blog

What is a Social Engineer?

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:44:15 +0100

A social engineer is someone who tries to trick you into providing information he or she is not authorized to have. The social engineer can use those information to access your computer, your personal bank account or spy on your computer. The social engineer might collect information that may seem harmless, such as your name, email address or your travel schedule. Much of this might be still usefull for these people.

Do you know how much these personal information worth in the black market? Accoring to Symantec Corp, the bank account information worth about $10 to $1,000; credit cards worth: $0.40 - $20; e-mail addresses worth about $0.83/MB to $10/MB while e-mail passwords worth between $4 to $30.

Listed below are five common schemes social engineers use to trick people into revealing personal information.
1. Impersonating
2. Phishing
3. Shoulder surfing
4. Eavesdropping
5. Dumpster diving

Never, never give out any personal information to unknown persons!

Read more about cybercrime at: http://www.symantec.com/norton/cybercrime/blackmarket.jsp

Surfing the Internet with cautions!

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:07:19 +0100

Surfing the Internet with cautions!

Many Internet users don't realize the potential dangers of the Internet surfing. Here, I will show you how to identify the methods used by hackers to trick people into visiting fake web sites:

1. Be vigilant on the Name of the web site you are going to visit since there is no exact formula to differentiate the reputable and non reputable web sites.
2. Be aware of some of the malicious software (malware) since this type of software is designed to harm your computer with viruses, worms and spyware. They can be hidden in those "free" software such as a weather reporting utility. Here are some of the symptoms of malware: If your computer is infected with malware, you might notice that it runs very slowly or exhibits "unusual" behavior, such as displaying numerous pop-up windows or constantly displaying a new home page (which means it’s been "hijacked").
3. Be suspicious if the pop-up sends you to another web site or asks you to enter your password or download software; don't do it! Unless you know that you are visiting a reputable website.
4. Be caution about website spoofing, which is designed to look like a legitimate site to fool an unsuspecting visitor. Never submit or enter any personal information in an unfamiliar website.

Here are couple things you should have already set up prior surfing the net.

1. Turn on the firewall protection, which is a powerful security device that is placed between your computer and the Internet. However, it doesn't guaranteed to filter out 100% of unauthorized communications. It is your responsibility to be more vigilant to stop unknown traffic for requesting to access your network.

The firewall is part of Windows XP package. You can turn it on by going to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Security Center > Windows Firewall

2. Besides of turning on the Windows Firewall, you can also turn on the Windows Automatic Updates to keep your computer up-to-date with latest security patches. When it is turned on, it will automatically download and installed the latest patches from Microsoft website at the time you specified.

To turn on Automatic Updates option: Start > Settings > Control Panel > Security Center > Automatic Updates > Click on the "Automatic (Recommended)" option and set the date and time for downloading and installing the updates.

Here are few of the key points you should know while surfing the net:

1. Visit the reputable web sites;
2. Always close pop-up windows without following any links or entering any data;
3. Verify site security before entering data, especially personal data;
4. Always ask questions, "is it safe to surf this site?"

Computer Common Problem and Resolution 2: Blue Screen

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:34:54 +0100

From time to time, you might get the "Blue screen of death." Don't panic when you see this type of error, you might just have a memory issue. When the message appeared, there usually a set of numbers came along with. You might want to write it down and search those in Microsoft's Knowledge base or google it if you know how to resolve it by yourself.

Try one of the following methods to see if problem persists:

Once you've successfully restarted your machine, perform fragmentation and run quick check disk
Shut down the machine, re-seat the memory card (the memory card might not seated correctly or got loosen), then restart the machine

Computer Common Problem and Resolution 1: Print job failed

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:36:06 +0100

Computer Common Problem and Resolution 1:

Printer will not print:

Here are several steps to analyize the problem:

Check the power of the printer to make sure it is turned on. Also, you might want to check the AC power plugs that plug into the wall jack, it might be loose, unplug it and plug back in firmly.
If printer is on, you might want to try to turn it off then turn it back on.
Power down the printer and restart the workstation (PC/Laptop), and turn the printer back on once machine is on
Making sure there is no paper jammed in the printer
Making sure there is no failed or penning job in the print queue. If there is any, clear them first. (cancel the previous in-progress jobs)
If none of the above works, you might want to re-install the printer.

Here is how to add a new printer:

Click Start > Settings > Printers and Faxes
Add Printer (Add Printer Wizard screen will appear.)
Click Next on the Welcome screen > Choose the Local or Network Printer Option (If the printer is connected using USB cable and directly plug into the machine, you should choose the option "Local printer attached to this computer" and "Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer" > Select a Printer Port: "Use the following port: LPT1:(Recommeded Printer Port)" > Choose the correct Printer software to be installed: you can scroll down the list to find the correct manufacturer and Printer driver; you can also find the driver from the original CD from printer (Have Disk) ; you can download the latest version from the manufacturer's website. > Next > Finish
Once printer is installed, making sure to test out the printer
If the newly installed printer worked, please remove the old printer from the list

2009 Open Source World Conference: Aug 12-13

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:35:36 +0100

If you are a friend of open source, the IDG World Expo Corp. will host the 2009 Open Source World Conference on August 12 and 13 in Moscone Center, San Francisco. There will be there events in one conference: The 2009 OpenSource World™, Next Generation Data Center™ (NGDC™) and CloudWorld™ conferences.

You can register this event at http://www.opensourceworld.com/. The registration is free.

Password protect your sensitive files!

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:46:54 +0100

Password protect your sensitive files and folders:
It is strongly recommended to encrypt your files and folders when you want to transfer them to your friends, co-workers and relatives through public email accounts.

Microsoft Windows XP professional users, you can follow the below steps for encrypting the file. These steps applies to users who are using a computer that has different accounts. If you're using a single account for all users who use the computer you will need to see the below other security solutions section.

   1. Select the folder you wish to encrypt.
   2. Right-click the folder and click Properties.
   3. Click the Advanced button.
   4. Check "Encrypt contents to secure data" option.
   5. Click Apply and then Ok.

Looking for Government Jobs?

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:47:57 +0100

Are you looking for a career change and don't know where to look? Job market has been very slow in recent months. Many companies either has stop hiring or continued to shrink their workforce. However, there are more government job opportutnies available in these coming months since the economic stimulus package released.

Below are links to these government jobs sites:

USA Jobs (USAJOBS is the official job site of the US Federal Government.)
Federal Business Opportunties
Fed Jobs
Government Jobs (GovCentral is a professional community of government employees.)

Be caution when sharing photos on-line!

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:00:13 +0100

Be wise when posting your photos to a online photo sharing site or a social networking website. Recently, I read an article from Yahoo about a family photo posted on a person blog and a few social networking sites showed up in front of a grocery store front window in Prague in the Czech Republic.

You can see how easy people can get your photos off your blog or a social networking site without your notice. We've heard enogh about how the photos of celebrities were being manipulated by someone. It might be worthy to change the resolution of a piture or put a watermark on the photo before posting it. If you don't want the entire public to view your personal photos, you might want to consider to Restrict who can view them. There are many sites or blogs have the capability to select display/viewing mode, such as public vs private. If you are sending an attachment of photos to someone, I would strongly recommend you to use one of the encryption methods with password protected, such as WinZip.

Full article can be read from: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090611/ap_on_fe_st/us_odd_card_photo_prague

Virtual Account Numbers?

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:49:41 +0100

Has anyone use the virtual credit account number from Citi card?

What is virtual account numbers? According to Citicard website, it is a free security tool that allow you to generate a randome credit card number that's good for one merchant only and make it virtually impossible for anyone to steal your account number when you shop online. You will never have to give out your real credit card number online with this Virtual Account numbers.

It is actually quite easy to set it up. You will need to download a small program from citibank online secure site. Once it is installed, you just simply launch the application and log in to generate the randome number. You are ready to shop with that number.

When you are setting up an account with Citi Card, making sure you've created a strong password!

Is it safe to remove all files in the prefetch folder?

Thu, 28 May 2009 02:02:35 +0100

It does not hurt to remove the files from C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch folder, but it is not recommended. These files were created during Windows start up. And they will actually speed up the next boot up process. Windows will clean them up when it is needed.