Thom's Technical Angle
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Update
Mood:
not sure
Topic: Money
It has been far too long since I posted on this blog. I have been either sick, hurt or otherwise occupied but it is back on my list of blogs to keep updated.
Saturday, 12 May 2007
Identity Theft: Understanding How Thieves Acquire Your Identity Details
Author: Zackery Lim
Article:
Identity thieves can learn a good deal about you through the contents of your wallet or purse as well as your mail. If an identity thief breaks into your home then it gives even more of an advantage. Invading your work space is another tactic that an identity thief can try to gain information about you. <b>To
identity thieves, your trash is a gold mine.</b> While these may entail a little effort, there are more subtle ways for identity thieves to build their knowledge.
Caution should always be used when details of your identity are exchanged. Opportunities are everywhere. Identity thieves do not have a specific look. There is no way to know who they are by
mere contact. An identity thief may even be someone you consider to be a friend. Of course, conmen would be likely people. Their skills are more professional than most. Sometimes they may win
the trust of relatives or friends to gain details that may later cause substantial damage. To reduce the risk of having your identity stolen, initiate a "need to know" policy on sensitive personal and financial information.
Today, you can be assured that using your credit card is safe as companies are constantly improving the security of your personal information and transactions. However, you still need to be careful not to let your credit card out of your sight. Most reputable companies who offer secure transaction sites are most
often safe, but using them through mail, email and phone leaves opportunities for identity thieves to intercept them. <b>People make a crucial mistake by assuming that these methods are always
private.</b> Mobile phone are even more popular than many of the other methods. Yet, they are one of the easiest to intercept.
Identity thieves are also likely to exploit your email or telephone in unsuspecting ways in order to persuade or trick you into giving them vital information during unguarded moments.
Email identity theft now carries its own name: <b>"phishing."</b> Passwords and bank account information are likely targets so that the identity thief can easily transfer funds electronically from your account to some foreign location and then withdraw the cash. Although banks never ask for these
details and advise their customers of this, people still fall into the grasp of the thieves' trickery.
Even those who show some care in protecting their interest become victim of keystroke logging software that has been loaded into their computers and used to collect any information they enter enter into their computers.
If you use the convenience of online banking, your user name and password become accessible to the identity thief should a keylogger reside in your system. This information, along with other useful details, can be sent to identity thieves through the internet via your computer and you would have no knowledge
of it.
Such programs utilized for this kind of criminal activity are spy ware and viruses. The most significant defense against these types of hazards is obtaining high levels of security offered through anti-spy ware and virus programs.
It is really not wise to do your online banking on someone else's computer. However, many people do without thinking of the harm it can cause. It is really difficult to know what type of spy ware they may have on their computer. Cyber cafes are extremely dangerous for activating any sort of personal
information. This is due to the fact that many individuals may access the computers, allowing identity thief exposure to be increased. Loading the software into these computers is done easily if the computers are not adequately protected.
Zackery Lim has seen first hand how serious identity fraud can be. He now runs an <a href="
http://www.identitytheftproof.com">identity theft protection</a> website and guards his private information jealously. You too can pick up some useful free tips at <a href="
http://www.identitytheftproof.com">IdentityTheftProof.com</a> and learn how to protect yourself.
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Friday, 11 May 2007
Top 5 Government Websites for Identity Theft Resources
Author: Wade Robins
Article:
The US government has a number of websites which cover the
subject of identity theft. In this article we will look at a few
of them which can help you fight identity theft and give you any
information you may be requiring in this area or lead you to
other resources that can help.
The first website that everyone should know about who is looking
into the subject of identity theft is the Federal Trade
Commission government website. The Federal Trade Commission is
one of the government departments you will need to contact in
the case of identity theft. The Federal Trade Commission offers
a number of identity theft resources such as their Deter,
Detect, Defend Brochure in PDF format; "Take Charge: Fighting
Back against Identity Theft"; "What to do if your personal
information has been compromised"; a test on identity theft; as
well as links to various other identity theft resources.
The Department of Treasury government website also has
information on identity theft and links to identity theft
resources. These resources are divided into sections including a
DVD companion learning guide, documents on how to obtain credit
reports; identity theft tips, forms and facts; Phishing and
others.
The IRS website also has some information on identity theft and
links to a couple of identity theft resources. It contains some
information about what you can do to prevent identity theft,
what you should do if you think you have been a victim of
identity theft, and how your tax records are affected.
The US Department of Justice government website also has
information on and links to identity theft resources. There is
some information on identity theft - what it is, how to prevent
identity theft, as well as what the Department is doing about
it. In the section on what to do if you have become a victim
there are links and contact details of different resources as
well as other links in a separate section under government and
non-government resources.
A number of state specific government websites also offer <a
ection/">identity teft</a> resources and you can use the search
engines to find websites for your specific state.
In conclusion, a number of government websites offer links to
identity theft resources. The most important of these and the
one quoted most often by the others is the Federal Trade
Commission website. You can also find information under the
Department of Treasury, IRS, and Department of Justice websites,
as well as on state specific government websites.
About the author:
You can also find more information on <a
s/">Identity Theft Scams</a> and <a
ld/">Identity Theft Shield</a>.Preventidentitythefthelp.com is a
comprehensive resource to find how to secure your ID.
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Don't Be A Phish: Protect Yourself From Phishing Attacks
Author: Dan Riffle
Article:
One of the main parts of an effective identity theft protection
system is to simply be aware of what information you are giving
out and to whom you are giving it. This may seem obvious, but
today's technology makes it a little more difficult, especially
as more and more consumers move to the internet to pay bills,
apply for loans, manage accounts, etc.
Identity theft thieves have taken the internet by storm. One of
their favorite identity theft tactics is phishing. Phishers lurk
the dark hallways of the internet trying to acquire your most
sensitive information -- usernames, passwords, credit card
numbers - by sending you emails posed as your friendly
neighborhood financial institution.
A Very Brief History of Phishing
It has been said that phishing got its start on - shocking! -
AOL. A phisher would comprise an elaborate email appearing to
come from AOL itself and request that the recipient verify their
password and/or billing information because something was
supposedly wrong with their account. Once the phisher had the
information, they would access the account and use it for
nefarious purposes, typically to spam even more people with
additional phishing emails.
AOL went on the attack in 1997 to shutdown phishing activity.
The Company was fairly successful, but to no avail. Phishers
just moved on to bigger phish, so to speak. They began using the
credit card information they received from phished AOL accounts
to attack payment systems of large financial institutions.
How Phishing Works - A Brief Primer
There are two basic steps to a phishing scam:
*A manipulated link *A phony (or "spoofed") website
Link Manipulation
The victim receives an email from a financial institution
claiming there's a problem with their account and they need to
log in to fix it. This email is sent out to thousands of email
address at the same time. Only a few will actually have accounts
with the financial institution being spoofed and only a few of
those will act on the request. However, all it takes is one...
The victim clicks on a link that leads them to a spoofed
website. The link might be buried in an anchor link, such as:
How it would appear: Link to Real Bank (Of course, the above
would be clickable in your email browser)
The above, based on the text link, appears to be going to the
real bank, but the actual link goes to the spoofed website.
Another way to manipulate the link is to register a domain that
visually appears similar to the domain of the real company:
Real Company website: <A
on.com</A>
Spoofed website: <A
on.com</A>
Did you catch it? The L in "financial" has been replaced with a
1. The casual observer, already concerned about their account,
may not notice the difference. They click on the link and now
they're in a world of hurt because they just went to a...
Spoofed Website
The website they end up at has been developed to look exactly
like the real one. The identity theft victim logins in with
their username and password and simply gets some kind of error
message, something like, "The Site is Down for Maintenance" or
"Cannot Connect to Server. Please Try Again Later." The website
logs the account information, forwards it to the identity thief
and he or she is off to Bermuda on your dime.
Obviously, this scam can be much more elaborate than what is
detail above, but that's phishing in a nutshell.
How to Protect Your Identity from Phishers
Tip #1: The easiest way to protect yourself from this scam is to
ignore them. Trust me, if there's something wrong with your
account, your bank or credit card company will contact you by
phone.
If you think that the email you received could be valid, do not
use the links in the email to follow up. Open a new browser
window and manually type in the website address. Better yet -
CALL them from the phone number on your statement or the back of
your credit card. Never use the phone number in the email.
Tip #2: Be on the look out for identifiers in the email. Do they
refer to you by name? Did they include a partial account number?
Such information might indicate that the email is real. However,
always err on the side of caution. Identity thieves may have
found out your name or partial account number by some other
means and are trying to catch you off guard. Don't let it happen.
Tip #3: Use your spam filter. A good spam filter should catch
most phishing attempts. Should.
Awareness = Protection
As with all identity theft topics, keeping your eyes wide and
your brain active is your best defense against phishing scams.
Pay attention to what you're reading and what links you're
clicking. Quickly scan your email before clicking on anything.
If something catches your eye, give it a second glance. If it
seems out of place, hit delete. It's as simple as that.
About the author:
Dan Riffle is an MBA with over ten years of lending experience.
As a prior identity theft victim, he <a
at-do-thieves-do-with-a-stolen-identity/">writes extensively</a>
about identity theft at <a
Insider</a>, a free resource of valuable identity theft
prevention information.
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Identity Theft and Internet Security, Do's And Don'ts
Author: Bernard Pragides
Article:
So, you're new to the internet, and you've heard countless
breathless stories about the horrible things that can happen, or
have heard of the risks, and are now afraid that your computer
will magically transmit your credit card number to everyone in
Nigeria or some such. Let's dispel some myths, and give you a
solid basis in fact for how to work and use the internet to the
greatest advantage.
First, make sure that you only pass your credit card to a secure
connection; this is shown by having the letters "https" appear
before the web site address, rather than just "http". The "s"
stands for "secure". A secure connection will also show up as a
"lock" or "key" icon somewhere on your browser.
Second, never click on a link that comes to you by email from
someone you don't know and trust. Never open an attachment from
someone you don't know and trust; in particular, look at the
text of an email from someone who you may know and trust and ask
yourself "Did they actually write this?" - a lot of virus and
Trojan horse attacks try to scavenge an address book to send
themselves out to a wide array of hosts.
If you get an email from eBay, PayPal or Amazon.com that says
"Dear Valued Customer..." rather than using the name you
registered with them under, it's almost certainly a Phishing
attack. Phishing is a technique where crackers send out
thousands of carefully forged email addresses from domain names
that are close to the ones you'd use (like PayPa1.com, where the
"l" is replaced with the number "1"), with convenient links for
you to go in and "verify your account" or some such. These can
often (but not always) be identified by bad writing, peculiar
word choices, and things that make it clear that the author of
the email isn't a native English speaker/writer. Likewise, if
you hold your mouse over a link, and look at the browser window,
you can see where the link goes to - there's a little space at
the bottom left of the browser window in both FireFox and
Internet Explorer that will show you the true URL that the link
goes to - and it will almost always point to some place
unexpected.
Similarly, avoid any email that purports to need some sort of
assistance in moving funds from overseas and offering you a
share. These are known as Nigerian scams, or 419 scams, after
the section of the legal code of Nigeria they break. The money
never gets delivered, to anyone, and in a lot of cases, they'll
take your bank and routing number, having conned it out of you,
and use it to run up huge charges on credit slips drawn up in
your name, or clean out the account. In extreme cases, people
have booked airline tickets to do "in person verification of
prize winnings", and have been kidnapped or murdered! Just
remember the old adage "If it looks too good to be true, it
probably is..."
About the author:
Author and internet entrepreneur Bernard Pragides offers expert
advice and tips regarding identity theft. Learn more about
identity theft and fraud by visiting his blog at
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Thursday, 8 March 2007
Dada
What is dada? How does it fit into the technical angle? Answer to these and more can be found at
DaDa Poem http://www.onegecko.com/dada/dadapoem.php
Tuesday, 18 October 2005
eCover - Engineer
Mood:
happy
Description
For the online entrepreneur the first impression of potential customers is essential. When you take the time to create a beautiful ecover or software box the sale is half way yours. How do you do this you might ask? With a fantastic ecover generator software called eCover Engineer. Why waste time spending your hard earned money when you can do this yourself and with minimum cost. Listed below is the Features of this great software that will make creating a ecover a breeze. Be sure to download your 15 day trial copy today. Star Computer personally uses this software for all of our ebook, and ecover work. It has made this task so much simpler. The features of this software are hard to beat. I can make different sizes of the same ecover very quickly and easy. The controls to accomplish this are very easy to understand. You will get to visually resize with the slide controls. This makes setting the ecover up so simple. For all the latest information about this software go to
eCover-Engineer
Features Includes
Ability to create software boxes and ebook covers
Real-time 3D Editing and Rendering
High image quality
Ability to import BMP and JPG files
Ability to resize the width, height and depth of the eCover
Ability to rotate, roll and resize the eCover
Improved camera rotation / movement. Now users can rotate the camera along its X, Y and Z axis relative to the center of the eCover
Improved light source rotation / movement. Now users can rotate the camera along its X, Y and Z axis relative to the center of the eCover
Shadow effect
Ability to specify floor's texture and background color
Ability to show / hide the shadow and the light source
Ability to specify the light color, which will affect the look of the eCover
Ability to show the X, Y, Z axes, which helps to a better positioning of the light source and camera
Easily save and open eCovers and templates using buttons and the menu. The templates are files that save only the settings of the eCovers (box, camera and light source position, light color etc)
Easily send by email the saved eCovers, templates and output images
Great BMP and JPG image quality
OS integration (double-clicking the eCovers and the templates open the application)
Multi language support
Improved help documentation
Built-in editor with the following features:
- Provides all the features of Paintbrush (the picture editor included in Microsoft Windows)
- 14 image filters
- 5 border styles
- 7 fill styles
Monday, 12 September 2005
Free Software
Mood:
happy
Would you like free software? Come to
Cyber Powers Software and join. If you sign up for a free green zap account then level one is virtually free for 1 month. Check it out. There will be 10 new titles added each month.
Movies, Music, Ebooks,Books, MP3, Games and more
Are you a collector? Movies, Music, Books, MP3, Games, Comics or Photos? I¿ve got just the software for you. I¿ve been using Movie collector for nearly 7 months now and I¿m quite impressed with the information that can be saved in the database. What makes this software so impressive to me is that I can get a copy of the information about 98% of all movies from the databases that the software searches. I¿ve built quite a collection of movie DVDs and this software has made it much more easier to control what I¿ve got. Be sure to visit
Collectorz and download your trial copy to see just how easy it is to use this software.
Monday, 1 August 2005
Resturant Reviews
Mood:
energetic
I am starting a new site that will be dedicated to Rogue Valley Oregon Dining establishments. Here is my first review.
If you have not gone to Barbwire & Grill located in downtown Eagle Point you are missing some fine cooking.
I highly recommend this small dining establishment.
The food is excellent and the service is great. The prices are very reasonable.
The owner is very friendly and makes sure that she
remembers her customers, which I find is a very good quality.
The hours of operation:
• 6 am - 3 pm Monday - Friday
• 7 am - 3 pm Saturday
• 8 am - 3 pm Sunday
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