Posted by Ivan Petrov on Sep 22, 2009 | 1 comment
Who you are has become a precious commodity to identity thieves. For this reason, many people now shred credit card statements, order items by cheque again, and pay with cash instead of debit card.
However, they often forget that the same hackers who stole personal information from corporate and government databases do not have to go so far to gather all the information of your personal identity online.
Why is it important to protect your identity online?
- If someone has your account information, researching your personal information can result in finding the answers to your personal questions. Finding your birth certificate can result in knowing the mother’s maiden name, or it could be as simple as asking that information of you at a genealogy chat room. Reading about your favorite sports teams could lead them to your most likely password. Reading your blog could lead them to know where you consider home to be, another common security question. Thus a little online sleuthing can yield the answers to the security questions that were meant to protect your accounts, and it is information we have often already made available if you do not take steps to protect your identity online.
- Your online identity can provide the information necessary to perform identity theft in the real, financial world. Without your current account information but armed with your real information, they may learn enough from your online identity enough to pretend to be you in the real world. Your name, address, and phone number are easily looked up. A social networking site can provide your employer and perhaps even income verification. Information on where you shop, your opinions of credit cards, your online portfolio analysis – all of this information attached to your online identity can give a would-be thief enough information to fill out the necessary forms to get a solid Gold credit card with your name on it.
- If you do not protect your identity online, it is easy for someone to gather all of your personal information and then pretend to be you. A former business partner who wants to discredit you through professional forums, an ex-girlfriend or boyfriend who wants to destroy your life online, all of the information to do can be gleaned unless you have already protected your personal identity online.
- Spear phishing is targeted phishing with the goal of either hacking someone’s computer or eliciting information out of them. This may be done by foreign corporations wanting technical information from a rival firm. It may be done by foreign nationals targeting those with security clearance in the United States. If you have not protected your identity online, you have given these predators the ability to approach you wrapped in a protective cloak. Potentially worse is that you have an insecure online identity, and the phishing attacks of these entities can be done from your online identity, leading law enforcement and searchers to your doorstep
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- Many companies now do social networking searches of potential employees. If your online identity is either less than perfect or easily made falsely slanderous, you will lose out on employment and consulting opportunities.
Thankfully there are ways to protect your identity online, and the use of anonymous browsing software is the first step we all should take.
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Posted by Ivan Petrov on Sep 17, 2009 | 0 comments
Should you have any doubts about the seriousness of how your privacy has been eroded, Google yourself.
Google your own name, then glance to the right. One of the sponsored advertising links is likely to offer quick online investigation services. For a nominal fee you can order up a dossier on yourself, with information culled from lending records, motor vehicle records, tax records, and court records. You might even get a photograph. It’s a little galling, perhaps, to see how easy it’s become to assemble the bare facts of your life, but no particular shock. These always were public records, after all. It’s just a question of increased access and speed.
What’s more discomfiting is the electronic penetration into records that were supposed to be confidential — your lifelong purchasing habits, for instance, or the results of personality tests for jobs, your school records, your voting history, credit report, resume, financial history, and the details of your adventures online (if any).
One compromised database behind the scenes interfaces with another; those two triangulate with two dozen more; soon they’ve wired together this document here, on the screen, a full constellation of the facts of your life.
This doesn’t even mention any of the more qualitative data about your odd tastes and your private desires that you may have shared on Twitter, on Facebook, on emails (which have always been non-secure), on your blog, to go on and on.
Extremely personal? Yes.
True? Most of it, yes.
Never mind any embarrassment, is this dangerous to you? Undeniably yes!
It’s not that the stakes are low. Ask anyone who’s had the ugly, expensive experience of having his identity stolen. This is old news, really. Reports of millions of compromised credit card numbers is so routine it’s hardly worth mentioning anymore, while the companies involved mumble weak apologies and promise to try to do better.
There’s recent news that the site Wikileaks, which traffics in making leaked documents available online to anyone, somehow got hold of almost two million postal codes in the U.K. and are publishing the lot. Not a direct privacy threat, but certainly it’s another mass of detailed data that will be used to support and extend the view of those who are interested in you.
What’s left to us? It’s important that we get past the old privacy questions, overtaken by events ten years ago, and deal with any residual indignation. It’s too late for that. Better to try to think through what comes next. It might have to do with correcting this data — some of it will be comically wrong — and minimize the damage it can do you. It might be identifying and cultivating the parts of your life that are free from observation, as a sort of psychological stronghold of identity.
Or it might be the opposite: learning to live with utter transparency, extending an open invitation to anyone who wants to look through.
What is true though if the information you find on this site will help minimize the possible damage caused through loss of privacy online.
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Posted by Ivan Petrov on Sep 15, 2009 | 0 comments
The American founding fathers put forth the principle of freedom of speech to protect the right of all Americans to freely speak their mind.
In past decades, this concept has been challenged on many levels, but the majority of attacks on freedom of speech have been struck down. We live in a society that heralds this right as a major part of being American. And in fact, this fundamental right is why many other nations around the world look to the United States for guidance in such areas.
The US is respected and revered for its principles in this area, and it is the foundation on which a truly democratic society is built.
Although the right of freedom of speech was developed in large part to protect the freedom of the press, with the advent of electronic media and the personal use of computers worldwide, it is now necessary to extend the concept of freedom of speech to these platforms. If a person’s right to gather peacefully, worship independently, and maintain their own opinion applies to all other aspects of life, shouldn’t it be that way online as well?
In reality, the Internet is simply an extension of our social, commercial, and financial medias, and should be awarded the same protections as they enjoy. Although there are those that argue that the Internet allows for an unprecedented level of information dissemination, there is absolutely no reason that this data should be any more scrutinized than what goes on in daily papers, television shows, or on the radio.
This is not to say that there should be no regulation; the Internet simply merits the same level of examination that all other media outlets require.
Having freedom of speech on the Internet is just an extension of having freedom of speech in all other areas of society. Of course, this is not something that should be taken for granted. As with all other forms of media or expression, there are those that abuse this right, and they should always be dealt with accordingly.
On the Internet, the same standards of decency, honesty, and intent should be upheld as is dictated by the law; however, this is where the government’s involvement should end. As is often argued, it should be up to individuals, parents, educators, and scholars to dictate what is or is not appropriate for themselves, not legislators.
There are those that argue that it is unlawful or immoral to allow online visitors to have access to material that some might find offensive. However, just as a consumer can choose whether or not to view a Rated R movie, listen to music with a warning label, or view legal pornography, so too can an individual decide whether or not he will navigate to a certain webpage on the Internet.
In short, freedom of speech is linked to freedom of choice. The majority of Americans would champion both of these rights. Regulating speech on the Internet would be a slippery slope leading to the demise of freedom of speech overall.
Because computers rule so many daily lives, the government’s involvement in legislating its content would undoubtedly open the door to the demise of that very freedom in many other areas of society that the courts have so diligently tried to protect.
Throughout history, the newspaper business, the television and movie industry, and musicians have had to fight for their right to speak their mind. In most cases, they have won. This pattern should be upheld, and freedom of speech on the Internet is the most logical stepping stone in a path to a continued free society.
We are not all lucky enough to live in a country where these freedoms are granted to all, and those of you at risk from persecution would do well to protect your online identity as best possible.
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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 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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