Spyware Gate

Spyware can cause you financial ruin …

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:49:45 +0000

When it comes to the internet, there are many threats that you have to worry about. But some threats are worse than others. While some of the online threats may ruin your computer, others may ruin your life. A big part of who we are is tied up in our financial well being. If anything happens to that, then it can really mess our status up. And if we have kids or a spouse, then the stakes get even bigger. There are some online scams that try to copy your financial identity and make it theirs. They have no idea of the true damage that a stunt like that can cause. They believe that it will be all cleared up by the credit card company and that the person will be reimbursed. Sometimes life is not that easy. In this article we will let you how spyware can take over your life and ruin it.

There are many types of spyware

When you are talking about spyware, you are talking about one of the many different types of vulnerabilities that are out there. The definition of spyware is any software that stays on your computer and monitors what you do on it. There is a wide range of software that acts like this. But the spyware that can really hurt you is the type that will stay on your computer and read the keys as you are pushing them. This is known as a keylogger and it is one of the worse types of spyware that you can have on your system. It will take a record of the keys that you push on the computer for a set amount of time. After the time has expired, it will then connect to a server the next time that you are on the internet and deliver the information to that server. Once the server has that information, someone will go through and try to see if they can find anything valuable in it.

After the value is found

Once the crooks are able to discover something of value in the data that they have stolen, they will either use it themselves or they will sell it. In most cases they will sell the information to the highest bidder. That is when you can start to see trouble. If they have found credit card numbers in the data, they can use that data and create fake cards and use it to purchase items. They will then sell these items and collect the money for themselves. They do not even need to find credit card numbers to be able to hurt you. If they find enough information about you in the data that they shifted through, they can then use that information to open up accounts in your name. There have been many cases where people have opened up entire home loans in someone else’s name. Once that happens then you know that your financial situation can be ruined for some time to come.

If you want to make sure that spyware is not able to infect your computer then you should make sure that you have the right tools installed on your system. The right antivirus plus antispyware software will make sure that your computer stays clean.

Can your computer become infected with a virus by data from your moblie phone?

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 08:47:16 +0000

I think that most people who have a smart phone are enjoying the power that it gives them when they are mobile. Just a few years ago, if you wanted to do some of the things that you can now do on a smart phone then you would have to drag a laptop around with you. With the new smart phones that are on the market, that is no longer the case. The devices are like mini computers. But some people wonder if that can have a negative effect as well. Are the fact that the phone are like mini computers lead to them infecting the normal computers that you have in the household? We will take a look at it and see if there is anything that you have to worry about.

Do you have to worry?

The short answer is No; you do not have to worry about a virus infecting both your smart phone and your computer. The two devices run on different kind of hardware and making software that could affect both would be very hard. You would have to target both platforms. And the software would have to have a custom compiler that compiled into both platforms as well. Most phones CPU’s are based on the ARM model while most computers are based on the intel x86 model. When you are creating a program to use on a smart phone on your computer, you have to run an emulator to see how it works. The program will not run natively on the machine. A virus is nothing more than a piece of bad software program so if a normal program cannot run on the machine then a virus can’t either.

A more extensive answer is that even though a piece of malware cannot run on both machines, it does not mean that your computer cannot pick one up from the phone. Most smart phones are able to hold data in a storage area. This data can be transferred to both a computer and other smart phones. For example, an MP3 or an Excel spreadsheet is data that is usually shared between the two. While a compiled program cannot run on both machines, the data can be shared. So if you transfer a file that has a virus that was made for a computer onto your system, then there is a chance that you will become infected.

Scan your data

This is why you should scan all of the data that you get from your smart phone before you run it on your computer. You never know what can be hiding on the files. Just like you would scan new data from an email or some that was downloaded from the internet, you must do the same for data that is on your smart phone.

Three signs that your computer may have some form of malware in it

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:41:23 +0000

Some people will be able to escape having their system infected with a piece of malware of some kind. But for the majority of the people who have a computer, some type of malware on it is a way of life at some point in your computing experience. No one is protected forever. There are so many layers of software on the computer that it is almost impossible to protect each one completely. If you protect the operating system layer, then you are going to miss holes in the application layer. If you protect the holes that are in the application layer, then you are going to miss the holes that are in the web layer. This is why you must keep software on your computer that will help fight these threats. Antivirus as well as anti spyware products will try their best to keep the threats from coming through. But most of the protection that these tools offer is reactionary. That means that the threat is created and then passed around first. After it is passed and has infected several thousands of people then the antivirus vendor finds a way to stop it. This is why you must keep your antivirus software updated at all times. But what happens if your system is one of the unlucky few that get hit by a new piece of malware before anyone knows that it is a threat? How can you tell that it is on there? We hope to answer that in this article.

Your normal operations seem off somehow

The first step in being able to tell if your computer may have been hit by a virus is by the way that the system runs. If you are person that uses their computer a lot then you most likely can tell when something is off. Even though a computer is a very fast machine, you get used to the speed quickly and you can normally tell if something is not quite right. This is usually a sign that something is running in the background. If you know that you have not turned on any programs that could cause a slowdown, especially if you do not see anything running, then you might have a problem. Turn off the computer so that you can reboot and see if the results are the same. If you still a feel a certain slow down on the system, then the best advice is to run an updated antivirus scan quickly.

The internet activity is a lot more than normal

If you do not feel a slow down on your computer, there are still other ways that you can tell if your computer has something running that shouldn’t be. Another way to tell is if your internet light on the router is going crazy. Before you become paranoid, you should know that there is always activity between your computer, the router, and the ISP where you get your internet even when you are not using a browser. And you might have other applications open besides the browser that use the internet. This includes applications such as your Instant Messenger client. So turn all of these off and if you still see a high amount of activity then do a scan with your antivirus.

Last sign

If any of your online accounts have been compromised, such as email, then there is a good chance that someone got that information off of your computer. Do a scan to check and make sure everything is OK.

Keep aware of the operations on your computer to make sure that everything is running smoothly.

You not only have to update your antivirus, you have to upgrade it as well

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 08:58:28 +0000

All software must be upgraded, even your antivirus. When a person or a company creates software, they usually know that it is going to have to be upgraded in the future. So they work with technology that will allow them to easily do this. There are several reasons why a company must upgrade their software. The most common reason is because of the fact that they have made serious improvements to the software that warrants a new release. Also they might have you upgrade the software because there was a problem in the previous version that they could not address without you doing a brand new install. No matter the reason, you should always upgrade your software, especially your antivirus software.

Some people will confuse the fact that they updated their antivirus with upgrading their antivirus. When you update the software it just means that you are being fed new virus definitions to scoop out threats with. Upgrading means that you are installing a new version of the software. Updating your antivirus is always a good thing, especially when there are new attacks set loose upon the public every day. New updates seek to have the user’s antivirus be able to protect them whenever a new threat occurs. But an upgrade can make that protection even more efficient. Some upgrades will offer a speed improvement; others may offer better scanning of the latest antivirus. Other upgrades may include the fact that they can update you on a faster basis. No matter the reason for the upgrade, it is something that you should do and get in the habit of doing.

If you are a user of a paid version of a particular antivirus software, then you might have to pay for the new upgrade. If you want to be sure that you are getting the very best in protection then you should really think about paying the cost. Sure, in most cases you will still be able to download the updates for the latest antivirus definitions. But if you do not upgrade then you will still be missing the improved protection that the people who upgraded are sure to get. And when you are surfing the web, every little piece of protection really matters.

There are some things that you may have to worry about when an upgrade cycle comes around. You have to realize, when you are upgrading a piece of software, you are pretty much putting a new version of the software on the computer. This new version has the potential to go wrong. It may even conflict with something in the system that it didn’t before. This is especially true if you have an older version of the operating system. So before you upgrade the software, make sure that you have read the instructions and you have everything that is needed on a system that runs that particular software.

When you are running an antivirus on the system that you are using, it is a good idea to make sure that you are part of the upgrade cycle of that software. This will allow you to always have the latest in protection against the threats on the internet.

Protect Windows 7 from Flash exploits

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:56:00 +0000

If you are a Windows 7 user then you are protected from a lot of the threats that exist on the internet. But like all technology that involves a large code base, there are still threats and holes in the software that will be found and used against the average user. The main thing that you really have to worry about on the latest systems is holes coming from software that you installed on the computer. Even though the operating system itself may be more secured does not mean that the programs that run on it are secured as well. One of the seemingly biggest threats when it comes to this is the Adobe created software, Flash.

When you are running flash on your system, sometimes you can be exposed to threats that may pop up. Adobe is usually pretty good in closing off the threats as soon as they appear but that means that people have to download the upgrade to Flash so that their system will not be affected. So this is the first thing that you can do to protect your system from exploits that come from having Flash installed. Make sure that you check to see if there are any new threats that you have to worry about. You can usually find this information out by going to a tech news web site such as CNET. If there are any new threats, then make sure that you visit the Adobe web site and download the fix from there.

Another way that you can avoid Flash compromising you system is to use software that will block Flash from running unless you tell it to. If you are running either the Firefox browser or Chrome, you can add extensions that will block Flash from running on a web site unless you give it permission to do so. This means that if you trust the site that you are on, you can allow it to run the Flash that they may have installed on the site. If you are on a site that you have never visited before, then keep Flash block running until you are comfortable with the site. This may take several visits so do not rush it.

The last thing that you can do as a Windows user to avoid having Flash create a problem on your system is to update Windows itself. Usually when there is a hole found in the Adobe software, Microsoft will either offer the newly patched Flash software themselves or they will fix the hole that the vulnerability is taking advantage of. So to keep yourself protected from the threats, all you have to do is what you should be doing in the first place and that is keeping up with the latest updates from Microsoft. Keeping up with these updates will not only secure your from Flash threats, it will also protect you from many numerous other threats out there as well.

So if you are going to run Flash on your system, then you must be prepared for the threats that are there. With these three methods, you will be prepared for whatever comes your way.

It’s up to you, not the operating system, to stop phising attacks

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:54:46 +0000

For a long time, there has been a debate on which operating system was the best in regards to security. Some people would argue that Linux was the best. Others would argue that Os X was the best and was prettier to look at than Linux. Even recently, Microsoft has been able to boast about the newest security features available in Windows 7. But the fact is the operating system is only part of the battle when it comes to the security of your system. The other part of the battle to keeping your computer cleaned from infestation is the programs that you run and you the user. We will not go too much into the programs that you run in this article but we will talk about things that you the user can do to prevent security mishaps from happening to your system.

As a computer user in the new informational age, you must be more aware of the places that you visit on the internet. Most people are not aware of the dangers that can come to them when they visit a rogue web site. That is okay, you are not expected to be a security expert. But if you take the time to learn what to avoid when you get to a web site, then 90% of the threats that are out there can be avoided.

The first thing that you can do is to make sure that you are on the page that you are supposed to be on. One of the biggest attacks that happen on the internet is phising attacks. This is when you a visit a site that looks like a normal site that you would visit but it is actually a fake. A good example of web sites that people will set up a fake version of are Banking web sites. These sites are set to trap unsuspecting users. There is an easy way to avoid this happening to you. You can look at the URL of the site that you are at and make sure that it is the place that you are supposed to be. You check the URL in the address bar at the top of your browser. For example if you’re supposed to be at Google.com but the address bar says fromsdGsoogle.com, then you are on the wrong web site. Some people use Google as their way to surf the web but you are really supposed to use the address bar. Checking the URL will help stop you from being caught up in most phising attacks.

Another thing that you can do to help your security while on the computer is to not trust any download that comes your way. Black hat hackers have the ability to take over even your friend’s accounts on either social media web sites or their email. So do not trust anything that you have to download. You can go ahead and download it but you must scan it right after. Scan it with an updated antivirus. You should always have an updated antivirus installed on your computer for this purpose. If not, then you could be in real trouble.

These are only a few of the many ways that you can help secure yourself and your computer from malicious attacks. The biggest point is that you should use common sense when you are surfing the internet.

How hackers can use your web cam to invade your privacy

Tue, 25 May 2010 15:02:33 +0000

There is a famous saying, everyone gets a least 15 minutes of fame. But with the internet, that rule has been turned on its head. We all have a chance to be known now. With all of the media that we are able to create with our computers, your voice can easily be heard by the masses. There have been many people that have become overnight stars with the use of YouTube. The good way that we are able to become known over the internet is through the use of web cams. Web cam technology allows people to get a little look at our world. But if you are not careful with web cams, then they can offer people more of a look of your world than you intended them to see. That little gadget that allowed you to be social with people from around the world can be the same thing that destroys your privacy and leaves you more exposed to the public eye more than you would have liked.

This has happened to many people before. They have their web cam connected to a computer and chat through an instant messenger service like Yahoo or AOL. They then visit a web site where they are asked to download something. They download and install this program and nothing seems to happen. So the person decides that the program is no good and they forget about it. What that person does not know is that the program did work. The purpose of the program was to turn on your web cam and give whoever is controlling the program a free peak into your lifestyle. They then are able to record what you do without you knowing. All aspects of your life can now be put up to public scrutiny.

This type of prank has been around for a long time. Even though the protection software for these cameras is better than it used to be, these types of attacks still happen. Some of the attacks are done by kids who just want to get a free peep show. Other attacks are done by bad guys who want to be able to find out information so they can blackmail you with it. This means that if they catch you nude or doing something wrong on camera, they will threaten to release the video unless they are given money. This is not a fun thing for anyone to go through but it does happen.

If you are a person who likes to use their web cam a lot, you must check to see if it is on even after you turned it off. Make sure that there is nothing funny going on with it. Also you must make sure that you keep your computer secure. A good antivirus will be able to pick up if there are any of these types of programs trying to load onto your computer. Overall, if you keep your computer secure then you should not have to worry about your web cam.

Keep your data safe using Truecrypt on Windows

Fri, 21 May 2010 08:51:25 +0000

Even though everyone may think about security when they use the computer, they may not know the best way to achieve it. Most people have not studied computer science or computer security for a living. They do not understand the many things that it takes to secure the whole of your computer. When they see their system, all they know is that they are able to hit the letters on a keyboard and all of the sudden the information pops up on the screen. Computer operating system makers make it so that the average person is not exposed to the many layers that really go into making your modern day computer. So the average person will rely on what experts tell them is a good way to secure their system. They will hear about malware, antiviruses, pop up blockers, and other things of that nature. But the one thing that they will rarely hear about is encryption. This is not a good thing because one of the best ways to secure your system is to use encryption on it. In this article, we will describe encryption and what are the best programs to use to be able to encrypt your system.

When people talk about encryption, they are usually using a general term that underscores many different techniques to accomplish similar goals. There is no single way to encrypt a file. There have been many arguments on which encryption type is the best. We are not here to argue that. You can look more into it at a later date and decide for yourself which one is the best to use. What we are here for is to give you a brief overview of encryption and how to use it on your system. Encryption is simply the organized obfuscation of data on your computer. A simple way to think about encryption is this way, if you have a code “abcde” and you use “12345″ to represent it, you have used a very, very basic form of encryption. The number 1 is represents a, 2 is representing b, 3 is representing c, and so on. Computers are able to use encryption to protect their data in a similar manner but it is a whole lot more complex than what we have shown here.

If you are interested in encrypting files on your computer and do not want anyone to be able to access it without your permission, you can use a program that is called Truecrypt. It will allow you to easily set up a folder that will encrypt all of the data that you put in there. It can also encrypt entire drives of your computer as well. If you have a drive that you do not want anyone to be able to get into, then using Truecrypt will help that.

If you think that you would like to use encryption to protect your files in Windows, then the Truecrypt program is a good way to go.

Catching a virus from a hardware install disk can happen, here’s how to avoid it

Thu, 20 May 2010 08:49:00 +0000

We allow many things to access our computers these days. From the data that flows to our system from the internet, to the data that comes into our system from a USB disk or DVD, there are many ways that corrupted malware has a chance of entering our machine. We are used to hearing about programs from the internet being installed into our system and doing damage. This is the chance that we take when we hook up to the internet and install programs from a web site. That is why there are so many programs that are out there that will help you protect your system from intruders that may be able to access you through the internet. What about the other way that we may be able to pick up an infection on our system? There is more than one way that we install programs into our computer. Whenever we install a new piece of hardware onto the computer, we install new software as well. This may come in the form of a program that helps control the hardware or a .sys file that gives the hardware access to the operating system. It may not be as popular a topic but this is also a way that people are able to compromise your computer.

If you are running a new piece of hardware, when you install any programs that come with the hardware, you will want to scan it with an antivirus program. People who do not think twice about scanning a new program that is downloaded from the internet are hesitant to scan a program that is on a DVD disk. You should not trust anyone 100% with the safety of your data. We are not telling you to be paranoid but you should be highly aware of anything that you put on your computer. Installing a program, no matter if it is on a disk or off of the internet can change the way that your computer works completely. Make sure that it does not take you by surprise.

Even though we think of most malware as coming from the software side of things that is not the only place that corrupted code is able to hide. There is hardware out there that has malware hard coded into it. This is especially true in cheap hardware that you get from third world countries. Hardware such as cheap MP3 players and electronic picture frames may have malware hard coded into it. There have been many reported cases of someone’s computer becoming infected by just plugging in one of these pieces of hardware to the USB slot of their machine. Not all cheap hardware is capable of this but there is a lot that is. Before you install cheap hardware of a dubious nature, make sure that you do a search on the internet for it. Check to see if anyone else is having problems with the hardware. If they are, you will usually hear about it very quickly.

Catching a virus from hardware install disk or the hardware itself is not uncommon. Make sure you are aware of this fact when you are using these types of products.

Three folders in Windows 7 where viruses like to hide at

Wed, 19 May 2010 08:46:25 +0000

When we use our computer on the internet, we are allowing it to potentially be infested by one of the many dangers that float around on the World Wide Web. So to try and prevent that, we set up programs on our system that are supposed to seek out and stop dangers such as this. But even the latest updated antivirus will not be able to stop every danger that may be out there. This is why it is a good thing for you to know which part of your Window 7 system is a place where an infection or potential infection is most likely to hide. This way if anything strange happens to your computer and you are at a lost as to what is going on, you can check these areas to see if they are clean or not.

The first folder that you want to take a look at in your Windows 7 system is the “Downloads” folder of the computer. If you have downloaded anything to the system, then you know that by default it ends up here. So there is a good chance that anything that may be harming your system originated from this folder. Luckily for you, if the file is still in this folder and you have not accessed it beforehand, then there is a good chance that the infection can be easily removed. Programs usually have to have some sort of interaction to be installed. The method that this occurs is usually by double clicking on an .exe file. On rare occasions, a program can activate without any interaction at all. If the program in this folder is doing that, then deleting the .exe in the folder should get rid of all of your problems.

Another folder that infections like to hide in is the “Programs Files” folder. Whenever you install a new program, the .exe and other files by default are put in this folder. Many virus and other malware writers will rarely put their infections in this folder but some do and that makes it a good place to look. Or if they do put the files and .exe in this folder, then they will place it under a different name. So if you see anything in this folder that seems off and your computer is acting funny, then go online and Google some of the folders that you do not recognize. They may be your problem.

The last folder that you should check is the actual Windows folder. This is where the heart of your operating system is at. You should only access this folder if you know what you are doing. If you have never been in this folder before, then do not go in it now. Only go in if you are familiar with the files that are in this folder. If you are familiar and you see a strange name that you haven’t seen before, then it is again time to check Google.

Even if you know where to look at, you are still going to need a program that will able to analyze the files in the folders to see whether they are good or not. To do this, you can use an online virus scanner to help you out. Viruses can be tricky things; it helps to know where they may be hiding at.