Elamb Cybersecurity

Category: security

  • Fingerprint Payment System Becoming a Reality.. privacy issues

    O.k.  Imagine walking into WalMart, gathering $10 in groceries and then instead of swipping your card, you press your finger in to a finger sized scanner. 

    German grocery chain Edeka introduced a new method of pay system, the so-called 'digiProof' late in 2004 and into 2005.  And now an American company called Pay By Touch is doing the exact samething.   

    A San Francisco start-up, Pay By Touch Solutions, is expected to announce today $130 million in fresh financing for a novel way of paying for groceries and other goods and services: a machine that reads your fingerprint.

    This is very Cyberpunk.  Depending on the implementation, this may even be more difficult for ID Theft criminals to take advantage of.  If everything goes in that direction, house hold phones could actually get the devices and you could make authenticated bill payments from your house and get rid of all your credit cards.     

    Then again since the fingerprint is translated into a number, I imagine criminals could still get ahold of the information the traditional way (unless the number can only be accessed with the original persons print):

    Here's how it works: Customers sign up once, by registering a checking account or a credit card, and showing government identification such as a driver's license. The Pay by Touch technology records the lines and ridges of their fingerprints, and translates the data into a numerical algorithm that is stored in a secure database. The customers thereafter never have to carry a wallet or purse back to the store, and can use their finger to pay for goods across the Pay By Touch network, which now includes stores in 10 states.

    The capital raised — $55 million of it in convertible notes and $75 million in loans — will help the company build out its finger-reading payment systems at several nationwide retailers, including in California in the first quarter of next year.

    This may also be a much better way to track people by there fingerprints and accounts.  Could this raise privacy issues?!  After all, fingerprints could link criminal records if you have any.  And wasn't there something in the bible about this…?  Oh, no.. that was 666.

    It may be harder to hack but it will eventually be broken.  But that doesn't mean its no good.

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  • Surfing with an Admin account or How to Get Owned

    Martin McKeay over at mckeay.net is has good methods of securing his home network:

    I'm a strong believer in the 'rule of least privileges' as my wife and children well know; at least once a week I get called over to the kids computer to log in as administrator and install some program for them. The kids have gotten used to it, but my wife hasn't and she's forgotten that I gave her the adminstrator password.

    The reason it is a great idea to use the least priveleges possible and not go surfing the net with Admin priviledges is that if you (or anyone on your computer with admin priviledges) hit an exploit site that downloads something on your system, it will do so with your administrator permissions. 

    It is best to surf the web with an account that does not have permission to download anything from the web, with elevated security features on Internet Explorer (cookies and java scripts turned off).  In fact, just use and patched version of Firefox. 

    More Security on Internet Explorer

    You can increase security feature of IE by going to Tools | Internet Options | Security tab.  Adjust the trust you have for the Internet by adjusting the level on the slider in the “Security Level for this Zone Area.” 

    If you surf the web with an administrator account without a firewall not only will you more than likely get hit with a trojan and worms you will give the masters of these products elevated priviledges to your system as they will install code in the C:\Windows\System32 – also known as root. From root a criminal hacker can do practically anything they want with your computer (including install a keylogger that copies everything you type and send the data back to some IRC room on the Internet.)

    In layman's terms, they will OWN your ass.  

    If your really paranoid: 

    Customize your selected security levels by clicking the “Custom Level” button inthe “Security Level for this Zone Area.”  Disable Active X, and Java to completely destroy the ability of malicious mobile code to affect Internet Explorer (unless its already on your system).  This will impare your ability to expirience anything beyond text.

     

  • Cleaning Internet Explorer

    IE 6.0 and below suck. Honestly, it is updated a few times every other
    month with SERIOUS security issues.  Those security issues are
    constantly exploited by spyware and spam.  It really is ridiculous
    how much business Microsoft has given to spammers.

    Switching to FireFox, or Opera

    FireFox is the Shiznit!

    CLEAN IE, DOWN AND DIRTY:

    1)  Get Rid of Cookies.
    Do a search on your entire computer for cookies just as you would search for ANY file.  Type in “cookie” in the search app
    2)  ADD/REMOVE SpyWares
    Next uninstall the blatant crap on your system: Go to Add/Remove
    Programs | look for applications like “search” or “accelerator” or
    “optimizer”.  Don't just arbitrarily remove stuff, only remove
    stuff you know it crap.  If you not sure, google it.
    3)  Get the TOOLS
     Next download “adaware”  its free on majorgeeks.com
     Another good one is CWShredder and Hijackthis (use with great
    caution.  In fact, don't use it without reading up on it.)
    4) USE SAFEMODE
    Boot into safemode and use all your new found tools.
    Safemode only runs your essential processes.
    Get to safemode by rebooting and hitting “F8” like crazy as computer starts to come up.

    This should clean your system unless you have some very special Trojans
    or RootKits on your system.  If the problem is really bad you can
    always back up your important data and reload Windows from scratch.

  • RIAA Sued for Hacking

    A 41-year old disabled single mother has counter-sued the RIAA for
    Oregon RICO violations, fraud, invasion of privacy, abuse of process,
    electronic trespass, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and
    negligent misrepresentation.

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  • Who Is Listening to Your Internet Phone?

    The FCC is about to introduce new regulations that will give law-enforcement agencies the ability to tap Internet-based voice calls to help thwart terrorism. However, some security experts worry that this would make it easier for hackers to gain illegal access to calls made through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services.

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  • CEO of Microsoft Smoking Crack!

    Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, says he will “CRUSH GOOGLE” the search engine and its brilliant Ad system.

    Hey, Steve.  Get off the pipe!  MSN search sucks. 
    Altavista is better than MSN.  Here is a suggestion from some
    stupid nameless blog, Write better search code.  Beat Yahoo's
    search engine, then come after Google.  The Internet is Google's
    house they are slam dunking on you all day.  They've done
    things with Firefox and NOW:

    On Tuesday, Google may strike back at Redmond's heart: Microsoft Office.

    Google and Sun Microsystems will hold a press conference
    on Tuesday at which they're expected to announce a collaboration to
    bring StarOffice productivity applications to Google users.

    If you can say that Microsoft has an Arch enemy I guess it
    would be a combination of Sun Microsystems, Google, and Mozilla. 

    In 2001 Baller named the following:

    1. Linux – The rock: invading Microsoft territory from below.
    2. Unix – The hard place: unyielding in the enterprise space above.
    3. Oracle – The database giant that won't give ground.
    4. Sun – Big, powerful Unix boxes stymie Windows 2000.
    5. AOL – Still the king.

    In 2005 it would be:

         1.   Linux – Still going

         2.   Unix (OSX on x86?) – Still going

         3.   Oracle

         4.   Mozilla – the viral spread of Firefox on inferior IE

         5.   Google – Undisputed Search Engine, Internet Kings

         6.   Sun
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  • Spyware Stats To Pay Attention To

    In early 2005 Webroot Software released its State of Spyware Report which was conducted by Webroot and Earthlink. In the survey over 4.6 million computer systems were scanned during 2004 and the results have shown how threatening spyware has become.

    It was suggested that more than 90 percent of all computers with internet connections are infected with spyware. During the first quarter of 2005 approximately 88 percent of systems scanned with Webroot’s SpyAudit software had some sort of unwanted application detected.

    On corporate computers over 55 percent of PCs had unwanted programs, excluding cookies because they are thought not to be as intrusive or detrimental. The corporate computers averaged 7.2 non-cookie spyware infections per computer.

    In 2004 the last quarter yielded 19 percent of consumer and business computers with keyloggers and in the first quarter of 2005 that number had dropped to 7 percent, according to systems scanned with Webroot’s software. In both the last quarter of 2004 and first quarter of 2005 19 percent of consumer PCs and 7 percent of business PCs had Trojans.

    Another daunting piece of information gather through online research by Phileas is that 4,294 sites were found to have some type of spyware. This information has proven that in a short amount of time spyware has skyrocketed into the top internet threat. As the internet become a rapidly growing medium used by millions online threats such as spyware can thrive and spread a quick rate, infecting and damaging nearly all user unless protective measures are taken.

    Mitch Johnson is a successful freelance author that writes regularly for http://www.1st-in-spyware.com/ , a site that focuses exclusively on spyware removal software, as well as tips on how to prevent spyware from popping up on your computer. This site articles on has spyware guard, http://www.easy-spyware-killer.info/ as well as spyware scanner, http://www.easy-remove-spyware.info/

  • Anatomy of A PayPal Identity Theft Scam – The 7 Warning Signs

    Paypal is becoming the online payment processor of choice for many users. Paypal allows virtually anyone to except credit card payments. Paypal is also a great way to send and receive electronic payments. Unfortunate fame has it's price and in the case of Paypal that means scam artists preying on the Paypal members

    The Most common Paypal Scam Involves E-Mail, You will receive an E-mail from Someone claiming to be Paypal requesting you Verify your Information. That is Warning Sign 1 Paypal will never send you an E-Mail Requesting Your Personal Information

    Often this E_mail will be sent to an E-Mail Address that is not the same one that Paypal has on File. That is Warning Sign 2

    The Third Warning Sign is forged Headers (From Address). This is often hard to detect without knowledge of the Internet. Many Spam filters are now setup to block E-mail that has forged headers. Ask your E-mail provider how you can block Forged Headers.

    The Fourth Warning Sign is the Greeting says something like Dear Paypal user or Paypal Member. Paypal knows who you are they will use the name you registered with.

    The Fifth Warning Sign is the threat. The E_mail will threaten to suspend your account if you don't take immediate action.

    The Sixth Warning Sign is a Non Secure Page. If you do click on the link in the E-Mail you will not be on a secure Page, No Https in the URL and no little Padlock in the lower left hand corner of your browser.

    Bad Grammar or Misspelled words in the

    If you receive an E-mail from Paypal with even 1 of these warning signs more likely then not it is a scam. Forward the E-Mail to Paypal and ask for assistance if you have any doubts.

    Don't let these modern day thieves keep you from go about your every day life. Life is a risk the key of course is to do all you can to protect yourself and still enjoy life.

    About The Author:
    Mike Makler has been Marketing Online Since 2001 When he Built an Organization of over 100,000 Members

    Get Mike's Newsletter:
    http://ewguru.com/newsletter

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    Permission Based E_Mail Marketing Methods
    http://ewguru.com/hbiz/amazingoffer.html

  • Computer Security 101: Proactive Security

    Another university accepted ethical hacking.  Lately it seems every other month educational institutions are teaching security hacking.  I think this is good.  It is important to learn many kinds of Wire-Fu. 

    Oct. 3–NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The computer lab tucked into a corridor at Jennings Hall at Southern Connecticut State University may not look it, but it's sick.

    Viruses run rampant. Firewalls are frowned on. Here, hacking is not only encouraged, it's a course requirement.

    “Last week, I went onto a computer in the back room. Their homework was to figure out what I did and log into my fake account,” said Lisa Lancor, an associate professor of computer science.

     

    University of Calgary hacker course 

    University of Glamorgan – Certified security Testing Associate and Professional and Certified Forensic Investigation Analyst

     Internation Counsel of e-Commerce Consultants – Certified Ethical Hacker CEH – Certification

  • White hat, gray hat, black hat

    Hackers secure their computers better than the rest of the computing community. Government and industry can learn from their hacking techniques and protection skills to improve information technology security, experts say.

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