Greetings! Happy Diwali Wishes! Have a Safe & Secure Diwali

The festive season has begun in India, now it’s the festival of lights – Diwali. People have started getting so many diwali greetings and product discount offers over email. Keep in mind this is the time for business and purchases, and also a hacking ground for phishers. When you receive an email stating, that you have won a lottery or get heavy discounts and you are interested to purchase, see if the website is secured with SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate. And also I wish you need to have an updated trusted version of desktop security products like anti-virus, firewall, anti-spam and so on. Because if a phisher tries to send a fake email or email with virus, Trojans, it would be quarantined or blocked by the help of internet security desktop products installed in your computer.

And people who wish to do physical shopping be aware that there might be pick-pockets/ thieves in crowded areas, who steal your wallet. If you have got debit cards, credit cards in your wallet and you wallet gets stolen, be sure you call the concerned back customer care to block your card. And also don’t reveal your password or the three digit secret pin behind your credit card to any one, because that may lead to misuse of your card.(Might be a person who sees the card number and hears the pin, then he may use it in online shopping portals easily). Have a Safe and Secure Shopping and enjoy your festive season.

Wishing you all a Very Happy, Safe and Secure Diwali (Deepavali) :)

Parental Control, Privacy Control Software – Is that really necessary?

The answer for parental control is YES! Nowadays most of children in the age of 3 itself start using the computers, for game or fun. Recently I visited one of my friends house, and was surprised to see that his 6 year old son, came from the school, and asked “Dad, Is the computer ready?” and my friend replied “Yes”. And his son threw the bag, went had his biscuits and sat in front of the computer, switched on, and asked “Where are the games?” As my friend replied, as the computer crashed, all those gaming software being installed were lost. The little boy without hesitating, said ok, and just opened the IE (Internet Explorer) browser, typed http://www.google.com/ in the address bar, and was searching, free games. Within a fraction of minutes, he just went into a website and downloaded the software, installed and started playing the games. Here is how the problem starts, the kid he knew only to download the software, whereas he is not aware of the prevailing internet security threats or any other thing. So the parents should set an access control to the websites they enter. So the access control software we term as Parental Control.

Parental control or privacy control is an essential feature because, the parents can set some rules stating that the children can access only specified sites and block access to pornography etc. Most of t he children they come to the gaming sites to play some online games, the thing is suddenly a window pops up with porn picture or so, and even asking to download a new game, which may consist of some viruses or Trojans in it. So the children unknowing as an entertainment download them with an interest to play a new game. So parents need to concerned about their child’s online security, have some restrictions. Also it’s a responsibility of a parent to have an internet security suite which has privacy / parental control feature in it, and also the suite will have virus removal tool, with firewall – to stop unauthorized traffic entering your network.

There are a few internet security software companies like K7computing, providing advanced level of parental control in its Total Security – internet security suite. K7 Total Internet Security Suite has a privacy / parental control with features, where you can allow and block websites and also allows the user to set a timer, from when to when the internet can be accessed. This is very useful for parents, who have children spending time in the online internet games for long hours. The parents can set the time to grant / restrict access to the internet to their children between two specified time. Say for example, Grant internet access between 1 PM to 3 PM only, so after 3 PM, the internet will get disconnected. This is an advanced feature in K7 Total Security.
Also it is good to advise the children not to download anything without their (parents) knowledge so the computer won’t be affected by any miscellaneous operations. Also I wish you read an general instruction about mobile security ,which we need to be aware of being a mobile phone user.

Measures for safe and Secure internet and computers

The world is now connected to the internet, and almost 65% of the world population has started using internet as the mode for communication, banking, shopping and so on. In olden days all the official and personal data are being hand written or type-written in papers. So if an thief wanted to steal the data he needs to come, break the door and steal some confidential data and use it. So there were security guards and burglar alarm being placed to prevent, protect and safeguard from theives. But now the paper age has gone and computer age has boomed with recent technology developments. Since the invention of internet in 1957, when the soviet union started sputnik 1 its first satellite to beat the United States space, the internet age started. The invention of the internet made an easy choice for the theives, who we term as hackers (Online theives) steal the data from computers using the internet gateway. So to safeguard against data theft, we need to prevent and protect our computer from such kind of phishing and pharming attacks. I wish you can download your free trial version of Total Internet Security Suite, to check how it works and safeguards your computer.

So what is the security measures that needs to be taken to prevent identity theft?

As said earlier, in olden days we used security guards to protect an theif entering our office, likewise we need to have an protection software i.e. access – control software to be installed in the computer to prevent an hacker entering our system/network. So proactively an Desktop Firewall software needs to be installed which functions as a hacker intrusion prevention system. The firewall alerts the user whenever some one is trying to access our computer. So its our choice to allow, deny or block access to our computer network.

If at all, an thief enters in our office in disguise, showing an fake identity to the security guards, and once the security guards, knew that a thief has entered the office showing a fake identity, they will need to get alert and start detecting and prosecute the theif, and leaving him behind the bars. So comparitively if a user unknowingly allows, an application to enter into the system, and comes to know there is some changes happening in the computer automatically without the user‘s knowledge, the user needs to get alert on the issue. As the hackers, phishers try to get into the system writing some mailcious Software program ie. Malware or by using spyware, virus, trojans, worms etc to fetch the confidential data from the users computer on the backend. So inorder to detect and quarantine an unwanted program from our computer, an anti-virus software needs to be installed. An anti-virus software functions as a detection and virus removal software. Also some antivirus software comes with a Spam control option, where it would actively stop you from receiving spam mails, by blocking them.

Like having the burglar alarm, security guards and cops to safeguard your premises, its always good to have internet security suite as a computer security program, to prevent unethical hackers, known and unknown potential viruses and so on to have a safe and secure internet access in our computer. To prevent and protect is always better then cure. So its a good thing to have a computer security software, which acts as a protection, prevention, detection and cure tool. The recent IT trends has been giving so many technologies such as wireless internet access, laptops and so on, which is misused by the phishers causing serious internet security breaches. Though the internet threats are increasing day-by-day, as a user we need to be aware about internet security threats and protect ourselves from getting into the prey for phishing and pharming attacks.

Yuvaraj : K7computing.com

Recent Internet Security Threats and Predictions for 2009

Like the growth and latest developments in the technology, the worldwide internet security threat activities are also on increase. Since the day the Internet emerged to till date, the users are vulnerable to attacks by one way or the other. Though there are advanced internet security software technologies growing on the parallel side to crush or kill those internet security threats, till the spammer and the phishers are not ready to give up and continue with the phishing attacks, network-attacks & spamming by giving out malicious i.e. malfunctioning codes. Likely this sounds as a “Chase and Run” of the internet security software providers, the phishers and the spammers.

To point out, most of the internet security threats including the recent threats for 2008 is due to the malicious activity. The malicious attack or activity not only include malware attack activity but also includes phishing, pharming attack, zombie, virus, spam, malicious code, command and control over server activities and so on. The question is why these (PC’s / Computer) systems are prone to such kind of attacks? The answer is pretty simple, because they are vulnerable i.e. Susceptible to attack. So the solution bought to overcome this kind of Vulnerability is the Intrusion Prevention System, IDS in short. The IDS is nothing but the Access Control Software namely a Firewall, which prevents an intruder from entering into your system using spam bots or any other means.

The most recent on-going internet security threat attacks, where consumers use to fall prey are the data breaches which lead to identity theft. This identity theft is done when the Web browser or the plug-in or the Web application is vulnerable. Also nowadays hackers use site specific and do cross site scripting to acquire the confidential information of a user. This kind of cross scripting is done mostly for the banking sector. To resolve this kind of website or web browser vulnerabilities, the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates are being implemented to have a secure session where the website address beings with Https:// instead of Http://. Later the EV SSL Technology i.e Extended Validation SSL certificates have been initiated by a internet security software development company, known as Comodo, which formed the CAB Forum i.e. Certification Authorities and Browsers Forum to provide High Assurance stringent validation certificates. After such a hard time defense against the Zero-day attacks, patch development vulnerability, phishing attacks, pharming attacks and malicious code attacks till date of 2008, now security professionals and analysts have started working out for the internet security threat predictions for the year 2009.

As far as the prediction made, there would be more and more internet security threats would be similar to the recent threats along with the form of virus, worms, and spam bot-infections etc. And most of the attacks would be made by the phishers sector wise which involves huge financial transactions and mostly using the cross site scripting. Also Phishers have begun targeting the top countries and host companies which may result in severe attacks in future. So unless and until the user, let them be a consumer, bank, institution, or a corporate know about the vulnerabilities prevailing, the attacks can’t be prevented. So consumers need to be educated on the security measures and the authentication models before they become the victims of identity theft or network attack. To be on the safer side corporate’s also need to prevent themselves and protect their consumers to have a good business.

Written by - R.Yuvaraj
www.ezencrypt.com
www.jobsntech.com

Internet Security Principles in Banking Technology & Recent Phishing Method

Recent IT trends has given special focus on the internet banking security principles inorder to prevent consumers falling prey to the phishers while banking online or involved in any such financial transactions. Recently the banks has been providing their customers with certain Online Banking Security Guidelines while opening an general banking account or Online banking account as a measure of creating online banking security awareness among their consumers.

It is evident from the most recent phishing attacks worldwide that online banking constitutes different risks for which the banks have to take some countermeasures to safeguard their consumers from such kind of internet security threats. The banks also need to be ready to identify the treat and defeat them as well as if there is any such incident that happens in spite of such kind of internet attacks (eg.hacking) the bank should be ready to respond to it immediately by either disruption of banking services, before the hacker can use or materialize that information which the hacker hacked from the online banking user (i.e. Consumer / Banking Customer).

Deceptive phishing has been the recent online banking threat, where a mail is being to sent to your inbox, claiming that its from the bank (which the user holds an account with), and states due to some reason like up gradation or some change you need to sign in to your account using an website, which is being linked to the hacker’s server. Once the user without verifying the security credentials logs in to the account, all the information including the transaction password would be re-directed to the phishing server, and the the hacker uses the information and steals the money from your banking account. For example, recently I received many emails to my inbox claiming to be from Axis Bank but they are not, asking me to upgrade the account. Some time back I got an mail from UTI Bank – Now Axis Bank, regarding the same, which means the phishers are updating all the logos, etc on a regular basis to make us fall in their cage. But we ought to check out the security credentials such as pad lock, the website address in the address bar, if via email, whether it is really from the bank or so on. Also read about the fraudulent email which I received sometime back from UTI Bank – Now Axis Bank, and again I received similar kind of email from Axis bank with the updated name. Here’s the link for you – UTI now Axis Bank Fraudulent Email.

Also I wish you would be interested in getting some free software download as a measure internet security & Personal Computer Security visit www.ezencrypt.com and also buy your SSL certificate now at cheap costs here.

Enterprise Information Security and its Standards | ISO and CMM Cerfications | VPN and Enterprise Security Softwares

Enterprises today are experiencing a pressure to comply with information security and practice safety standards such as ISO (International Organization for Standardization) to reduce the potential liability in the event of serious security issues– let it be Physical Security or Online Internet Security. Also see Past, Present and Future of Internet Security. So inorder to maintain the information security in the organizational standards, the enterprises has to follow certain rules and regulations given by the International Organizational Standards to ensure that the information security requirements have compliance with statutory regulations of the Company.

Those include so many security measures that needs to the covered by the organization, which is given by leading security control sectors which establishes certain guidelines and general principles for initiating, implementing, maintaining, and improving information security management and the objective outlined which provide general guidance that is commonly accepted goals in an Enterprise’s information security management such as Enterprise Security policy which include information security; asset management; human resources security; physical and environmental security; communications and operations management; access control; information security incident management; compliance and much more.

When it comes to Technical / Online Internet Security, it should compliance with regulations and standards of the enterprise. In an Enterprise the systems are more vulnerable to number of threats to which some of the preventions tools and software needs to be implemented to protect intruders entering in your system. This kind of information security is achieved by implementing a suitable set of controls, which include policies, processes, procedures, organizational structures, software and hardware functions. Such kind technical security controls can be executed by the workstations, servers, enterprise security software tools, routers, switches, firewalls, and other systems that comprise our IT networks and the Internet that enable you to automate your security policies that grant you access and privileges of identification and authentication, logging and auditing to provide high level’s of security regulations and standards.

Also some of the security measures which you implement in transferring the information, Website Security using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), EV SSL, VPN’s (Virtual Private Network), Firewall, Anti-Virus and common sense of understanding the SPAM, Palm Security and other security tools will help your organization to grow into a SECURE successful Enterprise or Organization. Also visit http://www.ezencrypt.com/

Download your Linux based Comodo Trustix Enterprise Security Product for free at http://firewall.trustix.com/small/ and also learn more about Enterprise Level Internet Security at http://kriskarthik.blogspot.com/

UK Requirement – Bill Gates is Sharing His Fortune eMail - SPAM Emails

I have made my previous posting regarding the spam stating nirosha silva , it has been since long time the mail has been in circulation. Still the next SPAM email states its being from Microsoft, with the subject UK requirement which states that “Bill Gates is sharing his fortune” But this is again an SPAM / Fradulent email where many of the people using the internet, forward this kind of mails to their friend and relative, thinking that they would be earning more. But they realize finally that its an mail from a fradulent email. Here’s the mail which I received again from some of my friends. So inorder to educate about these kinds of SPAM emails I have made his post again. Here’s the mail I received stating that For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00. I got this mail some 3 years ago, and still I am receiving it from my friends till now once in 3-4 months or so, which is still in circulation.

From: Originated from someone (email address not available)

CC: sent to so many people (inculding me)

Subject: UK Requirement

Dear Friends,

Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates is sharing his fortune. If you ignore this you will repent later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.

When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (if you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period.

For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00, for every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives it, you will be paid $241.00. Within two week! s, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a cheque.

For your information:

There are billions and billions of people who use Microsoft service worldwide, then why does Bill Gates wanted to share his fortune. Also a small wonder if Microsoft is going to give $245 to the person who sends the mail, will the company exist if the mail is being forwarded to all the Microsoft users? :) J

So don’t get fooled by these kinds of fake emails, Microsoft would be no way responsible if are being cheated by these kings of fraudulent emails.

I would like you to visit my “Try to understand what is SPAM” posting, to have a clear understanding on what a spam mail is and how it needs to be elimated. Also if you are a victim, just post my link in your email, and send this to friends to educate them about the kinds of SPAMS. I wish you to go through my entire blog to understand about Internet Security and the latest technology to encounter the frauds who steal your identity - which we term as Identity Theft or Phishing attacks. Be Safe and Secure Online – Happy Browsing!

To prevent from virus attacks in your computer, install an Antivirus software and if you are frequent internet user try to download internet security suite