What Are Intrusion Detection Systems?

With computer hackers and identity thieves getting more computer literate, the security your computer needs to keep them out has to always stay at least one step in front. There is a different type of computer safety tool that detects an attack or system intrusion before it has the chance to harm your computer. It is called an IDS or Intrusion Detection System and is another form of application layer firewall. Intrusion detection systems are programmed to detect attempted malicious attacks or intrusions by computer hackers trying to get into your system by detecting inappropriate, incorrect, or anomalous activity. There does seem to be some question of how well this system works when many personal computer users are going to wireless online connections. Some will argue that with the adoption of intrusion prevention technologies has created a unique challenge for security professionals. In order to make this type of system effective, such monitoring of these devices requires extensive security expertise and time. If devices are incorrectly tuned and not regularly updated, attacks of malicious traffic and intrusions may be permitted. In order to prevent downtime, security professionals also must continually check on these devices in order to keep the system running smoothly.

There are three different types of intrusion detection systems.

A host-based Intrusion Detection Systems consists of an agent on a host that can identify intrusions by analyzing system calls, application logs, and host activities. Network Intrusion Detection System is an independent platform that identifies intrusions by examining network traffic and monitors multiple hosts. These gain access to network traffic by connecting to a hub, network switch configured for port mirroring, or network tap.

Hybrid Intrusion Detection Systems combine both approaches and the host agent data is combined with network information to form a complete view of the network.

A Signature-Based Intrusion Detection System can identify intrusions by watching for patterns of traffic or application data presumed to be malicious. These systems are able to detect only known attacks, but depending on their rule set, signature based IDS's can sometimes detect new attacks which share characteristics with old attacks.

Anomaly-Based Intrusion Detection Systems identify intrusions by notifying operators of traffic or application content presumed to be different from normal activity on the network or host. Anomaly-Based Intrusion Detection Systems typically achieve this with self-learning.

A Signature-Based Intrusion Detection System identifies intrusions by watching for patterns of traffic or application data presumed to be malicious. These type of systems are presumed to be able to detect only 'known' attacks. However, depending on their rule set, signature-based IDSs can sometimes detect new attacks which share characteristics with old attacks, e.g., accessing 'cmd.exe' via a HTTP GET request.

An Anomaly-Based Intrusion Detection System identifies intrusions by notifying operators of traffic or application content presumed to be different from 'normal' activity on the network or host. Anomaly-based IDSs typically achieve this with self-learning.

Features and Benefits The Managed Intrusion Prevention Service includes:

Configure and provision device

Create initial policy; update and tune policy on an ongoing basis

Monitor and report on health and security events 24x7

Industry leading Service Level Agreement

Report all security events on the Client Resource Portal

Flexible reporting options on Client Resource Portal

Notify customers of major security and health issues

Upgrade and patch devices

Seamless integration with VeriSign's Incident Response and Computer Forensics team

Whether used for detection or prevention, Intrusion SecureNet technology is peerless in accurately detecting attacks and proactively reporting indicators of future information loss or service interruption. Using pattern matching for performance and protocol decoding to detect intentional evasion and polymorphic or patternless attacks, as well as protocol and network anomalies before a new attack has a signature created, the SecureNet System is ideal for protecting critical networks and valuable information assets.

Don't Get Caught by a Phishing Scheme

Do you know what phishing is?  Do you know how to prevent it from happening to you?  Explore this article on how to identify a phishing scheme and how to protect yourself.

You receive an email from your bank warning you that your account information needs to be updated urgently or else it will be suspended.  In a panic, you click on the link in the email and are brought to your bank's web site.  Without giving it a second thought, you enter your user name and password to access your account online.  In that moment, you have just handed an unknown criminal the keys to your banking account.  You've been the victim of a phishing1 scheme.

 

Phishing has become one of the most common methods of electronically stealing people's identities.  During the period between May 2004 and May 2005, over 1.2 million individuals were victims of these attacks and have lost approximately $929 million.  Clearly, phishing is a big problem, but the question is how can you protect yourself from being reeled in?

 

One way is to increase your suspicion.  The emails and web sites used in these phishing schemes are often remarkably accurate in appearance and tone to the real thing.  That can make it difficult for you to recognize a fraud.  However, there are a couple of things that can alert you to danger.

 

First, check how the email is addressed.  Does it say “Dear Paypal Customer” or does it include your name?  Legitimate emails from these companies will use your name in the salutation.  If the email begins with a generic salutation that could have been sent to anyone, then you should think twice before following any links in the email.

 

Second, consider what the email is saying.  Phishing schemes frequently use scare tactics, such as telling you that your account is being suspended, to make you act quickly and without thinking.  Don't fall into their trap!  If you receive an email stating that some problem exists with your account, contact the organization by email or, preferably, by phone to check the status for yourself.

 

Finally, never click on a link in the email.  These links will redirect you to the attackers' web site.  Instead, go to the organization's web site on your own.  For example, if you received an email supposedly from Ebay about your account, you would type www.ebay.com into your browser instead of using the link.  That way you can check the status of your account safely because you'll know you are at the right location.

 

Of course, phishing is only one method of stealing your identity.  If you want to learn how to protect yourself from phishing and other methods or if you've been a victim of identity theft and need to know what steps to take now, you need to read Identity Theft:  A Resource Guide from PCSecurityNews.com.  The ebook is available at http://www.PCSecurityNews.com.

Cyberspace Samurai's Art Of Hacking

If you acknowledge the foe and recognize yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you recognise yourself merely not the foeman, for every victory gained you volition also suffer a defeat. If you cognize neither the opposition nor yourself, you testament succumb in every battle." - Sun Tzu, The Art of War. Take the immortal words of Sun Tzu, cognise yourself. Or here, experience your computer code. Do you live however your codification wish react to an tone-beginning. Do you roll in the hay if your diligence or data is guarantee, or if at that place ar huge security measures holes. If your coating were under attempt, would you even love it. And what approximately make out the . Do you make love a hack bequeath approach your covering.

Do you sleep with what early warning signs to looking for, to detect once your applications being hacked. Have you ever looked at your lotion as a drudge would, and thought close to you would plan of attack it. As a professional cyber-terrorist, in this article, I leave guide you through the process hackers take to exploit applications and systems. I'm often asked, "What should I concern just about in my encode that hackers could exploit?" This is easy enough to answer for risks we get laid some nowadays, simply it doesn't address the real problem.

I tin Tell you roughly the most popular onslaught vectors for now's applications, just that only aid you . To truly assist you become more ensure, I need to Teach you what to expression for. I wish to enable you to do the analysis. This follows the old proverb, "Give a man a fish and he be able-bodied to eat ; Edward Teach a man to fish and he never go hungry." This is true for security system and your applications — well, not the whole fishing part, only the teaching part.

You get the idea. Trying to track a on the Internet is like nerve-racking to track the wild Abominable snowman in Nepal (I'm not sure in that location any tamed ...). But in any case, if the left no tracks, was silent, and hid where you weren't looking or in a place you didn't have existed. would you find him. If hackers tin can poke and prod your and potentially get access to sections of your encipher or data that you weren't expecting them to, you do it they thither.

Are you nerve-wracking to William Tell me that I toilet dodge bullets?" Morpheus: "No Neo, I'm stressful to distinguish you that you're ready, you won't have to." I could separate you more or less entirely the latest exploits and exactly what to facial expression for to fix your specific and make sure it's insure. We would talk around buffer-overflows, SQL injection, Cross-Site Script hacking, the list goes on and on. We would be essentially attempting to dodge the bullets; to headache or so each and every little incoming onset. Once you ready, one time you start thinking almost your applications and the environment in a holistic manner, and in one case you controller your applications to react the way you wishing them to or log the activity they don't, then you be to protect against attacks that haven't even been dreamt up yet. I'm not saying your be 100% assure, just that your ever be under your restraint.

You e'er be aware of what's going on and what your threats . That is the true nature of surety. It's totally most command. You need to be in mastery. Logs, coupled with a strong understanding of you may be attacked, is a huge step in the right direction.

4 Essential Things To Build Your Email List

Many people would think that building their lists would take hard work and a lot of time to build and collect names and addresses. This is not so, it takes a bit of patience and some strategies but in doing this list, you open your site and your business to a whole new world of target market. Take the effort to take your business to a new level, if traffic increase and good profits are what you want, an opt-in list will do wonders for your business venture…

Internet marketing may have developed a rapid surge for the past few years. As more internet based businesses are being established, you need to develop new marketing skills and knowledge to keep up with the competition and to cope with the changing in Internet business world. 

The demand for Internet marketing tips and techniques have grown significantly and new strategies of online marketing has been born, one of them is Opt-in email marketing, also known as permission marketing. Believe it or not, this technique can spread the word about your sites subsistence in a very cost free and effective way. 

Opt-in marketing requires the permission of customer before you are allowed to send or promote any marketing materials, usually in newsletters form delivered via e-mail. The more targeted opt-in marketing mail is sent, the more chances there is to generate sales and more sales. To do this, you must build a list of all those who are interested in your niche and wants to subscribe to your opt-in marketing list. 

From your list, you will get your targeted customer, this is a good list since they already have shown interest in what you have to show and sell since they have willingly signed in for your list. These are the people who have liked what they have seen in your site and have decided they want to see more and maybe even purchase what ever product or service your site has to offer. 

Many people would think that building their lists would take hard work and a lot of time to build and collect names and addresses. This is not so, it takes a bit of patience and some strategies but in doing this list, you open your site and your business to a whole new world of target market. Take the effort to take your business to a new level, if traffic increase and good profits are what you want, an opt-in list will do wonders for your business venture. 

There are many sources and articles in the internet available for everyone to read and follow in building a list. Sometimes they may be confusing because there are so many and there different ways. Different groups of people would have different approaches in building an opt-in list, but no matter how diverse many methods are, there are always some crucial things to do to build your list. Here are four of them. 

1) Put up a good web form in your site that immediately follows the end of your content. While some may say this is too soon to subscribe for a website visitors application, try to remember that your homepage should provide a quick good impression. If somehow a website visitor finds something that he or she doesn’t like and turns them off, they may just forget about signing up.

A good web form for subscribing to an opt-in list is not hard to do. Just write a simple short statement about how they would like to see more and get updated about the site. Then there should be an area where they could put in their names and e-mail address. This web form will automatically save and send you the data’s inputted. As more people sign in, your list will be growing. 

2) As mentioned in the first tip, make your homepage very, very impressive. You need to have well written articles and descriptions of your site. Depending on what your site is all about, you need to capture your website visitor’s fancy. Make your site useful and very easy to use. Do not expect everyone to be tech savvy. Invest in having good programming in your site, make your graphics beautiful but don’t over do it.

Don’t waste your time making the homepage too overly large megabyte wise. Not all people have dedicated T1 connections, the faster your site gets loaded, the better. Go for a look that borders between simplicity and sophisticated knowledge. 

3) Provide good service and products. A return customer is more likely to bring in more business. Even then and now, a satisfied customer will recommend a business always. Word of mouth and recommendations alone can rake in more business than an expensive ad. As your clientele roster grows so shall your list. With more members on the list, the more people will get to know about what you have new to offer.

4) Keep a clean and private list. Never lose the trust your customers have entrusted you. If you provide e-mails to others and they get spammed, many will probably unsubscribe to you. Remember, a good reputation will drive in more traffic and subscribers as well as strengthen the loyalty of your customers.

The Ten Most Common Spyware Threats

Spyware is a serious threat to individuals and corporations.  Read this article for the most common threats.

You've heard the phrase "know thy enemy."  Well, here are your most common spyware enemies (source:FaceTime Security Labs).  Don't be fooled - spyware is not a game.  It costs individuals and corporations millions of dollars each year.  Spyware can be used to watch your surfing habits, steal credit card information, or just be a nuisance.  In any case, it's a royal pain.  Know they enemy.

1. Gator - Gator is installed by users as a password vault.  That means that passwords can be recalled for you automatically when visiting sites.  The trade-off for this service is that you have to endure pop-ups when visiting certain sites.  Claria, the maker of Gator,has cleaned up its act a little by labeling the pop-up ads, but they're still annoying.

2. CoolWebSearch - This has got to be one of the most notorious browser hijackers out there.  This is the name given to a program with many different variants that redirect users to coolwebsearch.com or datanotary.com.  Uninstallation can be extremely complex.  Users shouldn't try to manually remove this software.

3. 180SearchAssistant - This software either serves ads in pop-ups or pops up website windows based on your keyword searches.  This software usually comes bundled with other "freebie" type software installs like emoticons or wallpaper.  Newer versions of the software have an add/remove program uninstall item.

4. Huntbar - Now here's an annoying piece of software.  Huntbar installs a toolbar onto internet explorer and windows explorer windows.  It changes your home page and search page settings to point to their servers.  If you use another search engine, Huntbar will redirect you to theirs.  Great stuff.  Oh, and it puts a 15% drain on memory resources.

5. Cydoor - This software usually comes with P2P software, ie. peer to peer.  Again, it barrages you with a series of pop up advertisements.  It also tracks usage information.

6. ISTbar - Yet another nice, unwanted piece of software.  ISTbar does "drive-by" install via ActiveX and javascript.  Basically, that means that you visit a site and it tries to install itself to your computer.  Nice, huh.  The Activex control installs a toolbar that pushes information to my-internet.info and blazefind.com.

7. WhenU-DesktopBar - Displays advertising content. Monitors internet traffic, collects search profiles, and can execute code from a remote server using its update feature only. Relevant searches may cause it to display a special offer, coupon, or other advertising content. The adware may also display advertisements.

8. New.Net - New.Net is a company that sells domain names for "nonstandard" top-level domains.  It should be removed pronto.

9. IEPlugin - As the name implies, it installs a toolbar in Internet Explorer.  It tracks web site usage, form items (like names, addresses, etc. - ie. yikes!), and local filenames that are browsed.  It's invasive - remove it.

10. BargainBuddy - Bargain Buddy used to be everywhere.  It is distributed by BullzEye Network.  And it sets up a Browser Helper Object (BHO) and monitors your computer usage.  It then, you guessed it, pushes advertisements your way based on that usage.

How Hackers Take Control of Your Computer

Understand how hackers gain control of your computer and simple tips and strategies to reduce the chance of your computer being hacked.


Your PC has many "ports" which are vulnerable to attack from a hacker. These ports are used to communicate internally with your monitor or printer or externally to the internet. For example, Port 25 is used for receiving incoming email and Port 80 is used to connect to the internet.

In addition you have a unique IP number which is assigned to your computer by your Internet Service Provide which is required for you to use the internet. This is how you send and receive information. It also serves as your computer's "address". The IP number looks like this - 106.185.21.243.

If you have a broadband or DSL connection your IP address rarely changes which make your computer more vulnerable. If you connect to the internet via dial up then you typically are assigned a new IP address every time you log on, but this doesn't been you are not vulnerable to attack! Another issue is that with broadband connection you are likely to be on line for longer periods of time giving hackers more opportunity to attack you.

Hackers use "port scanning" software to hunt for for vulnerable computers with open ports using your computer's IP address. They will then send malicious programs through these open ports onto your computer.

Another common way that hackers use to gain control of your computers is by sending out Trojan Viruses disguised as email attachments. Hackers typically send out these messages to 1000s of users with enticing headings and an attachment which they are hoping you will open. When the attachment is opened the virus loads itself onto your computer and allows the hacker to control your computer.

Hackers also bundle Trojan viruses into free downloads like screensavers which are commonly installed on home user's machines. Illegal P2P networks also circulated large numbers of infected files.
Here are some steps you can take:

1) Make sure you are receiving the latest Window's updates.
2) Have a good firewall installed.
3) Install a spyware removal tool get the spyware definitions up to date. Run a scan at least once a week or after being on line for a long period of time.
4) Install an anti virus program and keep the virus definitions up to date. Carry out a virus scan a least once a week.
5) Use a Spam Filter to stop dangerous email

Further actions you can take:
- Don't open suspicious looking email messages especially if they have attachments.
- Be careful what free software you download. Only download from reputable sites like CNet's Download.com.
- Remember to switch off your broadband connection if you are away from your computer for a long period of time. Get into the habit of switching your computer and broadband connection off at night time. This is especially relevant for wireless network users.

Freebie tricks

If you are a freebie hunter, you already know that not all freebies are really free. Some of them are just a big waste of your time and some can be really dangerous for you. I will try to point few things you should be aware of.

Viruses
Free software infected with viruses and trojans. You will need a good antivirus and make sure you have always the latest updates. Only download files from respected sources and you should be just fine. You can get some free stuff on our website. We try to test all freebies first.

Server security holes
If you run a website, be aware of any holes that may expose you to hacking. A security hole can make someone else take control of your website and use it for illegal purposes and guess what... you will face the consequences. Avoid as much as possible opensource software, specially if it's not updated for a long time.

Trial subscriptions
Those are freebies that aren't really freebies. They usually ask for your financial informations in order to get access to that particular freebie. Open your eyes wide when you enter such informations... every respectable website should have a security certificate on that page. Check it and see if the certificate is genuine. Do not enter paypal details on pages outside www.paypal.com, do not enter moneybookers details on pages outside www.moneybookers.com. Check the domain and if you spot something wrong get out of there and report them.

Shipping and handling
A freebie that require you to pay for shipping and handling isn't really free anymore, is it? That don't mean is not worth it... I would pay shipping and handling for a free plasma TV. But this can also be a trick... watch the domains that ask for credit card details the same way as for trial subscriptions. If anything looks suspicious, do not enter any financial details.

Email
When you try to access freebie directories, you still have to register and provide them with your email address. Look for privacy policy... some websites will sign you up for tones of spam newsletter and some will even sell your email address. An active email address is worth from 0,05$ up to 5$ on the black market. You all know what i mean... pharma stores that spawn everywhere, dating websites that send you 5-6 emails a day and so on.

The bottom line is that you are your best antivirus. Just keep your eyes open and don't click any link that pops in front of your eyes. Read, think and analyze everything.

"Seven Secrets of Internet Millionaires"

Internet millionaires don’t acquire their wealth and success by luck of the draw.  They know the secrets to success.  These secrets are so valuable that if you implement them, you will succeed in your own Internet business. 

There are two general types of secrets that Internet millionaires know which include external and internal secrets.  We will discuss these secrets in detail in hopes that you will use them to your advantage and become an Internet millionaire yourself.

First, let’s look at the external secrets that Internet millionaires have in their tool kit.

Internet Millionaire Secret #1:  Internet millionaires recognize that strategy should be the foundation of any marketing plan.  It is critical to have a marketing strategy and not just jump into marketing techniques.  For example, we don’t have to use mass advertising anymore because mass advertising doesn’t have strength because consumers have choices.  You would have wasted valuable time and money if you used mass marketing techniques without first strategizing about the state of the market.

Internet Millionaire Secret #2:  Internet millionaires are not generalists.  They focus on selling their products and services to specific niche markets.  The business market in general is going in the direction of niche markets because customers have more choices regarding places to buy their products.

Internet Millionaire Secret #3:  Search for and grab untapped markets.  Seek out people that have not been able to have access to your product in the past.  In untapped markets, you don’t have to deal with competitors which helps keep the marketing costs down.  In addition, you will be able to establish a rapport and trust with your customers.

Internet Millionaire Secret #4:  Your backend strategy is crucial to success.
You want several profit centers that allow you to sell your products and services to more customers.  The backend part of your company supports these profit centers.  It diversifies your business so you are bringing in money through many different areas.  You can’t rely on retiring early if you only have one profit center.

Internet Millionaire Secret #5:  Try to automate as many services as possible.  This will allow you to sell services 24 hours a day 7 days a week online.  Automate your service centers to cut down on costs and help your customers at all hours of the day.

Internet Millionaire Secret #6:  Set up your business so that you are replaceable.  You can make yourself replaceable by branding.  Branding encompasses yourself or the value that you provide.  Branding yourself is lucrative, but it doesn’t allow you to take a break because you have to make every decision.  Branding your value, on the other hand, sells your expertise and not your time.

Internet Millionaire Secret #7:  Don’t work alone; build a team to support your business venture.  Create a team of marketing, business, a mentor and accountability individuals.  Remember, two heads are better than one so you can discuss ideas and strategies you have for your business.

Internet millionaires also have internal secrets.  An Internet millionaire has self confidence and believes in their product.  They are able to make decisions quickly.  They have learned the correct information and modeled others that have proven success.  They are not afraid to make a mistake and realize that their job doesn’t define who they are.  One of the most vital secrets is that Internet millionaires persevere and never give up no matter what obstacles cross their path.

Background of Password cracking

Passwords to access computer systems are usually stored, in some form, in a database in order for the system to perform password verification. To enhance the privacy of passwords, the stored password verification data is generally produced by applying a one-way function to the password, possibly in combination with other available data. For simplicity of this discussion, when the one-way function does not incorporate a secret key, other than the password, we refer to the one way function employed as a hash and its output as a hashed password. Even though functions that create hashed passwords may be cryptographically secure, possession of a hashed password provides a quick way to verify guesses for the password by applying the function to each guess, and comparing the result to the verification data. The most commonly used hash functions can be computed rapidly and the attacker can do this repeatedly with different guesses until a valid match is found, meaning the plaintext password has been recovered.

The term password cracking is typically limited to recovery of one or more plaintext passwords from hashed passwords. Password cracking requires that an attacker can gain access to a hashed password, either by reading the password verification database or intercepting a hashed password sent over an open network, or has some other way to rapidly and without limit test if a guessed password is correct. Without the hashed password, the attacker can still attempt access to the computer system in question with guessed passwords. However well designed systems limit the number of failed access attempts and can alert administrators to trace the source of the attack if that quota is exceeded. With the hashed password, the attacker can work undetected, and if the attacker has obtained several hashed passwords, the chances for cracking at least one is quite high. There are also many other ways of obtaining passwords illicitly, such as social engineering, wiretapping, keystroke logging, login spoofing, dumpster diving, timing attack, etc.. However, cracking usually designates a guessing attack.

Cracking may be combined with other techniques. For example, use of a hash-based challenge-response authentication method for password verification may provide a hashed password to an eavesdropper, who can then crack the password. A number of stronger cryptographic protocols exist that do not expose hashed-passwords during verification over a network, either by protecting them in transmission using a high-grade key, or by using a zero-knowledge password proof.

Avoiding Identity Theft

What's in a name? Possibly thousands of dollars. That's the word from law enforcement agents who say that Americans lose millions to identity theft each year.

The term "identity theft" refers to a crime in which a person steals your Social Security number or other private information. The criminal then uses that information to charge items or services on your credit or simply steal money from your bank account. The thieves often operate online, making it especially important to take precautions when surfing the Web.

A new book called "Geeks On Call Security and Privacy: 5-Minute Fixes" (Wiley, $14.95) could help you protect your identity. It offers expert advice on securing your computer as well as simple, step-by-step explanations of topics ranging from stopping viruses and spyware to backing up your data. The book explains these tips and others in detail:

Encrypt Your Computer Data

If your computer contains financial statements, credit card numbers, business documents, names and addresses of friends and family or other private information, consider using encryption software.

Social Security Numbers

Never use your Social Security number as a login on a Web site and do not give your Social Security number if an unsolicited e-mail requests it.

Avoid Automatic Logins

Some Web sites offer to save your user name and password so you can avoid the hassle of logging in over and over again. However, saving this information can make it easier for a thief to steal your identity.

Always Log Out

Before exiting an Internet account (online banking, bill pay, etc.), be sure to click the "Log Off" or "Log Out" button. This closes your session on the site and prevents someone from breaking into your account by clicking the back button on your Web browser.

Avoid Credit Card "Auto Save"

Most e-commerce Web sites allow you to store credit card numbers on their databases to make future transactions faster. Unfortunately, these databases are often targeted by hackers.

Are You Being Robbed, Without Even Knowing It?

“Would you let someone walk into your home, take whatever they wanted and leave as if nothing had happened?“

No! Of course you wouldn't. So why are you letting them do it to your website?

WARNING:

If you are using PayPal , Clickbank or a number of other payment processors for your digital downloads YOU ARE LOSING MONEY!!!

Using a simple two step operation those in the know can read your website, download your product for free (Steal it) and be gone without you even knowing a thing.

Depending on your traffic and product price, this could be costing you hundreds, even thousands of dollars a month.

“So Simple your average 12 year old can do it!“

Almost as scary is the fact that any pictures, content, links in fact anything on your website can be stolen with just two simple mouse clicks. This isn’t only available to those in the know either. It is common knowledge and is so simple your average 12 year old could and does do it, EVERY DAY.

“Where do your Emails go first?“

Did you know that your emails can go through more than four different severs before they arrive at the in box of the person you sent them to. Again with only a little know ledge it is possible to read your emails at any stage of their journey from your computer to the recipients in box.

“Would you allow these people into your home?“

Ill ask you again “Would you let someone walk into your house and take your money?”

NO?

Then why do you let them steal money from your website?

“Would you let someone walk in to you home and walk out with the contents, such as your TV set or stereo?“

NO?

Then why do you let them steal whatever content they want from your website?

“Would you let someone at the post office open your letters and read them before they were delivered to you?”

NO?

Then why do you let someone read your emails before you even receive them?

Just being aware that these things go on every day puts you ahead of the majority, who are totally oblivious to this outright theft and invasion of their privacy.

“ Don’t allow them into your website! “

Now you know, You could be losing money, you could be donating anything on your website to anyone who wants it and that your email could be read by many different people before you see them.

What are you going to do about it.?

If you are going to broadcast that you have free products available and invite people to take whatever they want from your website. What do you expect?

“ Don’t be a victim “

As with any crime, the perpetrator chooses his victim carefully. He searches for someone who looks like a victim.

 It's the same on the net. The criminals look for vulnerable websites ie Websites allowing digital downloads. They are looking for websites with nice graphics, good content and lots of keywords. Oh, did I mention, that your competition can actually steal your Keywords in a bid to get a better search engine ranking.

“ Conclusion”

Now you know what the criminals are looking for you can take the necessary measures to protect yourself.

Do you want to be a victim?

It’s up to you!

Application Security - IT Risk Management

Application Security risk assessment and risk management are vital tasks for IT managers. Corporations face increased levels of Application Security risk from hackers and cyber crooks seeking intellectual property and customer information. A comprehensive application security risk assessment is a modern day corporate necessity.

Application security risk management provides the optimal protection within the constraints of budget, law, ethics, and safety. Performing an overall Application Security risk assessment enables organizations to make wise decisions.

Web Servers - Application Security
Web Servers are One of the most critical sources of Application Security risk to organizations. Performing an application security assessment and implementing security risk management is critical. Here are core points that pose a major security risk to Application Security:

Default configuration - Application Security
Web server default configurations that may not be secure leave unnecessary samples, templates, administrative tools, etc. open to attacks. Poor application security risk management leaves security breaches for hackers to take complete control over the Web server.

Databases - Application Security
Web sites and applications must be interactive to be useful and there lies the risk... Web applications without sufficient application security allow hackers to attack their databases. Invalid input scripts leads to many of the worst database attacks. Comprehensive risk assessment may reveal steps to ensure application security.

Encryption - Application Security
Encryption reduces application security risks and losses when Web servers are breached. Even though a company's Intranet server has greater vulnerability to attacks, encryption creates a lower relative risk.

Web Servers - Application Security
Web Servers are the most critical sources of Application Security risk for most companies. Performing application security assessment regularly and implementing security risk management reduces security risk for overall application security.

Databases - Application Security
Web sites and applications must be interactive to be useful and there lies the risk... Web applications that do not perform sufficient application security validation allow hackers to attack its databases. Invalid input leads to many of the most popular attacks. Comprehensive risk assessment may reveal steps to ensure application security.

Default configuration - Application Security
Web servers default configurations often leave unsecured important information, templates and administrative tools open to attacks. Inappropriate application security risk enables hackers to gain control over the Web server and your company's Application Security. The bright side is there are powerful application security solutions to combat them.

AdvancedNetworX, Inc. completes all requirements for Cisco Systems Advanced Security Specialiation

Effective 26 February 2008

Congratulations to AdvancedNetworX, Inc. for meeting all criteria to achieve an Advanced Security.

AdvancedNetworX, Inc. has met the resource requirements for an Advanced Security and has demonstrated that it is qualified to support customers with Advanced Security in USA.

We value the commitment and expertise that AdvancedNetworX, Inc. has demonstrated and look forward to a successful partnership.

Sincerely,
Cisco Channel Specialization Team


What is Advanced Security Specialization?
"The Cisco Advanced Security Specialization recognizes partners for their knowledge and expertise in selling, designing, installing, and supporting comprehensive, integrated network security solutions. ... The focus of the specialization is on developing sales, technical, and services capabilities that distinguish partners as being among the industry’s elite in providing integrated, collaborative, adaptive security solutions." -- Cisco Systems

About AdvancedNetworX, Inc.:
At AdvancedNetworX, your business IS our business. We work closely with you to find the technology solution that best matches your needs. Then design, implement and support the solution, while exceeding expectations.

Because the quality of your business depends on the quality of your network, security and voice services, count on AdvancedNetworX to be an extension of your team. We have the knowledge and experience to keep your companys network services at 100%.

A Basic Guide To Internet Security

The internet is a wonderful place; many of us use it on a regular basis for a multitude of functions. Email helps us to keep in touch with family, and friends all over the world and most people have at least one email account. The growing use of digital cameras and camera phones means that we can send pictures at the click of a mouse. MP3 players have become increasingly popular, and we can download songs to play on them with extreme ease. All of this is great, and the internet is becoming a big part of our everyday lives.

Unfortunately, there is a downside to all of this increased use of the internet. That is the growth of the spread of viruses and other so-called ‘malware’. Originally, internet hackers were satisfied keeping their attentions focussed on government and business websites, and their viruses were intended to attack corporations. Most hackers saw this as a challenge. However, there is now an increasing trend towards home computer users being targeted by these attacks. The amount of damage that can be caused by a virus varies, but there are a number of easy steps that a person can take to help increase their internet security.

The first step to keeping your computer free from viruses is to have up-to-date antivirus software running on your computer. You need to make regular checks to ensure that your software is updated, and to scan your entire computer for viruses. There are a number of cheap, and free antivirus software programs available that provide excellent protection. You can find these by searching through your search engine for antivirus software.

The next step to maintain your internet security is to be extremely cautious about the type of files that you open, or download. The majority of viruses are actually spread through email attachments. Having these on your computer, in your inbox, is not the danger; the real danger is when you open the attachment. It may not be obvious that anything has happened when you first open the attachment containing the virus, quite often they appear blank. The damage is caused by the program that is activated within the attachment. If you do not know, and trust, the person who has sent you the attachment then delete the email.

14 Household Ways To Protect Your Computer From Viruses

Computer viruses are deadly. They often spread without any apparent contact and can be a nuisance, or even worse, fatal to your computer. Individuals who create these viruses, estimated at 10-15 new ones a day, are the electronic version of terrorists. Their goal is to inflict havoc and destruction on as many people as possible by disabling, stealing, damaging, or destroying computer and information resources. Often, they have no specific target in mind, so no one is safe. If you access the internet, share files or your computer with others, or load anything from diskettes, CDs, or DVDs onto your computer, you are vulnerable to viruses.

Fortunately, there are good guys working just as hard as the hackers to develop cures for viruses as quickly as they send them off into cyberspace. And there are many things you can do to keep your computer from catching viruses in the first place.

Defining Viruses:

A virus is a small computer program that can copy and spread itself from one computer to another, with or without the help of the user. However, viruses typically do more than just be fruitful and multiply, which is bad enough in itself because it hogs system resources. Anything else viruses are programmed to do, from displaying annoying messages to destroying files, is called their payload. Often, they cannot deliver their payload until an unsuspecting user does something to make the virus execute its programmed function. This could be as simple as clicking on an innocent looking file attachment with the .exe (executable) extension.

Catching a Virus:

Most viruses are spread through e-mail attachments because it's the easiest way to do it. Although Macintosh, Unix, and Linux systems can catch viruses, hackers are particularly keen on exploiting the security weaknesses in anything Microsoft, particularly Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. Because of the popularity of this software, hackers get maximum bang for their buck, and they probably get some satisfaction from continually reminding Microsoft that being big doesn't mean you're perfect.

Solution 1: Anti-virus Software

Your first line of defense is to install anti-virus software. To be extra safe, also install firewall software, which is now included in some anti-virus packages. This software can scan all of your drives for viruses and neutralize them. Here are some features to consider when evaluating anti-virus software.

- Compatibility with your operating system - Make sure the software works with your system, particularly if you are using an older operating system like Windows 98.

- Firewall software - If it's not included, find out if it's available. If you must, buy it from another vendor.

- Automatic background protection - This means your software will constantly scan behind the scenes for infections and neutralize them as they appear. This provides some peace of mind.

- Automatic, frequent updates - Because new viruses appear every day, you'll want regular updates. It's even better if they occur automatically when you connect to the internet. If automatic updating isn't included, you'll have to check the vendor's website and download updates yourself. This is vitally important, because you will not be protected from new viruses if your software is out of date.

- Disaster recovery - Software with a recovery utility to help you get your system back to normal after a virus attack is always good to have.

- ICSA certification - The International Computer Security Associatioin has standards for the detection rates of anti-virus software. Make sure your software has the ICSA certification.

- Technical support - It's a good idea to select a package that offers free technical support, either online or through a toll-free number. If you're ever felled by a virus, you may need it. Some anti-virus software vendors are Symantec Corporation (Norton AntiVirus), McAfee Corporation (McAfee VirusScan), Trend Micro Inc. (PC-cillin), and Zone Labs Inc. (Zone Alarm Suite).

Solution 2: The Virus Scan

If you receive a particularly juicy attachment that you're dying to open, save it on your Windows desktop and run your anti-virus software on it first. To do this, click once gently on the file on your desktop ... don't actually open it ... then right click and choose Scan with (Name of Anti-Virus Software) to activate a virus scan.

If it's infected, your anti-virus software may neutralize it, or at least tell you the attachment is too dangerous to open. On the other hand, don't feel guilty if the very thought of saving a potentially damaging file anywhere on your system is enough to quell your eagerness to open it and make you delete it immediately.

Solution 3: Delete first, ask questions later.

When in doubt about the origin of an e-mail, the best thing to do is delete it without previewing or opening it. However, some viruses, such as Klez, propagate by fishing in people's address books and sending themselves from any contact they find to another random contact. You can spread a virus just by having people in your address book, even if you don't actually e-mail them anything. They'll receive it from someone else in your address book, which really makes life confusing. Because of the proliferation of porn on the internet, e-mail viruses often tempt victims by using sexual filenames, such as nudes.exe. Don't fall for it.

Solution 4: Beware of virus hoaxes

E-mails warning you about viruses are almost always hoaxes. You may be tempted to believe them because you typically receive them from well-meaning friends, who received them from friends, etc. These e-mails themselves usually aren't viruses, but some have actually fallen into the hands of hackers who loaded them with viruses and forwarded them merrily on their way as a sick joke.

The proliferation of e-mails about virus hoaxes can become nearly as bad as a real virus. Think about it, if you obey an e-mail that tells you to forward it to everyone in your address book, and they THEY do it, and this goes on long enough, you could bring the internet to its knees. If you ever want to verify a virus warning, your anti-virus vendor may have a list of hoaxes on it website. It's in the business of providing the fixes, so it will know which viruses are real.

Solution 5: Beware of filename extensions

The extension of a filename is the three characters that come after the dot. Windows now defaults to hiding filename extensions, but it isn't a good idea. Just being able to see a suspicious extension and deleting the file before opening it can save you from a virus infection.

To see filename extensions in all your directory listings, on the Windows XP desktop, click Start button | Control Panels | Folder Options | View Tab. Clear the check box for Hide extensions of known file types. Click Apply | OK. System files will still be hidden, but you'll be able to see extensions for all the files you need to be concerned with. Viruses often live on files with these extensions - .vbs, .shs, .pif, .Ink - and they are almost never legitimately used for attachments.

Solution 6: Disable the .shs extension

One dangerous extension you can easily disable is .shs. Windows won't recognize it and will alert you before attempting to open an .shs file. The extension is usually just used for "scrap object" files created in Word and Excell when you highlight text and drag it to the desktop for pasting into other documents. If this isn't something you ever do, or you have Word and Excell 2000 or later, which allow you to have 12 items on the Clipboard, click the Start button | Control Panel | Folder Options | File Types tab. Under Registered file types, scroll down and highlight the SHS extension. Click Delete | Yes | Apply | OK.

Solution 7: Dealing with double extensions

When you turn on your extensions in Windows, you'll be able to detect viruses that piggy-back themselves onto innocent looking files with a double extension, such as happybirthday.doc.exe. NEVER trust a file with a double extension - it goes against Nature.

Solution 8: Beware of unknown .exe files

A virus is a program that must be executed to do its dirty work, so it may have an .exe extension. Unfortunately, this is the same extension used by legitimate program files. So, don't panic if you find files named Word.exe or Excel.exe on your system - they're your Microsoft software. Just don't EVER open any file with an .exe extension if you don't know what the file's purpose is.

Solution 9: Watch out for icons

Viruses in attachment files have been known to assume the shape of familiar looking icons of text or picture files, like the wolf in the hen house. If you recieve an unexpected attachment, don't open it without first running it through your anti-virus software.

Solution 10: Don't download from public newgroups

What better place for a hacker to lurk and stick his virus than in the middle of a crowd? Sooner or later, someone's bound to download it and get the virus going. Don't download files and programs from newsgroups or bulletin boards, or open attachments sent from strangers in chatrooms ("Let's exchange pictures!") without first scanning with your anti-virus software.

Solution 11: Avoid bootleg software

This may seem like a no brainer, but sometimes that tiny price tag on a popular but expensive package can be too good to resist. Resist it! Likewise, be careful about accepting application software from others. You don't know where it's been, and what may have started out as a perfectly clean package could have become infected during installation on someone else's infected computer.

Solution 12: Protect macros in MS Word, Excel, and Powerpoint

A common type of virus uses macros. Macros are sets of stored commands that users can save as shortcuts to perform long functions in just a few keystrokes. A macro virus may perform such mischief as changing file types from text files or spreadsheets into templates, locking up keyboards, and deleting files. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint come with macro virus protection. To make sure yours is activated, open each application, then click Tools menu | Macro | Security. On the Security Level tab, make sure Medium or High is selected. Clcik OK. If you are already infected with a macro virus, you may find that the steps of this procedure are unavailable becasue the virus has disabled them. In that event, run a virus scan on your system to see if your anti-virus software can kill the virus.

Solution 13: Use passwords

If you share your computer, it's a good idea to assign everyone a password. Passwords should be a combination of letters and numbers no less than eight characters long, and preferably nonsensical. Never write passwords and stick them anywhere near the computer. To assign passwords in Windows XP, click the Start button | Control Panel | User Accounts. Follow the prompts to assign/change passwords.

Solution 14: Update application software

Microsoft constantly issues patches for the security holes in its operating system and applications software. however, don't be lulled into complacency if you have Windows Update automatically checking things for you. Update checks for patches to repair bugs in the operating system, not for security problems.

To get the latest security hotfixes (as Microsoft calls them), visit www.microsoft.com and look for hotfixes for all your Microsoft software, particularly Outlook and Outlook Express.

Microsoft also has a free downloadable package called Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) that scans your system for missing hotfixes. It works with Windows 2000 and XP Home and Professional only. It doesn't support Windows 95, 98, or ME.

To download the MBSA, go to the TechNet section of the Microsoft Website. Be warned that the information is written in techie language, so you may find it daunting.

Last Words:

Now that you know some ways for avoiding and dealing with viruses, let's wrap things up with some solution you've probably heard before but have ignored.

- Back up your files regularly - If a virus crashes your sytem, you'll feel much better if you've got backup copies of all your important files. Make the backup copies on a media that's separate from the computer, such as on diskettes, CDs, or zip disks. Scan them for viruses before you put them away to make sure they aren't infected. If they are, they'll do you no good if you ever have to use them because they will just transmit the virus right back onto your computer.

- Make a boot disk - Create an emergency boot diskette before you have a problem so you can start your computer after a serious security problem To make a boot diskette with Windows XP, put a blank floppy disk in the drive. Open My Computer, then right click the floppy drive. Click Format. Under Format options, click Create an MS-DOS startup disk. Click Start. Keep the disk in a safe place. With luck, you'll never need to use it.

- Turn off you computer - DSL and cable connections that are "always on" may be convenient, but you should always turn off your computer when its not in use. Hackers can't get to a machine that's powered off.



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Women Are Changing Family Practice

Women Are Changing Family Practice

Today more than ever women are helping to change the face of family practice. There have always been more men in family practice than there have been women. For many years, women were reluctant to enter family practice because there was gender stereotyping, sexism, and difficulties of mixing and balancing both family and work. Today, women are not only becoming doctors more and more they also fill some of the seats on the board of directors.

Women in family practice are rejecting the negative stereotypes and proving that they can not only balance both family and work, they can excel at it. There are many support groups, seminars, and literature available today that encourage women to pursue careers in family practice and how to come up with a harmonious balance between the two. These are only a small part of the changing attitudes that show that people are more accepting of women running family practices whereas years ago, it may not have been so acceptable. Further, there was no help available to women at all that assisted women and gave them a place to turn to.

Until recently women have been the minority especially in family practice but as more people have showed an interest in female doctors, the demands are being filled. Many women feel much more comfortable speaking with not only a female doctor but one who has positioned herself in a family practice because there is no greater comfort zone. However, many men want to see a female doctor too, which is another reason that women and family practice fit together and are a perfect match.

Many family practice doctors are actually offering partnerships that are geared towards women doctors because they have a tendency to attract new patients. It causes a lot of work for women when they attempt to manage a family practice, balance a family, and continue to work towards furthering their careers but are able to do it. Women are actually an asset to the world of family practice and with this constant growth; it is possible to reestablish the role of family medicine practice.

Since family practice embraces health care, mainly preventative, and treats babies to seniors, many people also like the idea of having a woman ran family practice because children are more likely to take to women than men doctors. Family practices are a place that families as a whole can go for medical treatment and see the same doctor each time and continue with an ongoing medical relationship.

Times have changed since back in the day and although women have not been able to bust the glass ceiling they surely have put a few cracks in it. If women keep going and not just in family practice in particular, the glass ceiling might just disappear altogether. There is no doubt that women are changing the way that people view family practice in general. They are an asset and are going to show that they can make changes, become leaders, and change the whole concept of what a family practice really is.

‘Spoofing’, ‘Phishing’ and ‘Link Altering’ - Expensive Financial Traps

"Spoofing" or "phishing" frauds attempt to make internet users believe that they are receiving e-mail from a specific, trusted source, or that they are securely connected to a trusted web site, when that’s not the case at all, far from it. Spoofing is generally used as a means to convince individuals to divulge personal or financial information which enables the perpetrators to commit credit card/bank fraud or other forms of identity theft.

In "email spoofing" the header of an e-mail appears to originate from someone or somewhere other than the actual source. Spam distributors often use email spoofing in an attempt to get their recipients to open the message and possibly even respond to their solicitations.

"IP spoofing" is a technique used to gain unauthorized access to computers. In this instance the unscrupulous intruder sends a message to a computer with an IP address indicating that the message is coming from a trusted source.

"Link alteration" involves the altering of a return internet address of a web page that’s emailed to a consumer in order to redirect the recipient to a hacker's site rather than the legitimate site. This is accomplished by adding the hacker's ip address before the actual address in an e-mail which has a request going back to the original site. If an individual unsuspectingly receives a spoofed e-mail and proceeds to "click here to update" account information, for example, and is redirected to a site that looks exactly like a commercial site such as EBay or PayPal, there is a good chance that the individual will follow through in submitting personal and/or credit information. And that’s exactly what the hacker is counting on.

How to Protect Yourself
• If you need to update your information online, use the same procedure you've used before, or open a new browser window and type in the website address of the legitimate company's page.
• If a website’s address is unfamiliar, it's probably not authentic. Only use the address that you’ve used before, or better yet, start at the normal homepage.
• Most companies require you to log in to a secure site. Look for the lock at the bottom of your browser and "https" in front of the website address.
• If you encounter an unsolicited e-mail that requests, either directly or through a web site, for personal financial or identity information, such as Social Security number, passwords, or other identifiers, exercise extreme caution.
• Take note of the header address on the web site. Most legitimate sites will have a relatively short internet address that usually depicts the business name followed by ".com," or possibly ".org." Spoof sites are more likely to have an excessively long strong of characters in the header, with the legitimate business name somewhere in the string, or possibly not at all.
• If you have any doubts about an e-mail or website, contact the legitimate company directly. Make a copy of the questionable web site's URL address, send it to the legitimate business and ask if the request is authentic.
• Always report fraudulent or suspicious e-mail to your ISP.
• Lastly, if you've been victimized, you should file a complaints @ :http://www.kolkatapolice-cybercampaign.net/ and google docs link: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxVkalCMXPuYZjY2M2RlYjctNzkxYS00YTZjLWFmZTAtNTM4M2FmOTNmOTcw . https://twitter.com/#!/cykops

Vigilance and Security
http://www.vigilanceandsecurity.com

5 Mistakes You Might Be Making When Choosing A Password

Are you making yourself a target for fraud? More and more often I am hearing stories of people who have had their accounts hacked. They have had money stolen, lost sleep, spent hours setting up new accounts, or had their credit ruined. Don't let this happen to you.

Are you making these dangerous mistakes?

Mistake #1: Using the same password for all your accounts.

Please don't do this. Use different passwords for every email account, and definitely use unique passwords for shopping websites where you'd enter your credit card.

Mistake #2: Short passwords

The risk of someone guessing your password is increasingly difficult the more characters are in it. So, go for the gusto and make your passwords long.

Mistake #3: BradPitt, Charlie, Sarah, Princess, Barbie, Gandolf -- Did I guess it yet?

Do not use kids' names, pet's name, nicknames, names from characters in books or movies or celebrity names. Even if I didn't guess it in my list, someone who knows you could.

Mistake #4: Easy to remember English words

Easy to remember is also easy to guess. Passwords should not contain English words found in a dictionary. Non-English words or any words in any dictionary are a high risk as well. And, for goodness sakes, if your password is "password" or "test" then it's a wonder you haven't been hacked yet!

Mistake #5: Numbers are no-no's.

Seriously, stay away from birthdays, anniversaries, addresses, social security numbers or telephone numbers. They are all too easy to guess.

Choose random passwords for banking sites like PayPal. Combine letters (both uppercase and lowercase) and numbers.

If all of this sounds too hard to remember, then consider using a Password program. Most of the good password programs will not only store your passwords on your computer, but they'll generate completely random passwords when you need one.

Here are a few to try.

http://www.fgroupsoft.com/Traysafe/

http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/

http://www.treepad.com/treepadsafe/

It's never a good time to find out that someone has stolen money from you -- or locked you out of your own email account. It's a waste of your time and money. Please protect yourself.

5 Security Considerations When Coding

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!

10 Tell Tale Signs of Spyware and Adware Infection

Though there are no warning signs to indicate that spyware or adware is being installed on your system, there are several tell tale signs to alert you of their presence, once they install. I have compiled here for your convinence 10 tell tale signs that can warn you of the presence of adware or spyware on your computer. Here they are.

1. Browser change:
Frequent, unauthorized changes in your browser landing page or homepage should be a warning sign that something is going on with your computer. Your home page is the first page that you come to when you log on to your internet account.Very often, this page is the home page of your Internet Service provider (ISP), except if you changed it. If you find your home page changing frequently to pages that you do not know, there is a good chance that your system is infected by spyware or adware.

2. Busy system or modem light:
A lighted system or modem indicator is a sign of on going activity. If you are not online using your computer, the modem indicator should not come alive. A flickering modem light when no one is online is a good indication that something is going on with your computer.

3. Influx of unwanted emails:
Everyone gets a certain amount of junk mail everyday. However, a sudden spike in the number of unwanted email to your computer should be a cause for investigation. There might be sypware working behind closed doors in your computer.

4. System slow down:
Have you noticed how your speed demon suddenly slowed down to a crawl like an old witch? If it is taking more time to launch your applications and even longer to load web pages, if your Windows xp or 2000 Task manager on launch indicates almost all available resource in use, you might be dealing with a case of spyware activity.

5. Unwanted redirects:
Spyware and adware have the ability to redirect your search to web sites or pages of the choosing of the program owners. If youend up at sites and webpages that you did not search for, there is a good chance that you are being redirected by the unseen hands of spyware and adware owners.

6. Intrussive banners:
Some spyware open up your browser for an avalanche of banner displays. Very often, these banners are hard to close. A lot of times, they are replaced as quickly as you close them. Sometimes the banners are so plenty, they overwhelm your system resources.

7. Unwanted pop-ups:
Pop-ups when properly used, are a good resource to have on the web. They are used by responsible marketers to direct you to additional resources. However, pop-ups can be abused by aggressive advertisers through the use of adware or spyware. Disregarding professional marketing and advertising ethics aggressive advertisers employ adware and spyware scripts to spam your browser with unwanted and sometimes illicit offers.

Another variation is the use of personalized pop-ups. When you begin to receive multiple pop ups with your name on them, that is an idication that someone is spying on you with spyware.

8. Unknow 900 numbers:
900 number are not very common. They usually carry a charge for access. Have you noticed a spike in your phone bill with charges to 900 numbers that you do not know? You might have been spied on a spyware program owner. It is believed that spyware and adware are responsible to a certain percentage of the identity theft crime that we see and hear about often today.

9. Foreign entries in your favorite folder:
If you all of a sudden begin to see foreign items in your favorite folder, be warned. There is a good chance that someone has caused those items to appear there. It is suggested that you check your favorite folder frequently and delete unfamiliar entries.

10. Additional browser toolbars:
The presence of a toolbar that you did not install on your system, may well be another tell tale sign of spyware presence.

The average Internet user does not ordinarily fool around with toolbars. Most people are satisfied with the Internet Explorer, Yahoo and may be Google toolbars. If a toolbar looks unfamiliar to you, it probably is and should be investigated and possibly removed.

Finally, there are times when it may seem all is well. Do not rest of your oars. A good rule of thumb for living on the internet is to do your due dilligence. Be proactive. Deploy some security systems and scan your computer frequently as some spywares and adwares
operate in stealth.

Your system is your investment. Protect it.

This article is brought to you by www.allspywarefree.com

6 Tips To Secure Your Website

Most people on the internet are good, honest people. However, there are some people browsing the internet who derive fun from poking around websites and finding security holes. A few simple tips can help you secure your website in the basic ways. Now, obviously, the subject of data security is a complicated one and way beyond the scope of this column. However, I will address the very basics one should do which will alleviate many potential problems that might allow people to see things they shouldn't.

Password Protecting Directories

If you have a directory on your server which should remain private, do not depend on people to not guess the name of the directory. It is better to password protect the folder at the server level. Over 50% of websites out there are powered by Apache server, so let's look at how to password protect a directory on Apache.

Apache takes configuration commands via a file called .htaccess which sits in the directory. The commands in .htaccess have effect on that folder and any sub-folder, unless a particular sub-folder has its own .htaccess file within. To password protect a folder, Apache also uses a file called .htpasswd . This file contains the names and passwords of users granted access. The password is encrypted, so you must use the htpasswd program to create the passwords. To access it, go to the command line of your server and type htpasswd. If you receive a "command not found" error then you need to contact your system admin. Also, bear in mind that many web hosts provide web-based ways to secure a directory, so they may have things set up for you to do it that way rather than on your own. Barring this, let's continue.

Type "htpasswd -c .htpasswd myusername" where "myusername" is the username you want. You will then be asked for a password. Confirm it and the file will be created. You can double check this via FTP. Also, if the file is inside your web folder, you should move it so that it is not accessible to the public. Now, open or create your .htaccess file. Inside, include the following:

AuthUserFile /home/www/passwd/.htpasswd
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "Secure Folder"
AuthType Basic

require valid-user


On the first line, adjust the directory path to wherever your .htpasswd file is. Once this is set up, you will get a popup dialog when visiting that folder on your website. You will be required to log in to view it.

Turn Off Directory Listings

By default, any directory on your website which does not have a recognized homepage file (index.htm, index.php, default.htm, etc.) is going to instead display a listing of all the files in that folder. You might not want people to see everything you have on there. The simplest way to protect against this is to simply create a blank file, name it index.htm and then upload it to that folder. Your second option is to, again, use the .htaccess file to disable directory listing. To do so, just include the line "Options -Indexes" in the file. Now, users will get a 403 error rather than a list of files.

Remove Install Files

If you install software and scripts to your website, many times they come with installation and/or upgrade scripts. Leaving these on your server opens up a huge security problem because if somebody else is familiar with that software, they can find and run your install/upgrade scripts and thus reset your entire database, config files, etc. A well written software package will warn you to remove these items before allowing you to use the software. However, make sure this has been done. Just delete the files from your server.

Keep Up with Security Updates

Those who run software packages on their website need to keep in touch with updates and security alerts relating to that software. Not doing so can leave you wide open to hackers. In fact, many times a glaring security hole is discovered and reported and there is a lag before the creator of the software can release a patch for it. Anybody so inclined can find your site running the software and exploit the vulnerability if you do not upgrade. I myself have been burned by this a few times, having whole forums get destroyed and having to restore from backup. It happens.

Reduce Your Error Reporting Level

Speaking mainly for PHP here because that's what I work in, errors and warnings generated by PHP are, by default, printed with full information to your browser. The problem is that these errors usually contain full directory paths to the scripts in question. It gives away too much information. To alleviate this, reduce the error reporting level of PHP. You can do this in two ways. One is to adjust your php.ini file. This is the main configuration for PHP on your server. Look for the error_reporting and display_errors directives. However, if you do not have access to this file (many on shared hosting do not), you can also reduce the error reporting level using the error_reporting() function of PHP. Include this in a global file of your scripts that way it will work across the board.

Secure Your Forms

Forms open up a wide hole to your server for hackers if you do not properly code them. Since these forms are usually submitted to some script on your server, sometimes with access to your database, a form which does not provide some protection can offer a hacker direct access to all kinds of things. Keep in mind...just because you have an address field and it says "Address" in front of it does not mean you can trust people to enter their address in that field. Imagine your form is not properly coded and the script it submits to is not either. What's to stop a hacker from entering an SQL query or scripting code into that address field? With that in mind, here are a few things to do and look for:

Use MaxLength. Input fields in form can use the maxlength attribute in the HTML to limit the length of input on forms. Use this to keep people from entering WAY too much data. This will stop most people. A hacker can bypass it, so you must protect against information overrun at the script level as well.

Hide Emails If using a form-to-mail script, do not include the email address into the form itself. It defeats the point and spam spiders can still find your email address.

Use Form Validation. I won't get into a lesson on programming here, but any script which a form submits to should validate the input received. Ensure that the fields received are the fields expected. Check that the incoming data is of reasonable and expected length and of the proper format (in the case of emails, phones, zips, etc.).

Avoid SQL Injection. A full lesson on SQL injection can be reserved for another article, however the basics is that form input is allowed to be inserted directly into an SQL query without validation and, thus, giving a hacker the ability to execute SQL queries via your web form. To avoid this, always check the data type of incoming data (numbers, strings, etc.), run adequate form validation per above, and write queries in such a way that a hacker cannot insert anything into the form which would make the query do something other than you intend.

Conclusion

Website security is a rather involved subject and it get a LOT more technical than this. However, I have given you a basic primer on some of the easier things you can do on your website to alleviate the majority of threats to your website.

What is ‘DIP?’

The IP address is dedicated for a specific purpose such as, in communications a dedicated channel is a line reserved exclusively for one type of communication. The same is true for private line or leased line/s.

Security is very good with Dedicated IP’S. This is the reason ‘NOT’ Shared. The response time is ‘Much Faster.’

In a sense as well, downloading is Much Faster even if you don’t optimize your HTML when you publish your web site to the server. And anyone that downloads at all via computer.

In addition to the stated above, ‘Not’ all servers are used for the same specific purpose. Here are a few examples – Web Server, File Server, Mail Server, DNS Server, and Printing Server. The Operating System for the server/s can be all of the above or specifically for one type of Server and/or many different applications.

Although, some Servers otherwise are ‘Shared or General Servers.’

The Web Hosting Company or Service/s that host accounts may offer and include Dedicated IP/S with their SSL (Secure Layer Sockets) Certificates. The SSL’s are in different strengths (bits – like 128bits – 256bits) and can be renewed on an annual basis. The SSL/S is encryption for your security when you shop or login your information to your account/s.

How do you know if the web site is secure? The easiest way is to look for the Lock in your tray and make sure it is locked ‘Not’ unlocked. Here is another couple of way to make sure your information is secure. Look for this in your address bar https. And look for the SSL certificate located on the web page. You can click it for more information, such as validation dates and more general information for your security and authentication.

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Family Practices and Medical Malpractice

So many people have filed medical malpractice lawsuits against their doctors that is has affected and had serious implications for family practice doctors in particular. Patients have sued their doctors mainly for lack of or a delay in proper diagnosis, maternity practices, negligence in trauma care, handling issues in a time conscious manner, providing care without consent, and failure to refer out patients who require specialized treatments.

Most of the malpractice cases stem from a failure to diagnosis a condition that is already existent. Sometimes this lack of diagnosis comes from the family practice doctors who are under extreme stress. The biggest problem that results from this is the lack of identifying it in the first place. Family practice doctors work chaotic schedules that are extremely conflicting and have been viewed as almost superhuman. Recently, the dust has settled and now researchers are seeing that super humans do not exist and it is possible that many medical malpractice lawsuits can be avoided by not expecting superhuman behavior.

Most of the time family practice physicians are treated by other doctors for stress related issues. Stress is said to have contributed greatly to the decline of the health and well being of all people and family practice doctors as well as doctors in general are not falling short of that assumption. Doctors can become depressed and exhausted which inadvertently will affect their profession. There have been several indications and accusations where doctors were sued because of negligence that resulted from stress related error.

Several programs are since rising to the forefront to assist family practice doctors but not limited to in reducing the amount of stress that they are facing hence, reducing the amount of error causing medical malpractice to soar. These programs are intended to improve a doctors physical and emotional well being, enhance job performance, and their personal satisfaction.

Family practice doctors that experience medical malpractice have a very difficult time obtaining further coverage, affording insurance, and the overall stress that the doctor suffers from the litigation itself can be traumatizing. Family practice doctors are sometimes holding a two sided sword. One side is the obligation to the patient to pursue their needs and the other is dealing with managed health care plans/ AKA insurance companies.

Even in cases where the family practice doctor may not be all at fault, many times they are still held accountable over the managed health care plans, unjustly. If a doctor prescribes a medication that he believes to be the best drug of choice for a particular condition and the insurance company will not cover that as their first choice drug, which is at fault? The doctor is the person who interacted with the patient and should be allowed to prescribe what he feels in his expert opinion would be the best choice. If you took your car to a mechanic and he diagnosed it with needing a new carburetor, you surely wouldn't go across the street and have them fix the brakes. It is just common sense.

Goodwill in Family Practice Success

Goodwill is not just the name of a well known charity. Goodwill, in terms of valuing a medical facility or other business, is an important, intangible asset that can play a huge part in the success of a family practice.

We've all seen them. They're the person at the business that everyone enjoys seeing. The one person patients at a family practice may stop by to chat with even when they aren't ill. They are well liked, well respected and well known in the community. Sometimes they have enough personality and charisma to make up for the office crankpot or employees who tend to be rude. Often they are the principle force in the business as well as the driving force in the success of the business.

What is goodwill? Some professional appraisers define it as an overall talent, attitude or condition. It includes the ability to interact very well with people, to attract and hold clients and is usually part of the makeup of respected, well known members of a community.

Family practices can have practice goodwill attached to them. Practice goodwill is a term used to describe a professional entity that bears the same characteristics as someone with professional goodwill.

Practice goodwill is defined by several family practice characteristics including excellent location, a respected reputation, and often is applied to a business that has been operating for some time. Practice goodwill isn't created overnight. It takes time to build a relationship with the community, with patients and with other professionals. Once developed, practice goodwill is an excellent characteristic for a family practice to have and one that directly affects the bottom line.

If the family practice is one of goodwill, patients are more likely to tell others about the clinic in a good way, other physicians are more likely to refer patients and to speak well of the practice, as are general professionals. The location of the practice is good if not ideal.

Professional goodwill is a characteristic demonstrated by one or more family practice staff members. Many different talents and skills and circumstances can affect professional goodwill. Most staff members who possess goodwill in a way that actually increases the value of the family practice get along well with everyone inside and outside the clinic. They have a good reputation and are considered trustworthy and reliable in the practice and in the community.

Goodwill can rarely be measured in dollars and cents. It is measurable in that if it were to disappear, the family practice would suffer. Family practice clinics that do their best to hire the type of employees who generate goodwill will go farther and last longer in the community.

Practice goodwill can be developed as can professional goodwill. Smart clinic administrators recognize the value of goodwill both in the practice and professionally in staff members. Hiring staff members who appear to be able to develop goodwill characteristics or who have already demonstrated them can be good for office morale and for the bottom line.

How The Game of Hockey is Played

Hockey is a sport that is physically demanding and is popular in areas that are significantly cold such as Canada, United States, Russia, and some parts of Europe like Norway, Sweden, and Scandinavia. The game consists of 22 players that are rotated in at 6 players at a time. The game is played in a 3 20 minute periods and overtime is played in 20 minute periods until a goal is made by either side and this applies if it's a tied game at the last period and this is one way to break a tie to end a game-as of the late ties are no longer allowed in the NHL.

The game itself has modified itself over the time since its conception with the establishment of strict regulations and like it was back in Europe where the referee was in the audience instead of on the field where today the referee is actually on the ice with the players skating back and forth and they have 2 of them on the ice to watch the players and confer calls between themselves and the league officials who are watching from the sidelines as well. The league behavior of the past and today is way different because the regulations are much more organized and this time they added the penalty box which means a player that's committed a move on the ice or some play that wasn't a part of the league-mandated rule book is kicked off the ice and have to sit out the rest of the period or game depending on what the referee decides.

If players are called too many times it can result in penalty shots, which can give points to the rival team. The game has really taken a turn in the years with players becoming really aggressive and to the point that they're actually fighting on the ice which says a lot about how the first real hockey players played since they had up to 30 people per team which is less than the number on today's NHL teams The way hockey is played today is amazing because you see fights that take place on the ice between fellow players and rival players and sometimes the referee will end up in the middle of the brawls that happens on the ice because they're busy trying to break them up because some of the brawls can get bloody because they usually have fist fights because it would be assault with a weapon if they used a stick or even their helmets. Many hockey players have fought so bad they actually broke the protective glass at rink side from them hitting it so hard when they're busy going at it like children on the playground.

This is the reality of hockey in today's world, which can result in serious injuries, which are mostly cuts and bruises from the constant fist fighting on the ice. The fights can result from calls the players feel are unfair and fall in favor with the other team or even a rival player taunting them in some way which can cause them to be angry and combative. Most players are usually sent to the locker room to cool their tempers off so they aren't so riled up to fight. Hockey is such a high-energy game that anyone can get angry very quick and fast. It's usually hard not to get angry, but when it comes to the referee that's a whole separate ballgame. When it comes to the game of hockey it's like chess your motive is to shoot goals.

Hockey Players And The Groupies Who Chase Them

When hockey players first start off in the NHL they're pulled in many different directions since they're making all this money and have no idea that the kind of friends they're dealing with are people that are not the kind of people you want around. This goes into the kind of women who end up trapping a lot of hockey players and many of them are addressed as "Puck Bunnies" these are what you call hockey's term for groupies. Many pro athletes are the prime target of these kinds of females who are more interested in them for the financial and sexual aspect. Many of the athletes who are married or dating are with women who started off as groupies. Most of them are young girls 18-25 and most of them are not really educated because women who are educated would not settle for the role of a side dish.

These kinds of women will hang out near the locker room or try to get seats on the ground floor so they're accessible to the players. Most of the time these women are just looking for something to brag about. Many of them discuss their sexual escapades with professional athletes as if it's some kind of game to them. Some of those games include getting pregnant by the players and then attempting to latch on to them by demanding child support and maintenance because to them a couple grand or more a month is more than what most normal women who are not involved with someone famous gets for child support.

Classic example of a groupie of one woman who carried on an affair with Michael Jordan, but she tried to pin a child on him which later proved wasn't his because she had 3 kids and all of them had different fathers who played in the NBA on different teams. Women will resort to this kind of behavior and then when the athlete is tired of them he casually disposes of them like a used Kleenex because most of these players only see them as a sexual conquest. This is why the leagues have gotten together to do in-service meetings with new and some players who have been there at least 2 years about how to conduct themselves since coaches see a lot of good players get burned by these women who are not even worth bothering themselves with.

The hard thing is that team management can only provide the players with tools to exercise caution and to know how to spot women that are like that and know how to avoid them, but you have those athletes who's egos get them into trouble. When the coaches and team management tell these rookie players what the deal is they're telling them how to avoid getting caught up with females who's goal is to get a baby and some money since they don't really care about the athletes in general they just want to say they've been with one it's more about the status and bragging rights. Most athletes who have a close connection with trusted family and friends will more likely stay on the right track and keeps their head in the right place as well because many players get caught up and wonder later how they even got there in the first place. Many athletes have said publicly that they regret messing around with groupies because of the problems they bring when they're dragged through the mud with court hearings and other legal things and most of the time the groupies find it entertaining to drag an athlete through a lot of drama and stress.