Ex Geek

Kaspersky Anti-Hacker by Kaspersky Labs eliminates common firewall woes with their anti-hacker control panel. Though the design is simple, this firewall lets even beginers fine-tune protection settings. The application rule setting feature is easy to configure. Kaspersky Anti-Hacker can stealth (hide) your identifying computer and ports, block Trojans (dangerous software) and exploits (attempts to steal your data) On top of that it's low on system resources which is very important if you are a hardcore gamer or u have a PC with low memory. On my machine it's taking around 400KB while most firewalls consume 18Mb or so... So better check it out!

 Download Kaspersky Anti-Hacker

• Do not use your company computers, email account and outgoing mail server for private emails.


• If you have your work email account set up at home, use a separate account for private messages. Make sure that private accounts uses a different outgoing (SMTP) server (typically your internet service provider's) to send mail.


• Free email services are reasonably private. Do not use them on company computers or the company network (say, Wi-Fi) for private mail, though.


• You cannot expect any privacy for mail that touches company infrastructure: computers, wired or wireless networks or email (SMTP, IMAP, POP, Exchange, Notes) servers.

Checking the "Keep me signed in" box on public PCs

• NEVER, ever, check the "keep me signed in" box if you're not using your personal laptop or home desktop
• Be careful with work computers. Your office PC might feel "yours" but others can easily snoop when you're away from your desk. They could do something as simple as forward all your messages to their own private email account
• If you just signed IN to Google, eBay, Amazon or other site from a public PC, make sure to sign OFF once you're done
• Delete your browser history from the browser tools when completed to protect your privacy
• Using your browser's privacy mode while browsing prevents information such as the websites you visited from being stored. Internet Explorer 8 calls it "InPrivate Browsing" and Google Chrome calls it a "New incognito window"
• Never save passwords even when prompted to do so by your browser because someone else using your computer later would have access to your accounts

Failing to update Microsoft Windows OS /Java / Adobe Reader / Adobe Flash

• Java / Adobe Reader / Adobe Flash are responsible for an astounding number of PC infections due to security exploits. The best way to avoid becoming a target is to update all three pieces of software as often as you can. Flash will prompt you automatically, but you can tell Java to search for updates daily, instead of bi-monthly. Sign in for automatic updates with Adobe Reader as well
• Make sure to update your windows operating system. One way to do this is to set your windows updates to install automatically. This will reduce your exposure to hackers exploiting vulnerabilities in the windows operating system

Searching for celebrity gossip, incriminating material (i.e. sex tapes)

• This one is a no-brainer. Always be cautious while accessing this material. Malware authors know that people naturally gravitate towards the sex/celebrity combo, so new attacks are targeted specifically towards this crowd
• If you must, search for your news on Google News, Bing News or other aggregator. These services do a basic triage of sites, so chances are you'll be kept from reaching infected blogs/web pages
• When searching on Google use https://www.google.com instead of the common http://www.google.com, which will send your search request through an encrypted SSL connection. CyberDefender has found that doing so reduces the risk of being infected from search results.

Using BitTorrent to download copyrighted software/film/TV shows

• Stick to official downloads/streams such as iTunes, Hulu and legitimate websites. Avoid torrent sites at all costs – even if legit (not malicious), some of the ads found in torrent sites could be compromised. Drive-by downloads are often found in compromised ads and can infect computers without any sort of user input. Visit site -> get infected automatically
• Do not download pirated material
• Do not download pirated material :)

Searching for free porn

• Like everything else "free" on the Internet, free adult content might turn out to be quite expensive. Free porn sites can be downright shady in the way they treat users. That's what makes them ideal targets for bad guys
• Similar to our advice re: torrent sites. The same principle applies here: stick to paid sites. They're interested in keeping users happy, so security will be better. You'll be considerably less exposed to malware this way
  Invest in a high-quality security suite such as CyberDefender's Early Detection Center 3.0, which includes
• CyberDefender's Link Patrol toolbar. This browser-based utility automatically scans links for malware before users click on them

Online gaming (free to play, social games on Facebook and beyond)

• Be careful when downloading free to play (F2P) clients. If the client software is malicious – or quality assurance happens to be spotty – you could be putting your PC at risk
• Don't give out your login information to strangers. In fact, don't give out ANY kind of information, personal or not, to people you meet gaming. At the very least, you could have your virtual items stolen. At worst, you could lose real money
• Avoid falling for the old "FarmVille Secrets" scam. You will either download a Trojan or expose your Facebook login info to criminals

Leaving Facebook privacy settings wide open, therefore exposing personal info to all

• Carefully review your privacy settings on Facebook. Err on the side of caution – don't let "friends of friends" see your birthday, cell phone number, etc. All of these could be used in an attempt to impersonate you to credit cards, credit unions, etc
• Only friends should have access to the more personal layer of information we all have. So choose your friends wisely – "serial friending" would expose you just as well

Connecting to unknown wireless networks

• In public places, like airports and hotels, be careful about logging into unknown (private) wireless networks. In a hotel for instance, be sure you choose the official one, not another in the neighborhood. Bad guys can eavesdrop as you use your computer, "imitating" a real, safe environment
• Public settings for your laptop are a whole lot more secure – e.g. no file sharing, increased firewall settings, etc

Using the same password for every single online account

• It's hard work to remember several different passwords, so no wonder some use the same password over and over again. But if that one password leaks out to cybercriminals, your entire online life is suddenly open to the world
• Keep different passwords for different purposes. Keep email and social media passwords separate, for example
• Certain browsers can also help with a "master password" that keeps a multitude of passwords in check. So even if you have different passwords for different services, you only have to remember the master password Using a tool (Roboform or Password Vault) for this purpose that encrypts password information and uses best practices to generate passwords is an even better idea

Trying to get a free iPad, PlayStation 3 or similar gadgets (scams/phishing)

• Oldie but goodie: there's no such thing as a free lunch
• If an online offer sounds too good to be true, it usually is
• Avoid any kind of giveaway that's not supported in a big way by a known brand, even if it happens to be an online brand (like Zappos, for example)
• Keep a security suite fully updated, since most of them can catch phishing attempts resulting from this kind of scam

 USB Security Utilities 1.0 Features

• Small in size and portable
• Can be installed in various portable device
• Supports Strong Scanning Engine
• Detects dangerous files
• Can view device information
• Multilanguage interface
• Simple to use
• Strong detection ability
• Prevents infection of device

1. Password should at least be 8-10 characters long.
2. Passwords should be a combination of numbers and letters.
3. Letters should be both capital and small.
4. At least one symbol or special character should be present.

Steps to create a strong password

• 
  
  
  
  Step 1. Select A Sentence: First step is to select an 8-10 words sentence. The important thing to keep in mind here is that the sentence should not be obvious or guessable. Any random sentence is good enough. Do not take guessable and/or short sentences like “I first name is XYZ“, etc. For the purpose of explaining, we will take the first line of this post as the sentence.
  “Passwords are your first and last line of defence”.
  
  
• 
  
  
  
  Step 2. Trimming the words into characters: Reduce the words to their first letters. For example, “Passwords” can be reduced to “p“. Also, words like “are” can be changed to “r“, So our sentence gets reduced in the following manner:
  Passwords [p] are [r] your [y] first [f] and[a] last[l] line[l] of[o] defence[d]
  
  Now, the password looks like this: pryfallod
   
• 
  
  
  
  Step 3. Insert Numbers: As said before, a good password has both, numbers & alphabets. So to get numbers, we can do two things. Firstly, the word in Step 1 can be represented by numbers. In our example, “first” in the sentence can be represented by “1” instead of “f“. Secondly, letters in Step 2 can be converted into numbers which look similar. In the present case, the second last letter “o” can be changed to “0[zero]. Similarly you can substitute ” l” for “1“.
  After this step, our password turns into: pry1all0d
  
  
• 
  
  
  
  Step 4. Capital & Small Cap Letters: Some of the letters in the password have to be capitalized. Now we arrive at the question, which ones? The first and last letter can be selected. Or, perhaps, those letters can be selected which are more prominent or more important. In our case, “passwords” and “defence” happen to be the most prominent words in the sentence. These words need not be at the end or start of the sentence.
  Now our password looks like: Pry1all0D
   
• 
  
  
  
  Step 5. Special Characters or Symbols. Symbols lend and extra level of security to the password and make it nearly impossible to crack. One can randomly add a special character to the password or follow the same method that one did in Step 3 with numbers.
  For instance, “l” can be replaced with “!” or “a” can be replaced with “@“. Or randomly substitute letters with symbols like changing “y” with “$“.
  
  
  
  Final password: Pry1al!!d
  
  Now, this password is really difficult to crack. Looking at it, one may think that it would be really hard to memorize such a password. However, it isn’t that hard to remember it. In fact, by the time I complete writing the article, I myself have memorized the password. Moreover, even if you forget the password, you’ll always have the original sentence to help you recall the password.
  
  
  Now that you have a good password, here are a couple of things you should take care of;
  
  
  • You should never share password with somebody else, not even your best buddy or spouse.
  • You should never write down your password anywhere, neither on a paper nor in notepad or document file.
  Often, the best passwords lose their importance if any of the two tips above isn’t followed.
  
  
  Take care and secure yourself.

A Keylogger is basically a spy ware, it records all your keystrokes.

Here is how a keylogger 

works

• By recording each keystroke and immediately dispatching it to remote listener over internet
• By collecting keystrokes data in a temporary file and then uploading it via internet
• The collected keystrokes are never sent via internet instead they are collected in a temporary file and then if someone has access to your system either physical or remote they collect this data manually.
• Finally the hardware keyloggers: these are actually hardware devices that include a little flash memory to record all your keystrokes,and then the person collects this data manually

So why do I need a Anti Keylogger when I have an 

Antivirus?