complete control over cookies into your hands, allowing only those that you want to be placed on your hard drive. The disadvantage is that it can become very burdensome (at times downright annoying) having to constantly update the list of allowed sites.

Third, you can call in some third-party software to help out. The best programs will scan your computer to find all the cookies and put them into a table or list. This saves you the trouble of having to dig around your hard drive to find the files yourself (try looking for a folder named "Cookies"). Many programs will also indicate with some degree of confidence whether a given cookie is wanted or unwanted, and provide a convenient way to delete the ones that you decide you don’t want.

Nick Smith is a client account specialist with 10x Marketing - More Visitors. More Buyers. More Revenue. For great software to help delete cookies, check out ContentWatch, Inc.

Posted on Mar 24th, 2007

Well, if that would have been said to me by my father when I was 2 years of age, I would have understood. But when today, my own computer tells me that when I am 34, I wonder why I spent $1500 on my computer hardware and software just to enjoy the (un-realized) benefits of this great and revolutionary information technology?

Today’s cyberspace is hazardous. None of today’s PC users can claim that they never had a computer virus issue or a PC security breach. Now, if you count today’s number of PC users worldwide, they will soon be 1 billion by 2010 according to analysts. When I see all the computer viruses, infections, trojans, and what not around me, and compare it with the 1 billion innocent computer users around the world, I simply feel sorry not only for those billion users but for myself too. But again, as a common user myself, I must admit it was not all doomsday for the whole industry since 1987 when I started to use computers. So, as a responsible member of this great IT revolution, I must share some of the best tips and tricks that I learned to use to make the minimum room for productivity on my computer.

Please note this is a tutorial for someone who has basic know-how of computer usage. For those who are newbies, I would recommend asking a local expert’s help before trying anything out mentioned in this tutorial. In that case, make room for payment from deep pocket. For your own convenience, print this tutorial for step-by-step instructions.

Whenever my computer is infected, I act on any of the following options;

1. FORMAT HARD DISK: I back up all of my data on a CD-Writer if it is still accessible. And then format the whole hard disk drive and re-install each and every application.

2. USE SOFTWARE: I exhaust all anti-virus and other software options. This is usually my first priority as compared to formatting the whole computer hard disk drives.

Now, let me explain both options in detail;

PRE-REQUISITES: Make sure you have a CD-Drive (Writer), empty writable CDs, Windows OS CD (bootable) that contains files such as Format.exe, Scandisk.exe, FDisk.exe, and Attrib.exe files. Microsoft Office CD, Anti-Virus CD, GoldenHawk CD Writing Software in DOS (copy2cd.exe and cdtools.exe), Serial Numbers of your License, Driver CDs of Motherboard, VGA, Network, Sound and Modem devices. Optionally, download (using www.download.com or www.tucows.com) these software from any Internet Café when your own computer is inaccessible and save it on a CD so that you can use it anytime for security purposes;

Golden Hawk DOS based CD Writing Software

HTech Fireman Windows based CD Writing Software

Driver Genius Pro

Partition Magic

AVG AntiVirus

SpywareBlaster & SpywareGuard

Spybot Search & Destroy

Ad-Aware

IE-SpyAd

ZoneAlarm

HiJackThis & CWShredder

I have intentionally avoided mention of many commercially good and more friendly software’s mention here as I wanted everything to do FREE without any additional costs apart from the usual OS licenses. For your own convenience, you can research Google or Yahoo search engines find further information about such commercial software and their availability / pricing.

1. FORMAT HARD DISK

I know it is painful and surgical type of solution, but sometimes, it is the ONLY solution left after exhausting all of our efforts to revive our computer machine after a virus attack. Follow this procedure;

Booting Up: Try booting your computer normally first and see if you can login easily. If you can’t or your computer hangs up, try holding F8 key when starting Windows and you will get the Safe Mode. Even if you don’t get the Safe Mode, don’t worry.

Power up your computer and press DEL key or F2 key to login your CMOS. In CMOS, go to Boot Preferences and make CD Drive as boot drive as your first boot drive and change the hard disk drive as the second boot drive. If you don’t see your CD Drive in the boot-up options, your CD Drive is not properly installed. Check the connectors or ask your CD Drive provider for instructions to install the CD Drive. Now, when your CD Drive is ready, insert your Windows OS CD in the CD Drive and restart your computer machine. When prompted, select the option “Boot from CD with CD Option”. When you get the prompt, Notice the CD Drive letter that was allocated to your CD Drive when it installed the CD Driver. It is usually D: drive or the last drive letter depending on the number of your partitions. Note it down as it is the actual drive letter where you will have to type a DOS command like d:

You should now be able to run all software utilities such as Format, Scandisk, FDisk or Windows Installation Setup.exe files. Right now, simply make sure they exist by typing a DOS command dir at the CD drive letter. If you don’t find it with this simple directory command, use dir/s filename to search the file. For example, to search fdisk.exe file, type dir/s fdisk.exe.

BACKING UP YOUR DATA: Before formatting your hard disk drive, please make sure you have proper back up of your critical data files such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc files on a CD or any other media for backup that you have access to. In this tutorial, we assume you have a CD-Writer installed for taking backups on Writeable CDs. Their capacity is usually 700MB or less. Here, you should seriously consider using Zipping software like WinZip or WinRAR.

VIA WINDOWS: If you can luckily login to your Windows OS, you should run the CD-Writer software such as HTech Fireman to back up all of your data on an empty CD. If you don’t know how to do it, read their user manual for detailed instruction set. If you can’t access your Windows OS, read on.

VIA DOS: Some of the files that you wish to make back-up, may be hidden. To un-hide them, use attrib *.* +r +s +h.

Now, use the software from Golden Hawk file named as copy2cd.exe to backup your data files or directories on a writeable CD. Before using this command, make sure you are in an appropriate path on the computer such as E:/ where the actual file copy2cd.exe file resides;

Copy2cd c:data*.* f:

Here we assumed that f: is a CD Writer drive. Now, repeat the same for all of your files to back up. When finished, run cdtools.exe command i.e. cdtools f: to finish by selecting option “Disc Finalization”.

If you can’t back up your data using the above-mentioned procedure, either ask an outside expert’s help personally or via internet. If all fails, forget your data forever and carry on installing a new OS as mentioned in this tutorial.

Backing up Your Drivers: An interesting tool to mentioned here is a software that automatically backs up all of your drivers of CD, modem, sound card, vga, usb, printer or just about anything that is currently installed on your system. But this software works only in an operational windows OS, and not in DOS. It is a good and time-saving practice to keep a backup of all of your drivers on a CD by using such a software. Its name is Driver Genius Pro and it is commercial software, not a freeware.

USING FDISK: You may skip this option and go straight to Formatting Hard Disk option, if you wish to use other useful partitions that may contain your data. Before going ahead with this option, Make sure there is no useful data left on your computer to be backed up. This option will delete all of the computer partitions and create new ones.

i) Boot up your computer using Windows OS CD.

ii) Run this command fdisk

iii) Press option 3 to delete all current partitions.

iv) To create a new partition, select option 1 and select Y to answer the maximum size question by the program.

v) Next, select option 2

vi) Press Esc key to quit and restart your computer to

See the URL http://www.compguystechweb.com/troubleshooting/fdisk/fdisk_scr.html for detailed instructions alongwith screenshots. Now, that you have created the primary partition, you can continue to format the newly created partition. There is a very user-friendly but commercial software called Partition Magic by PowerQuest to manage your partitions easily after installation of Windows.

FORMATTING HARD DISK: Now that you have created new partitions, It is time to format them so that you can start installing Windows. This is how you make your C: drive usable by your Windows OS for installation. Boot up your computer with Windows CD and type format c: command at the prompt. When prompted for maximum size, press, YES. After complete processing you will be presented with the successful report about the formatting of the C: drive. Select your new drive name and press ENTER to finish.

INSTALLING WINDOWS: Microsoft has made it very easy for a newbie to install a completely new OS on a newly formatted partition. It is all wizard based and you simply have to click NEXT each time whenever asked a question. Boot up your computer from the Windows CD and select Start with CD Option. When on DOS prompt, change to the CD Drive that it just created which is usually d: if you have only one partition C. Now type command setup.exe to start the windows installation process.

During installation, make sure you properly name your PC as per your preferences and select your regions and Time zone. When finished, the computer will re-boot and during next re-boot it may ask some drivers of your Sound Card, VGA, Network, or other devices attached. Provide the requisite driver CDs and locate the paths of the appropriate drivers. If you are not sure, leave it like that and press NEXT to ignore. When your windows installation is complete, you can install Microsoft Office, setup internet connection and start using it as normally as you would. Please make sure you install all the security software such as anti-virus, anti-spyware, adware, and other software as mentioned in the next section.

2. USE SOFTWARE

Installing Anti-Virus: Download free AVG Antivirus software and install it. Make sure you get its free key from their website by registering. This software is not auto-updated for critical viruses and for an auto-update version, you will have to pay. If you wish to pay, we would recommend world’s most popular brands Symantec, McAfee and Trend Micros instead. No matter what Anti-Virus software you install, make sure you enable its Auto-Protect feature for automatic protection of your computer’s resources and in-coming or out-going emails from any virus attack. Some software even allow you to setup silent detection and destruction without any disturbance to your work. Further, they are auto-updated via internet at the regular interval that you setup. Hence, you can rest assured that whenever a security threat is spread all over the world, your software will automatically download the requisite updated version and install its defense on your computer.

BROWSER SECURITY: To setup your browser (Internet Explorer on Windows) for maximum security against the usual threats, follow this procedure;

i) Start up your browser

ii) Go to IE > Tools > Windows Update > Product Updates, and selected Security Updates to be automatically updated. Microsoft releases patches and security patches from time to time to make sure your system’s security is up-to-date.

iii) Now, go to Internet Options/Security/Internet, press ‘default level’, then OK. Now press "Custom Level." In the ActiveX section, set the first two options ("Download signed and unsigned ActiveX controls) to ‘prompt’, and ‘Initialize and Script ActiveX controls not marked as safe" to ‘disable’. Now you will be asked whether you want ActiveX objects to be executed and whether you want software to be installed. Sites that you know for sure are above suspicion can be moved to the Trusted Zone in Internet Option/security.

If you use another browser such as Firefox or Netscape, see their documentation on how to securely set it up against any such internet threats.

Installing Anti-Spyware: Spyware, adware, browser hijackers, and dialers are some of the fastest-growing threats on the Internet today. By simply browsing to a web page, your computer may become a victim. You can install SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard to effectively guard your computer from such internet threats.

It includes Fast Real-Time Scanning engine for known spyware and heuristic/generic detection capabilities to catch new / mutated spyware and Download Protection along with Browser Hijacking Protection in real-time.

Simply download the software (free) from their website and install it on your system. Make sure you download its latest update too or enable its Auto-Update feature to be updated automatically in the background. Now, when you are ready, run the software to check the spyware on your computer. When spyware are found, it reports accordingly. Press "select all", then press option "kill all checked". Although it won’t protect you from 100% spyware, But it is a very important extra layer of protection.

Next, install another software that is called Spybot Search & Destroy. It works exactly like SpywareBlaster, but it never hurts to have a double layer of spyware detection alongwith Spybot R&D.

Installing Anti-Adware: Adware is a common term used to describe potentially dangerous websites and scripts that do data-mining, aggressive advertising, Parasites, Scumware, selected traditional Trojans, Dialers, Malware, Browser hijackers, and tracking components. There is a very good software called Ad-Aware available to scan and remove such nuisances from your system.

To start using it, simply visit Lavasoft USA website and download its free non-commercial version of Ad-Aware Personal Edition. Run its setup program and install it. When prompted, ask it to scan your computer. If there are any adware found, it is detected and removed automatically by Ad-Aware. Run this software on a weekly or daily basis, if possible to keep your system clean.

In addition to the Ad-Aware, Internet Explorer comes with a very handy tool that allows you to block specific sites that may carry well-known advertisers, marketers, crapware pushers to the Restricted sites Zone. If you had to input 50000+ of such sites manually yourself, it would takes years. Luckily, there is a software that does it all automatically and it is called IE-SPYAD. Once you merge this list of sites and domains into the Registry, the web sites for these companies will not be able to use cookies, ActiveX controls, Java applets, or scripting to compromise your privacy or your PC while you surf the Net. Nor will they be able to use your browser to push unwanted pop-ups, cookies, or auto-installing programs on your PC. It is not an ad blocker. It will stop top unwanted crapware from being installed behind your back via "drive-by-downloads"; prevent the hijacking of your home page.

This Restricted sites list is based in part on info from: discussions in the SpywareInfo Forums and other forums that specialize in crapware removal major crapware reference sites: doxdesk, cexx.org, Kephyr.com, PestPatrol and SpywareGuide.

To start using it, simply download it from their website and run its install.bat file. Make sure you run its update as well soon after its installation.

INSTALLING FIREWALL: A firewall software acts as a defense shield against hackers, intruders, and blocks access attempts to your computer. ZoneAlarm is a professional firewall software that works in a stealth mode automatically and makes your computer invisible to anyone on the Internet.

Download it from ZoneLabs website and run its setup for installation. I recommend you use its Express Settings which automatically configures your most commonly used software like browser, chat messengers, ftp software to access internet, while blocks every other internet traffic in real-time. If any software or service tries to upload or download any data, it pops up an alert whereby you can allow or disallow such internet traffic.

Computer Slow Down: It is very common to see many complaining about their computer slow-down. The fastest and easiest cure is using Windows’ built-in Defragmenter utitlity that you can find in Startà Programs à Accessories à System Utitlities à Disk Defragmantor and run thorough defragmantation. It will take a while before it ends.

If your system’s performance does not improve after running defragmantation utility, consider scanning your computer via a software utility called HiJackThis which you can download and install on your system. Use this tool carefully as it is intended for advanced users only. HijackThis is a tool, that lists all installed browser add-on, buttons, startup items and allows you to inspect, and optionally remove selected items. The program can create a backup of your original settings and also ignore selected items. Additional features include a simple list of all startup items, default start page, online updates and more.

CWShredder is a utility for removing CoolWebSearch (aka CoolWwwSearch, YouFindAll, White-Pages.ws and a dozen other names). This tool will find and destroy all traces of the CoolWebSearch (CWS) hijacker on your system including redirections, IE slowdowns, start page changes, un-authorized addition of sites in IE Trusted Zone, and blocking access to IE options or setup.

Download CWShredder from their official website only as there is a similar named virus/trojan on the loose at various websites which you may accidently download and install, hence become more infected than being cured instead. When it is installed successfully, run the software to scan your local machine. Select the fix button & it will get rid of everything related to CoolWebSearch. Close ALL other programs & windows, including IE, before running CWShredder. Reboot after doing this.

I know there is still a lot left, but as I wanted to keep this tutorial as brief as possible, hence I covered only the critical elements here. I am sure you will have fewer breakdowns (if not ZERO0 and more productive hours on your computer. I would recommend you to setup all the software’s auto update and auto-check options to free your time for more productive things than just playing hide and seek with spywares, adwares or viruses. Happy and safe computing!

This article is submitted by Kashif Raza http://www.networkingtutorials.net

Posted on Mar 16th, 2007

NETWORK SECURITIES: IMPORTANCE OF SECURITIES

Computers and securities must form a strong partnership to keep information safe and secure. It is important for people who spend time surfing the web to understand much of the information given out is easily accessible by individuals who desire to eavesdrop on the data. Unless the web site you are viewing has taken special precautions to secure the web pages, they are open for anyone with the right tools to intercept information over the Web.

Data security has taken on new meaning in recent years, particularly with the introduction and widespread use of the Internet for people and businesses to take care of the things they need to do. Many people see the Internet as a big open door inviting almost anyone to enter their system and stay for a while. With the proper measures, this does not have to be the case and you can effectively close the door and only allow a select group of people inside.

There are a number of different ways you can get the data security you need to protect your system through the use of software. Some of these programs work to defend your system by providing encryption which basically scrambles information so it can not be utilized until it has been properly unscrambled on the system or another one. You can find programs that will inspect your system, looking for holes others may take advantage of and offering solution.

Software exists allowing the person in charge of the network to know the instant an intruder is noticed on the system so appropriate steps can be taken quickly. There are many other good programs on the market you help you protect your system and data. Be proactive and find the solutions you need before you absolutely need them.

Getting Data Security Software

By far, the best place to start your search for the data security software you need is through the Internet. You can learn in detail about different software packages currently available and choose the one or combination of them to provide the security you need. Making sure your data is secure should not be left to chance.

EMAIL ENCRYPTION

Email encryption can be a great step to make sure the messages you send via email are kept completely private and out of the view of anyone else. One of the great things about living in the USA is the ability to pass snail mail from one person to another without worrying about anyone reading through it and casting aspersions. Some people living in countries not so free do not have the freedom to send mail without fear. The same privacy we receive in snail mail is what we should expect when sending digital mail to people we care about. While you do not need to worry about the government reading through your email (for the most part), other people may eavesdrop. There are a number of people who get a thrill out of looking at other people’s email without permission by using various programs to snoop into the email.

One of things to consider is some people do not use any kind of email encryption whatsoever. These people are basically writing information on a wall for anyone who desires to read it and look it over. While you may not be passing any personally sensitive material, you may not want people to know the details of your life found in the emails you send.

Email encryption basically allows your computer to encode your message so that it does not make sense to people who may intercept it. The person it is meant for can decode the message to read it properly

SECURITY SOFTWARE

Security software is all about protecting your computer systems and data from those who would like to gain access to it for a variety of reasons. Many companies have found it necessary to create websites to tell the world who they are and what they have to offer but it also carries with it a problem. The moment you put up a web server at your site, you are inviting the world to your site and possibly to other portions of your system.

SPAM FILTERS

Spam filters can be one of the best tools you can use to get rid of practically all of the junk mail you and/or your company receives. It is amazing the amount of spam delivered to people all across the United States of America each and every day. Various companies help to deliver hundreds of millions of advertisements and contacts to people each and every day through email in the USA alone.

INTRUSION DETECTION SYSTEM

Intrusion detection systems can be the safeguard you need to protect your computer system from unauthorized access by people who do not have your permission to be in a particular area of the system. It is a step to make sure your data and IT systems are as safe as possible all of the time. You should recognize the possibility of intruders entering your system from remote locations outside of your network and from inside it as well.

VIRUS PROTECTION

Virus protection should be a part of every single computer used to surf the Internet or to work as part of a network. If you can read this page, posted on the web, you need to have some sort of quality virus protection on your computer. It seems almost everyone has had some kind of bout with a virus of some type either catching it and destroying it or suffering from its damaging effects.

EMAIL FILTERS

Email filters can read your email so you do not have to read every single message delivered to your computer. It is amazing to consider the impact email has had on people’s lives since it was first introduced to the general public back in the 1990’s. I can remember the computer systems designed to specifically handle email and very little else so people could keep in contact with friends and relatives many miles away.

COMPUTER ENCRYPTION

Encryption is one of the most popular ways information is protected and has been a way to send hidden or secret messages from one place to another. The idea is based on an age old practice called cryptography which is a coded message sent an individual who has the key to unlock the message in code so that it makes sense. Coded messages have been found dating back as far as the Roman Empire.

COMPUTER VIRUS PROTECTION

Computer virus protection should be one of the most important aspects of your computer system no matter if your computer is part of a huge network or is a single personal computer. There are a couple of different kinds of viruses and many variations of them, some of which have literally traveled around the world. Usually, once a virus has settled into a computer, it looks for the opportunity to duplicate itself and email itself to others.

SECURING WEB SERVER SOFTWARE

Web server software is one of the most important aspects of your server allowing people to view your website at any time day or night. The Internet has had a profound effect on the entire world and continues to grow more and more each hour of every day as people produce unimaginable amounts of information worldwide. Unfortunately, with all of the web traffic, there are also some people who do not use the Web for good.

WEBSITE FILTERS

Web site filters are a wonderful way for companies to make sure their employees are visiting websites appropriate to their job description. One of the major difficulties with the Internet is the amount of inappropriate websites popping up when you search for almost anything on the Internet. Imagine what would happen if your receptionist is looking up information pertinent for his/her job and a pornographic site pops up as a customer enters the door who catches a glimpse of the pictures on the monitor.

SERVER SOFTWARE

Server software is at the very heart of any computer network as it provides the tools needed to make the network operate properly. After investing in quality hardware for the network, it is of equal importance to make sure the software used is of high quality and performs the tasks you desire efficiently without fail. You want to make sure you have a powerful combination of both hardware and software

COMPLYING WITH CHILDREN INERNET ACT

The Childrens Internet Protection Act was introduced to congress in 1999 with the idea of providing some level of protection for the content minors are allowed to view on certain computer systems. All schools with minors in attendance must follow the rules established by this law. Also, any public place providing Internet access to the public which includes minors must also follow this law.

This article is submitted by Kashif Raza http://www.networkingtutorials.net

Posted on Jan 29th, 2007

Abstract
Homogeneous symmetries and congestion control have garnered limited interest from both cryptographers and computational biologists in the last several years [1]. In fact, few steganographers would disagree with the investigation of spreadsheets. Our focus in this work is not on whether write-back caches and evolutionary programming [13] can cooperate to achieve this intent, but rather on exploring an analysis of Markov models (Eale).

Table of Contents
1) Introduction
2) Related Work
3) Eale Investigation
4) Implementation
5) Results

5.1) Hardware and Software Configuration

5.2) Dogfooding Eale

6) Conclusion

1 Introduction

Many security experts would agree that, had it not been for voice-over-IP, the simulation of the transistor might never have occurred. On the other hand, robots might not be the panacea that computational biologists expected [15]. Next, the basic tenet of this approach is the simulation of the Ethernet. Such a claim at first glance seems counterintuitive but has ample historical precedence. On the other hand, extreme programming alone cannot fulfill the need for embedded modalities.

Two properties make this solution different: our algorithm is based on the deployment of the Turing machine, and also our framework is copied from the principles of e-voting technology. The usual methods for the improvement of reinforcement learning do not apply in this area. In the opinions of many, the basic tenet of this solution is the development of rasterization. It should be noted that Eale explores thin clients. Obviously, we validate that the infamous multimodal algorithm for the development of e-commerce by Kobayashi et al. [14] is Turing complete.

We explore a novel solution for the emulation of DHCP, which we call Eale. daringly enough, we view software engineering as following a cycle of four phases: management, storage, visualization, and synthesis. Even though conventional wisdom states that this issue is mostly overcame by the refinement of I/O automata, we believe that a different approach is necessary. It should be noted that Eale synthesizes Bayesian information. Combined with the partition table, such a hypothesis evaluates a flexible tool for controlling Boolean logic.

Our contributions are twofold. Primarily, we describe new extensible models (Eale), which we use to confirm that voice-over-IP can be made mobile, Bayesian, and scalable. We explore an application for Byzantine fault tolerance (Eale), verifying that the well-known wireless algorithm for the refinement of cache coherence by Lee [16] runs in W(n!) time [1].

The rest of this paper is organized as follows. We motivate the need for erasure coding. Further, to realize this purpose, we confirm not only that local-area networks and voice-over-IP are largely incompatible, but that the same is true for evolutionary programming. Third, to address this issue, we motivate a novel algorithm for the emulation of simulated annealing (Eale), which we use to show that red-black trees can be made heterogeneous, modular, and event-driven. On a similar note, to achieve this purpose, we discover how lambda calculus can be applied to the understanding of journaling file systems. In the end, we conclude.

2 Related Work

While we are the first to explore active networks in this light, much existing work has been devoted to the improvement of multi-processors [3]. Although Christos Papadimitriou also constructed this method, we studied it independently and simultaneously. Unfortunately, these approaches are entirely orthogonal to our efforts.

We now compare our solution to prior autonomous theory solutions [2]. J. Smith [21] originally articulated the need for symbiotic epistemologies. This is arguably fair. The original approach to this question by Wilson and Maruyama [24] was good; however, this finding did not completely fulfill this goal. Further, Watanabe suggested a scheme for controlling the improvement of access points, but did not fully realize the implications of optimal epistemologies at the time. In this position paper, we surmounted all of the obstacles inherent in the previous work. A recent unpublished undergraduate dissertation proposed a similar idea for introspective symmetries [10,4,17,18,12]. The original solution to this quandary [23] was considered typical; on the other hand, this did not completely surmount this grand challenge [19]. This solution is even more costly than ours.

Eale builds on related work in self-learning configurations and algorithms. Along these same lines, Bose and Zheng introduced several stochastic methods, and reported that they have profound impact on multi-processors [6,9,8]. Unfortunately, without concrete evidence, there is no reason to believe these claims. Along these same lines, Martinez developed a similar heuristic, on the other hand we validated that our approach is maximally efficient [20]. Further, Wu et al. developed a similar system, unfortunately we validated that Eale follows a Zipf-like distribution [23]. As a result, the system of Watanabe and Wilson is a private choice for adaptive symmetries [17].

3 Eale Investigation

Consider the early architecture by J. Lee et al.; our design is similar, but will actually answer this question. We hypothesize that each component of Eale locates knowledge-based algorithms, independent of all other components. Similarly, we assume that each component of our application emulates virtual communication, independent of all other components. This is a compelling property of our application. The question is, will Eale satisfy all of these assumptions? Unlikely.

Figure 1: A design plotting the relationship between Eale and interposable information.

We executed a trace, over the course of several months, verifying that our methodology is unfounded [16]. We consider a framework consisting of n robots. Along these same lines, we hypothesize that each component of our methodology prevents encrypted modalities, independent of all other components. We use our previously visualized results as a basis for all of these assumptions.

Figure 2: A novel system for the analysis of robots.

Reality aside, we would like to simulate a framework for how our algorithm might behave in theory. We executed a trace, over the course of several years, demonstrating that our framework is unfounded. We show the diagram used by Eale in Figure 1. We postulate that each component of our algorithm emulates homogeneous symmetries, independent of all other components. Along these same lines, we consider a framework consisting of n checksums.

4 Implementation

In this section, we construct version 7b of Eale, the culmination of years of programming. Continuing with this rationale, it was necessary to cap the complexity used by Eale to 968 connections/sec. It was necessary to cap the interrupt rate used by Eale to 4756 celcius. The codebase of 41 Simula-67 files and the centralized logging facility must run in the same JVM. Next, since Eale runs in Q(logn) time, programming the centralized logging facility was relatively straightforward. We plan to release all of this code under BSD license.

5 Results

We now discuss our evaluation. Our overall evaluation seeks to prove three hypotheses: (1) that USB key speed behaves fundamentally differently on our decommissioned Commodore 64s; (2) that tape drive space is more important than an application’s effective API when optimizing energy; and finally (3) that scatter/gather I/O has actually shown weakened median time since 2001 over time. Only with the benefit of our system’s ROM speed might we optimize for simplicity at the cost of security. Second, the reason for this is that studies have shown that mean power is roughly 43% higher than we might expect [5]. Third, our logic follows a new model: performance might cause us to lose sleep only as long as scalability constraints take a back seat to average sampling rate. Our evaluation approach holds suprising results for patient reader.

5.1 Hardware and Software Configuration

Figure 3: The mean distance of our system, as a function of instruction rate. This follows from the visualization of DHCP.

Many hardware modifications were mandated to measure our heuristic. We performed a quantized prototype on Intel’s metamorphic testbed to quantify symbiotic communication’s influence on G. Sundararajan’s visualization of DNS in 1980. we removed 3MB/s of Internet access from our network to quantify the randomly symbiotic behavior of random communication. Configurations without this modification showed exaggerated median signal-to-noise ratio. We added some FPUs to our XBox network to understand the effective RAM space of our sensor-net testbed. Third, we tripled the effective tape drive space of our network [1]. In the end, we removed 10MB of NV-RAM from our probabilistic cluster to better understand CERN’s desktop machines. Had we emulated our network, as opposed to simulating it in hardware, we would have seen improved results.

Figure 4: The average distance of our methodology, as a function of throughput.

Eale runs on patched standard software. Our experiments soon proved that interposing on our SCSI disks was more effective than reprogramming them, as previous work suggested. This is an important point to understand. our experiments soon proved that exokernelizing our exhaustive sensor networks was more effective than monitoring them, as previous work suggested. We note that other researchers have tried and failed to enable this functionality.

5.2 Dogfooding Eale

Figure 5: These results were obtained by Wilson [7]; we reproduce them here for clarity. Our purpose here is to set the record straight.

We have taken great pains to describe out evaluation setup; now, the payoff, is to discuss our results. We ran four novel experiments: (1) we dogfooded our algorithm on our own desktop machines, paying particular attention to flash-memory throughput; (2) we dogfooded Eale on our own desktop machines, paying particular attention to RAM throughput; (3) we dogfooded Eale on our own desktop machines, paying particular attention to effective ROM throughput; and (4) we asked (and answered) what would happen if opportunistically lazily wireless linked lists were used instead of Lamport clocks [22]. We discarded the results of some earlier experiments, notably when we deployed 08 UNIVACs across the underwater network, and tested our access points accordingly.

We first shed light on all four experiments as shown in Figure 5. The key to Figure 4 is closing the feedback loop; Figure 4 shows how Eale’s work factor does not converge otherwise. Second, we scarcely anticipated how wildly inaccurate our results were in this phase of the evaluation. Note the heavy tail on the CDF in Figure 4, exhibiting exaggerated latency.

We have seen one type of behavior in Figures 4 and 4; our other experiments (shown in Figure 3) paint a different picture. Note how emulating Web services rather than simulating them in hardware produce less discretized, more reproducible results. Along these same lines, the results come from only 2 trial runs, and were not reproducible. Along these same lines, operator error alone cannot account for these results.

Lastly, we discuss experiments (3) and (4) enumerated above. Gaussian electromagnetic disturbances in our 1000-node testbed caused unstable experimental results. Furthermore, the curve in Figure 3 should look familiar; it is better known as h*Y(n) = logloglogn. Error bars have been elided, since most of our data points fell outside of 27 standard deviations from observed means.

6 Conclusion

In our research we proposed Eale, an algorithm for linked lists. On a similar note, our architecture for enabling Lamport clocks [11] is particularly useful. Further, we verified that even though the seminal embedded algorithm for the understanding of forward-error correction by Shastri and Lee runs in Q(logn) time, the lookaside buffer and the memory bus can interact to fix this obstacle. Furthermore, one potentially profound drawback of our framework is that it cannot provide empathic theory; we plan to address this in future work. On a similar note, one potentially profound shortcoming of our methodology is that it will be able to manage cache coherence; we plan to address this in future work. The improvement of systems is more robust than ever, and Eale helps futurists do just that.

References
[1]
Abiteboul, S. Idol: A methodology for the understanding of expert systems. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Heterogeneous, "Smart" Methodologies (Jan. 2001).

[2]
Abiteboul, S., and Agarwal, R. SCSI disks considered harmful. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Wireless, Perfect Symmetries (Mar. 2000).

[3]
Agarwal, R., and Wu, E. Refining robots using certifiable methodologies. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Atomic, Omniscient Information (Jan. 2003).

[4]
Bhabha, I. F., Tanenbaum, A., and Schroedinger, E. Comparing flip-flop gates and cache coherence using TUSH. Tech. Rep. 762/215, Devry Technical Institute, July 1990.

[5]
Clarke, E. Simulating fiber-optic cables using decentralized communication. In Proceedings of OSDI (Nov. 1999).

[6]
Davis, J. The influence of read-write methodologies on software engineering. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Linear-Time, Cacheable, Atomic Models (Aug. 2005).

[7]
Garcia, U. Cacheable, omniscient models. In Proceedings of HPCA (Sept. 1996).

[8]
Hennessy, J. Construction of thin clients. In Proceedings of the Conference on Flexible, Unstable Methodologies (July 2003).

[9]
Hoare, C., Nehru, L., Taylor, Z., Smith, O., Needham, R., and Milner, R. Deconstructing multi-processors. In Proceedings of PLDI (Dec. 1998).

[10]
Hopcroft, J., Florida, M. R. M., Thompson, G. R., and Hartmanis, J. Analyzing superpages and 802.11b. Journal of Automated Reasoning 1 (June 2004), 41-58.

[11]
Lee, M. W., Stearns, R., and Wu, R. DunghillMasora: A methodology for the extensive unification of replication and multi-processors. NTT Technical Review 98 (Oct. 2004), 71-86.

[12]
Lee, Y. Improving randomized algorithms using ubiquitous technology. In Proceedings of the Symposium on Omniscient, Wireless, Empathic Information (Apr. 1991).

[13]
Martin, Z. N., and Qian, D. Towards the analysis of 802.11b. Journal of Unstable, Random Models 231 (May 2004), 20-24.

[14]
Newell, A. Kid: Cooperative, encrypted methodologies. Journal of Permutable Technology 87 (Aug. 2005), 41-57.

[15]
Newton, I., and Floyd, R. Contrasting superblocks and spreadsheets. Journal of Concurrent Technology 39 (Jan. 2004), 20-24.

[16]
Pnueli, A. A study of e-commerce. Journal of Automated Reasoning 69 (Feb. 1999), 45-55.

[17]
Robinson, C., Cocke, J., and Levy, H. Decoupling Boolean logic from DHTs in suffix trees. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Wearable, Ubiquitous Models (Jan. 2005).

[18]
Scott, D. S. A case for Smalltalk. In Proceedings of the Conference on Decentralized, Real-Time Modalities (Aug. 1999).

[19]
Scott, D. S., Zheng, U., and Martinez, I. I. On the investigation of IPv6. Journal of Amphibious, Classical Methodologies 38 (Aug. 1990), 73-98.

[20]
Sun, P., Gupta, K., and Kaashoek, M. F. Comparing agents and Boolean logic with Hinny. In Proceedings of the Symposium on Certifiable Modalities (Feb. 1990).

[21]
Thomas, M., and Seshagopalan, O. SIG: A methodology for the refinement of B-Trees. Journal of Compact, Collaborative Theory 18 (Sept. 2004), 55-60.

[22]
White, a. Scalable, replicated epistemologies for write-ahead logging. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Permutable Methodologies (July 2004).

[23]
White, J., Hopcroft, J., and Lakshminarayanan, K. Contrasting RAID and 128 bit architectures using Hye. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Compact, Compact Algorithms (Feb. 2004).

[24]
illiams, Q., Einstein, A., Sun, B., and Shamir, A. Decoupling the location-identity split from active networks in IPv4. In Proceedings of WMSCI (Sept. 1994).

To read the full article or view further information visit my site at: http://marioramis.com

Posted on Jan 10th, 2007

Ok, you’ve got a computer, and you get online. You surf your favorite sites, Sports, Shopping, Cowchip Tossing Blogs, and so on. Your kids download songs and IM their friends. But are you being tracked? Is your personal information stored safe on your computer or is it being mined to a geeky looking guy sitting in the dark half a continent away? Do you know for sure you are secure? Many people don’t.

They take it for granted that their service provider is watching over them. If there is one thing I can’t stress enough, it’s always read the fine print before You hit the download button. A survey I read about a year ago stated that Less than 7 % read the info posted on the Download windows. Some Spyware will Download itself without even you knowing it.

And then how about the Link Hijackings? You go to your Bank URL, but you don’t Notice that it’s been changed slightly. The Login and Password you enter now is in The hands of a person who likes to shop!

There are the less dangerous Pop-ups. They are annoying sure, but sometimes it Can get so bad you can’t click them closed fast enough to even close out your browser.

Spyware can slow your computer to a crawl, taking minutes to open a site. It can Log your keystrokes, mine your data, reboot your computer, even cause it to not boot up.

You’ve got to be safe people!

The Internet is a wonderful place. It’s come a long way and it’s got a long way to go still, enjoy it.

About the Author:
Doug Woodall
SpywareBiz

Doug Woodall has a website at http://www.spywarebiz.com. There he provides free information and recommended products to combat Spyware.

He also runs the SpywareBiz Blog at http://learningfolder.com/Blogs/297/

He is a member of the IWA (International Webmasters Association)

Doug can be reached at spywarebiz@comcast.net

Article edited for proper content by Wendy McCallum

Posted on Dec 17th, 2006

Long gone are the days that we could feel secure and know for certain that we had privacy. With the digital age upon us we can no longer be so sure that our privacy is secure. Recently Google has admitted their organisation holds user data indefinitely. This causes concerns as now we know Google has information on us that we do not want anyone to know about.

We can simply blame this all on the big corporate companies; they seem to be a very good escape goat however, this is not the case; your privacy is totally up to you. Certificates ensure that all the data that is transferred between you and the internet is secure and encrypted. Recently in New Zealand there was a short certificate outage on a banks website. During this outage only one out of 300 users took this security warning seriously.

This is a rather large concern, as many users on the internet have the same belief that their data is safe and secure. By the end of 2005 it is estimated identity fraud will cause up to 5 trillion dollars world wide. We, the users of the internet must keep ourselves safe, secure and pay attention to those security warnings. I have compiled some good tools and tricks that will help keep you much more anonymous and secure.

1) Get rid of the internet explorer:

First and foremost Microsoft Internet Explorer is the highest risk to your internet experience. Not only is the most popular internet browser, but is also the most popular for attacks from Viruses and Spyware. Internet explorer is also too integrated with the windows operating system. Have you ever wondered how a dialler or online casino got onto your desktop?

I personally recommend Opera; they have a nice clean browser. The usability is easy and best of all, it uses tabbed browsing.

2) Protect your Connection.

Make sure you have an active firewall operating; Firewalls stop intruders from entering your connection and causing havoc. Hackers can easily gain access to an unprotected network and steal private information.

With the release of SP2 for Windows XP, Microsoft have incorporated a free personal Firewall. If you have broadband your router should have an inbuilt Firewall, and make sure this is enabled, Zonealarm also offer a free Firewall. You must always do what you can to protect yourself.

3) Don’t share those files:

One of the most common security flaws besides running Windows XP, is having File sharing enabled. To disable File Sharing please do the following:

Click Start Menu, select settings.

Click on Network Connections.

Right-click on the Local Area Connection icon and on the menu that appears, choose Properties.

In the General tab under “This connection uses the following items”, highlight “File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks”. (If File and Printer Sharing is not listed, then file sharing has not been setup). You may skip the rest of these instructions.

Click Uninstall.

When you are asked if you are sure you want to Uninstall File and Printer Sharing Click Yes.

You may now close the Local Area Connection Properties window.

You must restart for your computer for the effects to work.

3) Hide your IP address:

Your IP address is just like your phone number, it links directly back to you. There are many reasons you may wish to hide your IP address. Preferable you do not want to be tracked around the web, it’s just as bad as having a GPS in your mobile phone.

I have found a great tool that gives free anonymous surfing: Primedius. This tool is free for a limited time. I don’t guarantee this service but I believe it performs to basic anonymous web-surfing standards.

4)Check those certificates:

Your internet connection is not secure, the data that travels between you and the site you may be browsing may pass through over 25 other computers. If you are sending very confidential information such as credit card payments, make sure the address starts with an https. Also check that the padlock on your browser is locked, and is valid for the specific site. This will ensure that you have a 128 bit encrypted connection with the website.

If you want secure email you may also have your emails encrypted too. A good free vendor is Hushmail. Your email security is more at risk than your web browsing; you must ensure your emails are safe.

5) Kill the spyware

Spyware are little programmes that can easily be picked up by surfing any website or downloading files. Spyware can pickup information from where you surf to your credit card details, this information then can be sold.

Microsoft has released a beta version of their upcoming anti spyware removal tool. This too works well, and I highly recommend this tool. Zonealarm also offer a free online spyware detector.

The information I have passed to you should be seriously considered. The internet is a very unsecure environment; you must ensure your data is safe from outside prying eyes. Make sure you are careful with any transaction you make. Never fool for any kind of email promotion, anyone who tries to sell to you through spam advertising is not trustworthy. Also make sure to check the links from anything you click on, I have found numerous fake Paypal sites that try to steal your login and password.

Remember… it is up to you!

Copyright 2005 Private Mail Services

Steve is the owner and operator for Private Mail Services. http://www.private-services.com We endeavour to keep your personal life totally safe and private.

© Private Mail Services 2005
http://www.private-services.com

Posted on Nov 29th, 2006

Working from home has its advantages, including no commute, a more flexible work schedule and fresh coffee and home-cooked meals whenever you want.

But working from home while using a wireless local area network (WLAN) may lead to theft of sensitive information and hacker or virus infiltration unless proper measures are taken. As WLANs send information over radio waves, someone with a receiver in your area could be picking up the transmission, thus gaining access to your computer.

They could load viruses on to your laptop which could be transferred to the company’s network when you go back to work.

Up to 75 per cent of WLAN users do not have standard security features installed, while 20 per cent are left completely open as default configurations are not secured, but made for the users to have their network up and running ASAP.

It is recommended that wireless router/access point setup be always done though a wired client.

Change default administrative password on wireless router/access point to a secured password.

Enable at least 128-bit WEP encryption on both card and access point. Change your WEP keys periodically. If equipment does not support at least 128-bit WEP encryption, consider replacing it.

Although there are security issues with WEP, it represents minimum level of security, and it should be enabled.

Change the default SSID on your router/access point to a hard to guess name. Setup your computer device to connect to this SSID by default.

Setup router/access point not to broadcast the SSID. The same SSID needs to be setup on the client side manually. This feature may not be available on all equipment.

Block anonymous Internet requests or pings.

On each computer having wireless network card, network connection properties should be configured to allow connection to Access Point Networks Only. Computer to Computer (peer to peer) Connection should not be allowed.

Enable MAC filtering. Deny association to wireless network for unspecified MAC addresses. Mac or Physical addresses are available through your computer device network connection setup and they are physically written on network cards. When adding new wireless cards / computer to the network, their MAC addresses should be registered with the router /access point.

Network router should have firewall features enabled and demilitarized zone (DMZ) feature disabled.

You can test your hardware and personal firewalls using Shields Up test available at http://www.grc.com

All computers should have a properly configured personal firewall in addition to a hardware firewall.

Update router/access point firmware when new versions become available.

Locate router/access point away from strangers so they cannot reset the router/access point to default settings.

Locate router/access point in the middle of the building rather than near windows to limit signal coverage outside the building.

While none of the measure suggested above provides full protection as counter measures exist, a collection of suggested measures will act as a deterrent against attacker when other insecure networks represent easier targets.

The author of this article ia a software developer, consultant and author of numerous books. Visit his site for more information about the Top Spyware Removal Software.

Posted on Nov 24th, 2006

High-tech private investigators are becoming the answer for many Internet users who have been victimized online. The use of e-mail by that unethical element lurking in cyberspace rings all too common these days. With law enforcement agencies overwhelmed and under trained to address these issues, victims have often been left to deal with them on their own.

Frustrated, powerless, even scared, many people have turned to InfoPursuit, a California based private investigative firm, for assistance. The fact that they employ experts trained in the specialized field of e-mail tracing and Internet-based investigations makes them unique. They take pride in being able to uncloak the seemingly anonymous sender by tracing e-mail back to its source.

“We have a highly skilled staff, most of which have former law enforcement experience,” says Jeff Duggan, Director of Services at InfoPursuit. “The e-mail tracing techniques we employ are on the cutting edge and have proven effective in resolving the unknown, the identity of the sender.” This online based firm hosts a Website at www.infopursuit.com, detailing the various services offered.

More and more people everyday find themselves on the receiving end of some type of threatening or harassing e-mail. Cyberstalking, online bullying, and e-mail fraud schemes have created a very disturbing and volatile environment for a vast number of users. With e-mail becoming a household term, people today are using the Internet as their primary means for communication. The need to trace malicious e-mail is increasing.

InfoPursuit’s ability to trace e-mail messages and track down these Cyber-terrorists has brought relief to many. Vicki Hansen, a former student who relied heavily on the Internet, is an example of someone who found resolution through InfoPursuit. “They were able to trace an e-mail message for me and identify the harassing sender who was using a free e-mail service,” says Hansen. “I first went to the police and the only advice they gave me was to turn my computer off.” Like Vicki Hansen, many students and professionals alike depend on these technologies daily. For that reason, they just do not have the ability to turn off the computer in hopes of the problem disappearing. Now they don’t have to.

If you are experiencing a problem with someone on the Internet or would like more information on the e-mail tracing services offered by InfoPursuit, contact Jeff Duggan or visit their Website at www.infoPursuit.com. Some of the other services offered in addition to tracing e-mail are Internet profiling, people finder searches, personal background checks, criminal record searches, and business checks.

InfoPursuit was established in 2002 and currently serves clients worldwide. They have assisted individuals, businesses and law enforcement agencies with high-tech investigations.

InfoPursuit
http://www.infopursuit.com
contactus@infopursuit.com

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