E-Protectors.com, PC maintenance & Critical Security » Security Tips

The Hoax of Antivirus

Pierce — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 23:17:58 +0000

I hope everybody reading this article now knows the basics to common sense when it comes to computers and the Internet! Just in-case you’ve forgot some of the key pointers we’ve talked about in multiple articles, we’re going to talk about some anti-virus facts. Anti-virus does not make your computer invincible, and in-fact 28% of machines with anti-virus are unknowingly infected with a virus of some sort!

We’ve talked about virus extensions, common sense, and have mentioned many things about viruses and anti-virus; yet people just don’t understand that anti-virus is extremely simple to bypass!

This is what people think:

“Anti-virus companies and employee’s get paid millions of dollars to keep us secure”

Well, you’d think that would be true! Unfortunately, it’s far from it. Practically any experienced programmer can tell you how easy it is to avoid a particular virus from being detected from anti-virus applications. Just because you scan a file, and it your anti-virus says it is clean, it does not mean it is actually clean!

Listening to your anti-virus is like listening to your bank, or some random financial adviser. Look how much debt the US got in from doing that! People think just because something is of higher rank or status of them, it’s obviously much better.

So don’t go opening every executable under the sun that is supposedly “clean”. Be cautious, and verify where you got the application from. Don’t be scared to search around the Internet for reviews about the application, many independent security researchers may post whether or not it is malicious!

Although anti-virus companies could easily code a proper application in which can actually monitor what an application does, instead of updating your so called “virus database” every day. They will not do this because it means less money for them due to less updating, and no need of buying any other versions.

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Secure Blogging

Pierce — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:35:12 +0000

Are you afraid of your blog being hacked? Didn’t think so. It seems security is like life insurance, nobody wants it until it is too late. Wordpress is an open source project, meaning everybody has access to it. Hackers can use this to audit code thus find vulnerability’s. Once vulnerability’s are found, it does not matter if your website is hosted on wordpress.com, or if it is a independent blog you own your self; it is exploitable (hackable)!

WordPress is a pretty secure application. Many other security functions could be introduced with minimal code, but this is not implemented. The most dangerous part of wordpress and blogger are plug-in’s and website freeware. These are coded by independent coders in which may miss many bugs or possible malicious code. When a hacker finds this code, he may have anything from access to your websites database, to full out server access!

So how do you prevent this? Well, you can buy a firewall for your wesbsite called WebWall in which prevents the following attacks:
-SQL Injection
-Local File Include
-Remote File Include
-PHP Remote Code Execution

This firewall costs $49.99 per year and another $9.99 per domain license. To purchase this firewall, email piercecoding [at] gmail [dot] com

Another way of preventing this, is to use a secured blogging website like Free Blog Zone. FreeBlogZone was coded by coders in which dedicate their time to finding vulnerability’s and help patching them, thus making their own website fairly secure. Not only this, but they also use the latest version of WebWall firewall just in-case they somehow missed something! FreeBlogZone is a fairly new blogging website, but brings many new features to the table asides from security!

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Web Server Updates is Website Security

Pierce — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:57:08 +0000

Worried about having your website get hacked? Well staying updated really is the only website security. There are not many firewalls or anti-virus programs for Linux, FreeBSD, or Macs. Most (80%+) web severs are Unix based operating systems. Exploits are published on a daily basis (farily large scale, too) for Web servers. The only way to prevent being hacked is by using common sense and by staying updated.

Common sense is crucial for all operating systems, but especially Unix. This means do not share your account to your website with anybody! Also, make sure your computer is not infected with a Trojan before logging in as an administrator! Do not give access to your server to anybody unless you are certain you can trust them. Script kiddies (fake hackers) could easily root your server (gain administrator privileges) with the smallest access to your server possible!

Staying updated is something you should do on all systems, for a web-sever, it’s more manual labor to look for updates. Unfortunately, it is what has to be done to prevent security flaws!

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Simple tips to Prevent being Hacked

Pierce — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:57:50 +0000

We’ve presented many different ways to prevent being hacked, but we have more ideas!
Our first idea we will be talking about is turning your computer/Internet off when not in use. I’m sure you’ve heard to keep your computer off when you are not using it to save electricity. Well, this is also an advantage to staying secure. The less time your computer is connected to the Internet, the less likely of being hacked.

Also, being connected to the Internet while not using it may be harmful, due to the fact if the attack was noticeable, and you get security warnings, you wont be there to do anything about it.

Another great way is turning off your router while not using the Internet. Routers can be hacked too, and injected with viruses so that once you start your computer back up, it will automatically infect it!

Stay updated! We talk about staying updated a lot due to the fact the most popular security flaws are because lack of updating. Why update? Because its the best free protection! Think outside of the box on this fact, update your router firmware, service packs, firewalls, and other applications in which you run. You may be thinking “Oh, well no hacker wants what is on my computer”. Well, this could be true (not likely), but worms in which automate the process may exploit your systems and make them part of a botnet!

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Picking hosting – things to watch for.

Pierce — Sun, 24 May 2009 04:50:13 +0000

If you are somebody who hosts a website, or wants to host a website, having a secure and reliable host is the first and possibly the most crucial part of owning a website. We’re going to show you advanced ways of what you should look for when purchasing a website. We will be discussing the differences between shared hosting, dedicated, vps, offshore, and more. We will also give you some tips of how much you should be willing to spend (per month).

Lets start with the hosting packages. You’ve probably seen many packages like “shared”. Shared hosting means that you are sharing an IP & hard drive partition with a certain amount of people. This could be up to 100-500 different people. Now, it only takes 1 person to be hacked, therefore compromising the entire server. If the server has been compromised, not only can a hacker just deface your website, but they could inject malicious code or viruses into the pages, or just display pop-ups. If he only injects 1 website, and that website gets flagged as a “Harmful website”, the entire server will be flagged as harmful, including your website. To protect your self from this, possibly try a dedicated IP.

A dedicated IP will usually still mean you are on shared hosting, but your IP is not shared. Therefore, your site will not be flagged if people have malicious websites on the shared server. A dedicated IP will also stop most hackers, due to the fact they won’t be able to find the other websites located on your shared server, because they only have your websites IP. Although, if somebody hacks one of the other websites, they may still have access to yours. To be even more secure, try moving on to a VPS.

VPS stands for virtual private server. This means, you will have your own hard drive partition, and your own IP. Nobody else will have access to your server besides the people who can physically touch it. This is far more secure then dedicated IP & shared hosting. Although, VPS is usually just partitions of a hard drive in which there may be 4-20 per hard drive. This will not cause security issues, but may overload the CPU at some point. If you are afraid of this, you could try a dedicated Server (not to confuse with a dedicated IP with shared hosting). A Dedicated server is when you get a entire server to your self, all the hardware and software can only be accessed by you (again, besides the people who can physically touch it). These usually cost the most as the connection and hardware is entirely yours. You may be thinking “Well, Dedicated hosting is the best way to go, but the most expensive… what do I do?”. Well, you could try finding a reliable VPS host, or just go along with a dedicated IP on shared hosting. I really wouldn’t recommend using shared hosting without a dedicated IP, nor would I recommend a dedicated server to somebody who has just started their own little website. Anyways, hopfully this has taught you some basics strategies of finding hosting. Here are some hosts that are reliable and secure:

IX Web Hosting

BlueHost

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Basic Website Security and Maintenance

Pierce — Fri, 22 May 2009 05:03:16 +0000

Are you a webmaster in which is afraid of possibly being hacked? Are you afraid that some professional computer users and programmers may find how unprofessional and buggy your code is? Well, to prevent being hacked easily, looking like an “e-noob”, and having a slow-loading website; you can look professional with these few simple tips. So, first and foremost: Like always, keep your Apache (HTTPD), and other services on your web-server updated! Most hosts will automatically do this for you. Our second tip, is fixing code on your site.

Go to http://validator.w3.org/ and enter your websites URL to check if the code is valid. If not, it will show you the errors in HTML in which you should fix, if you can’t, hire somebody else to do it! Another website is http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/, this website is for CSS (template) errors. Fixing these simple bugs will speed up your overall website, use less bandwidth, make it look more professional, and will support multiple browsers.

The last tip to Basic Website Security and Maintenance is getting rid of a folder in which can be dangerous on your server. This folder is named “cgi-sys” (not to confuse with “cgi-bin”). This folder is a bunch of useless applications for your server. Many exploits are found in these simple applications.

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Web-browser security, which browser is most secure?

Pierce — Wed, 20 May 2009 04:26:10 +0000

Do you use Internet Explorer because it came default with your computer? Do you think it is secure because Microsoft supports it? Well, you’re completely wrong! Internet explorer is by far the most vulnerable browser around. People say that “Opera” is the most secure browser around, yet, it may be, but it can still be buggy and very slow. Most private exploits in which are made for Internet explorer are patched within a week, and it seems like almost a month for Opera to get around to patching their vulnerabilities.

I would say Mozilla FireFox is the most secure browser. It runs fast, not very buggy, and IF there is an exploit found in it, it is usually patched within 1-2 days. Mozilla knows what they are doing, compared to Microsoft. They don’t just throw some half-arsed piece of junk together, give it a name, and then distribute it.
Anyways, having a secure browser means keeping your browser and other services updated. Some websites will target your PC, and try to exploit it to your browser related applications. This is why updating is crucial.

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Simple computer maintenance for you “old” people!

Pierce — Mon, 18 May 2009 06:58:09 +0000

I’ve met many people over the ages of 30 who do not know of simple techniques to effectively clean up their computers. Most people that I have met from the ages of 15-25 know most of the techniques I am about to show you. This will accomplish cleaning up your computer (probably speeding things up), and even providing extra security!

The first thing I am going to inform you about, is cookies. These are not the things that come in all types of flavors, but the ones on your computer that store critical information like passwords! Cookies are mostly used in authentication for log-ins. If a hacker compromises your computer, and you do not clear your cookies frequently, they could decrypt these cookies, thus getting very important details!

Now, for clearing cookies:
In browsers like Firefox, the best way to do it is to go to Tools, then “Clear Private Data” (shortcut is Crtl+Shift+Del). Now, make sure you check the cookies box, and hit “Clear Private Data Now”.
For browsers like Internet explorer, first quit the Internet (open this site in a different browser so you can keep following these directions!
Click on Start, now go to “Run”. Now type “inetcpl.cpl” and hit enter.
Now, under the General tab, click delete under the browsing history in the Internet properties dialog box. Make sure to click “clear cookies”. Now, just hit delete!

Make sure to clear you cookies on a daily basis.

Now, lets quickly make sure everything is up-to-date. Why update? This is the easiest, nad very most crucial part of computer security! Do this by going to Start, then Control Panel. Under “Security”, click “Check for updates”. I would recommend updating anything that says “recommended”, and of course definitely update anything under the priority of “important“. If it is a slow update, don’t cancel it. Delay it for a few hours until you go to bed, delaying for days on end is not secure!

These were some basic ways to keep a clean and secure computer, more articles on this Topic will be further discussed in the future!

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What is a virus extension?

Pierce — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:07:39 +0000

We’ve received many e-Mails and requests for a list of virus extensions. In case you do not know what an extension is, it is the period + last 3 numbers of a file. Here are some extensions you should be cautious opening:

“.exe” (Executable)

“.scr” (Screen Saver)

“.com” (Not the website, but the file-type)

“.bat” (System file)

“.sct” (Script File)

“.ocx” (ActiveX Objects)

“.dll” (Dynamic Link Libraries)

Extensions that you should not be particularly afraid of:

Pictures such as: JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, THUMB, PIC.

Documents such as: DOC, TXT, EX, RTF.

Movies Such as: MPG, MPG4, MPEG, AVI, FLV, WMV.

I still recommend using an Anti-virus program to scan the ones you don’t particularly have to care about (in-case somebody releases a malicious virus via a private exploit found in those extension types). Check here for a list of anti-virus programs and firewalls.

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Have a question about someone? Ask Google. They probably know!

Jake — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:15:46 +0000

Do you use Google and their applications? If you do, Google could know just as much about you as your best friend! The privacy we have now is limited, but with the help of Google our privacy can be almost obliterated completely!If you use Google’s search engine, Google knows what you have searched for as well as your activity on partner Web sites that use its ad services.
If you use the Google Chrome browser, it may know every Web site you’ve typed into the address bar.It may have all of your e-mail (Gmail), your appointments (Google Calendar) and even your last known location (Google Latitude). It may know what you’re watching (YouTube) and whom you are calling. It may have transcripts of your telephone messages (Google Voice). It may hold your photos in Picasa Web Albums, which includes face-recognition technology that can automatically identify you and your friends in new photos. And through Google Books, it may know what books you’ve read, what you read and how long you spent reading.Technically Google doesn’t know anything about you. But it stores tons of data about you and your activities on its servers, from the content you create to the searches you perform, the Web sites you visit and the ads you click.
What do we think? We think Google shouldn’t store so much data. We think they should give us the privacy we deserve. Sure it helps with searches and such but is it worth it for Google to know that much about you? According to Pam Dixon, executive director at the World Privacy Forum, “No company has ever had this much consumer data.” That quote is scary in a way.

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