SECURITY and SCAM Prevention Online scams are increasing at an alarming rate and are real menaces against Internet users! It is now more important than ever to be cautious about the individuals you meet, the sites you visit, and the information you disclose over the Internet. For your financial safety, before spending your e-currency to anyone, do your Due Diligence to verify the person's or company's references, because most e-currencies spending are "non-repudable", that is to say that once you spend your e-currency, the transaction cannot be reversed. Security and Scam Prevention Guidelines: - Ask for a verifiable phone number and physical address then ensure they are valid. Be wary of non-working numbers or no number at all, voicemails, and forwarding services.
- Contact another person who has done business with that person or company. Ensure this person is an actual customer of the person who gave you their information and not just a friend or family member.
- Consider the use of an escrow service for payment upon delivery of goods. However ensure that the escrow service you choose is not a scam because there are many. For more info: www.fraudwarning.net
- Useful web addresses and references:
- NEVER open email attachments that you are not expecting. Call its originator or send (do not reply) him/her an email to verify if he/she really sent you that unexpected email. Email attachments are probably the most common way that viruses get into and infect your computer. Some firewall appliances and software will strip dangerous attachments. Only enter sensitive information at verified SSL protected sites.
- Sensitive data is exposed to third parties if not entered at SSL protected sites.
- Use a software firewall:
- firewalls prevent most outsider traffic from reaching your computer.
- use a hardware firewall. This site: http://www.practicallynetworked.com/ has reviews and notes on various models. - Keep your OS up-to-date/patched:
- unpatched OS's expose exploitable vulnerabilities. - Use a virus scanner:
- a virus scanner may detect and allow you to remove infections from your computer.
- set up these tools in their highest security mode and then only relax the rules for things you need. - If you use an 802.11b wireless laptop/lan, assume all your traffic is being seen by third parties:
- WEP encryption used by 802.11b networks is breakable, do not depend on it for data content protection. - Keep your computer physically secure from third party use:
- prevent malicious individuals from walking up to your machine and infecting it from a floppy/cd. - Have a plan in place for the day when you do get compromised, and practice your plan.
Below are some security sites for your perusial. They're an important way to protect your personal info and e-currency accounts. A good place to start is the red link on e-gold's home page:
http://www.e-gold.com/unsecure/alert.html
And this essay:
http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0105.html#8
CERN Recommendations:
http://security.web.cern.ch/security/Recommendations/Default.htm
Symantec (good but not enough on its own) Anti-Virus site:
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/
CERT advisories:
http://www.cert.org/advisories/
Windows 95/98 computer security:
http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/win-95-info.html
Home network security:
http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/home_networks.html
CERN Passwords:
http://security.web.cern.ch/security/passwords/
CERN PC Virus Info:
http://pcvirus2000.web.cern.ch/pcvirus2000/
Alt.comp.virus faq:
http://www.bocklabs.wisc.edu/~janda/acv_faq.html
McAfee Virus Database:
http://www.avertlabs.com
Very good FAQ on Internet Worms:
http://www.networm.org/faq/
Viruses and the MAC FAQ if you use an Apple:
http://www.sherpasoft.org.uk/
Gibson Research. Study ALL of these pages, especially the Spyware, and Shields-UP/port scan:
http://grc.com/default.htm
"If the source isn't open, it isn't secure:"
http://www.openlysecure.com/
The BUGTRAQ Archive is usually the first to report possible breaches of security:
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1
Info on exploiting Windows Messaging systems:
http://security.tombom.co.uk/shatter.html
Deepfreeze helps to protect Windows PCs:
http://www.deepfreeze.net/index.asp
and
http://www.pyzzo.com/ provides similar functionality and ablility to clone machines, push updates, etc.
However, the best security tool of all is between your ears :-)
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