As the internet and technology zips along every hour of every day, literally hundreds of new threats arise in the form of spyware, malware, adware, worms, virii, you name it. For you, the user, it is imperative that you be proactive in protection of your machine, instead of reactive (waiting until something happens to take action). The more proactive you are in applying security, the more you can stop spreading junk that comes through your inbox or browser, and more importantly, protect your identity.

There are lots of retail software suites that can accomplish the basic protection you need for your computer. But lets take a look at some free offerings that you can find on the internet that can do just as good of a job and be used in conjunction with Norton type packages, adding an additional 60-80% more protection.

Firstly, lets start at the largest point of entry on your computer other than your inbox, the browser. Most people unwittingly use Internet Explorer, since it comes packaged in with Windows. Version 6 (XP) and to an extent, version 7 (XP/Vista) are very lacking when it comes to protection from spyware and adware on the internet. Those open to change should switch to Firefox, the best browser in town and second most installed browser on computers in the world (and that number is climbing by the day). Firefox is totally free and will let you install plugins made by users, and this is where the value lies.

From the plugins page, search or look for the following plugins:

AdBlock Plus - Ever been annoyed by all those ads and banners on the internet that often take longer to download than everything else on the page? Install Adblock Plus now and get rid of them.

With this plugin installed, right-click on a banner and choose “Adblock” from the context menu - the banner won’t be downloaded again. Maybe even replace parts of the banner address with star symbols to block similar banners as well. Or you select a filter subscription when Adblock Plus starts up the first time, then even this simple task will usually be unnecessary: the filter subscription will block most advertisements fully automatically.

NoScript - Winner of the “2006 PC World World Class Award”, this tool makes Firefox the safest browser around.

Winner of the “2006 PC World World Class Award”, this tool provides extra protection to your Firefox.

It allows JavaScript, Java and other executable content to run only from trusted domains of your choice, e.g. your home-banking web site, and guards the “trust boundaries” against cross-site scripting attacks (XSS).

Such a preemptive approach prevents exploitation of security vulnerabilities (known and even unknown!) with no loss of functionality.

KeyScrambler Personal - KeyScrambler Personal encrypts your keystrokes at the kernel driver level to protect your login information from keyloggers.

When you type on your keyboard, the keys travel along a path within the operating system before it arrives at your browser. Keyloggers plant themselves along this path and observe and record your keystrokes. The collected information is then sent to the criminals who will use it to steal from you.

KeyScrambler defeats keyloggers by encrypting your keystrokes at the keyboard driver level, deep within the operating system. When the encrypted keystrokes reach your browser, KeyScrambler then decrypts them so you see exactly the keys you’ve typed. Keyloggers can only record the encrypted keys, which are completely indecipherable.

Unlike anti-virus and anti-spyware programs that depend on recognition to remove keyloggers that they know about, KeyScrambler will protect you from both known and unknown keyloggers. What’s more, KeyScrambler provides protection without getting in your way. You don’t have anything to learn about the program and you don’t have to do anything differently, but with KeyScrambler your important personal information will be a whole lot safer.

Why are these important? AdBlock Plus will allow you to filter out advertisements of any type on the websites you visit. Some advertisements, like Google Ads and Google AdSense, are harmless and their intent is just that, an advertisement. However, there are more sinister companies out there that create advertisements that look like real advertisements, and when you click and follow it to the website, any number of things could happen. You could be installing spyware, adware, or just had personal information phished from you. Popular phishing methods try to mimic familiar advertisements or alerts. The most typical type of phishing alert is something that looks like a standard Windows dialogue box that states ‘Click Here To Protect Your Pc Now!’. The average user tends to click on this, since it looks so much like anything else Windows would tell you in a dialouge box. With combined efforts of AdBlock Plus and NoScript, you can effectively eliminate 80% of these malicious efforts to infect your computer. NoScript allows you to permit/block websites at the domain level to run scripts, like Javascript, which is another method used in order to get into your machine.

So far, you’ve invested $0.00 in protecting your computer. Not bad, huh?

Next, try to monitor your browsing habits and those that use the computer, such as family members or friends. If they tend to visit popular sites like MySpace, CollegeHumor and the like, its possible they could run into malicious ads or phishing attempts. MySpace in particular is a hotbed of activity for spam, spyware, adware, virii, and phishing with hundreds of accounts getting hijacked daily. One of the most frequent ways this starts is by using template generator sites for your layout, or clicking images or ads in another persons generated layout. Some providers of these have malicious intent when deploying, in order to gain access to MySpace accounts for even more phishing and scam campaigns. You should educate those in your household that have internet access to sites like these.

If you use services online like Amazon, PayPal, or eBay, a simple email over MySpace could give away your personal information in under a second. You can use the plugins above as methods of stopping these attempts.

Typically, you can tell that you are getting a fake/spam email on an online web service like MySpace or YouTube one of the following ways:

1. It is from someone you don’t know (this alone should throw up a mental flag).
2. It is from someone you know, but sounds very cryptic / message is all jibberish with links.
3. It is from someone you know, but it doesn’t sound like ‘them’. i.e. they beg you to click on a link, or urge you to try out a strange website.
4. The content is something like “I got $50 Off Instantly By Clicking Here!”, with an image, or link.

Your computer security, online privacy, and identity are very important and it is critical to keep them in check. I hope you take some of the advice listed here to heart, because identity theft / fraud is the fastest growing crime in the world. You can take steps to prevent it from happening to you.

September 18th, 2007    posted by: Kevin Quillen of Inclind, Inc

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 at 8:05 pm and is filed under Blurbs, Delaware Web Design, Delaware Website Design, Hardware, How To's, Ideas, Inclind, Inclind Management, Rants & Raves, Software, Tech Stuff, Web Applications. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.