It has always been the case that people are much more likely to be a victim of violent crime in their homes at the hands of a family member than on a city street being accosted by a stranger. And now, with the internet in everyones home, the chance of becoming a victim of crime at home has only increased.

Of course, internet crime is not usually violent crime, it tends to be more along the lines of destruction of property, through viruses and worms, and thefts through the use of scams and ID theft. But these crimes are highly destructive to people’s lives, as well, and need to be taken just as seriously as any other.

The good news is that, although you can never be completely safe, by employing a few simple practices you can greatly improve your online security. Use these top ten tips to protect your online privacy and help make your home a safer place to be.

1. Use separate accounts for personal and work e-mail. There is no telling who may be able to gain access to your work e-mail. Keep private stuff private by having a separate personal account.

2. Clear you cache often. Anyone who gains access to your computer, with your permission or without, has a record of your browsing history through cached pages. Keep it clear and you can keep it confidential.

3. Only use secure online forms. Make sure that any personal or sensitive data you transmit on the internet is encrypted. Never use non secure sites to transfer your private data.

4. Teach you kids to use the internet safely. Its not enough that you now what to and not to do on the internet. Make sure your kids are well informed as well.

5. Look for privacy policies. Every site you visit can collect information from your computer. Make sure the websites you visit have privacy policies that clearly state what the will and will not do with the information they might collect.

6. Reject cookies. Cookies enable sites to store information about you on your computer and access it at a later time. Unless you need cookies enabled for a specific reason, disable them in your internet preferences.

7. Opt out of information sharing. Many websites you visit will give you the opportunity to opt out of information sharing. This keeps them from distributing information on you and your browsing preferences to other interested sites. Always opt out when it is offered.

8. Never click on links in IM from people you don’t know. If you get an instant message from someone you don’t know well, leave any links contained in them alone.

9. Use e-mail filtering to prevent receiving spam e-mail. You never know what those e-mails might contain or what information might be compromised just by opening them. Filter out spam and don’t open e-mail if you don’t know the sender.

10. Password protect your e-mail and bookmarks. Password protect everything on your computer that has the option,. The more obstacles one needs to overcome to get your information, the less likely they are to try. Put these practices into use and make sure you are as safe as you can be.

Also, if you have not seen our first series Top 10 Ways List… Go Now The Best 30 Of The Top 10 Ways

As Always Be Safe Online, and if you find you have topic’s or ideas on other subjects that you would like us to investigate or create a list please email us our use our contact form.

Thanks for all the support and please Learn IT, Teach IT, Share IT…

Your Online Security Authority

Bill Wardell

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OSA Technorati Tags: Cached Pages, Course Internet, Crimes, E Mail, Family Member, Image, Internet Crime, Mikey, Online Security, Ottawa, Personal Account, Privacy Policies, Private Data, Safer Place, Scams, Secure Sites, Sensitive Data, stranger, Victim Of Crime, Violent Crime, Viruses And Worms

photo credit: Unhindered by Talent

How do people get this basic information about you?

When you visit another web site, information about you can be retrieved. Basically, information is intercepted and used by others to track your Internet activities.

How do you stop this from happening?

First of all, it is possible to serf the web anonymously and thereby stop leaving a trail for others to find. Note that this is not fool-proof, but it makes it much harder for people to know who you are. There are products called anonymous proxy servers that help protect you. The anonymous proxy server replaces your Internet address for its own. This has the effect of hiding your IP address and making it much harder for people to track you. Managed PC Care…

How do I get an anonymous proxy server?

There are many vendors who sell anonymous proxy servers. There are also free proxy servers available to you. Two such products are ShadowSurf and Guardster. Guardster (http://www.guardster.com/) offers various services for anonymous and secure access to the web, some paid as well as a free service. ShadowSurf (http://www.shadowsurf.com/) ShadowSurf provides anonymous surfing at their site for free. Go to it and you will find a box to enter a URL that you want no one to track. There are many others, but here are two that are frequently used.

Another interesting product, given the recent news about the Google search engine filtering its findings for the Chinese government, is Anonymizer (http://www.anonymizer.com). This company, among others, recently (Feb 1st, 2006) pressed that it “is developing a new anti-censorship solution that will enable Chinese citizens to safely access the entire Internet filter-free” (Press Release).

Does an anonymous proxy server make you 100% safe?

No. Still, you are much better off if you use such technology.

What other things should I be concerned about when trying to keep my private information private?

Three other items come to mind when trying to keep your information private. First, you can use an encrypted connection to hide your surfing. This article does not go into detail on this, but search the web and you will find a lot of information on this. Secondly, delete cookies after each session. Third, you can configure your browser to remove JavaScript, Java, and active content. This actually leads to limitations, so you need to think about the cost/benefit of this course of action.

Anything else?

Wishing you happy and safe surfing!

Other Posts From Around The Web:

OSA Technorati Tags: cookies, IP address, Managed PC Care, proxy servers

Virus: Trojan.Lodear

A Trojan horse that attempts to download remote files. It will inject a .dll file into the EXPLORER.EXE process causing system instability.

photo credit: ccarlstead

Virus: W32.Beagle.CO@mm

A mass-mailing worm that lowers security settings. It can delete security-related registry sub keys and may block access to security-related websites.

Virus: Backdoor.Zagaban

A Trojan horse that allows the compromised computer to be used as a covert proxy and which may degrade network performance.

Virus: W32/Netsky-P

A mass-mailing worm which spreads by emailing itself to addresses produced from files on the local drives.

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Virus: W32/Mytob-GH

A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan for the Windows platform. Messages sent by this worm will have the subject chosen randomly from a list including titles such as: Notice of account limitation, Email Account Suspension, Security measures, Members Support, Important Notification.

Virus: W32/Mytob-EX

A mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan similar in nature to W32-Mytob-GH. W32/Mytob-EX runs continuously in the background, providing a backdoor server which allows a remote intruder to gain access and control over the computer via IRC channels. This virus spreads by sending itself to email attachments harvested from your email addresses.

Virus: W32/Mytob-AS, Mytob-BE, Mytob-C, and Mytob-ER

This family of worm variations possesses similar characteristics in terms of what they can do. They are mass-mailing worms with backdoor functionality that can be controlled through the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network. Additionally, they can spread through email and through various operating system vulnerabilities such as the LSASS (MS04-011).

Virus: Zafi-D

A mass mailing worm and a peer-to-peer worm which copies itself to the Windows system folder with the filename Norton Update.exe. It can then create a number of files in the Windows system folder with filenames consisting of 8 random characters and a DLL extension. W32/Zafi-D copies itself to folders with names containing share, upload, or music as ICQ 2005a new!.exe or winamp 5.7 new!.exe. W32/Zafi-D will also display a fake error message box with the caption “CRC: 04F6Bh” and the text “Error in packed file!”.

Virus: W32/Netsky-D

A mass-mailing worm with IRC backdoor functionality which can also infect computers vulnerable to the LSASS (MS04-011) exploit.

Virus: W32/Zafi-B

A peer-to-peer (P2P) and email worm that will copy itself to the Windows system folder as a randomly named EXE file. This worm will test for the presence of an internet connection by attempting to connect to www.google.com or www.microsoft.com. A bilingual, worm with an attached Hungarian political text message box which translates to “We demand that the government accommodates the homeless, tightens up the penal code and VOTES FOR THE DEATH PENALTY to cut down the increasing crime. Jun. 2004, Pécs (SNAF Team)”

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OSA Technorati Tags: email addresses, Internet Viruses, Windows system folder

The Real ID Act requires every American to have a standardized driver’s license – a de facto national ID – to fly on commercial airlines or enter government buildings. Legislation has also been proposed that would make showing a Real ID a requirement for voting, getting a job and obtaining benefits like Medicaid. Real ID will invade privacy, trample religious freedom, and won’t make us any safer.

We need your help by Tuesday, 5:00 PM EST to tell DHS and Congress that Americans reject Real ID.

As required by law, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is accepting comments on its proposed Real ID regulations through Tuesday, May 8th, at 5:00 PM. Anyone in America has the right to submit comments to the government on this proposal.

Please submit your own comments telling DHS and Congress that Real ID is a ‘Real Nightmare’ that needs to be fixed.

Your comments today will be critical in this debate, as Congress will be looking carefully at the number of comments delivered. Here is how you can submit your comments:

1. Online through the Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov/ (search for “DHS-2006-0030-0001″ and follow the instructions for submitting comments)
2. Fax to 1-866-466-5370. Your fax must state that you are submitting comments in response to Notice of Proposed Rulemaking DHS-2006-0030.
3. Postal Mail sent to Department of Homeland Security; Attn: NAC 1-12037; Washington, D.C. 20538. Your letter must state that you are submitting comments in response to Notice of Proposed Rulemaking DHS-2006-0030.

For more information about comment submission, visit
http://www.privacycoalition.org/stoprealid/
For more information about Real ID, go to http://www.realnightmare.org/
For the ACLU’s page on religious opposition to Real ID, go to
http://www.realnightmare.org/opposition/101/
For CASPIAN’s New Hampshire Anti-REAL ID page, go to
http://www.granitestateid.com/
For a video of the NH rally opposing REAL ID (including excerpts from my speech) see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeE3iB90KeE 

Read more about RFID and hear more stroies like this, please Join US, every Monday Night LIVE @ 11:00 pm MST for:

For more informaiton and stroies like this, please Join US, every Monday Night LIVE @ 11:00 pm MST for:

Your Online Security Authority  
Bill Wardell

You can also find a good bankruptcy attorney near you by using the attorney directories. Making an appointment with a bankruptcy attorney is the best course of action. A starting consultation for a small price is given by many attorneys.When making such an important decision, one should not depend on only websites or books. The following features are provided by bankruptcy law firms and the people working in the region or bankruptcy agency. They provide experienced and dedicated staffs and lawyers. They use advanced technology. They give ideas for reestablishing credit after bankruptcy. Trainees from the new bankruptcy law firms sent in their local rules and regulations. Payment plans are also available. Free first visits are advised before making a commitment. You can file chapter 7 as well as chapter 13 bankruptcy cases.

Bankruptcy lawyers are not allowed to share a client’s information without consent because of confidentiality laws. You can rely on a friend who might show you the right direction to find a proficiency review, which gives you an overview of a lawyer’s ability. Usually, attorneys are listed underneath their specialization in the yellow pages, which is a very useful source with a bulk of information. Moreover, using the yellow pages would be useful during the initial stage to locate the attorneys near you. The sub-heading bankruptcy attorneys should lead you to a list of attorneys in your area.

Before selecting a bankruptcy lawyer or bankruptcy attorney in Texas and Houston, you can also go to your friends and relatives about it. In respects to confidentiality laws lawyers are not allowed to release their present or earlier client’s information without permission from the clients to do so. The likelihood of a lawyer having clients who are ok with their information being shared is slim, but one can always attempt to talk to a trusted and faithful friend who will send you off with the right information. This advice from wiser people will give an overview about the ability of a lawyer and also the relationship he has with his clients. Enlisting in the help of a bankruptcy attorney is a major step that should be heeded carefully.