Protecting Yourself From Online Computer Virus Attack and Personal Identity Credit Card Data Hacking

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understanding what is email virus scam phishing and how to protect yourself from identity theft

What is Phishing?: The most dangerous way of extracting personal information With the widespread application of Internet on every sphere of our life, instances of Cyber crime have also increased. Phishing is one of them. Fraudsters make an attempt to obtain sensitive information about an individual by making use of the process of phishing, which helps them to acquire sensitive personal information such as user names, passwords and credit card details.

Read our Editors' review on Protect Your Computer From Viruses, Hackers, and Spies 

Initialization of The Process of Phishing: In the name of an authorized institution some fraudulent individual or organization send an email to the individual or a company. They structure the email in such a way that the recipient is tempted to click on the URL of an unknown site, which has been designed professionally and seem to be legitimate. For example, you might receive an email from a bank where you have an account, stating that your credit card has undergone a transaction of certain amount and that clicking on a particular link could lead to stop payment.

This provokes you to click on the suspicious link as you realize that there has been no transaction of that kind recently and thus you end up revealing your personal details, unintentionally ending up in revealing your personal information These emails come from a fake website that has no connection with the reputable merchant or in this case the bank. The website has been framed in such a way that you are prompted to enter your personal data, such as name, password, credit card number or any other forms of personal information. Then, the information gets saved in the database of personal information of the thieves stealing identity online. After the con artists achieve their goal they carefully abandon the email address and the website.

Consequence of personal information leakage With the personal information in hand the fraudster starts misusing the detail to withdraw money from your account and use your credit card for buying things from online or conventional stores. They might also use your accounts to buy new products or services or sell them. For example, they can carry out any kind of transactions for travel or hotel reservations.

Read our Editors' review on Protect Your Computer From Viruses, Hackers, and Spies 

Your personal information can be sold to other institutions at high prices who hire these frauds to obtain such details.
Since these frauds expertise in this field, they do maintain fake personal information about themselves, which makes it difficult for you to catch them.

Link manipulation Phishing involves the use of some technical deception, which has been designed especially to make a particular link, fitted into an email, seem to belong to a particular organization.
The use of misspelled URLs and subdomains are some of the major tricks applied in this field. For example, if the URL is [ www mybank section1com / ], it appears as the URL takes you to 'section1' of the 'mybank' website. But in actual sense it takes you to the 'mybank' section, which is the phishing section of the 'section1' website.

There is another common trick of phishing, that is, to make anchor text for a particular link seem to be valid, while the link takes you to the phisher's site. Where the URL takes you can be previewed and verified in such cases in the lower left hand corner of the browser.

Handling of Internationalized Domain Names enhances further problems. This takes you to malicious websites. Open URL redirectors are used on the websites of the trusted organizations so that malicious URLs are disguised with trusted domain.

Escape from filters Phishers use images in phishing emails instead of text so that anti-phishing filters find it harder to detect commonly used text in phishing emails.

Ways of Website forgery The fraudulent make use of 'cross-scripting' to use flaws in the scripts of a trusted website, against the victim. Here the users are directed to sign in at the bank's or service provider's webpage. Starting web addresses to security certificates, everything appears to be just perfect.

The universal Man-in-the-middle Kit makes use of a simple and user friendly interface. The phisher is then allowed to give rise to convincing websites and thus extract all log-in information entered by the victim at the fake site.

Flash-based websites hide the multimedia object text but giving the website the look of a real website. These are the techniques used to avoid from being caught by the anti phishing techniques, which scan websites thoroughly.

Some websites place pop-up or pop-under windows asking a person to enter his/her credentials on the top of the website. These are quite appealing in their approach and hence the victim ends up giving out all personal details.

Damage caused is quite huge The denial of access to email and significant financial loss are the two main consequences faced by the victim. The IT sector is very much vulnerable to such phishing attacks and these attacks are quite severe. The financial sector is also equally vulnerable.
The banking bodies of some countries have made their customers aware of such phishing tricks and have also stated that it is mandatory for every customer to take precautions and not click on suspicious links.

Immediate Remedy The following steps can be undertaken: If you have given out your credit/ATM/debit card number or your bank account number then 1. Inform the issuer of the card on their toll free, 24-hour service numbers. 2. You can then cancel your account and open a new one immediately. 3. Review your bill statements

If you have downloaded a virus or Trojan then:
1. Install anti-virus software
2. Scan your computer thoroughly with the anti-virus software
3. Confirm every connection allowed by your firewall
4. Fix your system and then change your password
5. Check the latest updates with regard to your various accounts
6. Read the latest from the Internet Security Blog & Forum
If you have given out your personal information then:
1. The theft should be reported to security freeze for Experian, Equifax and TransUnion Corporation etc... and they should be requested to place a fraud alert and ask for a free copy of your credit report
2. Inform your banks and tell them to flag your account and inform you in case of any transaction
3. Contact your local police department to file a complaint
4. Inform the Department of Motor vehicles and the Passport office
5. Lodge a complaint at the Internet Fraud Complaint Center
6. Keep track of all the people you talk to about the incident and maintain a record of all other correspondence

Kaspersky has incorporated anti-phishing database in their applications and this database is updated continuously. As a result whenever you receive a message in your mail box or encounter a pop-up from such sites it sends out audible plus text messages showing the threat. Recently, Kaspersky incorporated a highly reliable open source application provider's database to strengthen their internet security programs.

http://sscommerce.com is an internet security blog, scam awareness forum and trusted source for purchasing the best anti-virus software.

personal info online,understanding phishing,phishing emails, Antivirus software

Useful tips for computer virus protection


Computers are one of the most important devices which almost all the users around the world are dependent upon. These computers are often attacked with viruses, which often breaks down the system. Hence it is important to keep your system protected with computer viruses protection and work on different risk factors which can probably cause harm to the system. In order to make users well versed of the facts of computers and its viruses, we have brought some useful tips that will explain how to Protect Your Computer from virus.

Online surfing
It is important to keep an eye on what sites you are visiting while staying connected to internet. There are chances that virus on internet can cause harm to the system. Hence users should ensure and visit only trust-able and reliable websites which will not cause any harm to the system. Even while accessing banking and credit card websites, users are exposed to the danger of loss of confidentiality of personal information. Hence it becomes important that trusted sites are chosen which can ensure credit card protection and can keep your details and confidential from outsiders.

Accessing email attachments
Users with malicious intentions often send out emails and attachments containing virus. It is important for the computer user to be informed and wise to not open email attachments from unknown users. They have chances of infecting your computer and make you lose important data stored within it.

Keep it away from kids
While you have the most important data stored in your computer, it is important that it is kept away from kids. Kids if given free access to your computer might cause damages which are irrecoverable. Thus it is important to be vigilant and keep a close look on what all access your kid is making to the system. You can even opt for parental locks while you install antivirus software. Some of the users personally get into cleanup of their PC to ensure that things within it are kept well protected from third untrusted parties. 

Installation of good antivirus software
While users remain wise, it is also important to take precaution. It can be simply down by installing bestselling antivirus software. The best software from the market shall keep your system protected no matter what kind of virus is attempting to harm your system. So, no matter if you enter any unreliable website or download wrong attachment, the virus software will ensure safety of your computer system.


 
Purchasing Antivirus software
While one of the key steps for your computer protection remains anti-virus software, it is important to know how to select best computer antivirus software. You need to ensure that the choice of the right supplier is done from the market. You can even scroll for options online and simply follow steps on how to buy antivirus software online? By availing online purchase options, users are served with multiple options to choose from and all of this can be done without having to step out from your comfort zone or working place. Users can even approach the local dealers to make purchase of antivirus software as per their need and requirement.




 

Best Ways To Protect Against Computer Viruses

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Aminur_Rahman/2322430]Aminur Rahman

Some Universal Tips To Protect You Against Computer Viruses



Use a standard user account

Use the Highest User Account Control Setting (UAC)

Use an Antivirus with Web Security

Enable automatic update Java

Keep your Windows Up to Date

Use a Windows EMET (Enhance Mitigation Experience Toolkit)


Use a standard user account

Now the first thing is to make sure that your user account that you're using every day is a standard account, not an admin account. The reason most computer viruses these days especially once the drive-by without any user interaction. It really requires you to be an admin to work properly.

So if you're just a standard user and you don't have admin privileges, which isn't that big of a deal. Then it means that the virus is not going to be able to install itself. Or if it is then it means it's not going to be able to easily hide in system files. So if you do have an antivirus program, it'll be a lot easier to remove any virus you get.

So what you basically do is have an admin account that you create separately. And make it to a standard account. If you ever have to do something that requires admin privileges, it'll simply ask you to type in the password. So this is definitely something I recommend doing. And a lot of people might say, "all that's too much of a pain. I don't need it". But it really is beneficial. It because this is going especially protect you against even computer viruses.

User Account Control Setting (UAC)

You should have the highest User Account Control setting. It's a little bit more annoying. But it's definitely useful in stopping computer viruses from doing stuff and installing themselves when you don't know about it. So if you are running a PDF or something. And then all of a sudden you get a pop-up from the user control saying that something's trying to modify a system file. And you can deny that.

Whereas if you don't have it set to do that then it might try to install itself. And you won't even know about it. So that's definitely something you should do a little bit more annoying. But definitely, something you need to do if you want to be secure on your computer.

Antivirus with Web Security

This one might become obvious but antivirus specifically one with Web protection. And the reason for this again is to block you from accessing computer viruses. You didn't know were there. In the first place such as ESET NOD32, that's what I like about it is that when you go to a website that might have a virus on them. If you click on it will block you from going to a completely. And now you don't have to worry about it.

So I definitely think it's good to have an antivirus. Most people say, "Oh... it's common sense". Well, sometimes you can't afford it. You go and do a Google search for something. And you go to a website that's been compromised. You didn't know that. You just click onto throw Google. You want to have some sort of antivirus for those situations. Where you don't know you're even engaging in any risk behavior.

Java Security Settings

This is a really common piece of software. That you're going to see a lot of computers. But a lot of times there's new exploits coming out for invulnerability. So you want to make sure it's really up to date. What I would do is make sure you have daily updated checks enables and also enable "notify me before installing". So it automatically downloads and notifies you before installing not just before downloading.

That way whenever the updates ready you can just click on it and confirm the install. It won't update automatically as far as I know. Now the real reason you want to do daily checks for updates is because of the    [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-day_%28computing%29]zero-day exploits.

Keep your Windows Up to Date

I think it's pretty obvious but I really need to include that enables automatic updates for Windows. I think of Windows 10, you have to enable it. But just make sure you enable security updates don't put an offer too long. Because there are important updates to go through there. It will block vulnerabilities exploits that sort of thing. And it's just important overall to keep windows up to date.

Windows EMET (Enhance Mitigation Experience Toolkit)

Finally, I want to talk about a really cool program called Windows EMET (Enhance Mitigation Experience Toolkit). Which is actually developed by Microsoft. Basically, what this does is protect against exploits. Now, what happens is you download the program, It'll run and monitor all the programs you set there is a default list. I think that comes with a lot of ones like Acrobat, Microsoft Word that sort of thing.

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And then it has all these different exploits and knows about. If that program tries to run a file that has one of these exploits, it will block it. So a lot of times you'll hear people say, "don't open PDFs from unknown emails". Because you don't think of that as a virus but it can have exploits. That are not an actual virus program. But they take advantage of regular legitimate software to install itself as a virus. It's not like an exe or anything. So I definitely recommend this program.

If you have any other suggestions definitely [https://en.techubs.net/protect-against-computer-viruses/] let me know.

Last Words

So I think that's pretty much it. I hope you guys enjoy this and found this useful. If you did, do share it. And I'm looking forward to hearing from you in the comments section.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Best-Ways-To-Protect-Against-Computer-Viruses&id=9503665] Best Ways To Protect Against Computer Viruses

Two things to bear in Mind while we talk about Protecting yourself Online in order to Prevent Online Identity Theft and being Victim of Cyber-Criminals:

A. Keep in mind that antivirus software protects only your device, not your internet connection. It’s only Secured and Protected Virtual Private Network, VPN can securely protect your internet connection communications between your computer device, servers and websites.

B. A VPN is a must-have utility to protect your privacy and prevent hackers and snoopers from stealing your personal information.