Dealing with Spyware by Dale W
No matter if you are an amateur just getting acquainted to using your computer or an experienced computer user, we all have to deal with the annoyances of spyware and/or malware. Personally, I have been using a computer for many years and it's really a shame that we should have to even deal with this type of problem at all. For many years now, marketing companies have been taking advantage of us by writing programs and sneaking them into software downloads without our permission so they can force us to view there advertisements for products.
Unfortunately, not only do we have to deal with looking at these uninvited advertisements, they actually slow down the way our computer runs causing our screens just to freeze up in the middle of doing something important, or how about when your in the middle of playing your favorite online game and wham your computer just reboots for no apparent reason. Sound familiar? Sure, it does and 99% of the time, it's because you have been plagued, again, with some type of spyware or malware. Lawmakers are recognizing the problems and the invasion of privacy that these marketing companies are causing and are working on laws to make them outlawed, but until that day comes the best we can do is educate ourselves about PC security and how to protect and remove spyware from our computer systems.
The first thing you need to know about PC security, is spyware and malware are contracted in many ways, and has many names as well. Adware displays web-based advertisements through pop-up windows or through annoying advertising banners. Many alter your browser settings or change your default home page to point to some other site and they are capable of sending personal information to third-parties called Hijackers. Keyloggers can store information, which could very well include personal details and passwords that you have typed into your computer, such that it can later be retrieved by third-parties. Then, there are others called Dialers, which connect you to long-distance or toll numbers without your consent, resulting in expensive phone bills. The list goes on, as you can even get spyware just by visiting a webpage and the best way to stop this is with good PC security.
Spyware developers are sneaky and they design these bugs to get around firewalls and yes, even virus software, as well. Don't be fooled, nothing is full proof from spyware and other programs like it because new ones are written all the time, just like software is designed to rid you of these un-welcome guests. While you can remove them manually you may spend hours hunting them down in your PC and chances are you will miss parts of the spyware programs or even damage your windows software causing you more hours by having to reinstall your system all over again. Personally, I use a spyware remover and run it at least every other day as part of my PC security protection. If you are like me, you have tried several, but, I like Spyware Nuker , it is easy to install, use and it stays up to date with all the latest new definitions for combating and protecting your pc from Phishing , Popups, Spyware, Adware, Spyware Trojans, Hijackers, Keyloggers and others as well. Therefore, you might want to check it out as it also has won several awards.
Dale is an online "handy man" and helps many people with there computer troubles every day. Spyware Nuker.
Article Source: Article Group
5 Security Considerations When Coding by Bryce Whitty
1. Input Checking
Always check user input to be sure that it is what you expected. Make sure it doesn’t contain characters or other data which may be treated in a special way by your program or any programs called by your program.This often involves checking for characters such as quotes, and checking for unusual input characters such as non-alphanumeric characters where a text string is expected. Often, these are a sign of an attack of some kind being attempted.
2.Range Checking
Always check the ranges when copying data, allocating memory or performing any operation which could potentially overflow. Some programming languages provide range-checked container access (such as the std::vector::at() in C++, but many programmers insist on using the unchecked array index [] notation. In addition, the use of functions such as strcpy() should be avoided in preference to strncpy(), which allows you to specify the maximum number of characters to copy. Similar versions of functions such as snprintf() as opposed to sprintf() and fgets() instead of gets() provide equivalent length-of-buffer specification. The use of such functions throughout your code should prevent buffer overflows. Even if your character string originates within the program, and you think you can get away with strcpy() because you know the length of the string, that doesn’t mean to say that you, or someone else, won’t change things in the future and allow the string to be specified in a configuration file, on the command-line, or from direct user input. Getting into the habit of range-checking everything should prevent a large number of security vulnerabilities in your software.
3.Principle Of Least Privileges
This is especially important if your program runs as root for any part of its runtime. Where possible, a program should drop any privileges it doesn’t need, and use the higher privileges for only those operations which require them. An example of this is the Postfix mailserver, which has a modular design allowing parts which require root privileges to be run distinctly from parts which do not. This form of privilege separation reduces the number of attack paths which lead to root privileges, and increases the security of the entire system because those few paths that remain can be analysed critically for security problems.
4.Don’t Race
A race condition is a situation where a program performs an operation in several steps, and an attacker has the chance to catch it between steps and alter the system state. An example would be a program which checks file permissions, then opens the file. Between the permission check the stat() call and the file open the fopen() call an attacker could change the file being opened by renaming another file to the original files name. In order to prevent this, fopen() the file first, and then use fstat(), which takes a file descriptor instead of a filename. Since a file descriptor always points to the file that was opened with fopen(), even if the filename is subsequently changed, the fstat() call will be guaranteed to be checking the permissions of the same file. Many other race conditions exist, and there are often ways to prevent them by carefully choosing the order of execution of certain functions.
5.Register Error Handlers
Many languages support the concept of a function which can be called when an error is detected, or the more flexible concept of exceptions. Make use of these to catch unexpected conditions and return to a safe point in the code, instead of blindly progressing in the hope that the user input won’t crash the program, or worse!
Bryce Whitty owns and runs http://www.Technibble.com. A website that provides technical how-to’s for repairing your computer. Technibble also has many guides for getting into the computer business or managing your existing one. We also cover other side topics such as Security and Software.
Article Source: ArticleCube.com
Undisclosed Security Issues with Merchant Accounts
By Billy Middleton
Anyone trying to make money on the internet will find it necessary to possess an account with one or more merchant providers. While in the information given to potential investors or online buyers is to brag wholeheartedly about the level of encryption used to keep their information safe, one e-mail I received in the course of running my website suggests a different story.
This e-mail though badly written contained the promise of information on how to buy items without spending funds from an e-account, as well as how to receive other investors profits. Obviously this is a matter that should be taken extremely seriously and it is widely known that for every safeguard there is someone that will endeavour to find a way around it for their own personal gain. Car alarms are continually improving, as are domestic and commercial security systems and with good reason but it's not only the physical world that needs to take these precautions.
In dealing with the offending email, I contacted each merchant provider referenced with all the information I possessed, which basically means sending the full source code of the message. This could ( although there are ways and means to disguise your identity and location) provide them with enough information to at least investigate the individual making any such claims. It is my opinion that all website owners and individuals who receive such a message should do likewise so that the security issues implicated can be addressed.
If you receive an email containing or similar to,...
'Hello,
I have an offer for you.. I bought from one hacker few hyips hacking lessons, all about script feedbacks and other... So , I offering these lessons for you :
1. Lesson about adding money in account without spending money from (merchant name removed) account.
2. Lesson about backdoor in "auto-payout" segment.
3. Lesson about backdoor in "admin" segment.
4. Lesson about stealing all money from auto-payout hyips :) this is very good lesson.
5. Lesson about adding you (merchant name removed) number in hyip admin segment.
1-st lesson is for those who want to earn lot of money .. I think you know what is this all about :)
If you'll buy 2-nd or 3-rd lesson , you could add these backdoors in hyip script and give it all for free and then when hyip will be opened steal all money :)
4-th lesson. If admin using auto-pay function steal all money from hyip is very easy :) best lesson. ;)
5-th lesson. You could add your e-account number in hyip and all investors investitions goes to your referenced e-account.
If you want to earn and you are interested write me asap :)
I ALSO SELLING STOLEN CREDIT CARDS WITH NAMES, CVV2, EXP.DATE, EMAIL ACCOUNT PASSWORD, PIN CODE... I CAN TEACH YOU HOW TO STEAL MONEY FROM ATM WITH STOLEN CREDIT CARDS.. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED I ALSO CAN SELL YOU MSR206. CREDIT CARD INSTALLER. :) IF INTERESTED WRITE ME ASAP ;)
I ALSO HAVE LOT OF STOLEN merchant ACCOUNTS .. I'M LOOKING FOR PERSON WHO WANT TO BUY SOMETHING FROM (some online auction site).. SO IF ITEM COST 100$ , YOU SEND ME 75$ VIA referenced merchant account(name removed) AND I BUY ITEM WITH STOLEN merchant account(actual name removed) AND SEND IT TO YOU .. HAVE QUESTIONS OR YOU ARE INTERESTED WRITE ME ASAP. :)
Best Regards,
############# (Removed)
p.s. If you are admin of hyip 2 and 3 lessons will help you to keep money safe :) '
... my advice is to contact any parties specifically referred to within it and carry out any instructions they may have for you following their investigations.
In this particular case, on responding to the e-mail the recipient is likely to receive a reply with download instructions which contains a virus which reveals your account information to the sender including any passwords necessary to access your account.
I'm sure that you will understand the implications and heed my advice.
Billy Middleton is the creator of the new poundpyramid where you earn a FIXED return of £25000 per share.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Billy_Middleton
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