How to secure a computer from virus and hackers

Just buying a computer is not everything until you don’t know anything about computer security. It’s a very important thing if you want to secure your data and other private things from hackers and viruses.

          Here I am writing some basic methods to secure a computer. 

1. A good operating system is very important for computer security. Linux is a very good OS because it has tight security. And update it regularly.

2. While securing your system via password, always choose a difficult password that can no one guess. Don’t use your date of birth, phone number etc.

3. Always us a good web browser that have security features against malewares, adwares and other virues.

4. Don’t use unknown link for downloading something. Always download files from trusted source.

5. A good anti virus is also very important for computer security because it can be secure your system from Trojans, worms. Avast is a good anti virus program that is available for free.

6. Don’t turn off your system’s firewall. Firewall will help you in security.

How to find out someone's IP Address

Finding out someone's IP address is like finding their phone number, an IP address can be used to find the general location where that person lives. Sometimes its necessary to find out an IP address in order to report an internet crime such as stalking or harrassment. The best way to find out someone's IP address is by using an instant messaging program such as MSN Messenger or AIM since this opens up a direct line of communication between the two computers. It only takes a few easy steps to track an IP address after opening communication.

How to Find out someone's IP Address using MSN messenger

1.Chat with the person on MSN Messenger.
2.Click “Start” on your computer
3.Click “Run” box.
4.Type in “cmd” or “command.” Press “Enter” on your keyboard.
5.Type “netstat” into the Command Screen.
6.The IP address of the person you are chatting with will come up.

How to Find Out Someone's IP Address Using AIM(GTalk,Yahoo Messenger)

1.Chat with the person on AIM and open a direct connection.

2.Open cmd and type "netstat"

3.Look for Port 4443 which is AIM default direct connection. The IP address of the person you are chatting with will come up. If 4443doesn’t come up, look for a port with a similar number. 

Appear Online to Selected Friends in Facebook

Facebook have no option to go invisible for selected persons. But if you want to go offline for selecting friends then this trick will help you. To do this just follow these simple steps.

• Go to Chat option (at Lower right corner)
• Then click on Friends List
• After clicking on friends list a small window will appear. Here create a new list of any name. 
• In this list drag & drop you friends name that you want to block.
• After that set your status to appear offline for this list.
• For going online for that List just click on that image 

Special Chat Symbols

These chat symbols are very interesting. You can use them any chat messenger. The list is as following...

Alt+1                         ☺

Alt+2                         ☻

Alt+3                          ♥

Alt+4                          ♦

Alt+5                          ♣

Alt+6                          ♠

Alt+7                          •

Alt+8                          ◘

Alt+9                          ○

Alt+10                        ◙

Alt+11                        ♂

Alt+12                        ♀

Alt+13                        ♪

Alt+14                       ♫

Alt+15                       ☼

Alt+16                        ►                                

Alt+17                       ◄

Alt+ 18                       ↕

Alt+19                        ‼

Alt+20                        ¶

Alt+21                        §

Alt+22                       ▬

Alt+23                        ↨

Alt+24                        ↑

Alt+25                        ↓

Alt+26                        →

Alt+27                        ←

Alt+28                        ∟

Alt+29                        ↔

Alt+30                        ▲

Alt+31                        ▼

note:use only numkeys for typing numbers.

Bold and Underline letters in Facebook Chat

Do you know you can use bold and underline letters in facebook chat. Follow these steps to do this.:-

 

Use Bold Letters - To use bold letters type your letters between * . If you want to post HI in bold letter then type it like this in facebook chat *HI* then it will be bold.

Use Underline - To use underline in your facebook chat the type your letters between _ . If you want to underline HI in facebook chat then type it like this_HI_ then it will look like HI.

Do not get into net through internet

ALLAHABAD: Three fresh cases of internet fraudwere registered in Colonelganj and Civil Lines police stations in last five days. 

With an increase in the number of cyber crime cases, police have asked net lovers to be cautious, while accessing their mails, especially if they get a mail or SMS declaring that they have won a cash prize through national/international lottery. 

DIG/SSP, Ram Kumar while speaking to TOI said, "People should be aware and cautious about such fictitious offer. No doubt, people have become aware against cyber crime, but most people especially women or youngsters are still not aware about the facts related to cyber crime." 

The police claim that last year, as many as 23 such complaints were reported, in which internet users have complained of being cheated and deprived of their cash. 

"If you receive such mail or SMS, verify all the facts and documents before applying, otherwise you may lose your money," alerted the cops. 

According to police, there are three cases wherein interested candidates without consulting the experts or police officials had deposited amounts worth lakhs of rupees with the lottery authorities and then found it to be a big fraud. 

Kusum, a resident of Georgetown had deposited Rs 14 lakh in the given account numbers without inquiring about the authenticity of the email within a gap of three months. The police, while investigating the cases found that most of the cases registered or reported are linked to online lottery frauds. 

Pointedly, if a computer system has been tampered with, it amounts to cyber fraud, but sending a lottery mail to somebody does not amount to tampering and hence, it is not covered under IT Act. It is only punishable under the relevant section of the IPC, officials said. They also pointed out that awareness is increasing among the people. Many of those who get such mails are approaching police officials to know the authenticity of such mails. 

One can even be duped by an email sent in the name of somebody known to the victim. 

Lottery fraud begins with sending the target a declaration email, which says that the receiver of the mail is the lottery winner. In return, those mails seek some basic details. In the subsequent mail, the sender asks about a courier agent, who has been assigned the job of getting the cash transferred, asking a nominal payment of the winning cash (amount).

Source:- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Facebook to use PhotoDNA to prevent child abuse

Social networking site Facebook is all set to use PhotoDNA to scan account holders’ photos in order to prevent child abuse. This news was announced by Facebook on last Friday.

Chris Sonderby, Facebook assistant general counsel stated that they are planning to use this technology against 2 and 3 hundred million photo images which are uploaded every day.
This will enable them to block users upload, prevent the re-victimisation of children who are represented in those photos and help them to take immediate action.
The technology of PhotoDNA was created by Microsoft and Dartmouth College in the year 2009. It helps to trace digital signatures, and identify matches of pictures that are altered and resized.
This is an efficient technology which will not decrease the use of the network.

Mozilla unveils Firefox 5 beta

 Mozilla has announced to launch a beta version of Firefox. At present Mozilla have three versions of Firefox—beta version with latest features under testing, release version for mainstream users, and the Aurora, a version to launch these new features.

These three versions corresponds to Chrome’s stable, beta, and dev releases. While announcing the release of the Firefox 5 beta, Mozilla posted a blog stating that the latest development will offer users faster performance enhancements, stability improvements and security updates.
The latest version of Firefox was tested for 5 weeks on the Aurora channel before being finally announced.
The new beta will also enable users to switch between the different versions of Firefox by just clicking on change in About Firefox box.

Indian IT expert accuses LinkedIn of slack security

By Ankita Mishra

New Delhi- India based IT expert Rishi Narang has accused social networking site LinkedIn on charges of slack security. According to the reports, Narang has discovered two cookie managing problems.

Cookies are available at the termination of authenticated sessions and an SSL cookie is being utilized without its secure flag set.
Session expiration is indeed a serious issue. As the cookies stay on the machine, post termination of a session a malicious user may use somebody else’s cookies in order to restore a connection to their account.
Narang discovered this flaw at a time, when the cookies were kept on for more than a year rather than being deleted post termination of a particular session.
He also added that a cookie can expire only if a user changes their LinkedIn password, logs in and logs out with a new password.
In the mean time, LinkedIn officials declined to respond to Narang’s critique of the company’s use of a cookie with a one-year expiration.

Source:- http://blackfridaydeals.in

India is a big market for cyber criminals!

By Nikita Agarwal

Mumbai- With cyber crime on the rise these days, cyber crooks in order to target users, have started using Hindi, while drafting mails.

Security firm Symantec has claimed that there is likely to be an increase in spam among regional languages.
India has been a constant target of cyber crimes over the past few years. These included spam attacks and phishing during Diwali to the most recent Cricket World Cup, where users in India were fooled to part with their information and money by India-specific events.
It is indeed very difficult to get hold of these cyber criminals as they are spread everywhere.
Cybercrime like that of the internet knows no boundaries. Presently cyber criminals are specially targeting inhabitants of tier I and tier II cities.
Cyber criminals are also targeting other Hindi-speaking countries including Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh with spam mails in Hindi.

Source:- http://blackfridaydeals.in

CHAT HISTORY FOR FACEBOOK

How do I access my chat history?

If you’re online and chatting with someone, your recent conversation history is available by scrolling up within the chat window. Clicking “Clear Window” will remove this history from your chat window.

A history of all your chats is also included as part of your conversations within Facebook Messages along with all your messages, texts and emails.

If you’d like to delete specific chat messages from a conversation:

1. Open the conversation.
2. Open the Actions menu.
3. Select “Delete Messages…”
4. Check boxes will appear next to each message in the conversation. You can check off the individual messages that you’d like to delete.
5. Click the “Delete Selected” button at the bottom of the conversation.

Note that clicking “Delete All” will delete all messages in the conversation thread.

Unfortunately, this feature is not currently available globally. Only few members of the facebook who have got their facebook email id can use this option. Users who have not got their facebook email id they can use Facebook Chat History Manager to save and view your chat history with friends onFacebook.

Facebook Chat History Manager

Chat history manager Firefox extension which can save your Facebook chat messages in your local environment.
You can view your chat history anytime either online or offline.
Your messages are securely stored and only person passed the security check can view saved messages.Note that all messages are stored in your client, this application won’t store your chat history on server.

Download Facebook Chat History Manager

Installation and usages are pretty simple.

Usages:
*1.Create your account.(Required!)
After extension installed, from Firefox menubar, select Tools, find Facebook Chat History Manager menu, and select Create Account. You’re required to login to facebook. Once login and see “You may now close this window and return to the application.” click “Close login window” on the bottom. Then the create account dialog should open. The chat history manager will save your chat message automatically and silencely.
2.View chat history.
There are two ways:
a: Press Ctrl+Alt+F to open chat history window. This need you login.
b. From Firefox menubar, select Tools, find Facebook Chat History Manager menu, and select View History
3.Delete chat history.
To delete messages, you can select the messages to be deleted then click delete button on the top of view history messages page.
4.Set Preference.
Set messages per page: From Firefox Tools menu, select Add-ons, find Facebook Chat History Manager and select Options.
5.Export chat history.
From Firefox Menubar, select Tools, find Facebook Chat History Manager menu, and select Export History.

Server Hacking

What is it?

Any website site you visit on the internet and any email address you use is stored on a server. If you break into a hosting server you could do things such as changing thousands of big company websites into pointless pages, or more beneficially if the company is selling a product online, collect visitors credit card numbers and other details. Most hackers are eventually caught but if a server offers server-side access, used for items such as guestbooks and form submission, it is a possible target.

How does it happen?

It tends to happen when scripts are being run in a server-side language and passwords are not encrypted or the data is not protected. If a hacker finds a security flaw in a script they may try to exploit it. They do this by either running some code to trick the script into revealing the password or by intercepting it as an authorised member submits the information over the internet.

Not a joke!

Server hacking is a very serious inexcusable offence. If you are taken to court you have no defence and will almost certainly have a prison sentence. The severity of hacking servers was set down in the Data Protection Act 1998, which enforced serious laws about this delicate subject.

Please don't hack illegally, see our legal guide for more information on legal hacking.

Computer Hacking

Introduction

Computer hacking is what everybody fears. It is when some malicious hacker breaks into an innocent (or not so innocent) person's computer. This has happened once to me and once to a friend and I can describe to you both instances. However, hacking computers is difficult. Those who hack are computer professionals having fun - its a sick world.

What are the different types of hacking?

There are two. Hacking into a computer by trying to access its files and trying to access or damage it through a virus. The first is used mainly to obtain specific data while the latter out of a pathetic spite. Both can be equally damaging and it is important to be cautious when browsing the internet.

How do they target you?

Wherever you go on the internet you leave a trail behind you. The first is with your ISP (Internet Service Provider). They can log all the actions you perform on the internet because they carry out all your online actions. You also have and I.P address. This is supplied by your ISP and any website you visit can detect it. It is also attached to any information you send over the internet including e-mails and in chatrooms.

How can you prevent viruses and hackers?

Norton Antivirus is a very popular but over-rated program used to stop viruses. A much better solution would be to useBitdefender. An additional way is to use a firewall. This also helps prevent hackers and so is extra useful. Windows XP has one built in but once again Bitdefender is a good option if you use an older operating system or want a more sophisticated one.

Please don't hack illegally, see our legal guide for more information on legal hacking.

Website Hacking

Introduction

There are two types of website hacking:

1. Hacking to break into password protected sections of the website. (Often Illegal)
2. Hacking so that you can modify or deform a website. NOTE: Criminal Offence

Website Hacking is not uncommon. It is simply trying to break into a site unauthorised. Webmasters can use encryption to prevent this. However, as most website programmers do not use encryption their websites are easy targets. Methods of protection include javascript, asp, php and cgi, but most other server-side languages can also be used. I will show you how to hack websites which use javascript protection.

Javascript protection has never been secure, if you are looking at the source to find the password to client-side protection, you will probably not have any problem finding the password unless it is encrypted. Follow the steps below so that you can understand the basics of hacking websites.

Recently 2 dummy bank sites were launched, the first totally insecure and the second was secured with a firewall. 8 weeks later, both sites were checked. The first without a firewall, averaged a hacking attempt every four minutes, the second, with a firewall, averaged an attack every hour. This just goes to prove how malicious some hackers are.

On this website you will find nothing of such a malicious nature. Building positive white hat hacking skills is a good thing and we encourage it, as do we helping you protect your own site, but bad hat hackers should find a better hobby.

Please don't hack illegally, see our legal guide for more information on legal hacking.

Introduction of Hacking

What is hacking?

Hacking used to be defined as "One who is proficient at using or programming a computer; a computer buff." However, this use has been turned around now, to mean that of a cracker - "One who uses programming skills to gain illegal access to a computer network or file." This information is about this second meaning, cracking. Before we begin I would like to point out that hackers HATE crackers, crackers have given them a bad name.

The main differences between the two are that hackers try to make things, crackers try to break things. Hackers made the Internet what it is today. Hackers program websites (among other things) and they do not try and harm the work of others as is thought in todays society. However, as the word hacker is now in such popular use that it is thought it means cracker - I will use the words hacking and cracking for describing these cracking methods.

Hacking is not a simple operation or sequence of commands as many people think. Hacking is a skill. To hack you must change and adapt your approach depending on the obstacles you come across. Hacking is not a specific term, there are many types of hacking. On this site I will discuss and explain the different types of hacking and demonstrate some basic tools.

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Why hack?

Some people, known as crackers, get a kick out of harming people, their work, and their websites. But the real hackers get a kick out of programming, improving and helping the web, the difference is enormous. Crackers sometimes hack into websites in order to prove they can - that is sad. Cracking is a term also given to those who try to break software in order to make them free or distribute them, this is the same group of sad people.

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What are the different types of hacking?

There are three main types:

1. Hacking into hidden or password protected pages of a website.
2. Hacking into other people's computers while they are online.
3. Hacking into company servers to read important information or distribute viruses.

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Which is worse?

Although they are all illegal Number 1 is the least serious and the most commonly practised. This is because it is so easy and some areas are legal. There are also many tools on the internet which encourage these practices. If you are making your own website then the "Protect your website" section will be of particular interest.

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Where is hacking illegal?

Hacking is illegal in most countries because of the invasion of privacy which can occur from hacking. The other main issue is damage, either manually or through viruses. Deleting specific files can render a computer useless in a matter of minutes. There are some countries or states which do not press charges for hacking because they consider it just another advance in computer technology. However, even if you live in a state where hacking is legal (which is unlikely), unless the company, website, or indivual is based in that country you must abide by international rules.

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Why do people hack?

To most there appears to be no reason why hackers should spread viruses and try and destroy companies' computers merely because they can. However it is clear that hackers enjoy what they do. There are a number of hacking tournaments around the world each year and during these tournaments companies monitor there systems 24 hours a day. Recently there was a Hackers Challenge lasting 6 hours.

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Is hacking servers always the same?

It's is easier to hack Windows than Linux and easier to hack with Linux. This is because Linux is designed to allow the user to issue any commands they want to. Most companies install firewalls and virus filters to try and prevent hackers from breaking in.


Please don't hack illegally, see our legal guide for more information on legal hacking.