Cyber-crime Goes Social and Mobile

'Cyber-crime', a word most of us know; but a better clarification on the same is good before we begin. Cyber-crime holds a broad array of activities or incidents, some of which include computer viruses or malicious software, forging, spoofed/fake email or website which captures personal details, online bullying/ stalking, hate crime or other form of online harassment, hacking into personal profile/account, scams, online credit card fraud, identity theft, an unsolicited SMS text messages, and so on.

As above, Cyber-crime can be anything, which includes data theft or breach, without the owner's permission. As consumers go mobile, so do criminals. Hence, compared to the earlier attempts of cyber-crime over Desktops, now attackers are more oriented on mobile and social networking. A mixture of socially engineered and blended attacks is what attackers are now using.

Cyber-crime over Mobile device
News like 'iPhone 5 Pre-Orders Top Two Million in First 24 Hours' displays how indispensable mobile devices have become for us today. According to the '2012 Norton Cyber-crime Report', every 2 of 3 adult uses a mobile device to connect to the internet today. The increase on mobile usage is also realized by the Cyber-criminals.

The bait that attracts cyber-criminals is not the vast usage of mobiles but also the numerous hidden vulnerabilities in them. Mobile vulnerabilities doubled in 2011 over 2010. That in itself is alarming. But apart from these facts, the matter to worry more is the fact that 44% people aren't even aware that security solutions exist for mobile devices. Every 2 out of 3 persons don't have security for their mobile devices. Using unsecured Wi-Fi connections is yet another source of vulnerabilities.

Socially engineered Cyber-crime
Apart from Mobile, with increasing usage of social media, cyber-criminals are also going social now. Figures say that, every 4 people out of 10 people have been a victim of cyber crime through social sites. While some complain their accounts have been hacked, others are concerned about their accounts being eyed upon. Apart from this, 1/3rd of the population using social networking sites have fallen victim to the scams on such sites.

The major reasons behind most attacks through social platforms are:

1/3rd of the users don't log out from one session1/5th among the users don't check the link before clicking on it1/6th people aren't aware about their privacy settings, and lastlyLess than half don't use any security measures to protect their accounts.

Apart from these issues, 36% users accept friend requests from strangers, increasing their vulnerabilities.

What can be done?
Social sites are taking a toll on our personal lives. Numbers say 16% would end a relationship, as a reason of something they didn't like about the person online. Hence being on your marks and taking measures to ensure good privacy settings is helpful. Measures like deleting suspicious mails/comments/links, use a basic anti-virus, avoid opening attachments from unknown senders, and so on; can be highly useful.

Take pro-active steps to secure you personal data online. If you won't; no one would. If something is too good to believe, then you may be right; I am talking about advertisements and applications appearing on social sites, which trick users, with lucrative statements and promises. Be on your guard by staying informed. Use strong passwords, and make it a habit to change them often. Efforts taken by you to protect your data will surely increase the difficulty levels for criminals to attack you. Fear of attacks should never deprive anyone of the huge benefits of using internet through mobile devices and networking socially. Hence ensure security measures and reap the benefits to your fullest.

Note: Majority of figures/statistics used in this article are from 2012 Norton Cybercrime Report

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Also you may subscribe to Cyberoam Blog, for more news and updates on Cyber-crime, recent attacks and more.

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Bitdefender Total Security 2013 Review

Bitdefender Total Security 2013 is BitDefender's new top of the line security product that leaves little to be desired in terms of functionality that it provides. It combines all the offerings of the company's Antivirus Plus and Internet Security products with additional features that only it offers.

If you are already a Bitdefender customer you are probably wondering what the company is offering in terms of new features or improvements in their 2013 lineup. We are going to look at that in detail later on in the article. Before that, lets take a look at the installation of the program first.

Installation

You download a small setup program from the Bitdefender website that downloads the remaining data from the web during installation. The installation is straightforward and no problem even for inexperienced users. If you want, you can customize the location on the local drive, enter proxy settings, or disable program modules that you are not interested in. If you are only using webmail, you may for instance want to disable the anti-spam module.

The program runs on autopilot by default which makes life really easier as you are not bombarded with dozens of security prompts and alerts right away. If you want though, you can disable autopilot to manage every issue and prompt manually.

The main program interface displays the four important areas antivirus, antispam, privacy and firewall by default, with Tune-up, Safebox, Update, Safego and File Encryption available either with a click on the right arrow or the slider that is displayed below the listing.

You can rearrange the display with a click on the all modules button in the interface. Here you can modify it so that the four program modules that you are most interested in are displayed without scrolling.

Most modules display an on and off switch on the screen which you can use to either turn them on or off completely, or to turn of some of their automatic functionality. Here it is for instance possible to turn of the automatic scanning of files or the firewall.

Often used features, like scanning or updating, are available directly from that interface as well. Lastly, the settings are also only a click away from the main interface.

At the top, you see the general state of security of the system, events that require your attention, the autopilot switch, and a link to program settings overview

Antivirus

The antivirus module is one of the core components of the program. In terms of functionality, it has lots to offer. The autoscan feature for instance scans the system for threats when performance is not needed elsewhere. It also features realtime protection that scans files when you try to access them, options to run various quick, full or custom scans, and a vulnerability module that checks for Windows and application updates, or weak user account passwords.

Scans are reasonably fast even though that depends largely on the speed of the hard drive, the amount of files and their sizes, and the computer performance in general. A quick scan took less than 2 minutes to complete on a test system, a full system scan about 15 minutes with the time estimate showing 1 minute left for about 5 minutes.

The Vulnerability Scan is especially helpful as missing updates and patches are one of the key reasons why Windows PCs get infected by malware. It checks for critical and optional Windows Updates that have not yet been installed, application updates for important plugins and programs like Skype, Java or web browsers, and finally weak user account passwords. If something is not right, it offers to fix the issue or install updates to resolve it. It could support additional programs though.

As far as accuracy and detection rates go, Bitdefender has received high ratings from AVTest and AV Comparatives for their products.

Firewall

You may want to check the firewall's settings first as some of its features are disabled by default. This includes the intrusion detection system that protects against the installation of malware drivers, Internet Connection Sharing, and the monitoring of Wi-Fi connections (also this may have been disabled because the system had no Wi-Fi adapter).

If you are running on autopilot you really do not have to worry that much about the firewall. You are definitely not annoyed by alerts when another one of your regular applications tries to connect to the Internet. Users who want more control on the other hand can configure everything manually in the settings and with the help of prompts. The paranoid mode may be interesting which alerts you whenever new applications try to establish a connection on the Internet.

As far as application rules go, there is lots that you can configure here. Just take a look at the screenshot below to see what you can configure when you add a new rule for an application to the firewall rule set.

Unless I'm mistaken though there does not seem to be a way to specify certain ports for an application

The new and improved features

Bitdefender Safepay is one of the core new features that Bitdefender integrated into Total Security 2013. It basically aims to make transactions and other critical operations on the Internet more secure by running them in a browser that is separated from the rest of the environment. That's good because it protects from a number of potential threats, e.g. keyloggers, and not so good because it is displayed in a separate environment where you do not have access to desktop apps and programs. If you are using a password manager for instance, you can't make use of it to sign in on websites.

Safepay can be started manually or automatically according to Bitdefender. Manually worked fine during tests, but I could not get the automatic feature to work at all no matter which browser I tried and whether I explicitly added websites to the list of Safepay sites.

The program's parental controls have been upgraded. They do require an account at Bitdefender to make use of them though. You can either create a new account or sign in with Facebook or Google instead. From here you can monitor and configure many features, including the monitoring of Facebook and web browsing in general, and even phone calls if an app is installed on Android phones.

A few things are missing though, like a similar app for iOS devices or support for more instant messengers.

The anti-theft module is another new addition to the Total Security suite. It too requires a Bitdefender account which you can then use to locate and lock a stolen PC or laptop, and to wipe data to make sure the thief can't access it. This obviously only works if you have configured the feature when the device was still in your possession, and if the thief is connecting the PC to the Internet in its current state. If the hard drives are formatted, or a new OS is used, it won't be effective.

Total Security users get access to 2 Gigabyte of free secure online storage, and access to a number of tools that I have not mentioned yet. This includes a file shredder to delete files permanently, encrypted storage to protect files from being access by third parties, or a tune-up module to speed up the PC.

Bitdefender Product comparison

- Antivirus Plus: Antivirus and Antispyware, Bitdefender Autopilot, Bitdefender Safepay, USB Immunizer, Enhanced MyBitdefender dashboard, Search Advisor, Social Network Protection, Personal Data Filter, Antiphishing, Scan Dispatcher - Internet Security: Antispam, Enhanced Parental Control, Two-way firewall, File Shredder - Total Security: Bitdefender Safebox, Anti Theft, File Encryption, Tune-up - Total Security contains all features that Internet Security and Antivirus Plus is offering, while Internet Security contains the Antivirus Plus features as well.

Closing Words

Bitdefender Total Security 2013 is a big suite that combines security products with related products. The program's autopilot mode ensures that it is a good choice for users of all experience levels. Experienced users will find the manual options suitable for most tasks, even though they could be improved in some regards. The application vulnerability scanner for instance could use additional support for popular applications that it is currently not detecting.

All in all though it is a beast of a program. Users who do not need antispam, parental controls, the anti theft module or file encryption can take a look at Internet Security instead.

Hi all, my name is Le Duong Vien Chinh, the part-time blogger since 2012. By profession, I am working as a technical specialist and my interest is in computer, software, and hardware and I love blogging too much, because, it broadens my knowledge and understanding of the computer and the Internet. That's about me.

vienchinh.net is a tech blog that was started on June 2012. It focuses on posts covering latest trends, mobiles, social networking, and personal computing tips. I blog regularly at Vien Chinh Blog

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Internet Security - Some Simple Security Strategies To Safeguard Your System

Internet security can be considered as one of the most battling concerns of the internet users and the online business owners. With the increasing number of incidents like cyber thefts, security breach, data alteration and the like, there is a growing need of protecting the systems from these perils of the web world. Internet security can be seen as the method to protect the vital information and data from any unwanted intruders or unofficial sources. Further in this article, I have discussed about some of the most common strategies that can be adopted in order to secure the information in your system from the internet based threats.

Encryption of the important date plays a key role as far as internet security is concerned. Are you unaware of the term encryption? Well, nothing to worry about. Encryption is like converting the important and private information into inarticulate form so that it cannot be decoded easily in case stolen by the hackers. You can also make your important files and folders password protected in order to prevent any kind of illegal access to the vital data. The set password should be such that it cannot be comprehended easily. In case you wish to have high level security for your system, you can contact online PC security officials.

In order to prevent any kind of suffering caused by loss of data, you should take proper backup on regular basis. Data is one of the most precious things in the current business environment and it should be safeguarded by any means. If you have a proper and up to date back up of all your files and information, you need not worry about hackers attack, sudden system crashes or virus attacks. In order to make the system safe and secure, you must make sure that a proper firewall is installed. Firewall helps in filtering any kind of illegal access in your network.

Antivirus is another effective solution against the problem of internet security. Viruses are also one of the most ongoing threats of the web world and you should install proper antivirus program in order protect the system from virus attacks. Make sure that the program is also capable of dealing with the different kinds of spyware. These spywares collect important information from your system and send the same to the web world. Therefore, you should make sure that the antivirus or antispyware is up to date and provides complete protection.

So, these are some of the most effective internet security strategies that can help in safeguarding the system from any kind of cyber attacks.

I am a professional in the security industry and have been working hard for over 12 years to provide a better security environment. If you want to know more information about security related topics or learn about other products such as a precious metal detector please visit our website.

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Zombies: Great Fun for TV, Not for Your Computers!

It seems that people love zombies these days. We can't seem to get enough of them. We have zombie movies, TV shows, comics and novels. They are such a hot topic that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta and the Department of Homeland Security have both published guides on how to prepare for a "Zombie Apocalypse"!

All in good fun! What's NOT fun is to have a zombie computer.

As we all know, a "real" zombie shuffles along without appearing to be aware of what has happened to them and what is going on around them. With a zombie computer, it is the user of the computer that is unaware of what is happening.

Guess what? Your computer could be a zombie right now!

Does your computer run slow even when you're not using multiple applications? Are you denied access to web sites that offer antivirus or firewall programs? Your computer might be a zombie!

A zombie is a computer controlled by a hacker. It can be used to perform malicious and even criminal tasks. Hackers commonly use a Trojan horse virus to "zombify" a computer. A Trojan horse is a malware program that pretends to be something benign to trick a user into running it.

For example, a user may download a Trojan from an email, web forum or web site thinking it is just a video game. The program might actually run as a video game that the user enjoys and, unwittingly, forwards to someone else.

Unfortunately, the program is not just a video game. It proceeds to engage in nefarious activities that can include controlling the computer and enlisting it into a network of computers called a botnet.

The internet, which is now the universal standard for networking and communication, is based on published standards and open technologies. Today, billions of computers are using the exact same technology to connect with other computers and communicate. This is technology that is free, widely available and whose inner workings are in the public domain.

That makes the lives of hackers much easier than if we were still using a hodge-podge of proprietary and licensed technologies. Vulnerability is a price we pay for standardization.

Hacked computers can be commanded using internet communication protocols such as IRC and HTTP. IRC is used by Instant Messaging and Chat applications while HTTP is used by web servers to send you web pages.

Networks of zombie computers are used to generate e-mail spam and launch a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. You have almost certainly seen those emails. They are to email marketing what snake oil was to 19th century hucksters. They promise a cure for everything that ails you, from male pattern baldness to erectile dysfunction. Be careful, though. A fool and their credit card number are soon parted and the consequences can be severe. And you will still be bald and lonely!

To understand a DDoS attack, think about those zombie movies. There is always a scene where the survivors are hiding in a house surrounded by a horde of undead trying to get in, banging on the door and trying break in through the windows. They may be able to hold out, but there is no way anyone else can get in to help or for them to get out. They are locked down!

A DDoS attack floods a web site with a horde of messages, so many that other messages can't get to the target and the target can't send messages out. It gets locked down!

Some of the most prominent internet companies, including Yahoo and EBay have been DDoS victims. The government of South Korea and US Government Agencies such as the CIA are also on the list of victims.

Zombie computers are also used for crimes with a financial motive such as click-fraud. For example, an online advertiser pays an associate a small commission each time an advertising banner is clicked on. A zombie network can be used to run scripts that make it appear that a user from each computer has clicked on the ad one or more times, generating undeserved commission.

A variant of this fraud was portrayed on the popular TV show "Breaking Bad". Money was laundered through a web site setup to raise funds to pay for medical care for the show's main character Walter White. Mr. White is a cancer victim who was actually financing his treatments by producing and selling crystal meth. Unbeknownst to the site creator, Walt Jr, the donations were coming from a global network of zombie computers setup to funnel his ill-gotten gains into an otherwise legitimate charity!

Sadly, this is more fact than fiction. And no small matter. The largest botnet discovered to date was the Bredo Lab or Ocasia botnet with over 30 million zombie computers networked. At its peak, it was generating an estimated 3.2 billion spam emails per day.

Ok, so now you understand the problem. How do you know if your computer is a zombie?

Here are 7 tell-tale signs that your computer might just be a zombie:

Your computer slows down for no apparent reason. You expect your computer to run slow when you have many applications open, but if it is slow even with one app open you should look for a problem.
Your current antivirus software becomes disabled. Zombie programs can have a self-preservation instinct and may disable your existing antivirus software, hampering your ability to resolve the problem.
You are blocked from accessing web sites where you can download antivirus software. This is bad. Not only may the zombie disable the antivirus systems you have installed but it will proactively attempt to block you from downloading new antivirus software.
Your emails are bounced back to you blocked. The activity of a zombie computer can cause it to get blacklisted by email servers. If you are getting your emails returned then you may be on the blacklist.
Your computer has visited places you haven't. If you have firewall software, you can check to see where outgoing messages have been sent. If you don't recognize many of the sites, you could have zombie on your hands.
Your computer is taking longer to startup and shutdown. A zombie process may consume a lot of system resources when starting and shutting down.
Loss of hard disk space or no apparent reason. A zombie process may generate a lot of data and save a lot of messages. If you are suddenly short space on your hard drive, you could have a Zombie.

If your computer does turn out be "zombified", what can you do about?

If you have a restore point you could try restoring the computer to a point before the infection. That might or might not work. It might only cause the infection to go dormant, only to re-awake later.

You can always "nuke" your machine, that is, reformat the hard drive and reload everything from scratch starting with the operating system. That'll work, but "Oh the humanity!". It's time consuming, requires that you have original installations of all your required applications and if you restore backed up data files you might just re-introduce the infection by accident.

The best answer is to find an antivirus system that can cure the infection and prevent it from happening again. Clearly, it is not the software that you've been using!

The problem with most antivirus systems is that they only address viruses and exploits that have been identified and added to a "blacklist" of known viruses. When a new villain is unleashed on the world, they will eventually update their blacklist for this specific issue. If you get the latest update you will be ok, but only until the next exploit or virus is unleashed on the world.

Every day, an estimated 50,000 new viruses are unleashed!

You see, you are always running to stay ahead of the latest villain on the loose! There will always windows of opportunity for the villain to get to you and, perhaps, turn your system into a zombie.

In my opinion, the best antivirus software and firewalls use a "whitelist" system and sandbox technology. The way this works is the scanner only permits software to operate within your system if it is on a list of valid programs. If it suspects that any software has a problem, it will allow the program to run in an isolated system area called a sandbox. Based on its behavior in the sandbox, the AV software will determine if it is OK or should be deleted.

Of course, it is even more important to be protected if you are operating a commercial web site. You don't want to be spreading viruses to your customers! In addition to antivirus and firewall protection be sure to use the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and SSL Certificates.

SSL creates a secure connection between the browser and the web server, encrypting data transferred. An SSL Certificate provides additional security for the user by authenticating the web site, giving users confidence that they can provide personal information safely.

The really scary thing about this is that becoming a zombie computer is only one of many threats that you have to deal with if you are connected to the internet.

Every internet user should have the best antivirus and firewall protection they can find. Every website that exchanges personal information should have the best SSL Certificate protections available. If you have multiple subdomains you can protect all of them with a single wildcard SSL.

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I Have Anti-Virus Running - How Did I Get A Virus?

A good anti-virus software is recognized as a prerequisite for protecting your computer. Generally, it will be the first line of protection. These programs will scan for viruses, defend critical system files, quarantine, and identify rogue scripts and programs.

A large variety of anti-virus software programs are available both on the internet and at local retailers. Each type of anti-virus software has some common features, for adware blocking and spyware defense, internet surfing protection, and registry cleanup.

However, computer users shouldn't abandon caution because their favorite anti-virus software is running. Why? Because everyday our computer users are asking "How did I get a virus, when I have Anti-Virus software running on my computer... ". Listen to this users' account of how it happens:

"My office computer today got taken over by an 'antivirus' program that starts out as a pop up that repeatedly offers a free trial virus scan. My co-worker called me at home to ask me if this was OK. I didn't know this was NOT an "Anti-virus" scan, so I said don't worry... a short time later the program was displaying a "Personal Security" window with a Windows Security logo with a long list of viruses discovered and another window asking you to register. I tried to shut all this off but it refused."

This computer user was tricked into installing the virus on his system. Once he clicked on the pop-up window, his Anti-Virus Software "thought" he meant to install the program on the computer.

This is the new breed of virus. It operates by getting you to click on any window that pops up. Once you do that, it installs itself on your computer rather than go away. Because...

"Anti-virus software will not prevent YOU from installing software on your computer. But, It will prevent software from installing automatically, or remotely, or otherwise."

Once the virus "tricks" you into clicking on the pop-up window, it can safely install itself with even with your virus software on guard. In fact, the program will stay resident on his computer until the next time a virus scan is run.

Something we see quite often, is that the virus immediately to disables any anti-virus software that is running on the computer. This can be accomplished in a few ways:

Completely shutting down the anti-virus softwareMaking the user think the anti-virus running, when in-fact it isn'tChanging the settings in the anti-virus so that the virus will not be detected during scansChanging the settings so that the virus automatically reloads when the computer startsAnd quite a few other methods

What can you do: If you see this type of pop-up on your computer, instead of clicking on it try pressing "ESC", or use task manager (ctrl-alt-delete), to end the application or process.

Always run a full system scan on your computer regularly. It will prevent many problems, and it may un-cover infected files that may have gotten past your anti virus program. Often an after the fact scan will remove enough of the virus and its programs to allow your computer to run smoothly again.

If your computer is still mis-behaving, take it to a reputable computer shop. It should have the tools to remove the virus from your computer. Many of the tools available to remove viruses are very effective, and a good computer shop should be able to get your computer working normally again without much data loss.

The PC Service Center is a locally owned computer repair and services business.
" Our mission is to help businesses and individuals keep their computer equipment operating at peak performance. We do this by repairing, servicing and upgrading equipment and systems in ways that achieve consistent and reliable performance for our clients."

Visit us on the web: http://www.pc-servicecenter.com/

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