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With the ever increasing trends of online threats to your Internet Security, more and more types of malware are causing havoc to users computers.

One of the common types of threats is Drive-by-Downloads. A drive-by download is a form of exploitation where simply visiting a particular malicious website using a vulnerable system can cause a piece of malware to be downloaded and possibly even executed on that system. In other words it’s a way for a system to be compromised just by visiting a website.

Drive-by downloads are not new; they’ve been lurking around for years it seems, but they’ve become much more common and more crafty recently.

Drive-by downloading is a catch-all name for software downloaded on your computer without your knowledge or intervention. Drive-by downloading is different than phishing, which misleads users by using authentic-appearing sites that deceive users into entering sensitive information, and different than pop-ups, which fool users into agreeing to download software. Drive-by downloads sneak onto computers without the user’s knowledge or permission.

Some of the most common drive-by download carriers are songs from free music share sites, free screensavers, etc. Many of these install spyware that monitors your surfing habits, and then displays pop-ups that match your habits.

How to avoid Drive-by-Downloads

Use a fully updated Browser: It is a pity that despite the increase in threats to Internet Security, people do not pay adequate attention to their browsers and do not care to an updated browser. I am pained to note that as many as 12% people who visit this blog are still using Internet Explorer 6, which has long been phased out by Microsoft. And out of the people who use the latest versions, I do not know how many of them care to update their browsers to the latest patches and security features.

Use Common Sense: Don’t seek or browse disreputable Internet sites or sites that rely heavily on pop-up ads for revenue. Common sites that fall into this category include free file sharing, bootleg game, bootleg video, and porn sites. If whatever a site is offering seems too good to be true, then it probably is

Turn ON Your Phishing Filters: Make sure to turn on your phishing filter, as shown above. Doing so might help you to spot misbehaving Internet sites.

Block Pop-Ups: Ensure it.

Manage Your Add-ons: There are two types of add-ons that should raise a red flag: those that you don’t recognize and those that are not verified. Unrecognized add-ons that are verified by your browser are fine, but those that are not verified should be investigated or disabled from within the browser add-on manager.

Taking a few small precautions will help a great deal in fortifying your Internet Security.

Internet Security concerns are growing day by day.

Each passing day gives birth to new Internet security threats, newer malware, viruses, spyware, trojans, rootkits and what not; and with them we come across various Internet Security Tools. Some of them require to shell out money, but there are some security tools, which provide you Internet Security on-the-fly.

One such tool is WOT.

WOT is the acronym  for Web of Trust. WOT is actually a Firefox add-on, and so is available absolutely FREE. Once you download and install, it starts giving you information about a website’s trustworthiness, before you open the site.

It protects you from

• Spyware, adware and viruses
• Browser exploits
• Unreliable online shops
• Phishing, spam and other Internet scams
• Annoying or malicious spam

WOT reputation ratings have four components:

• Trustworthiness
• Vendor reliability
• Privacy
• Child safety

WOT lets you customize your level of protection to make your browsing experience safe and enjoyable. To protect your family, you can even set WOT to block inappropriate content for children. Ratings are shown on Google, Yahoo!, Gmail, Wikipedia, digg and other sites

This security tool operates in two ways.

First is through Search Engines. When you enter a search query in Google, it puts a colored circle in front of search results. The color of the circle tells you about the trustworthiness of the site. If you hover your mouse over the circle, you get more information about the site. See the screenshot below.

Second is through the Firefox Location bar. Once you install WOT in Firefox, you get a button, which changes color as per the trustworthiness of the site. If you click on the button, you get more information about the site. See the screenshot below.

There are lots of settings available for this Internet Security Tool, which you can tweak to let this tools operate as per your requirements.

I find it attractive in comparison to lots of best spyware removal tools.

Download WOT (Mozilla Firefox Site)

The most sure-fire way to be certain that spyware and other unwanted programs don’t infiltrate your system is to prevent them from finding their way in your system. Being aware of threats that are out there and practicing safe surfing are the best ways you can keep your computer safe. In order to keep your system safe you need to basically be aware of the threats that are out there. With that being said we’ve compiled a list of tips that you can consult to make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep yourself free from unwanted spyware:

1. Stay up to date with your security: Don’t disregard the security updates that pop up on your computer from time to time. Make sure that the software that you rely on daily is updated at least on a weekly basis. If your system allows it you should set this up on an automated schedule.
2. Download from trustworthy websites: If you’re hesitant about downloading a program from a site that you’ve never used before then you’re wise to not download the program. Try searching Google to see if the site that you’re unsure about has any related items indicating that the site is rife with spyware or ask a friend that you trust to take a look at the site.
3. Read the fine print: As annoying and time consuming as it can be, it’s important that you read all disclosures before downloading or installing a program to your computer. Be sure that all your concerns are addressed in the fine print. It’s imperative that you understand exactly what you’re getting yourself into before going ahead and downloading a suspicious program to your system.
4. When in doubt “x” out of a web site: It’s right to be suspicious of websites that pop up a dialogue box asking you if you’re sure you want to close out of a site. Many times these boxes will have, in small print, a message indicating that you’re going to be downloading a program before getting out of the site. Just go ahead and click the “x” in the top right hand of the page you’re unsure about.
5. Install firewall: Unauthorized users are a major threat to your security online. In order to combat hackers that can cause serious problems for you it’s important that you have a trusted firewall properly installed on your machine. Also, be sure to keep up with any updates for your firewall as well.

This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who writes on the subject of Comcast specials. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.

With the ever increasing threats of eavesdroppers, data thieves and all sorts of people (including governments) trying to know more about you for various reasons, the need of Anonymous web browsing is increasing day by day. Besides this, Anonymous web browsing is helpful for you in case some website, which you want to open, is blocked in your path, may be by your local school / college network, or by your ISP or in some cases by your government.

How to Browse Web Anonymously ?

Welcome to xB Browser.

xb Browser combines the flexibility of our loved Firefox, with the capabilities of TOR technology, to give you this robust anonymous browser, which can help a great deal in protecting your online privacy. Tor is a network of virtual tunnels that allows people and groups to improve their privacy and security on the Internet. It uses the web channels and bandwidth provided by its users, in a manner similar to torrents, to transact the data online.

xB Browser is the free and open-source anonymous web browser. You’re just a click away from anonymous surfing right now! The benefits of xB Browser are that it allows you to securely and anonymously surf the Internet, and bypass firewalls and website censorship. For enhanced privacy, xB Browser automatically clears surfing history and deletes cookies when you close the browser.

The main advantage compared to other anonymous web browsers is that xB Browser requires no configuration or technical knowledge in order to achieve anonymity. xB Browser is open-source so you can feel safe knowing what goes into xB Browser. Additionally, it is even portable on a USB stick so you can take it to work, school, or on vacation.

You can test about the functionality of xB Browser anonymity, by checking your IP address on the sites like whatismyip.com. You will get a different IP address than your actual IP Address.

How xb Browser provides Anonymous Browsing ?

xB Browser provides you two options at the time of installation as you can see in the following screenshot.

1. XeroBank Client: This entitles you to encrypt your data and let it pass through the XeroBank servers, thus providing you total anonymous surfing. This is fast and secure method, but it requires you to shell out $35 per month by subscribing. Although you have to pay $1 only for the first month after adjusting for $34 discount for the first month.

2. Tor Version: This is free. This requires you to transact your data through other clients in the form of small bits and pieces, just like the concept of torrents. The screenshot clearly explains the principles on which Tor technology works. Although I am yet to completely test xb Browser, but it appears that this version reduces the speed. But it is a nice concept and you can expect to get more and more speed for anonymous browsing web, as more and more people adopt this, which will mean more nodes and more bandwidth availability.

If you go for it, or have used it earlier, please don’t forget to let us know your experience about this tool for anonymous web browsing.

[Click here for more about xB Browser or Tor]

OpenDNS is a great tool for getting the best FREE Internet Security while increasing your browsing speed at the same time. Setting your browser and Internet connection to use OpenDNS is absolutely easy and we recommend you to start using this service for your Internet Security.

But, what actually is DNS ?

DNS is an acronym for Domain Name Server, located generally with your ISP. When you type a URL address in your browser address bar, say webtoolsandtips.com, it propagates to the DNS, where it gets translated into the IP address where the files on my site are located. Your browser then downloads those files to show you the content of my website.

Ok, then what is OpenDNS ?

OpenDNS is a service which allows you to bypass your ISP’s DNS and query the servers of OpenDNS for IP address retrieval. IT is absolutely free.

Fine, but why should I use Open DNS ?

Simple because it is more safe, more speedier and increase your Internet Security.

Actually, the servers of OpenDNS use their cache to serve you the desired page faster. Whenever any other OpenDNS user opens a webpage, a copy of it gets stored in their cache, and when another user seeks that page, this data gets downloaded at a faster speed. Although it is only a marginal improvement in the speed, but still it matters, specially if your ISP’s DNS is not performing at optimum speed.

But the best part is not the speed, but the Free Internet Security provided by OpenDNS. Before serving your request for the IP address, OpenDNS checks the URL in its constantly updated database of phishing and malware sites, for any potential forgery. It uses data from Phishtank, a community site that is also used by Yahoo! Mail to determine if some particular website is part of any online phishing scam. When it founds it safe, then only OpenDNS serves a query, otherwise it blocks the website.

Great, How do I actually use OpenDNS?

The configuration is easy. You have to configure your Internet Connection settings as given on OpenDNS website. After you make the necessary settings, do not forget to restart your Internet connections and browser window to let the settings execute properly.

Is there anything Else ?

This is not all. There are many more things you can do with OpenDNS. Free Internet security, is provided to you without registering with OpenDNS. But if you prefer to register with OpenDNS, lots of other services are also provided to you. For instance, you can block adult websites to be accessed from your computers. You can assign shortcuts to access your favorite and frequently visited websites. Furthermore, if you wrongly type a popular website address or omit a few characters, OpenDNS might recognize the mistake and open the Google Search results with the possible suggestions. You can also configure OpenDNS to your networks and routers so as to give you an extended access to the filtering of the content on the network.

If it is so useful, why OpenDNS is free ?

OpenDNS is Free for its users. But when you encounter a blocked website, you actually are redirected to some pages, where you may find ads and sponsored entries. OpenDNS actually makes money from that. And you will be surprised to know the money involved here. It is estimated that they are making more than $20k per day from this useful service providing you the best free Internet security, just because of the millions of queries served by them each day.

Configuration of OpenDNS may be one of your single most important steps towards getting the best free online security.

Visit OpenDNS

[Please make Internet a safer place and consider Stumbling this post for the benefit of more and more innocent web surfers.]

Yesterday, during my regular Google search for new Malware attacks, I discovered a rogue blog, which is blatantly dishing out rogue malware software to its innocent visitors. I had noticed many such sites previously also, but something kicked me within this time to write a quick post about it, for the benefit of visitors of Webtools & Tips.

Actually I was searching for more info about the Blue Screen of death and I entered a query "computer blue malware" in the Google Search Box. See the screenshot below of top 3 results.

The 3rd spot was grabbed by the following URL.

porono-tube8reg (dot) blogspot (dot) com/2008/06/computer-blue-malware-squared-anti.html

It seems to be a Blogger Blog. Remove (dot) and replace with a "." to visit the actual link.

When I clicked on the link, I was immediately redirected to AdultFriendFinder. No issues, I have seen many of them, and I don’t mind the webmaster’s attempt to make a few bucks by luring me to join the AdultFriendFinder program.

I just closed the tab and returned back to the Google Search Result page to try to discover some more facts about the URL. I copied the home page URL porono-tube8reg (dot) blogspot (dot) com, and pasted in another browser Window. Try it yourself, it will not harm you in any way.

I was again redirected, but this time to a harmful website. All my browser windows were immediately closed and I got the following pop-up windows staring at me.

(First Attempt: Install AntiVirus2009)

I was quick to judge the trap and quietly closed the window. If you are following me, then please be careful to not click on any OK here. Because all this attempt is to lure you to get one of their rogue antivirus installed on your system.

I opened yet another browser window and repeatedly tried to open the home page. But every time I was redirected to different malware programs, which are well known for their nature. In fact these are rogue anti-virus programs, which pretend to be a genuine antivirus, and try to get themselves installed on your machine.

Try it yourself. But be careful that your AntiVirus and Firewalls are well in place and do not click anywhere on the pop-up windows.

(Second Attempt: Install AntiSpyWare2008)

(Third Attempt: Install Online-xpcleaner)

(Fourth Attempt: Install yet another Rogue Media Player)

(Fifth Attempt: Install some malware from avwav.com)

Yet another lesson, which I learnt from this attack, is that out of the five attempts to install a malware on my laptop, only one was detected by my system. Incidentally I have been running Windows Vista Business Edition, with Bit Defender Firewall, Norton 2008 AntiVirus and Firefox 3.

Few quick lessons learnt here.

Phishing email scams are increasing day by day. New tricks are being learnt by the phishers and email providers are after them to be more clever in detecting phishing emails.

Related: You can find 9 effective ways to detecting phishing emails on this blog.

In a recent development, GMAIL, arguably the most secured email provider, has started cooperating with Paypal and Ebay, for better protection against phishing. Paypal and Ebay are notably the most targeted domains by phishing email attempts.

In the details posted on the Official Gmail Blog, Brad Taylor, Software Engineer and Gmail Spam Czar, has stated…

Now any email that claims to come from “paypal.com” or “ebay.com” (and their international versions) is authenticated by Gmail and — here comes the important part — rejected if it fails to verify as actually coming from PayPal or eBay. That’s right: you won’t even see the phishing message in your spam folder. Gmail just won’t accept it at all. Conversely, if you get an message in Gmail where the “From” says “@paypal.com” or “@ebay.com,” then you’ll know it actually came from PayPal or eBay. It’s email the way it should be.

Google is understood to be working on the well known concepts of Sender ID and DomainKeys for validating the sender, and this is one step further in the attempt to provide complete protection against all phishing attempts.

However, phishing attempts seems to be an the rampage these days with phishers and spammers working on newer ways to improve their success rates.

Full details here.