Saturday, 4 February 2012

Protect Your Website in Minutes With GeoTrust Website Anti-Malware Scan

Now here is a way to add some more trust to your customers' online activities without thinking about the security concern from malware attacks with the new cost-effective daily malware scan.

GeoTrust Website Anti-Malware Scan helps you to identify malware attacks to your system or website and also assure your customers that the website they are browsing or using for exchanging critical information is safe and scanned for malware by the anti-malware scan from GeoTrust, world's leading SSL and security brand.

What is Malware?

Malware is a term that is used to describe a malicious software program which is the biggest threats to Internet users today. It can easily control your web activity by screwing things up such as tracking cookies. Viruses, Trojan horses, worms, key loggers are the examples of malware.

Hackers install malware code in your system by making use of security weaknesses of your server and get access of your website. This malware code is not visible or easily detected and it can affect the user's computer rapidly when they simply browse your website.

It's generally used by hackers to spread viruses, steal critical data like credit card information or other personal information and hijack your system.

How malware affect my site if detected?
Whenever your site is affected by malware, the GeoTrust Anti-Malware scan seal will disappear. You will get an email alert of malware infection of your site along with the instructions to login in to the End user portal. The End User Portal tab will show you the list of WebPages that are infected and the code by which the problem is caused. Your web administrator will then remove all the instances of the malware code and request to rescan the site within 24 hours. After confirming that all malware instances are removed by scanning, the seal will be displayed.

Protect your site from malware
The malware attackers search for the easy targets like website where malware easily gets in without detecting. This new GeoTrust Anti-Malware scan includes a daily malware scan to see if malware is detected and send you an alert with the details to react immediately. The GeoTrust Anti-Malware Seal is like a security alarm on your website's front page that warns the hackers that site is protected from malware attacks.

Today people are more concerned about the privacy of their personal information or their websites' security, they always look for certain option for protecting their site. By getting GeoTrust Anti-Malware Seal, you can gain trust and confidence of your customers that you are more concerned about their security and your site is scanned by GeoTrust Anti-Malware Scan within the 24 hours.

SSL Renewals based in St.Petersburg, Florida, USA- one of the leading SSL certificates providers globally and Platinum partner for GeoTrust offers to secure your fully qualified domain name by providing SSL Certificates Renewal services. Get GeoTrust SSL Certificates with the GeoTrust Website Anti-Malware Scan to ensure trust and turn your visitors in to customers.


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Mobile Phone Security - 4 Tips To Keep Your Smartphone From Being Hacked

For years people have been trying to find a way to keep more secure but with the evolution of the internet and technology, it seems like it is also being easier for hackers to get into your information. Though many people will say that it might be easier for hackers to get into your phone, you have to realize that there are plenty of people out there who are smart enough to break through any kind of security but if you are smart enough to do the basics to secure your phone, you will realize that it is so much easier to keep everything protected.

Should I Keep My Phone Locked?

Most phones have a locked feature and this is certainly one of the main reasons as to why most phones have this. You will be able to keep your phone locked and if there is a way to actually put a password, this is a great way to also keep your phone secure. Though some people will just ignore this simple feature, it seems like this is a great way to really keep your phone secure.

How Do People Hack My Phone?

When people go through the internet on their smartphone, they are vulnerable to so many people that it seems like most people do not know how open they are to hackers. This is the main reason why so many people become victims of identity theft as it is so easy for hackers to hack into a phone when the user is using an open wireless internet server.

What Do I Do If Lose My Phone?

If you ever lose your phone, you should make sure that you call your service provider to let them know that you have lost your phone and to cut your line. If you believe your phone was lost, it is also a good idea to report it to the police and hopefully you will be able to find it. If you are lucky enough, you would have downloaded an application that will allow you to know where your phone is in the event that it got stolen.

How Do I Prevent My Phone From Getting Stolen Or Hacked?

The best way to really prevent your phone from getting stolen or hacked is by being more aware. Keep your mind cautious about the websites that you visit and places that you go to. Be sure that you never take your eyes or hands off of your phone as it is very easy to be able to lose your phone when you are being careless. Avoid ever releasing any personal information as this is sure way for you to get your identity stolen.

When it comes to the internet on your smartphone, you have to realize that people are becoming smarter and technology is becoming more advanced and so you have to be more aware. Being hacked is simply just one mistake and you are just one website or email away from being hacked. Be cautious and you will surely be able to keep your phone more protected.

Michael Maxstead is a proud contributing author who writes articles on several subjects including VPN and Technology. You can read more of the articles and learn about overplay VPN and VPN reviews located at VPNreviewz.com.


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Internet Filtering - What You Need To Know and Tips to Stay Anonymous

The internet is slowly but surely becoming more dangerous simply because of the advancements that technology has gone through recently. When you browse the internet, you will most likely be very vulnerable to malicious acts and so you really have to be aware of the things that you do on the internet the types of networks that you connect to. There are plenty of things to do on the internet to help avoid major problems but one of the best things to really think about is internet filtering and how it can help you stay anonymous. Here are some things to think about when trying to stay safe on the internet and still be able to enjoy the benefits of the world wide web.

What Is IPV6?

Currently people use a 32-bit IPv4 protocol which can give about 4 billion computers an IP address. Each of the devices are then connected to the internet and they will need an IPv4 protocol to be able to access the internet. The problem is that they are running out of these IP addresses and supposedly by 2012 almost all of the IPv4 addressed will be given out. IPv6 is the newer version of the Internet Protocol and it will most likely overpass the IPv4 as the Protocol to use. This is also not an upgrade as these two types of protocols have no connections whatsoever. IPv6 is focused on 128bit addresses and you can simply determine an IPv6 address because they will consist of eight groups of characters separated by colons compared to an IPv4 that is composed of four groups of numbers. Some IPv4 routers can however be converted to IPv6 with just an update of the firmware.

What Are The Advantages Of IPv6?

There are several advantages to having and IPv6 address but one of the biggest advantage is the efficiency of the protocol. It is now really simple to forward data packets through different routers. Another great advantage is multicast as this is a base specification in the iPv6 and was just an option for the IPv4. The IPv6 addresses also have more options for geolocation compared to the IPv4.

Will These IPv6 Routers Keep My Computer Safer?

These are great ways to really stay more anonymous on the internet simply because this is the newest version of protocols to have. IPv4 addresses were very easy to hack into and so this is a great way for them to stay anonymous but still enjoy the internet on a daily basis.

Now that the internet is becoming a part of everyone's lives, you must really take the initiative to really stay as anonymous as possible. Simple steps to also think about is to use the incognito mode and private browsing mode on certain web browsers so that you will be able to browse the internet safely. Another warning that you should think about is to not browse on public WiFi connections because you will be very vulnerable on these types of connections. Stay aware of what you are doing and make sure that you take these things into consideration to be able to avoid any problems in the future.

Michael Maxstead is a computer networking consultant who likes to write about VPN and Networking related technologies. If you visit his website VPNreviewz.com you can learn about astrill and best vpn provider.


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Friday, 3 February 2012

Zombie Computer - A Definition And How To Stay Safe

When it comes to computers, it seems like they both getting better in technology but then it is also easier for hackers to attack. For years people have been trying to avoid viruses but for some reason they will always find a way to enter your computer. This is because most people really do not know how they can protect themselves from viruses and most do not know what a virus is. One of the most common ways to get a virus is through a zombie computer and though most people will say that they have the best anti virus programs, it is still possible to get attacked. You must know what a zombie computer is before you are able to avoid it.

What is a zombie computer?

A zombie computer is a computer that was tampered with for the purpose of performing malicious tasks. This is usually caused by a computer virus, trojan horse or a cracker. The person who created can control it from an outside source and has full control.

What does a zombie computer do?

Zombies can literally do whatever they want to their victims because they are very powerful and have access to a lot of resources. The people who create them are very smart and know how to get through all the firewalls and breakthrough anything when it comes to computers. Zombie computers will also be able to send spam e-mails and almost 80% of all spam is sent by a zombie computer. This lets the spammers send their spam email without ever being caught. This also reduces their bandwidth cost and computer zombie pay for their own bandwidth.

What else do zombie computers do?

Scammers can also use a zombie computer to make money as they can utilize the pay per click fraud as a way to really make money. They will also use the computer to steal people's identity and even their personal information. These computers are very advanced and will know how to pretty much get into several computers.

How do I avoid getting attacked?

You have to be very aware and understand that any website can be a way for a zombie computer to hack into your computer. Avoid as many unprotected sites as possible as this is where they will be able to attack. Make sure that you do not open emails that look fishy or simply are from people that you do not know.

When it comes to computer safety, it is certainly a good idea to have the newest software and the best anti virus program out there. Macs are great computers and fight off viruses very well. Though many people like Windows computers, I have seen that Mac computers are very good about the virus problem and computers zombie have a harder time with entering Mac computers. Though you might have a Mac, you will still have to be very careful and make sure that you do not give out any of your personal information as this is a sure way to getting hacked.

Michael Maxstead is a computer networking consultant who likes to write about VPN and Networking related technologies. If you visit his website VPNreviewz.com you can learn about best VPN service providers and VPN reviews.


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Secure Yourself With a VPN When Accessing Poker Sites

People are worried about their security when accessing online poker or other gambling sites. After all online gambling sites also involve real money. As a rule before going to any website make sure that you follow all the instructions and have the necessary privilege to access the websites. Today with the wireless revolution security plays a bigger role since stealing information is made much easier.

The solution is to avail the services of a (Virtual Private Network) VPN provider.

Online Poker - Do You Really Need It?

I am not justifying gambling, but there are people who play poker for fun or to enjoy the thrill. A few countries may have banned poker websites for parochial reasons, but it should be the right of adults to choose what they want to do as long as it doesn't harm anyone else. If you are really good at playing poker and if poker is helping you control stress and enjoy life, there should not be any restrictions from gambling. Fortunately, VPN services allow you to play online poker taking care of your security and not exposing your real IP address.

How does VPN Works for Online Poker?

When you sign up for a VPN and launch the service, a secure tunnel is formed between your computer and the VPN server. No one can access information shared by you and you stay anonymous throughout your online session or as long as the VPN is connected. Once your data exits the VPN server to Google, Facebook or any other site your IP address stays hidden and masked by the IP address of the VPN service. You can choose VPN servers in any country and therefore be able to prevent anyone from seeing that you are actually playing poker from a computer because you can appear to be in a different country or the county where the VPN has servers in. Typically online poker websites scan for player's IP addresses and as long as your VPN IP address doesn't belong to a few marked servers, you can continue to play online poker with impunity.

VPN Online Poker and Anonymity Issues

Online poker websites now use clever algorithms to detect VPNs because they do not want to appear to be breaking any laws. So, if you are using a dodgy VPN service with blacklisted IPs, you will be recognized as a player using a VPN. It is to choose the right VPN service because if your IP address is detected to be from a location where a fraud had occurred before, your account will be banned and funds frozen.

Popular VPN services are considered to be very easy to use and extremely secure. Their large worldwide server networks can be used to mask IP addresses. With these VPN services, even if your internet connection is down, your own IP address won't be shown and this functionality is extremely important for gambling purposes. Most VPN services utilize standard Windows' operating system to operate the VPN and a broken connection will give away your underlying connection immediately which will result in the gambling service blocking your account and your funds. If you are already making money through online poker games don't hesitate to buy a reputable VPN service for a few dollars a month to continue to play on your favorite online poker websites without risk.

Go ahead and surf safely now using a VPN provider. Even VPN mobile is now available. Click on the links to learn more.


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Why Botnet Detection And Removal Is So Important

The widespread use of internet connection today has given birth to a new threat for the service providers and also to the subscribers they actually serve. Botnet is now a big platform to launch attacks and commit fraud. A proper understanding and knowledge of Botnets will definitely help in coordinating and developing innovative technologies to fight against this severe security threat. Today botnets are one of the most common security problems faced by organizations. Botnet detection and removal is difficult, but with right use of techniques it can be stopped. The adaptive and dynamic capabilities of botnets allow them to simply circumvent the traditional means for mitigation and detection.

What is Botnet?

Botnet is a kind of malware which hides in the computer system and transfers large levels of pings to a particular server. The botnet purpose is just to DDoS a system server to build a site inaccessible, and some botnet is used for sending spam emails. It doesn't harm the host PC, but consumes a huge bandwidth amount. There are different botnets which are:

CutwailConfickerBredolabZeusMariposa

If the internet speed is slow, then you should scan your PC for botnet. According to the studies it has been proved that computers connected with net can get botnet. Due to the failure of signature and port based technologies; the providers are forced for adopting new approaches for addressing the growing threat.

Botnets Exposed

A proper knowledge of how actually botnets operate is important to formulate and deliver effective protection to the providers and the subscribers. Botnets start when a botmaster begins downloading of a bot program, as well as exploit code. Bot programs like IRC bot, SG bot and Ago bot are available easily on the net. Mainly exploits for the MS windows OS are selected. By plugging the code in the bot software, botmaster builds a weapon that can infect and control several systems and majority will be belonging to the residential subscribers. After the selection and combination of exploit and bot, the botmaster sets up control planes. The common technique involves the use of IRC servers for controlling the botnet, but other options are also available. Control plane is moved often for avoiding detection. Using the selected exploit code, the botmaster takes control on computer systems and once the big army is built, the botmaster starts attacks. Botnet detection and removal is not so easy because they are dynamic and even ever evolving threat.

Botnet Detection

By now there are different ways of detecting botnets have been attempted and they are given below:

Honey pot and netDetection based on IRCTraffic analysis detectionAnomaly activitiesDNS tacking

Botnets are effective tools for attack. Intelligent techniques which are based on the behavioral analysis provide effective means for botnet detection and removal. By detecting different activities, there are chances to identify the bots and apply policies to remove the spread of this infection. In this way, service providers can remove damaging and spam sources of DOS attacks.

We offer an affordable and reliable DDoS protection which will help you fight botnet attacks and secure your business.


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Thursday, 2 February 2012

Secure Browsing At Work - Strategies for Secure Browsing At Work

Somebodies Watching You!

Every day that you use your computer at work there is someone monitoring your Internet usage. Your employer knows every web site that you've visited, and if they are extra nosy they probably know everything that you've typed. Think back to all of the things you've typed or web sites that you've visited that you wouldn't want anyone to know about-- They know about them! This is the main reason why you should never think that a work computer is your property because it isn't. It belongs to the company, and not you. Secure Browsing At Work - Strategies for Secure Browsing At Work. If you must visit your favorite sites and send out personal information please read on, and learn how to protect yourself.

How Your Company Snoops On You.

Most of us can't resist visiting our favorite social media websites and favorite Internet forums while at work because it is so ingrained into our daily routine. We often check Facebook before we check our voice mail or email accounts. We have become programmed into using the Internet in a specific way and it's hard to stop. So, for those of us who want to get away with using the company computer for our own entertainment do the following:

The first thing you must do is check your computer for key logging software. Key logging software is used to record what you type on the computer, it works in the background of the computer processes, and stores what you typed as a secret text file. How do you check for key logging software? Most anti-spy and anti-viral software can find if your computer has this kind of software installed. Do not erase it! Please remember that this is your company's computer. Unfortunately, there is a second type of key logger, and it is hardware based, which means that it is a physical box that connects between your keyboard and your computer. You can easily located a hardware key logger by looking at you keyboard cable. Check this now. Secure Browsing At Work - Strategies for Secure Browsing At Work.

How To Hide Your Internet Usage.

Now, that you have checked your computer for a key logger it is time to give you a few option for Secure Browsing At Work - Strategies for Secure Browsing At Work. If your work computer is free of any form of key logger, your best step is to purchase a VPN service with encryption. VPN stands for virtual private network, and they work by providing you with an alternative way to connect to the Internet that doesn't use your typical browser of IP Address. These are easy to find and use.

If your computer does have a key logger all is not loss. Your strategy is to purchase or create a jump drive that run it's own browser or operating system on them. This is very easy to do, and the most secure option. What this allows you to do is to plug the jump drive into your USB port, and you run your own secure operating system. This is great because your company will not be able to see what you do! It doesn't alter or hard the computer and once you pull out the jump drive the computer returns to normal. Secure Browsing At Work - Strategies for Secure Browsing At Work.

Use these options to hide from your boss.

Michael Maxstead specializes in writing and advising people on VPN technologies. By visiting his website VPNreviewz.com you can learn about vpn reviews and proxy service reviews.


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Mobile VPN Security: Four Things You Must Do to Secure Your Mobile

Securing mobile devices are important for protecting corporate information from thieves, malicious attacks and the general public. Physical security, content security, device management and identity and access are four layers of security that protects sensitive data on mobile devices.

Physical security is an important part of safeguarding information on mobile devices since it provides data encryption and multi-factor authentication. This means that whenever someone tries to access certain information contained within a mobile device they have to go through a series of PIN numbers, passwords and they must know a users name as well. Applying six digit automatically changing security codes is another type of feature that safeguards vital information. Firewalls are also important for mobile networks.

Mobile devices can also be physically secured when not in use. Company networks and their employees should create difficult passwords and users names that are not easily decodable by outside sources. Security patches and updates must also be added on a regular basis by a company's network. Devices should be turned off when not in use especially those that are used for file and printing sharing. Companies should take the time to remove important information form mobile devices if they decide to perform device upgrades or use a different model.

Different types of intrusion prevention software can be installed on a mobile device in order to provide content security. Intrusion prevention software will stop unauthorized access to a mobile device by scrambling the information contained within the unit. Most intrusion prevention software is designed to prevent malware, content filtering and data loss. When employees access the internet from their mobile devices they should be required to use the highest security setting for their browser.

Companies can also control the level of access that an employee has to information when they log onto their network. Most company departments and employees probably won't need access to important and sensitive company information and they can be restricted to type of information that they can view. This type of security is called device management and it is necessary for controlling the functions that employees can perform remotely. Policies should also be in place that prevents employees from storing passwords, safe/door combinations and personal identification numbers on mobile units.

Another security feature worth mentioning is storing all of the important information that is needed by departments and employees into one secure location. Once the information is centralized security measures can be increased to protect this area and this decreases the chances of important information from being compromised because it is spread out over many different areas.

Identity and access permissions are important for creating specific settings and user profiles for each person. These access permissions can be set and adjusted for critical applications, folders, files or email. Administrators can also change employee and department user profiles and settings. Mobile providers that give a particular company access to a wireless network should have security measures in place for their Wi-Fi services. These four security protocols can significantly reduce the chances of being exploited by unauthorized sources.

Expert Michael Maxstead maintains several websites about VPN and Security technologies. By visiting his website VPNreviewz.com you can learn about pure vpn and hideipvpn.


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What Are SocialBots? And How To Keep Them From Stealing Your Data

When it comes to the internet, you can't really trust anyone and unfortunately, these "people" might not really be people. Most people have encountered them yet they most likely have no idea that they have talked to a socialbot. Socialbots are fake identities on various social websites that will be able to mimic human conversation and try to trick people into believing that they are talking to a real person. Hackers and developers have been able to create some really creative socialbots and they are continuing to use them for several malicious acts on the internet.

These hackers will use various methods like websites, spam and several phishing attacks to be able to infect your computer. Once you are infected, your computer will then become a zombie computer or a bot computer that can be controlled by the hackers. These hackers will then be able to use your computer as a way to get even more revenue for their business owners and thus stealing from other companies. When it comes to criminal acts, the internet is certainly the place for most criminals.

How Do I Protect Myself From Social Bots?

It can often be very hard to determine whether or not your computer has been attacked because your computer will be controlled by the hacker and so they can be very discreet at first. Once you start to figure that you have been hacked, you will then have to take some things into consideration so that you will be able to handle the situation fairly well without having to worry. You will have to then contact an expert about certain internet and computer problems so that you will not be attacking the problem blindly. They will usually be able to fully understand the problem and take the proper steps needed to remove the bots and clean your computer. You will however need to do this quickly because the hacker will be able to do a lot of things during this short period of time and so you must really act fast. If you are a business owner, you must also make sure that you protect you data on a daily basis so that if ever things got hacked into, you will have backup memory.

One of the first steps that you can truly take to protect your computer is to disconnect your infected device and make sure that it is no longer connected to the network. This will of course stop the hacker from getting anymore information and infecting the computer more. Move the information on a separate clean computer or even an external hard drive. Clean the computer by consulting a professional and then you will be able to find free tools on the internet that will give you the best chance of keeping your computer safe from any socialbots in the future.

When you are on the internet, stay aware and do not make it a habit to talk to "random" people or replying to emails that you do not know as they can be socialbots ready to attack your computer.

Expert Michael Maxstead maintains several websites about VPN and Security technologies. By visiting his website VPNreviewz.com you can learn about astrill vpn and ipredator review 2011.


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Ways To Stay Safe On The Internet

As more people continue to worry about privacy on the internet, it seems like most people do not really know how they can protect themselves on the internet. There are plenty of occasions of where people get their identity stolen or personal information simply because they were not thinking about the problems that surfing the internet without any precautions can cause. Here are a few things to think about when trying to stay safer on the internet.

Google Chrome Incognito Mode

Some browsers are beginning to follow suit but Google Chrome has made it a priority for people to be able to finally go on the internet feeling completely anonymous. This is a great way for people do all the things that they want without the fear of anything bad going on. Whether you are going through your PayPal account or simply checking your bank account, you want to be able to know that you are safe. This is why Google Chrome has become so popular and more people are using the incognito mode.

Only Work With PayPal

When it comes to making payments on the internet, the best way to really stay safe is by paying everything through PayPal. This is the most efficient and safest way to deal with people on the internet when you are trying to buy and sell things as PayPal is 100% safe. A great way to even take it a step further is to use PayPal while using Google Chrome while browsing PayPal because you will be able to double up the protection.

Never Give Out Personal Information

When it comes to the internet, you can't really trust anyone. If you are serious about making transactions of any kind, do not give out your name, address or any personal information that can be used in any way. Make sure that the websites that you are working with are known to be very safe and are not websites that will try and phish your information. There are plenty of unsafe sites on the internet and there are ways to really tell if the website is legit or not. The best way is to trust Google's recommendations when you search for something because only the most trusted websites will come up when you search for something. Be sure to only use websites through Google Chrome incognito when you ever come across a somewhat unsafe website.

When you are on the internet, always be aware of the website that you are going to and the people that you are talking to. As much as possible you should always be on Google Chrome incognito mode and to only use PayPal when making your transactions. When it comes to giving out information, make sure that you do not give anything out that can cause any problems.

For years people have been worried about the internet and how dangerous it is and you really do have to be aware of your surroundings on the internet. Make sure that you know what your children are doing on the internet and always ensure that you keep a good eye on them. Be safe and always browse with awareness.

Expert Michael Maxstead maintains several websites about VPN and Security technologies. By visiting his website VPNreviewz.com you can learn about overplay vpn and personal vpn.


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Monday, 16 January 2012

Kill Trojan

What could really be annoying is when you are working at your computer to finish some works but you can't because your PC has been infected with some viruses. There are quite many but one of the deadliest is Trojan. What is it? It is simply software created by some naughty guys to deceive you. It appears on your screen as very enticing and once you click on it, KABOOM! Your computer doesn't listen to you anymore. You lose control because the virus software seems to give the command to your PC already. Your PC is having a dysfunction. Let me give you an analogy. For example, you see a very red crunchy looking apple on your dining table. And you eat it not knowing that the inside of the apple has begun rotting already with worms and some kinds of bacteria. We know for a fact that different kinds of bacteria have different behaviors in the human body. Like these two bacteria, Staphylococcous and Streptococcous. Staphylococcous brings pneumonia while Streptococcous hits the kidney and heart valves. Their carrier could be an apple or any food that we eat, etc. In the same manner that Trojan (the apple in our analogy here) as enticing software carries with it a wide variety of damaging viruses (other softwares) that behaves quite differently with all other viruses. They may behave almost the same but differences are stark. This other software viruses carried by Trojan carries specific destructive functions like the malware, for example which is used to log keystrokes to steal passwords and other personal data. Be that as it may, the carrier (which is still software) is something to avoid preventing further damage to your PC as that carrier certainly has other viruses (softwares) that would aggravate the damage, or even render your PC total garbage to throw away.

If there are viruses, there are medicines to kill them. And you will know if your computer has been infected simply because it is not functioning as it should. If your computer behaves that way, then it is infected with a virus. Like in our example earlier about different bacteria, those bacteria in the human body causes harm and dysfunction to it but that we have different medicines to kill them. That is true with the viruses in our computer. To find out what virus or viruses have gotten into your computer is essential as to find the fitting medicine to kill it. You could get assistance from your computer provider as certainly they would have the knowledge on how to find out what kind of virus that has infected your computer and that they would also have the knowledge both on what medicine (software) could kill that kind of virus.

Since we are not all computer literate except that we know how to type letters on the keyboard to make some simple documents, our computer provider could provide for us the SpyHunter's Trojan Detection Tool. This software must be installed in your PC for detection of any Trojan virus. That is only its function. Another software called SpyHunter Removal Tool must also be installed for the function of actually erasing from your PC all traces of Trojan virus. These softwares could be purchased from your PC providers for the fact that you purchased your PC from them. With these softwares, certainly, you will kill Trojan.

By: JULIUS T. PACANA


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Do Free Anonymizing Services Protect Everything?

Free anonymizing proxies are available all over the Internet. There are programs that you install on your computer to access these proxies and there are proxies that you can access over a webpage. What these services do is secure your IP address so that you cannot be directly traced when you visit a website. These are actually very handy for most users. If you're only worried about one particular website getting your IP address - one that might be associated with adware, for example - using one of these anonymizing proxies is probably fine. There are some things that you should seriously consider about anonymizing services, however, before you use them for anything serious.

They're Software Specific

If you're using some of the more popular anonymizing services that you employ by installing software on your computer, there's an important caveat that you should be aware of. These services actually only protect traffic that comes from and to your browser. They are, in fact, specific to a particular piece of software on your computer. Consider the following example of how these services do not protect you.

If you installed one of these services on your computer and visited a website on your Internet browser with the anonymizing proxy turned on, your IP address would be up secured. It would be extremely difficult for anybody to trace your IP address back to you and, if they weren't doing it while you are actually on the site, it may well be impossible for them to do so. Imagine, however, that at the website you hook up to the address of an FTP server where you want to download software or other files. The anonymizing proxy would not protect the connection that you are making with your FTP server, in all likelihood. This means that your real IP address would show up plain as day on the logs for the FTP server.

A VPN network protects every type of traffic that originates from your computer. Whether you access a resource from your Internet browser, your FTP program, your e-mail client or anything else, that traffic will be routed through the VPN, it will be anonymized and it will be encrypted. In this regard, VPN services are orders of magnitude more secure.

They Can Fail

When you subscribe to a paid VPN service, there is a company behind the service that is responsible for making certain that you are getting the product that you're paying for. In some cases, free anonymizing services are worth every penny that you pay for them. If something goes wrong with the free service you're using, there's nobody to call, there's no tech support other than what you might find on forums and there's no way to actually test the software to make certain that it's working. With a VPN service, if you have doubts about whether it's working or not, you can simply call the service provider, have them test the software or take whatever other action is needed to make certain that you are, in fact, browsing securely.

Expert Michael Maxstead maintains several websites about VPN and Security technologies. By visiting his website VPNreviewz.com you can learn about proxy goblin and http://vpnreviewz.com/best-vpn-service-providers/.


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Online Safety Tips - Protect Your Computer From Virus Attacks

The vulnerability of viruses and Trojans online is certainly increasing and since safety from such threats is pivotal, you will need the best antivirus software to protect your computer. If not treated wisely, viruses can hamper your work quality and the speed of your PC and may even successfully manage to make way to all your personal information online. There are even virus threats that can be so hazardous for your PC that it can even destroy its hardware. The best way to get rid of malicious programs and hackers is by installing an antivirus program that best suits your PC's requirements. A convenient way to protect it from threats is by downloading it from a reputed and authentic site.

Computer virus protection software will easily read the signature from all files and folders and will register entries in a system before finding and removing infected files. Virus removal software frequently runs a check on infected files and repairs your computer for better usage. Here are a few tips to save your system from virus threats:

1- Avoid downloading files and folders that are attached from an unknown source. It's possible that you will receive some undelivered emails. If you reply with the attachment that pretends like your undelivered email, this may release some kind of viruses.

2- Stay away from clicking on doubtful links as it's possible that they are infectious viruses and spywares. They may be repacked to appear like something you want, so take extra caution when clicking. Risks involved with such advertisements and links could lead to viruses and other threats as well.

3- Switch on macro protection in Microsoft office as there are certain types of viruses spreading using Microsoft words and excel. Turning on the macro protection means activating the inner protection from the office application.

4- If you are using a free trial antivirus program, ensure that it's active and still working. Usually this kind of free trial softwares can last for 30 to 60 days. Make sure to update it or better yet, pay for the subscribed version.

5- You should never use the links in your inbox to get to a particular website.

6- You should always delete your browsing history. Your browsing history saves your variety of information like the history of visited websites, cookies, pictures of formerly visited websites and various data.

You must buy security protection software for your PC. It is really hard to completely stay away from viruses and spywares without the right protection for your computer.

Get benefitted with the features of free antivirus and save your system from viruses, Trojans and malware. Immunet is one of the most popular antivirus that is known to provide compute cloud protection. To Immunet free antivirus download please visit: Immunet.com


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SSL Certificates Help You to Secure Yourself and Website to Prevent Holiday Hoaxes This Christmas

Unfortunately we can never let our guard down because crooks are always looking for a chance to take advantage of everyone, not only the unsuspecting. The most crucial thing you can do to protect yourself and prevent suffering at the hands of con-artists is to become knowledgeable of identify hoaxes so that you can prevent them.

ID thieves prey on kindness and trust. They will take whatever they can from you when you are performing an online transaction, sharing your credit card details with e-commerce websites.
So today we want to share some information about how SSL Certificates can help both sellers and buyers develop a Trust Bridge between each other this Christmas and throughout the year.

An SSL certificate is essential to protect sensitive information as it is transmitted over the internet, such as when a form containing personal or financial information is submitted by a customer. SSL Certificates can be purchased from a number of providers, including VeriSign, GeoTrust, Thawte, and many others. The SSL certificate is engaged when the web site is accessed with a URL beginning with "https" instead of "http", encrypting both the request (submission of the form or request of a web page via a URL) and response (the information that is sent back to the browser from the site's server).

All sensitive information should be collected and presented on pages served over HTTPS protocol using the SSL certificate. Customers often look to the "lock icon" in the corner of their browser window to ensure that a page asking for this information is secure. The green address bar is even more obvious and visual, allowing the customer to immediately recognize high-end security.

Information contained in the SSL Certificate includes:

• The certificate holder's name (individual or company)*
• The certificate's serial number and expiration date
• Copy of the certificate holder's public key
• The digital signature of the certificate-issuing authority

Also, SSL Certificates (used by all checking infrastructures to defend susceptible data) encrypt at industry-standard 128-bit and high-grade 256-bit SSL security to provide safety for internet dealings. The real security exchange on a safe network using a digital certificate is established by the level of security recognized by the user's browser and the machine that the Website is stored on (ie, the server).

Conclusion - the Key to internet Security

The need for dependable internet security is improving. Despite flourishing online sales many people continue to believe that online shopping is less safe than doing so at an old-fashioned brick-and-mortar shop. This is because they're right; but e-commerce continues to grow every day. For this reason, reducing online ID theft as much as possible prevents massive amounts of fraud. The key to developing a profitable online enterprise is to build customer trust. Only when clients are confident that their credit card information and data is secure with your enterprise will they consider buying on the Internet.

Implement an SSL Certificate on your website today to secure your internet sales this Christmas!!

The SSL Store is one of the foremost providers of SSL Certificates globally, one of the most successful Platinum Partners with VeriSign, GeoTrust, Thawte, and RapidSSL. All our products are the same exact products our vendors sell directly. Our business is focused specifically on SSL and related security products. This allows us to be experts in the field.


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How Is Your Personal Data Protected Online - Technologies

There are plenty of people out there in the physical and online world's that would like to get their hands on your personal data. Some to improve their ability to market new products and services to you, but some, more worryingly to steal your identity in order to commit further crimes. Fortunately there are also plenty of technologies to help you stay secure and by taking a few simple steps you can massively reduce your chances of becoming a victim.

Internet Browsers
All major browsers have built in security features which help to minimise the chances of your personal information being compromised. Whenever you supply sensitive information you should check that you are doing so on a secure connection and that the data is being encrypted to prevent anyone 'eavesdropping' and intercepting it. You will be able to tell if a page is secure because your browser will show the start of the address for the web page as "https" rather than just "http" (which tells you information will be encrypted) and there will be a full padlock symbol somewhere beside or in the address bar (signifying that the web server your information is being sent to is certified as belonging to the correct organisation). If the certificate that the web server has to provide is missing, invalid or (more commonly) out of date, your web browser will show you a warning and you should avoid supplying sensitive information in case it is actually being sent to another more dubious server.

Browsers also provide you with the ability to easily turn cookies on and off so if you wish to prevent websites from leaving them on your PC you can do so. There will be a setting which turns off all cookies but there will usually be a setting which allows you to specify which sites you do want to accept cookies from so that your favourite and trusted sites can still remember your preferences.

VPNs
When it comes to transferring sensitive information, email should not be thought of as a secure medium. Even though more and more of the main email providers are making their services secure you never quite know what security is in place at the other end for your recipient. Another option, especially if you need to regularly communicate securely with a second location such as work, is to use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) which in affect creates a secure tunnel across the internet from one machine to another. The information that is sent across is encrypted whilst each end of the tunnel will require authentication so that you know the information is secure in transit and only accessible at to the correct recipients. VPNs can be set up on any device so for example from a smartphone to a work computer.

WiFi
The other vulnerability when it comes to people eavesdropping on your online activity is when you are connecting to the internet on a wireless network. On an unsecured network anyone can join the network and then hack onto you device (laptop, smartphone). However, wireless networks can be secured using a combination of encryption and a secure key or password. The most effective of these methods you should look out for use the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA & WPA2) protocols. Wireless networks can also be configured so that the id (MAC address) of each individual device must be specified by the network's administrator before you can access it.

Parental Controls
If your children are likely to be using the internet it is always a good idea to educate them about the risks of sharing information or having it pinched. However, if you still have concerns there are plenty of parental control programs (Windows 7 has one built in) that will allow you to control which sites your children can access, what type of content they can see and even when they can be online (so that you can then supervise).

Anti-Virus
All computers should have an anti-virus program installed (there are free ones available). Regular scans should be run to ensure that malware is less likely to end up on your computer and if it does, it is found, quarantined and deleted. Up to date anti-virus programs will identify any malware which is likely to access stored information on your PC or that is attempting to record your activity such as keystrokes in the hope of logging valuable information that you are supplying to other people.

Ultimately, as a user on the internet you need to be aware of the potential risks it may present from unwarranted marketing to identity theft. By being sensible with who you supply your information to and being up-to-speed with the latest tactics that cyber-criminals are employing you can still have a worry free online experience.

© Stuart Mitchell 2011

I'm a small business owner. If you want to find out more about keeping your information secure online then visit Identity Theft.


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Sunday, 15 January 2012

Holiday Social Media Tips for Baby Boomers

With the holiday season upon us, more and more people are looking for ways to connect with loved ones and old friends if they can't be with them in person. Social media sites like Facebook have seen an influx of baby boomers in recent years and with the holiday season here, more and more of us are looking for ways to connect with loved ones and old friends if we can't be with them in person.

While it's wonderful to use social media to make connections, it can have a downside. Here are some holiday social media tips to keep you relatively safe:

1) Do not make public announcements about where you're going. No one needs to know you're leaving your home to go away to visit your children in another state. As a matter of fact, no one ever needs to know when you leave your home because that means it could be unattended and an open invitation to thieves.

2) Don't tell people where you are. On Twitter, people are known to post where they are while they're there. Once again, that's an open invitation to burglars.

3) Don't announce your shopping expenditures. Why brag that you've spent several hundred dollars on Christmas gifts this year? That's a signal that you HAVE money and could become a target for a robbery---or something far worse.

4) Advise your children and grandchildren not to go public with your travel plans. While the family may be excited that you're coming to visit, it isn't necessary to put the information on their Facebook page or "tweet" about it. You don't know who they're connected to that might be interested in such information.

5) Finally, don't click on links from people you don't know. People may try to send you a holiday greeting in disguise---which could actually contain a nasty virus. You may be connected to the friend of a friend of a friend but if you don't know they personally, don't click on the link. Instead, just go their page and post a personal greeting and thank them for thinking of you. If they didn't post the link, you'll be doing them a huge favor.

By following these tips, baby boomers, their families and friends can enjoy the holidays and stay safe at the same time.

Veteran Journalist and Media Trainer Beverly Mahone offers more insightful media tips on her website: http://beverlymahone.com/. She invites you to pick up a FREE copy of her How to Write an Effective Press Release, along with a partial list of press release sites where you can submit your release to once it's completed at: http://beverlymahone.com/bammedia/


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Various Ways In Stopping DDoS Attacks

In order to fully stopping DDOS attacks, you need to understand the concepts behind it first. Denial of Service attacks or DDOS attacks are common in the internet. It is actually an attempt of several groups to make a computer source seem unavailable to several users and community members. It generally consists of concerted efforts from several individuals or multiple people to prevent a server or a website functioning. Usually, the attacks are designed to indefinitely or temporarily take down a site. Stopping Denial of Service attacks can be done through several techniques. Firewalls, switches, and other forms of Intrusion detection programs are primarily used to stopping DDOS attacks but in this day and age, they are ineffective when it comes to well planned intrusions. In order to stop the new generation of attacks, users would need to learn of new mitigation techniques. These techniques are still effective regardless of what type of attack occurs. By knowing these techniques, users would surely be able to protect their servers and by stopping DDOS attacks they would be able to aid their respective systems.

One of the most common ways in stopping Denial of Service attacks is through the use of active Verification. Active verification can be done through Legitimate IP address crossing and matching. It is necessary to identify cache and legitimate IPs through a memory bank for a limited period so that you would be able to detect which IP addresses are spoofed and which ones are legitimate. Once the checking is done, you can further protect and check on legitimate IP addresses by rate through limiting zombies which have the capabilities to complete three way handshakes. Usually, stopping DDOS attacks would be easy when using this technique since most attacks are written using various scripts which continuously vary from a few parameters from several network packets. Another way to stop the attacks would be to perform an anomaly check on headers as well as states and the rates of any device. Several applications can actually filter out the IP addresses and attack packets hence stopping DDOS attacks. By using simple firewall rules, such attacks would not be possible.

Protocol and Granular rate limiting are also excellent ways in stopping Denial of Service attacks. Similar to target headers and rate problems, further analysis of protocols in your computer as well as the analysis of the generic firewall should be done in order to control any form of attacks. Granular limiting can be done when attacks are unpredictable. It is actually a type of management technique wherein it identifies and checks rate violations from past records of IP addresses and behaviors coming from the system. Granular limiting is also a good way to stop DDOS attacks because it rates the set of protocols in your system by checking on the past behavior of the system in every session. You can do granular rate limiting techniques in your computer in order to control data. All of these tricks are effective DDOS-attacks and they can be done either manually or through the use of a software program.

If you fully understand the importance of DdoS protection for your website please consider Impletec.com as a reliable and affordable anti DdoS service


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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Keyloggers

Keyloggers are neither good nor bad per se; they are simply tools. Just like any tool, though, they can be used for positive, beneficial reasons or they can be used for selfish or malicious purposes. They can be used for protection, or they can be used for spying. Keyloggers have the ability to track and log each keystroke, each website visited, and every activity undertaken on a computer. How is that information used?

The Good. In the United States, the Drug Enforcement Agency recently used a keylogging program as a surveillance tool in a high-profile drug case because they needed "real-time and meaningful access" into the suspects' activities. The DEA obtained a warrant, and then was able to gather invaluable information that was used to arrest and prosecute the suspects. In another case, over 50 child predators were arrested because of information obtained from keylogging programs.

Keyloggers can be invaluable tools. Parents can ensure that their children are not interacting with potential predators or engaging in inappropriate or dangerous behavior; employers can keep track of sensitive, confidential data or how a computer is used during work hours; law enforcement can gather evidence needed for arrests and prosecution.

When you install a keylogger on a computer you own, it is perfectly legal. When you install them on computers at your workplace, and notify employees that their use will be monitored, it is perfectly legal. What happens when these rules are broken?

The Bad. Keyloggers record every keystroke that is made on a specific computer; while parents may use this to monitor chats or IMs, those with less noble intentions can use this capability to capture passwords, usernames, bank account information, credit card numbers, and other sensitive data.

In some cases, keyloggers can be installed in your system without your knowledge. Say you are on a social networking site, like Facebook. One of your friends sends you a link, writing, "Hey, check this out!" You trust your friend, so you do. Unfortunately, social networks are big targets for malware developers; your friend's account was hacked, you've clicked on the link, and now you've inadvertently downloaded a keylogger onto your computer.

In Manchester, England, keyloggers were installed on a number of computers in public libraries; the attackers were able to recover bank data and steal mobile phone numbers of patrons using the computers. This type of use is illegal and can have potentially devastating consequences.

The Ugly. But it's ok to spy on your spouse, girl/boyfriend, neighbor, coworker, friend, or family member, right? If they are using your personal computer, and if you tell them that you monitor its activity, it is perfectly within your right to do so.

If, however, keyloggers are installed without the owner's permission, things can get ugly. Monitoring software is often used by suspicious spouses who are looking for evidence of an affair or by "friends" hoping to dig up dirt. In any case, it is a violation of privacy. We depend on our computers to be secure and keep our data safe and private. When someone monitors your actions without your permission, it compromises data and takes away your ability to bank, shop, research, work, browse, or communicate freely. This is indeed a very ugly use for keyloggers.

Keylogging technology has the potential to be very helpful or very harmful. If you suspect that such a program has been installed without your permission, take immediate steps to detect and remove it to regain your privacy and keep your information safe.

By Mindy J Matter for http://www.removeadware.com.au/articles/keyloggers/ - Please link to this website when publishing this article. Here you'll learn about protecting your online privacy against keyloggers, spyware and other security threats.


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The Necessity of Network Risk Assessment

Electronic information systems and network security go hand-in-hand for businesses and organizations. Because these systems are commonplace for storing files and data, industry regulations have specific standards for them, including network security implementation and risk assessments. If appropriate controls are not put in place and assessments not conducted frequently enough, an intruder can enter your system to usurp data and possibly exploit it.

Network security, regardless of industry standards, encompasses all activities for protecting system data, including technical, physical, and social. Small and medium-sized businesses are particularly vulnerable to security threats, and to take precautions, such organizations need to conduct regular network risk assessments.

A network risk assessment involves penetration testing, social engineering, and vulnerability audits. Vulnerabilities, or weak points present along a system's perimeter and in the interior, allow intruders to enter, and a network engineer identifies and tests these points for their strength. In assessing your network, the engineer may interview employees to test judgment, perform vulnerability scans, examine operating system settings, use ethical hacking techniques, and analyze past system attacks. As he or she examines these aspects of your network, the following information is gathered:

• How security policies are used and implemented
• Access control lists and their location
• Audit logs and their review
• Passwords and how easy they are to retrieve
• Security settings
• Compliance with industry best practices, such as HIPAA or FFIEC
• Unnecessary applications and their removal
• Operating systems, including consistency and being up to current levels
• Backups, such as how all information is stored, if it is up to date, and how easy information is to access
• A disaster recovery plan, if one is in place
• Sufficiency and configuration of cryptographic tools for data encryption
• Any custom-built applications and if they correspond with network security policies
• Documentation and review of configuration and code changes
• Review of past security breaches

After a network risk assessment addresses all aspects, a report is produced by the engineer. The report lists all vulnerabilities found along the perimeter and inside the network and provides solutions for mitigating the possible risks of each. While network risks are never eliminated, they can be reduced to make intrusion and stealing data far more difficult for an outside party.

Regular network risk assessments are recommended. However, the degree in which they are needed depends upon the frequency of network and security updates. Ideally, a network risk assessment should be performed whenever these structures are modified or upgraded.


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Saturday, 14 January 2012

Use of VPNs Will Be Key to Success of Public Wireless Hotspots

The ability to work while on the go is perhaps the single most important feature of portable, internet-connected devices to business users. However, according to InformationWeek, the open-access networks frequently used by mobile workers provide little to no data security.

Commonly installed in public locations, like coffee shops, airport terminals and hotels, public Wi-Fi connections are juicy targets for potential identity thieves and corporate spies, the publication said.

"It's trivially easy to snoop on unencrypted protocols and perform traffic analysis with Wireshark or a similar network protocol analyzer, or hijack browser sessions with a plug-in such as Firesheep. Public networks are also fertile ground for man-in-the-middle attacks, in which a rogue access point diverts all your traffic through a hacker's PC, where it can be captured, analyzed and mined for passwords and other sensitive information," according to the news source.

Rogue access points can even be configured to take advantage of auto-reconnect features for WLAN connections, so when a laptop scans for known networks, like those belonging to an employer, the malicious system mimics the appropriate SSID and tricks the device into connecting, the publication added.

For those simply looking to browse the web in order to kill some time, this might not matter too much - as long as they don't log into anything like online banking or email accounts, since the rogue AP can easily log usernames and passwords. However, those that need to access valuable business information via a public connection are in serious trouble if all they have available is an open Wi-Fi network.

There are, however, some defenses available, according to InformationWeek. Although it's not foolproof protection, the use of SSL Certificates to authenticate sessions can defeat less sophisticated attacks with ease. Care must be taken, though, to ensure that the issuing certificate authority is trustworthy, since an attacker able to spoof the SSL certificates means users are back at square one as far as security is concerned.

A combination of SSL certificates and virtual private network use, then, may be the best practical option for many companies, the news source reported. VPNs effectively provide an encrypted connection through which mobile devices can work and halt most - though not all - session hijacking and man-in-the-middle attacks in their tracks. Most of the time, InformationWeek said, attempted data security breaches of this kind will either cause the connection to fail outright - since the session will fail to validate - or prevent even a successful attack from gaining access to any important data, since everything will be encrypted between the company's networks and the user's machine.

An important tip for businesses looking to keep their data security measures running smoothly with VPNs, the publication stated, is to ensure that split tunneling is deactivated for all implementations of the technology that will have to connect to public wireless networks. While the performance boost from split tunneling is helpful to users on a home broadband network, the report noted, all traffic should be made to use the encrypted option if on an open-access Wi-Fi source. This will mean all data traveling across the connection goes through the company's networks and back onto the internet from there.

Encryption technology has seen limited adoption in the past because of a perceived performance cost, according to other experts. However, current options provide several ways around this roadblock, including an increasing number of methods to encrypt data in-memory.

John Monnett
Vice President
http://www.secure128.com/


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PayPal Password Protection and Security - Three Tips to Stay Safe From Hackers

PayPal is what many of us people use to send and receive money. We're all constantly buying stuff and receiving money through PayPal, so it's best that we keep our accounts safe and away from hackers alike. However, despite most people's disputes, some still get their accounts hacked by people on other computers. It's weird to know that people can actually steal the money in your PayPal account, but it's more than possible. In fact, it happens every single day where hackers steal $50, $100, and even $1,000 from other PayPal accounts. You could be the next victim, so stay away from such people by following the three tips below.

PayPal Password Protection and Security - Three Tips to Stay Safe From Hackers

-Do not open emails that lead to PayPal

This is a very common reason why most people get hacked. Do you ever get emails saying "visit PayPal by clicking HERE"? Those are usually people who plan on hacking you, as you visited the site through there special link, and whatever you do they will remember or know. For example, once you click that link, they will see your activity, along with how much you have in your account. This is pretty scary when you think about it, as people really do make money by having other people's PayPal accounts. If you don't want this to happen, you can simply type in the website address yourself at the address bar.

-Change your password frequently

This will help prevent anybody from getting their accounts hacked. I wouldn't say that you need to change it everyday, but actually on a weekly basis. Try changing it and making it harder every single time you change it. Incorporate a variety of numbers, letters, punctuation, and capitalization, and you should definitely be good to go. Of course, it's going to be harder at first to always remember all the different types of passwords, so just remember to write them down.

-Never give your address or password to anyone

Maybe your family is an exception, but you should still learn to take caution. When buying something online, remember to buy it from somewhere that has a reputation and lots of proof from past users that they're real. This could be a tough task, but just take caution and avoid any possible hacks from happening in your account. Remember that once it's done and all of that money is taken, you can't get it back anymore. So, prevent it from happening rather than waiting for it to happen.

PayPal is a wonderful way to keep your money safe, along with buying safely on the Internet. However, there are a variety of people that are always lurking about trying to get the money inside of your PayPal account. So, be cautious and implement the three tips above. By doing so, you will be able to keep your PayPal safe and away from possible problems in the future. Let's face it, you can't stop the hackers from hacking, so you might as well beat them to it.

Michael Maxstead is a proud contributing author who writes articles on several subjects including VPN and Technology. You can read more of the articles and learn about hidemyass and hide my ass review located at VPNreviewz.com.


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Common WiFi Security Problems and Solutions

The internet is a very important aspect of our lives and most people will spend of a majority of their day on the internet. As more people continue to go on the internet, the risk of running into problems will rise simply because technology allows hackers a better opportunity. Here are some of the most common WiFi security problems and solutions to use.

Modulation Spectrum Technique: This is a technique that has been used for quite some time now and it uses very low security. This allows hackers to access your computer fairly easily and you are very open to viruses. The solution to this is to ensure that you have the latest model for modulation spectrum to protect the WiFi for this problem.

Change Default Passwords: Hackers are also able to hack into the default password that your manufacturer gives your computer. These hackers will then use your password to access all of your personal files. The solution to this is to change your default password right away and to ensure that you choose a password that is very hard to guess yet something that you can always remember. Some suggest that you make a combination of letters and numbers to guarantee that hackers will not have access.

Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP): Sometimes you will hear that it is a good idea to use WEP as a way to be secure but this is actually a very insecure process as it is fairly easy to break a WEP's encryption. The solution to really get through this problem is to upgrade your wireless encryption to a VPN which is called a Virtual Private Network.

Crackers: This is arguably one of the biggest problems when it comes to WiFi because crackers are very advanced when it comes to WiFi. The solution to avoid crackers is by using the different methods that use the placement of access points in the area that you want. WiFi is a combo of wireless and devices that use wires and so dividing these two things will be able to avoid crackers.

Service Set Identifier (SSID): Another big problem for WiFi security is breaking the service of SSID. This is very easy to break through and is easily broken with a sniffing tool. You will be able to avoid this problem by using an encryption like radius or by using encryption of data.

The internet is very open and the problem is that most people have no idea how to handle themselves when they are using the internet. Most wireless internet connections are very vulnerable and it is highly recommended that you do not just enter any open wireless internet connection as this can very well be a trap. When you are outside leeching for internet, be sure to only use protected connections that need passwords as this is a great way to stay protected. When you have WiFi at home, it is also recommended that you create a password and make sure no one else uses your connection.

Michael Maxstead specializes in writing and advising people on VPN technologies. By visiting his website VPNreviewz.com you can learn about hidemyass and astrill.


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Virtual Private Networks - Things To Look For In A VPN Provider

Virtual Private Networks allow secure connections between private networks through the use of the internet. They let the computers even those in the remote areas to operate as though they were on the same local and secure network. A lot of businesses use VPN because they are efficient, useful, and secure. Imagine, you can be at home and access the computers in your company as if you were just sitting there! And while doing this, no third party intruder can tap, snoop, or interfere with your data. Clearly, having a VPN is a great thing, right?

Now, although working in a VPN is indeed a great idea, it is important to make sure that you choose the right provider for you. Of course, this will highly depend on your needs and priorities. Some people need to use a private network to bypass an internet restriction or get through blocked websites. On the other hand, some might use a VPN just to watch foreign TV shows online, or surf the web while hiding their real IP address.

Most VPN service providers work to get the largest number of features in their services. Naturally, they want to encourage and please as many users as they can at the same time. However, this doesn't mean that you always have to choose the provider, which has the most number of offers. It is wiser to choose a VPN provider based on other more important criteria.

For one, you might want to find out about the available servers of the Virtual Private Networks providers in your area. Where are they located? This can be important, as you may need authorization to use other servers in the future.

It is also important to check the speed of their connection. Sure, the provider can give you an idea; however, you're not supposed to just take their word for it. They are, after all, doing business, right? Of course, they would tell you all the good. But, to ensure that they're giving quality service, it would be helpful to read reviews and feedbacks from other clients.

When the feedbacks are good, then you are likely looking at a good provider. But apart from checking out their server locations and speeds, you should also consider the procedure of setting up the account. How is the installation and configuration going to be? It should not be too long or complicated. If it is, you may have a long and complicated problem in the future too.

The bandwidth limit is also something you may want to check. Generally though, it may run anywhere between 5 and 20 GB per month. However, some providers offer premium packages that give you unlimited bandwidth. Depending on your needs, you may want to subscribe to something like the latter.

Finally, the technical support also matters a lot when it comes to looking for the best VPN service provider. As virtual private networks are established for special purpose, it's important to keep them running as smoothly and perfectly as possible. Hence, any good VPN provider should be able to provide its client with a fantastic and reliable after-sales service.

Expert Michael Maxstead maintains several websites about VPN and Security technologies. By visiting his website VPNreviewz.com you can learn about ipredator review 2011 and strong VPN review.


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Friday, 13 January 2012

Is Online Backup the Most Efficient Way to Protect Your Files?

As the digital age progresses, we become more and more reliant on computer systems to store important and valuable files. Whether it's your record collection saved onto your desktop in the form of MP3s, or a large corporation storing vital business information on their servers, the digital format has become the preferred method for housing files and data. The days of visiting dusty old storage rooms with creaky filing cabinets and colour coded systems is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

Any modern business professional will understand the importance of keeping company data, financial records, and administrative materials safe. Whilst storing information on computers instead of as physical files, which are susceptible to all manner of potential dangers - fires, flooding, theft, and other such disasters - is safer method of storage, it is not without its own risks. Computer hardware is also prone to damage and failure. Computers also crash, and this can happen at the most inopportune moments - when this happens, important data can be irretrievably lost. It goes without saying that this can be very detrimental to the running of a business, and can have a damaging effect on one's credibility and future profit. With this in mind, businesses large and small understand the importance of backing up crucial data, to safeguard against such unfortunate eventualities.

Not backing up company computer systems opens the door to liabilities and huge losses in revenue and reputation. There are several solutions available to businesses for data protection. Files can be backed up physically on CDs, DVDs, tapes, flash drives or external hard drives, and stored securely at a different location. The downside to these options is that they can be very time consuming to set up, taking up to several months to arrange. It can also prove to be rather expensive and can require thousands of pounds in hardware costs.

More recently, an alternative solution has become available in the form of online backup. Utilizing "cloud computing", a company's entire database of servers and files can be backed up via the internet and stored securely. A backup client is installed on each server or computer that requires protecting. The specific data which needs backing up is then selected and the data is backed up using an encrypted connection over the Internet to storage located in our datacentres. Files are then replicated between datacentres to ensure there is no risk of data loss.

Online backup has several advantages over more traditional methods such as CDs and external hard drives. For starters, it is far more cost-effective to the customer, as no purchasing of hardware is necessary. This is especially good news for small businesses that may not be able to afford expensive backup equipment. It is also much quicker to set up, and once online backup is in place, computers and servers can be scheduled for automatic backups as frequently as required. This tool detects both new files and any changes to existing files and automatically backs up the information as you go along. And online backup often employs the highest security standards, protecting files and data with military-grade encryption before moving them offsite, and ensuring that sensitive company data remains private. Should a disaster occur at the business site, the data from the backup computers or server can be restored almost instantly and transferred to a different machine.

Weighing up all the information, it is clear to see that online backup is a superior solution to data protection compared to physical file storage. It is far more economical and efficient, and should an onsite disaster occur, it allows the business to get up and running again much more quickly. The digital solution is the way forward for secure data storage, and any business, large or small, would be well advised to switch over to the online backup revolution.

For more information about online backup and cloud computing, see http://www.forgedynamic.co.uk/

David Nath


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Email Archiving Protects Your Data From The Wrong Kind Of People

In a world of lawsuits and subpoenas, your business must keep complete and accurate records of all electronic correspondence. The US Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as other related laws around the world, requires that a corporation maintain all its electronic data for a period of no less than seven years.

Liability over privacy violations is a huge issue today. You cannot eliminate mail accumulated over so many years. There are multiple copies in existence, both with the sender as well as the receiver. Mail goes around so often that it can become quite hard to trace. Aside from this, most of this data is within the hard drives of numerous office personal computers, laptops, and workstations.

You need to undergo an electronic discovery in case an irate client decides to sue. Also known as "e-discovery", this process will ask you to submit all requested pertinent information. Failure to do so will result in having to face serious consequences and paying off stiff penalties.

This is where email archiving comes into play. Once your company decides to use this, all your messages and attachments will undergo indexing and storing using these specially designed software systems. Data such as SMS, chat messages, calendars, contacts, and notes all form part of your archived material.

With all that information to manage, you need to seriously consider email archiving. This makes incoming and outgoing email easily accessible later on. At the end of the day, you can save yourself the trouble of wasting precious time on futile searches carried out through standard backup media or paper records.

Wondering what kind of email archiving is out there? There are several of these in existence. You can find them in the form of software packages. They support most electronic mail messaging systems and installing them via on-site or outsourced to an external host is possible. All you have to do is decide which option will work best for you.

Email archiving software is similar to the black boxes found on airplanes. They create and maintain tamper-evident safe holds of all electronic correspondence that enter and exit an organization. It also archives all necessary data, enforces internal policies, and addresses electronic discovery and storage management.

Email archiving solutions make life easier. They integrate seamlessly into existing systems, and speed up your email sending performance while lowering storage handling costs and providing enhanced search capabilities. Another key benefit to this is the easy access to your records at any given time.

With so much data floating out there, take the right steps to securing your information. Remember that there are people in this world with bad intentions. They may want to sabotage your company by using confidential and sensitive data in a malicious way.

An email archiving solution locks all of this safely. You can now access and find information in one centralized archive. Aside from this, importing mail from different sources is not a problem once you sorted out all the complicated data-related issues that come with doing business in this Internet age.

Edgardo Allred is interested in learning more about email archiving for his company and wants to speak with a reputable email archiving solutions firm.


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Firewall Security: Shielding Against Internet Threats

Use of the internet has become vital in modern times. Its applications play a great role in individual and community growth. Applications on the internet offer great fun but are unsafe and prone to unauthorized access and security threats. Also, sometimes one has to face the possibility of information theft with the establishment of unauthorized software hampering your software, which all points to security risk. In fact, an internet security firewall can best shield the computer.

Why is internet security so vital?

All of us are vulnerable to cyber security threats, but we can safeguard ourselves from them. Government offices and corporations are especially on the radar of computer criminals. They attack the networks for the purposes of theft or leaking a firm's confidential data. These threats can downgrade the business' reputation. These types of cyber security breaches lead to great destruction of what one might be aware and sometimes there are unseen damages as well.

Firewall protection is essential to security

Firewall is a sure sort of solution for tackling cyber threats. It is a hardware or software system protecting any unauthorized access from or to a network. Firewall security can easily be implemented in hardware and software, and in combination. Following are the advantages that are offered for internet security:

1 - Firewall protection makes sure that unauthorized internet users never reach private networks when connected to the internet. The firewall is the midpoint, which checks the entering or leaving of data in the intranet. Each packet is examined and allowed to pass through if it matches specified security criteria.

2 - Firewall security bans unauthorized access to the network and only allows the access of authorized communications.

3 - It is one of the most suitable ways to remain safe from viruses, Trojans or malware which can repeatedly try to continue interfering and damaging connecting to the internet or network.

4 - Generally, a firewall operates one way and monitors inbound traffic. Windows XP and Vista, for instance, fail to tackle multiple threats.

5 - For complete firewall protection, one should go with a two-way firewall. Both the inbound and outbound traffic is checked for internet security threats. The two-way firewall operates as an intrusion detection system starting with the outbound connection.

Firewall security functions in a simplified way. The method of communication in the network is by passing small packets from the originator. The installed firewall is capable of analyzing the type of message and also determining whether the originator is authentic or not.

Internet security is of great concern in this era of electronic theft. Firewall is an amazing feature and is capable of protecting the network from any unauthorized connection. Always use best Network Security and Firewall Security Products for your network protection.


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Thursday, 12 January 2012

VPN, The Great Wall, And The More Things Change

"...the more they stay the same." Or so says the French Proverb ("Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"). Don't laugh, it's all true; "history would be more interesting if it were not so repetitious "(I have no idea where that last quotation comes from, but I love it!) Watching the interaction--or lack thereof--between VPN and "The Great Chinese Firewall" goes a long way toward proving my point.

As all of us who watch the Discovery Channel know, the Great Wall of China was built during the reign of Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China, about 2000 or so years ago. Then as now, Chinese authorities feared incursions from beyond their borders; then it was marauding bands of savage horsemen from the steppes preying on China's wealthy cities; now the fear is that uncensored information will undermine the pillars of the empire.

As only those lonely souls among us who have time to keep up with the turbulent world of technical acronyms might have reason to know, "VPN" stands for "Virtual Private Network," a method of using public telecommunications infrastructure in such a fashion as to mimic the many advantages of private secured lines without incurring the disadvantage of vastly higher operating expenses. And while private lines would be easily discoverable, virtual private networks "hide in plain sight" amid the overwhelming confusion of public infrastructure.

Just as fearsome barbarian tribesmen once rode fleet ponies along the Great Wall looking for weak spots allowing them access to the dazzling cities beyond, today's barbarians thwart Chinese officialdom's attempts at censorship by "tunneling" under the aptly named "Great Chinese Firewall" with discrete packets of encrypted code decipherable only within the secure confines of individual virtual private networks.

In spite of their swift ponies and cleverness, the earlier barbarians often fell afoul of the Chinese Empire's guardians. Then as now they were numerous, devoted to the empire, and technologically sophisticated; it was after all, the Chinese that developed gunpowder and used primitive rockets to frighten their enemies horses. Today's Chinese censors are proving equally difficult to deal with; at first unable to cope with the innocent looking, discrete packets of code, they finally developed methods in the last few years of isolating and terminating them before they reached their intended destinations. Equally adept, the virtual private networks changed their methodology to find other means of continuing contact with their clients beyond the wall.

Great Wall. Great Chinese Firewall. Words, nothing but words involved with similar human interactions several thousand years apart. As it says in the Book of Ecclesiastes, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."

Mike Nardine owns CheapMikesDomains where you benefit from cheap domains and affordable, reliable hosting along with friendly, individualized attention and free advice. Give us a try. You will never be just another number at Cheap Mike's!


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Password Hacking - An Explanation And How to Protect Yourself

Unfortunately, people generally use a single password to every online account they have: the online banking account, social networking sites, e-mail and other websites that requires them to sign up. That's why it is very easy for hackers to pass beyond their protection, compromise an account and then have access to all others.

This is the main reason the computer security is so important nowadays. Protecting yourself from password hackers will help you avoid unpleasant situations or even destructive ones.

What represents password hacking? It is a method used by hackers to crack someone password in order to gain access to personal data, access copyrighted works or sensitive intellectual property, steal money from a bank account or use the computer or server to send out spam email. Hackers prefer searching for 'security holes' through which they can easily gain access on your account without much trouble. These holes usually exist in the plugins and that we install on our sites and PC's.

Another method used by them in the password hacking process is to use programs or software which run through letter and number combinations until it gets a match with the real password, gaining access to your account. They can destroy all of your files stored in the PC or erase your e-mails.

Everybody can be targeted by computer hackers, especially those with a bank account or with an important position in a company. That's why is crucial to protect yourself against them. How to do that? There are several methods. The first 4 are for your PC protection, the rest will tell you how to protect from password hackers:

- Buy a good virus protection software and keep it up-to-date: this will keep the worms out, even if they are "up-to-date"

- Avoid downloading programs from unknown sources, like torrents and other free sources; it's best to stick with commercial software purchased on CD-ROM or via internet

- Make sure that the Firewall and the Macro Virus Protection feature is enabled in all Microsoft applications on the PC: this will increase your protection greatly

- Never access (or double click) an email attachment containing an executable program which have an extension like.exe,.com, or.vbs. This can be a very dangerous virus which triggers if you open the file

- Add just one special character to your password: this will give your more protection than using words from the dictionary. It will take 10.000 times more time to hack your password

- Make your password longer and also set at least one capitalised letter

- Try to use a different password to every important online accounts you posses, such as e-mails, bank accounts, or the online storage service

- Personalize your own security question: you' ll often find security questions on e-mail services such as gmail, yahoo or msn, allowing users to gain access to their online account in case they have forgotten their password. Be smart and choose a difficult answer that nobody will guess.

- Also use your mobile phone for password recovery: this service is provided by Google.

- And lastly back-up all of your data on an external hard disk or and stick, just in case.

Michael Maxstead is a computer networking consultant who likes to write about VPN and Networking related technologies. If you visit his website VPNreviewz.com you can learn about hotspot shield and personal vpn.


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Paid VPN Services Vs Free Anonymity Services

VPN services provide a layer of security over the Internet that makes conducting secure transactions possible. This is why it's so popular with businesses. Quite frequently, VPN services are used by employees located in remote areas or who are temporarily out of the office to access resources on a private LAN. VPN services are generally paid ones. There are also free services that offer anonymity, which is a component of VPN services. While VPN services do anonymize Internet surfing for the user, the free services have their adherents.

Free Services

Probably the best-known anonymizing service among the free offerings is TOR. This program uses a network of volunteered connections to anonymize your IP address when you visit websites or use other resources. This is a popular solution for those who only need anonymous surfing once in a while. You can do a good job of obscuring your IP address but, given enough skill and the time and resources to make use of that skill, your IP address can be tracked back to you.

There are other free services out there, as well, but they do lack some of the principal advantages of paid VPN. Particularly for businesses, paid VPN services have some significant advantages that cannot be easily overlooked.

Paid Services

If you're switching from a free VPN service to a paid VPN service, the first improvement you'll likely notice is speed. Paid VPN services compete partially on the basis of how fast their servers can get their users to webpages, so they do tend to be pretty fast. Free services, including TOR, can be agonizingly slow at times. Additionally, while those free services may obscure your IP address, they don't necessarily encrypt any of the traffic between you and your destination server, which is a significant issue for business users.

Paid services also have the advantage of there being an accountable party in the event that something goes wrong. For businesses, this is a necessity. It's really impossible to use a free service for business purposes because of the lack of technical support and the lack of a company that can provide assistance if the product turns out to be possessed of one problem or another. If a free service fails, of course, there's no way to get your money back and there's really nobody that you can hold responsible for the failure in any regard.

Overall, paid services are generally much better VPN options for businesses and individuals. The main advantage is that there is a company behind the service and, therefore, there's someone to call and ask if you have a question. The free services do have some advantages. For example, if you only need a VPN network or an anonymous IP address every once in a great while, it may not be worth your while to pay for VPN services. Other than that, however, the advantages of the paid services are significant enough that they constitute the only realistic choices for business users and for individuals who frequently need anonymity and security.

Michael Maxstead is a computer networking consultant who likes to write about VPN and Networking related technologies. If you visit his website VPNreviewz.com you can learn about hidemyass and download hide my ass.


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Wednesday, 11 January 2012

Best Online Backup Features

Both natural disasters and human faults can be a factor for losing your personal files on your computer at any time without any indicating factors. To ensure the safety of your files, you should consider an online backup service. These particular companies help to prevent any threats to locally stored data such as: accidental deletions, lost data due to a theft, or even the detrimental effects of a hard drive failure. Online backup services offer an array of features that can make your backup experience less tedious and safer for you to use.

Unlimited Storage Plans

Many online backup storage companies offer plans that allow you to pay a certain fee per month or per year and in return you will receive a certain amount of data storage. This is one way that a company can help you to store your personal files but there are also companies that allow you to pay a certain fee and receive unlimited storage plans. Having unlimited storage means that you can store as many different types of files as you want which can be very beneficial for people who have high density files such as videos, pictures, and/or MP3s.

Mobile Accessibility

With the new inventions of smart phones and handheld technology devices such as the iPhone, iPad, or Android devices, online backup services have now created applications that you can download to your mobile devices. These applications allow you to access your stored data but a majority of them also allow you to download the files and to send them to various contacts on your phone. They also allow you to backup your phone data through their services so you're not only ensuring the safety of your computer files but also the music, contacts, and downloaded applications on your cell phone as well.

Folder Syncing

Folder syncing is an immensely popular accessibility feature with online backup services that can make your experience increasingly easy. Folder syncing is when you choose certain folders on different systems that will automatically be backed up or updated whenever you change, add, or delete a file in that folder. This is a great way to make your experience easier because instead of having to manually backup the files to the off-site servers, your computer does it for you. Online backup services are a great way to ensure that your files will be safe regardless of a misfortune revolving around your computer. With the copious amount of added features to the service, you can experience easier security for your most important files and a smaller amount of wasted time waiting for your files to be backed up. Folder syncing and unlimited storage plans are a great way to get the most out of your money and are a great way to get first time computer users into the habit of saving their files elsewhere. The use of mobile apps is a great way to allow the client to access their stored files anytime, anywhere and to be able to send the files to other computers or contacts on their phones.

Visit http://www.backup-reviews.net/ for help finding the best Online Backup service to keep your important files protected and out of harm's way.


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