Posted by Ivan Petrov on Aug 27, 2009 | 1 comment
Back in the early days of the Internet, which of course in the grand scheme of things was very recent, you can be sure that your personal online security was not something that was even remotely considered. As such we are now in the situation where it is incredibly easy to steal information from people online, in fact half the time people are just giving it away for free!
Every computer on the Internet is given its own unique number, its IP address, which allows it to be located amongst the millions of connected devices. What does this IP address reveal about you? How is it used?
Different sites will use your IP address in different ways; it can be used to ensure you see information relevant to your location, or for restricting your access to certain sites, such as gambling sites from US customers or the BBC iPlayer service from those outside the UK. Such activities, though often annoying, are not actually going to harm you. Your IP address can however be used for much more sinister activities.
Finding out simple things like what browser and applications you are using or what operating system you have installed can be done by anybody. Those in the know though will be able to do much more, they will be able to locate your country, city, street even exact house number.
However most criminals are not that interested in your physical location, not when they can do so much more remotely! Through knowing your IP address they can directly connect to your computer, harness any one of thousands of backdoors and security loopholes with the applications you have installed and steal information directly from you. Things like your bank logins, credit card details even simple things like your Facebook logins can be used by criminals for any purpose they see fit.
So while traditionally people have been happy to install ‘anti-virus’ packages it is only recently that they have considered installing software to hide their identity online. Those who use the Internet for any form of banking or sensitive applications would be foolish not to invest in such a service. Packages like
Identity Cloaker are the best you can get for protecting your IP address online, as not only do they hide you IP but they encrypt your data too.
You lock your windows, you lock your front door, so don’t leave your computer open.
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Posted by Ivan Petrov on Aug 23, 2009 | 0 comments
Are you aware that everything you do on the Internet can be tracked right back to your computer through the use of your Internet Protocol (IP) address, which is a code assigned to your by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). This address is unique to you and your connection, at any one time nobody else will be using the same IP address anywhere in the world and logs are kept of who is using what IP address and when they used it. You may already know about your IP address and are doing your best to protect yourself by using a proxy server. A correctly configured proxy server will appear on the Internet to be just another user, even though in reality there could be thousands of people behind it. While it will be possible to track you back as far as the proxy server it will be impossible to go any further.
That is assuming it is a correctly configured proxy server and not one run by a malicious webmaster intent on harvesting as much information as possible! You see when you use a proxy server you are putting a lot of faith in the people running it, and how well do you really know them? Probably not well at all, I will highlight some of the issues and how you can best avoid them.
Firstly how is your data sent? Most public proxy servers work without encryption, this means that any data you send through the proxy server is sent ‘as is’ so if you are typing in your bank login details and password then those will go through the proxy server. So be sure to never visit any sites which require your personal information while using a proxy. This includes your credit card details, so don’t go buying anything over an unencrypted public proxy, if you do you might just as well advertise your card details in the local newspaper.
It is not just criminals and hackers who use the information from proxies, you might be quite surprised how many large companies use such a method for market research. If a big retailer sets up an open proxy they can analyse the information going through it, track your buying history and tailor specific marketing campaigns directly at you. This might seem a bit extreme, but it is only an extension of the existing loyalty card scheme, I presume you know that your supermarket loyalty card only exists so they can track your spending patterns?
Next go read through the proxy sites ‘Terms and Conditions’ as well as their ‘Privacy Policy’, if you don’t like something or feel even the slightest level of suspicion move on! If at all possible choose a proxy which has a good reputation, one that IT experts use and that has a reputation for being safe.
If you are using a public proxy it should be exactly that, completely public, they should not require you to signup, to provide details of any kind. Obviously this does not apply to private proxies where you are paying for a premium service, however still the information a private proxy should collect is no more than that which is needed to bill you for their services.
If you consider your online security to have any value consider using a premium proxy service for
cloaking your IP address, preferably one which operates with the highest levels of encryption available and which wipes all server logs so there is no record of even your encrypted activities. There are many proxy options available, but in truth very few which are actually worth using!
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Posted by Ivan Petrov on Aug 21, 2009 | 0 comments
I am going to teach you something today, and this is just for your information there is no need to actually try this out. You promise you will not?
OK, really I will not be held responsible for what you do with this information, if you lose your job or get expelled from school that is your fault!
Have you ever been in the office, at school or at a public computer terminal and found your access to a certain site is blocked? Perhaps you wanted to check your Facebook page, or send a couple of Tweets but the page just would not load. Chances are you were behind a restrictive proxy server or firewall which is specifically configured to block your access. You may have already read that you can use a public proxy, or online proxy, to bypass this proxy or firewall. While it is true in some cases this might work, any IT department worth its salt will have blocked this option already.
All is not lost however as there is a very neat feature in a rather unique bit of software that might just help you out here, and let you bypass the proxy server or firewall that is blocking you. Unlike online proxies and other proxy software packages
Identity Cloaker does not require any installation on the computer you are using it on. You can keep the program on a USB stick, or even email it to yourself and run it from your home drive. Once running the program’s unique way of working will allow it to walk right through many Firewalls and give you a nice open connection to the Internet to do with as you please.
Now it is possible, if you have a good IT department, your activities will be seen, however it would still be impossible to see what you were actually doing as all the data is encrypted.
Identity Cloaker has a second small trick up its sleeve to help you here too; you may have noticed that programs like SkyPE often work in an office environment even though firewalls are setup. This is because SkyPE hides its traffic to make it look like standard Internet traffic. Identity Cloaker has a similar cloaking technique in that it hides its connections by using a more common port to create its tunnels through the firewall. Now because SkyPE is such a common program it is easier to find it on the network and to deal with it, very few IT departments will know about the unique power of Identity Cloaker.
I am not saying using
Identity Cloaker will guarantee you Internet access from work or school, but its more than likely it will work. Take out their 10 day trial, install it to a USB stick and try.
Oh no, wait, don’t try! You already promised you would not use this to bypass any proxies or firewalls!
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Posted by Ivan Petrov on Aug 19, 2009 | 0 comments
The online world is one of two faces, the side where we find what we need, book holidays, save time with online services and generally enjoy ourselves. Then there is the darker side, where individuals and organisations are trying to infiltrate our lives without permission, steal our identities, money and generally destroy everything we worked hard for! So yes while we can say the Internet has given us many things, we must not discount the threats it has produced.
Being safe online these days is much harder than even 12 months ago, the methods deployed by criminals become more taxing and skilful by the day. The speed at which these new hacking techniques are being deployed far outstrips the speed at which patches are released for the software we are all using. Even the most respected browsers from Microsoft and Firefox fall foul to many a threat, despite their respective parent companies spending millions of dollars on development. It is therefore even more vital these days to be proactive in your attempts to thwart online criminals, relying on your free antivirus software alone is only going to lead to disaster these days!
Perhaps the most common, and most dangerous, system infiltrations involve key loggers and hidden P2P applications. A system compromised in this way will be working as a server, distributing pirate software or pornography to other users around the world. This takes place without your knowledge, and often with your anti-virus software still running! This is because the program has altered the way your Virus package works, so it reports it is working but really it is not. At the same time key loggers on your computer will record every thing you type, every login, every email, all your bank details will be recorded and sent back to the criminals.
Always ensure you are running with a software firewall on your computer, and preferably a hardware firewall on your modem or router too. These of course must both be setup correctly, if they are configured to allow all traffic then they are effectively not there!
Further you should ensure you are running a complete Anti-Malware package, this will cover virus, phishing, adware, key-loggers and Trojans at the same time, the better packages will include full firewall capabilities in the same package. Ensure you computer is fully patched, which these days requires you to be running with licensed software. Never use pirate copies of operating systems or Anti-Virus products, it may sound like obvious advice but it is amazing how many people trust their online security to the very people who do most of the hacking in the first place!
Finally install IP changing software with encryption technology so as to hide yourself online, as if they can’t find you they can’t attack you!
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Posted by Ivan Petrov on Aug 18, 2009 | 1 comment
The use of anonymous proxy software is these days a well known method of browsing the Internet with some apparent degree of security, however it is perhaps not the safest activity you could do. Indeed under certain circumstances it is more dangerous to use anonymous proxy software than to surf without it.
What must you do to ensure the proxy servers you use are suitable?
There are a few things you must consider:
- Does the proxy log your data and if they do what happens to those logs? Almost all proxies will log data, however a good proxy server will delete that data almost immediately. Any proxy run by people with criminal intent will not do this, in fact they will keep your data to work with for as long as they need.
- Is your data encrypted? Most data transmitted over the internet is sent unencrypted; as such anybody who intercepts it can read it and extract information.
It is a fact that many free proxies are either servers which have been hacked or systems deliberately setup by hacking teams just to log the data of people who use the, as such free proxies are often very unsecure.
One solution is to use TOR, being an open source project these connections are generally more secure than those listed as free on general websites. However TOR is hard to configure for many applications and the speed is often so slow as to make it unusable. You are certainly unlikely to be using it to listen to audio let alone watch videos through!
A much better option is to use a premium proxy service well known in IT security circles, which offers fully anonymous proxy surfing and encodes your data with 256bit US Army grade encryption. The software runs either from your hard disk or even a USB stick, so you can take it with you and enjoy secure anonymous proxy software no matter where you are. There is no other product quite like Identity Cloaker available anywhere.
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