Tag: malware

bookmark_borderVPN: Virtual Private Network and Internet Privacy

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by Daniel Brouse and Sidd Mukherjee

Your Internet service provider (ISP) knows where you live, your address and billing info. They also know:

  • all the IPs and domain names you visit and when
  • all the content of your unencrypted traffic in and out, as well as, the timing

The federal government now allows your ISP to sell the information.

VPN: Virtual Private Network
VPN stands for virtual private network. A VPN builds an encrypted connection from your computer to your VPN provider and routes all your traffic through it. All your traffic now appears on the net through the IP of your VPN provider.

If you use a VPN, the only thing others can see is you making an encrypted connection to one IP that relays your traffic. If that IP is at the same location as you, you are still subject to a geolocation threat.

In addition to using a VPN, the following is recommended:

TURN OFF Cookies And Java
The easiest way to start protecting your privacy is turning off cookies and java in your browser. Cookies allow remote servers access to your internet activities. Your browser history is also subject to privacy violations. Only allow access to your cookies and browser history when you are confident of the websites you visit. If a site forces you to use cookies, clear your cookies and browser history after each visit.

Java and Java script allow remote servers to run programs on your computer. Java script is how most malware is downloaded onto your computer. Avoid Java at all costs.

AdBlock – Chrome
Advertisement blocking software can be added to most web browsers. AdBlock for Google’s Chrome is one of the highest rated. Google says, “AdBlock. The #1 ad blocker with over 200 million downloads. Blocks YouTube, Facebook and ads everywhere else on the web. The original AdBlock for Chrome works automatically. Choose to continue seeing unobtrusive ads, whitelist your favorite sites, or block all ads by default. Just click “Add to Chrome,” then visit your favorite website and see the ads disappear!”

IP Anonymizer
Protecting the privacy of your unique IP is the most important aspect of protecting your privacy. It is also fairly difficult. A VPN does not conceal your IP on the Internet.

The easiest and cheapest way to conceal your identity is with an IP Anonymizer. “This anonymizer will hide your IP address from the websites you access as well as protect you from tracking with cookies and other means.”

You can go to a site, such as, http://webanonymizer.org/ and enter the website you want to visit. WebAnonymizer will automatically mask your IP for free.

TOR
A Tor browser is free software for enabling anonymous communication. The Tor name is an acronym for the original software project name “The Onion Router”. Tor routes Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer network of more than seven thousand relays. A users location and usage is concealed from anyone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis. Tor makes it very difficult for Internet activity to be traced including “visits to Web sites, online posts, instant messages, and other communication forms”.

The Tor project states, “The Tor software protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location, and it lets you access sites which are blocked. Tor Browser lets you use Tor on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux without needing to install any software. It can run off a USB flash drive, comes with a pre-configured web browser to protect your anonymity, and is self-contained (portable).”

Download the Tor browser (free)

Comments
A reader asked: So is there still a place for a VPN on our mobile devices? When using public wifi for example?
A: Yes. Almost all public wifi’s are a private network. You just have to worry about the other people who are on the private network with you. A device on the private network is easily hacked by someone in close proximity (e.g. hackers can use a Pringles can as an antenna and gain access within several hundred yards http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/extend-your-wifi-range-using-diy-antenna-from-pringles-can.html)

From The Membrane Domain’s Cybersecurity Center

bookmark_borderCyber Security Landscape

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Q: Is it true that flashlight apps for your smartphone may contain malware?
A: It’s not just flashlight apps. Over 90% of freeware (free computer software for photos, converting Youtube videos, etc.) and free app downloads contain malware that is secretly added to your device. Besides stealing your data, they can corrupt files or worse. Quite often they use your connection and device to attack other people making it look like you are the bad guy. Attacks on the Whitehouse, FBI, CIA and military bases (such as Andrews Air Force Base) have happened this way. As far as smartphone apps go, there are not that many legit apps. Apple is of particular concern because their developer’s “tool kit” has been compromised. The result was many legit app developers used the official Apple tool kit, but ended up incorporating malware. This is what happened with most of the flashlight apps. (1)

By the way, the apps developed for Facebook are often used to compromise your Facebook account and steal your identity, as well as, attack all your friends. If Facebook doesn’t make the app, don’t use it. Examples of bogus apps include “What song was a hit on your birthday?”, “How loyal are you?”, “Who is stalking you?”, “Which season of the year are you?”, “3 reasons to love yourself!”, “Let’s make a drawing of you” and “Yourself as an oil painting”.

Q: How do I know if Facebook makes the app?
A: If Facebook makes the app, it is usually automatically integrated into the interface. Examples include when Facebook added more choices to the “like” button and the app they put in your feed about “1 year ago today”. Those are Facebook apps. The ones that tell you about your loyalty, stalkers, hit record on your birthday, compare you to your friends, etc. are clickbait and should be avoided. Almost all of these apps abuse your friends. Some of them allow your account to do criminal activity, such as, post sunglasses or shoes for sale tagging your friends without your knowledge. Some of them do even worse stuff, such as, compromise your account and use your account to surreptitiously to do a host of bad activities.

Q: Are Android apps safer than Apple apps?
A: Most apps are not developed by Google, Microsoft or Apple. If someone is giving an app away, it is probably for ill purposes. Nevertheless, the advantage of Android — it is built on Linux (open source code.) This means anyone can see the source and/or fix the computer code. That is not the case with Apple or Microsoft. We suggest Android on your phones and Linux on your computers.

Q: My tech-savvy son says it is safe to download apps from Google. Is the Google app store safe?
A: it’s not Google… it is the open source community. Google doesn’t own Android. Android is based on Linux (free open source software) the Linux community is serious about security. We’ve been involved with Linux development since the 1990’s. Apple and Microsoft are based on proprietary software which is the opposite of the open source philosophy. In any event, none of us like Google for other reasons; however, their exploitation of Linux is better for mankind than Apple and Microsoft. Google Android apps are a better bet than other OS’s (operating systems) because they use Linux. That doesn’t mean you should trust Google. Do not trust Google.

Q: What about GPS apps?
A: GPS apps are the most exploited function/app of a smartphone. Not only do private companies exploit the data but bad guys and our government do, too. So my advice is what I did for my Dad. He suffers from dementia and tends to wonder off. We got a Metro PCS smartphone and the sole use is for tracking my Dad with a GPS app. If you want a GPS, use a separate device.

An example of a GPS smartphone app scam recently happened in Chester County, PA. Bad guys hacked GPS apps and sent fraudulent email traffic tickets to unsuspecting motorists. (2)

References:
1) Apple’s App Store infected with XcodeGhost malware in China after major security breach. China’s “Great Firewall” may have been partly to blame for the first major attack on Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) App Store, but experts also point the finger at lax security procedures of some big-name Chinese tech firms and how Apple itself supports developers in its second biggest market. A malicious program, dubbed XcodeGhost, hit hundreds – possibly thousands – of Apple iOS apps, including products from some of China’s most successful tech companies used by hundreds of millions of people. (Reuters)

2) “Beware This Crazy Speeding Ticket Scam” Philadelphia-area residents have been targeted, and the level of information the perpetrator has is downright scary. The Tredyffrin Police Department in Chester County announced the speeding ticket scam this week, explaining that three local residents reported receiving emails notifying them of speeding infractions. Tredyffrin doesn’t have speed cameras, and the police say that they have nothing to do with these citation notices, but here’s the thing: The residents were, in fact, speeding at the locations cited in the citations. How is this possible? Well, investigators suspect that a hacker has exploited a security flaw in some GPS-enabled smartphone apps. (Philly Magazine)

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