Use the HOSTS File to Assist Privacy

Everyone likes to be a good host, but bad guests get carried away. They?ll stay too late or empty bottles too soon. They could even break something along the way. That?s why you take precautions as a host.

Think of your Windows HOSTS file in the same way. By properly setting up your HOSTS file, you can save yourself grief from bad Internet visitors. This is done by circumventing the source of pop-up ads and banners.

Keep this in mind: A proper HOSTS file is just one of many defenses needed to thwart unwanted Web visitors. You still need virus protection, ad blockers and spy scans to bar the bad stuff. You also need them to detect any currently lurking on your computer.

The Preliminaries
The HOSTS file resides in your Windows folder, or a subfolder, depending on your Windows version. The domain names and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of other computers can be listed there. So, the HOSTS file can act as an address book when your computer wants to call another machine.

The Problem
Advertisers use your surfing habits to target products that match your interests. That’s why pop-up ads, banners, adware and spyware have become so invasive.

The HOSTS file works like this. When you type a Web site into your browser–say, www.komando.com–your browser first checks the HOSTS file for the IP number. If the HOSTS file contains this address, your computer stops looking and ?calls? the number. If not, your computer goes to the Internet and finds the IP number there.

Spyware works the same way. So you can use the HOSTS file to trick the spyware.

The Patch
This is actually pretty simple. Redirect the connection back to your own computer. To do that, put the spyware entry in the HOSTS file. The entry looks like this:

127.0.0.1 www.badnews.com

So let’s say that spyware on your computer is trying to contact the Bad News Advertising Co. It tries to go to www.badnews.com. Your computer first goes to the HOSTS file, looking for the IP number. Sure enough, it is there. But the number (127.0.0.1) is your computer, not the address of the Bad News Advertising Co. Because it is your computer, the request simply dies. The spyware is marooned inside your computer.

Windows comes with a HOSTS file, but there is only one line in it:

127.0.0.1 localhost

Localhost is your computer. To make the HOSTS file a worthwhile spyware fighter, you would have to enter hundreds of evil domain names, such as www.badnews.com, along with your IP number (127.0.0.1). Fortunately, there?s another way. Custom HOSTS files are available on the Web. You can get a good one at: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Can the spyware people get around this? There are ways. But so far, at least, they haven?t bothered. If you install a HOSTS file, along with programs to block and eradicate spyware, you?ll be much more secure. You can find programs to block and eradicate spyware on my site at: http://www.komando.com/bestshareware.asp

Stick with me. We can defeat these people.

http://www.komando.com/tips_show.asp?showID=8510

Posted in Privacy, Security | No Comments

Tomorrow’s Net speeds could be up to 1,600% faster

If you think that today’s high-speed Internet connections are fast, wait till you see what cable operators plan. The industry’s standard-settings unit, CableLabs, plans to endorse this month technology that will let operators boost speeds 400% to 1,600%, over their existing lines.

Motorola and Cisco are among the companies offering alternative methods to increase broadband speeds by linking together the bandwidth used for four or more conventional TV channels.

What would the faster speed bring?

“The sky’s the limit,” says CableLabs CEO Dick Green. “There are a lot of high-data-rate services lurking out there ? including a lot that we haven’t even thought of.”

While cable operators now usually transmit broadband at 3 million bits per second (3MB), a download of “a billion bits per second is completely doable,” Comcast CEO Brian Roberts told the industry’s annual convention here this week. “The network could do this quite easily.”

That could dramatically affect how people use the Internet when the new modems to handle the speeds arrive, which is expected to be in 2008.

“This will change our lives well beyond entertainment,” says Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers. For example, when speeds allow quick sending of detailed images. such as X-rays, he says, “You’ll do the majority of your health care straight from the home.”

Others envision a host of other applications. For example, businesses could easily arrange video conferences with high-definition TV. Consumers could download an entire HD movie in about five minutes vs. today’s 22 minutes.

And, “There will be a need for higher speeds as games become more graphics-intensive,” says Adelphia Chief Technical Officer Marwan Fawaz.

Hospitals and schools also may be among the first to take advantage of the additional transmission capacity, which is expected to cost more than current high-speed Internet services.

Operators want to get moving to keep ahead of phone companies, led by Verizon, that are building communications systems with more fiber-optic lines ? and therefore more transmission capacity ? than cable.

“There’ll be a speed arms race,” says RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser.

But the new cable standard, known as DOCSIS 3.0, also will make it easier for operators to handle other chores.

“I could take a cell phone and program my digital video recorder,” says Richard Doherty, who is with The Envisioneering Group. “Quality of service is a big part of it.”

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-04-05-speed-usat_x.htm?csp=15

Posted in Internet | No Comments

Seven Myths About Network Security

Hacker tools are growing more sophisticated and automated. Hackers can now quickly adapt to new security vulnerabilities as they are uncovered and distribute the fruits of their exploits more widely with the help of automated toolkits. And they’re employing an ever-increasing range of methods to find individuals’ and companies’ private information and use it to their own advantage. And yet many of us have a false sense of security about our own data and networks. We install a firewall at the perimeter, put anti-virus and anti-spyware tools on our desktops, and use encryption to send and store data. Microsoft and the big security companies provide ever-improving tools and patches to protect us. Although others who are less careful might be at risk, we’re safe, right?

Maybe not. Take a look at these seven security myths and see if your data is as secure as you think.

http://techweb-pipelines.com/trk/click?ref=zp7waa8wo_0-6cax33c79x115392

Posted in Networking, Security | No Comments

Keeping Intruders Out Of Your WLAN

Wireless LANs utilize radio waves for transporting information, which results in security vulnerabilities that justifiably worry network managers. To assuage those worries, most companies implement authentication and encryption to harden security. However, WLANs have a whole host of other vulnerabilities that can be more difficult to completely smother such as illicit monitoring, unauthorized access, and denial of service (DoS) attacks. For example, someone using a wireless sniffer, such as the freely-available NetStumbler, can easily monitor wireless traffic for fun or malicious intent while sitting in their car next to your office building.

Fortunately, intrusion detection systems (IDSs) can secure networks against these threats.

http://www.networkingpipeline.com/worksforme/160403696

Posted in Internet, Networking, Privacy, Security | No Comments

Surfers urged to take Phishing IQ Test

A new website has been built to educate British online consumers about the dangers of phishing scams.

The Phishing IQ Test has been set up with faux emails from banks and e-commerce vendors, and users are invited to judge whether they are legitimate or not.

A results page reveals the correct answers and gives detailed information on how to identify a phishing attack.

“Whilst we recognise that phishing has been a US-driven phenomenon, we are increasingly seeing UK-focused scams which use a different kind of language, and by which people in the UK are more easily tricked,” said Vanessa Wade, managing director of email security vendor MailFrontier which set up the site.

“We developed the test specifically for the UK, as English is still the main language being used by phishers. We hope that this test gives people more confidence when deleting, ignoring or reporting cases of phishing in the UK in future.”

Over 300,000 people have viewed the American version of the site since its launch in June last year. A worrying 96 per cent of those people got at least one of the questions wrong.

http://www.vnunet.com/news/1162237

Posted in Internet, Privacy, Security | No Comments