Examples of Punycode in Phishing

Punycode is a term used to describe the transformation of IDNA protocol into ASCII codes. Only a limited number of ASCII numbers and characters are utilized in Punycode encoding: 0-9, A-Z, and also the hyphen (-), therefore making the ASCII characters in any Unicode string to be represented like that. In the case of non-ASCII characters, they are expressed by ASCII characters which are permitted in the labels of any host domain name. Different prefixes are utilized by different encoding methods and also any translation into Punycode is purely determined by the web browser of the internet user.

Phishing is a technique to trick internet users into going to fraudulent websites. Phishing websites are made to appear like the normal pages of popular websites like PayPal and eBay. People are invited to click links through spam mails to users of MSN, AOL, Yahoo, Gmail, etc. The spam messages may look very authentic, showing corporate logos and formats like the ones employed by those popular websites in their messages to customers. Typically, they request for verification of certain information, for example passwords and account numbers. For the fact that the e-mails look very legitimate, as many as 20% of unsuspecting recipients may respond, leading to Identity theft, financial losses, and other fraudulent activities.

Private Proxies for Internet Marketers

While using Identity Cloaker is great for protecting your computer it is not so useful for hiding individual programs, for instance you may want to do research through Google but you find after so many searches you are getting blocked. This is because sites such as Google don't really want automated systems reading through their entire database, so if you do a lot of searches quickly Google decides you are not human and tries to put a stop to your activities.

If you use online marketing tools like Scrapebox, free Traffic Travis or SEnuke X you will soon find your online activities are being restricted by your one and only IP address being detected.

It is, of course, possible to harvest free proxies, in fact many of the above tools come with their own free proxies. However the time taken to keep these lists up to date, and the level of success you will have with them (remember the whole world has access to them) make free proxies pretty useless.

You would be well advised to consider using 10 or more private proxies, and picking ones that specifically allow the activities of scrapebox, Traffic Travis and SEnuke X. Many proxy companies do not allow you to use any of these tools with their services, however one well known company does. Squid Private Proxies was setup specifically by Internet Marketers to solve the problem of where to get reliable, fast private proxies for use with marketing tools.

You will always receive non-sequential IPs, from different subnets and from multiple datacenters around the USA and overseas. Not only that but each month you can request new IPs, so month to month you need never use the same IPs again. Prices for private proxies start at 75 cents each, though a more typical package of 25 proxies (more than enough for the average marketer) still comes in at under $50 per month.

What Is IP Spoofing And How Is A System Hijacked?

It should be no surprise to your that in the world of computer networking savvy computer technicians have the ability to mask their identity on the Internet with advanced techniques.  IP Spoofing, similar to caller ID blocking in telecommunications, refers to hackers disguising their IP address and network identification information to gain unauthorized access to other computers or networks.  When the targeted system is "spoofed" the system will display a message that a trusted source is trying to access their network.  Once the IP address is "spoofed" hackers can conduct criminal acts on your computer or network remotely. 

Internet Protocol spoofing initially became a problem in the 1980's.  While it was considered an accomplishment to crack an IP address and to conquer the protocol's weakness, it quickly became a problem and was a primary focus for security administrators thereafter.  In terms of spoofing, there are three different types of attacks:

Non-Blind Spoofing Attacks
When the attacker is actually on the same subnet as the system they are attacking this is considered a non-blind spoof.  This form of spoofing can cause session hijacking and can effectively allow the hijacker to bypass security to establish a connection using proxies and sequences. 

Blind Spoofing
Blind spoofing is a bit more advanced than non-blind methods.  Packets are sent to the machine the hijacker is targeting to get an idea of the sequence numbers in the network.  While sequencing is random, some hijackers can accurately predict sequences for access.  While some hijackers may not be able to gain a full connection, they can send data packets and viruses to the targeted machine.

Attackers are not concerned with completing full transactions on your network.  The primary focus of an IP spoofer is to consume bandwidth and resources.  By flooding the victim with packets of communication, traffic has effectively controlled your computer and a connection can be made. 

If you want to protect your computer or your network against IP spoofing it is important to take the proper precautions.  Proactive steps and security precautions are the only way to keep your IP address protected.  Ingress and egress filtering on your router is very important.  This will block private IPs and will not accept IP addresses with your sequence as the source.  Encryptions and authentication measures within your subnet are also important and can reduce attacks and vulnerability.  The truth of the matter is unless you are a spoofer yourself you are perhaps never fully protected.  Be aware of the security risks that exist and take proactive steps to protect your computer.