Password theft is becoming the most dangerous crime in our cyber society. Many times having no knowledge about cyber security leads people to beome victim of cyber-crime and loses their important money, data and much more. So at this point knowledge about methods crackers apply to steal passwords become of much importance. Let me clear one thing crackers don’t have any special quality. What they do is to look out for loop holes in the systems and play mind games with us.
There are various methods which are applied for password stealing. The mainly used methods are
- Phishing
- Key-logging
- Social engineering
- Java script hack
- Brute forcing
- Software hack
In this article I will tell you about phishing technique and how to prevent yourself from becoming the victim
PHISHING- As the name suggests its similar to fishing as we all know. Basic idea is same, every step performed is same. In fishing fisherman put a bait to lure fish and here also the cracker put a bait to lure people and then who give their attention to bait, needless to say what they get. First cracker sends an email to the person which has some catchy subject and body providing a link also saying that to avail this thing you first need to open your email through this link. When the person opens this link and enters his id, password and hit enter….he does the biggest mistake in his life….id and password get sent to the cracker and the login page which the victim is using shows that page can’t be reloaded/connection timed-out/server is not responding…..thus making user believe that he is using the original page and it’s a connection problem but what he really doesn’t know that this page is not the actual page of mail provider. Anyone can cross-check this by checking URL in address bar…it won’t have correct address of the mail provider…like for Gmail id it would have something like http://www.gmailmail.com or some catchy address but not the actual one http://www.gmail.com or http://www/mail.google.com
So a million dollar question arises- what should we do??? How to protect ourselves??? What to do after we hitting enter in the fake login page???
Well answers to all these questions are easy… all you need to do is to be aware because no email provider or bank asks its users/customers to open their id on an email. They can say visit your id but will not provide any link to login. You have to go on your own to their website and open your id yourself.
If you think you have opened any fake login page or if you are opening a suspicious link/mail, just check the address bar right in upper side of your browser…you will definitely know if you are at right place or not. Be aware
Now a new question arises- what should we do if we have opened the fake login page and entered our id and password???? Yeah…I’m coming to that question only……if you have entered your id and password and when message of server busy comes then you realized that you have done mistake…no need to worry then , just change your password right then because it may be probability that the cracker may not see your password right then…there may be some delay because he can’t be online 24 x7. There is very little chance because you now rely on cracker. But you should definitely try to change your password because it’s the only way to deal with this and many a times you can protect yourself
Now days it’s becoming very difficult for crackers to go for phishing because now people know about this method and don’t click on the malicious links.
Remember always that crackers always relies on your weakness…..so it’s you who can protect yourself…no one else can
This is all for phishing knowledge....Hope you enjoyed this article…..I will tell you about other methods of password stealing in coming posts….give me your feedback and feel free to ask question….
-(Helping you always)-
A system is a set of artifacts that together achieve some outcome. An information system is a system that achieves a business outcome. An information system collects, manipulates stores and reports information regarding the business activates of an organization, in order to assists the management of that organization in managing the operations of the business.
Information systems and technologies have become a vital component of successful business and organizations. They constitute an essential field of study in business administration and management. It is just as important to have a basic understanding of information system, as it is also understand any other functional area in business.
Overview of information systems
Information systems play three fundamental roles in the business success of an enterprise.
1. Support of its business processes and operations.
2. Support of decision making by its managers.
3. Support of its strategies for competitive advantage.
Until 1960s, the role of information systems was simple: transaction processing, record keeping, accounting and other electronic data processing (EDP) applications. Then another role was added, as the concept of management information systems (MIS) was conceived. The new role focused on providing managerial end-users with predefined management reports that would give managers the information they need for decision making purpose.
By 1970s, the concept of decision making support systems was born. The new role focused on providing managerial end-users with ad hoc and interactive support of their decision-making processes.
In 1980s, several new roles for information systems appeared.
First, the rapid development of microcomputer processing power, applications software packages and telecommunications networks gave birth to the phenomenon of end user-computing. Now end-user can use their own computing resources to support their job requirements instead of waiting for the indirect support of corporate information services departments.
Second, the concepts of Executive information system (EIS) were developed. These information systems attempt to give top executives an easy way to get the critical information they want, then they want it, tailored to the formats they prefer. Third, breakthroughs occurred in the development and application of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to Business Information Systems. Expert systems (ES) and other knowledge based systems forged a new role for information systems.
Types of information systems
The information system in the real world can be classified in several different ways. These classifications can be grouped in to two major categories, viz., operation support system and management support systems. The following figure illustrates this conceptual classification of information systems.
A) Operation support system:
Information systems have always been needed to process data generated by, and used in, business operations. Such operation support systems produce a variety of information products for internal and external use. It can be characterized by three types.
1. Transaction processing system: Operation support system includes the major category of Transaction processing systems (TPS). Transaction processing system records and processes data resulting from the business transactions. Typical example is information system that process sales, sales purchase and inventory changes. The result of such processing are used to update customer, inventory and organizational databases. Transaction processing systems process transaction in to two basic ways. In batch processing, transaction data are accumulated over a period of time and processed periodically. In real-time (or online) processing data is processed immediately after a transaction occurs.
2. Process control systems: Operation support systems are information systems that use a variety of information technologies to help people work together. Enterprise collaboration systems help to communicate ideas, share resource, and coordinate our cooperative work.
3. Enterprise collaboration systems: Enterprise collaboration systems are information systems that use a variety of information technologies to help people work together. Enterprise collaboration systems help us collaborate to communicate ideas, share resources, and coordinate our cooperative work.
B) Management support systems:
When information system focuses on providing information support for effective decision making by managers, they are called management support systems. The concept for management support systems was developed to counteract inefficient development and effective use of computers. Though tarnished by early failures, the MIS concept is still recognized as vital to efficient information system in the organizations for two major reasons.
1. It emphasizes the management orientation of information technology in business. A major goal of computer based information systems should be the support of management decision making, not merely the processing of data generated by business operations.
2. It emphasize that a system framework should be used for organizing information systems applications. Business applications of information technology should be viewed as interrelated and integrated computer based information technology should be viewed as interrelated and integrated computer based information systems and not as independent data processing jobs.
1. Management information systems: Management information systems are the most common form of management support systems. They provide managerial end user with information product that much of their day to day decision making needs. MIS provides a variety of reports and displays to management. MIS retrieve information about internal operations form databases that have been updated by transaction processing systems.
2. Decision support systems: Decision support systems are a natural progression from information reporting systems and transaction processing systems. Decision support system are interactive, computer based information systems that use decision models and specialized databases to assist the decision making processes of managerial end users. DSS provides managers with analytical modeling, simulation, data retrieval and information presentation capabilities. Managers generate the information they need for more unstructured types of decisions in an interactive, simulation based process.
3. Executive information systems: Executive information systems are management information tailored to the strategic information needs to top management. Top executives get the information they need from many sources, including letters memos, periodicals, and reports produced manually as well as by computer systems. Other sources of executive’s information are meetings, telephone calls and social activities.
The goal of computer based information systems is to provide top management with immediate and easy access to selective information about key factors that are critical to accomplishing a firm’s strategies objectives. Graphic display is used extensively and immediate access to the internal and external databases is provided.
Developing an information system solutions
The information system life cycle is the way that an information system is constructed. Because it is almost easier to perform a sequence of smaller tasks to build one large task, the overall life cycle is broken in to series of smaller steps called phases. The number of phases varies from organization to organization.
1. Requirement phase: In the requirement phase, the client’s requirements are extracted. That is, the client and the future users of the information systems to be developed interact with the information system development team in order to determine the client’s needs. The results of this study are presented in the form of the requirements document.
2. Analysis phase: The aim of the analysis phase is to draw up the specification document. The specification document lays out what the information has to do. Once the specification document has been signed off by the client, the project management plan can be drawn up. This detailed plan includes budget, staffing needs, and list of what will be delivered including the automatically generated orders, reports listing sales to the public, and reports listing purchases from the wholesalers.
3. Design phase: The members of the development team described how the information system is to be developed. Typically, the system is broken in to smaller pieces called modules. Each module is then designed in detailed. The development team has to describe the algorithms used by the modules and the data structures within the modules. The result is presented in the form of design document.
The specification document states that report must include the weekly sales of goods from each of the wholesalers, and the overall sales total. The design document on the other hand states where on the page the date is to appear, what the column headings are to be, how many characters to use for the name of the wholesaler, how many blank spaces to leave, and then how many digits to use for the total weekly sales from the wholesales, and so on.
4. Implementation phase: The design of the modules is given to be programming team to translate in to an appropriate programming language. COBAL is the world’s most widely used programming language, whereas modern information systems are often implemented in C++ or Java. The modules are integrated to form the complete information system.
5. Maintenance Phase: After the information system has been installed, it will need to be modified, either to remove any remaining faults from the system or because the system needs to be extended in some way according to the environmental changes and new requirements.
As people depend on computers for anything and everything they often try to get their tasks done at the earliest ignoring the threats and risks out there in the cyber world. All we do is install an antivirus program on our computer and then we’re done. It’s better to be a bit more careful and to spend few extra minutes on your security rather than getting into a mess later on.
Viruses & Trojans
Almost all personal computers which connect to internet daily will be the host of some viruses. Anyway, we do not give much attention to these stuff until the whole system gets frozen. A purchased antivirus program will protect most of the common viruses. But you should turn on your automatics updates for sure.
Another deal to get rid of these nasty scripts is to use OS like Linux. Transformation from Windows to Linux will be difficult but within no time you'll be in love with Linux’s features, power and GUI. Anyway, no one can guarantee that you’re 100% safe from viruses.
For saving data loss due to virus attacks is to save your data on an external memory device or computer which is never connected to internet. You can also save some copies on the web. I have all my important data on an external hard disk so that I can format my system every month.
Hacking and Phishing
Most of the Antivirus and browsers have measures to prevent hacking and phishing to a certain extent. Anyway, all hackers are well aware of this fact and they now design scripts to bypass these security measures and easily enter into your computer and get your data, files and even your keystrokes. So this can create very big headaches for one.
In Gmail, they notify scam emails at top of the email when you open it as shown below.
How to prevent?
Your antivirus software and browsers have limitations. Adopt the simple following steps which will helps to be more secure from hackers and phishing and also viruses.
- Do not download software from unknown websites. For finding genuine programs go to Cnet’s Download.com
- Do not download stuff like smileys, glittering cursors etc. by ads you often see. Not all of them are scams but some are.
- Avoid adult websites.
- Stop online piracy. Lots of pirated contents comes with viruses.
- Update your browser. Browser updates comes with better security so go ahead and install the latest version of the browsers.
These are few and you can adopt much more steps which you feel necessary.
Shopping Online
Many people like to shop online these days because it is much easy and there are a wide range of selection. But it is a risky business. The best way to shop online is via some payment processors like PayPal, AlertPay etc. The advantage is that we don’t need to reveal our credit card number when purchasing something. But as we know, not all websites accepts online payment processors and sometime you’ll have to use your credit cards. Many banks now offers online services like virtual credit card. This card does not exist physically but you’ll have a normal credit card number. You can set the amount in this credit card so that even some scam gets it he cannot get anything more than the set limit. Some other useful safety tips are :
- https:// ('s’ indicates a secured connection)
- Avoid shopping on websites you don’t know.
- While purchasing things from eBay always make sure that the seller has a good reputation and feedback.
- Look for Verisign and other reputed SSL encryption emblems.
- Try to avoid shopping on websites where you have to enter your credit card number (websites which doesn’t support payment processors)
- Don’t add your credit card number, bank account number or anything like that in a pop up Window.
- Never enter your credit card number while your browsing in an internet cafe.
(Also for ensuring that you get your purchased item without any problems you should be aware of the import rules in India.)
Is Android secure?
Well, most of the tablets and mobile phones are now running on Android. I thought Android was very safe but I happen to read the fact that 2,60,000 Android users were attacked by malware and trojans on a popular technology magazine which clearly means that Android users must also be aware of the dangers out there.
Safety tips for shared computer users:
Can Lock applications save my data?
Many people save their important data using some lock application in Windows. They just lock the folders with their important data and they think their data is secure because the software’s Help files said so. But the thing is that those folders are easily accessible.
These applications are meant to run on Windows platform and it will not, in most of the cases, works on other OS like Linux. One can get access to your locked folder just by booting your hard disk by inserting a Live Linux CD (there is even no need of installing Linux). Once he/she is in Linux OS they can go through your locked folder just like any other folders and can also copy your files to an external storage device. The owner won’t even know that somebody accessed the files.
So don’t save important data using some Lock application because most of them aren’t much secure.
Install Parental Control software if you have doubts
If you doubt that somebody is trying to get their hands on your stuff you can make use of a parental control software for your aid. Most of these software are hidden and other users may not even recognize that such software is on the computer. So you can track their activities to see whether somebody is playing false.
Delete history, cache, cookies and everything
While browsing on a shared computer the safest thing is to do it in the ‘Private mode’ (‘Incognito’ in Google Chrome). So that once you close the browser all the data associated with your session will be deleted from the computer. Other wise you should make sure that you’ve cleared every data associated with the session through the Options menu,
Gone are the days when cell phones were only used to talk with each other or to play some games like Snake that came by default with the device. Now as we have moved along with time things have changed so rapidly and abruptly that cells have become a part and parcel of our life. We can think of a day when we skipped our meal or a day when we skipped our office or college but it will surely take us a while to think about a day when we are away without our cell phones. I still could remember the days when the cell phone had arrived and people used to say that they are just for the purpose of show-off. But now the same people who used to comment that way have realized and accepted the importance of cell phone . But hold on a second guys, I am getting a bit diverted from my topic, for the main purpose for which I am writing this article is make you aware how and why to secure our smart phones.
Now-a-days, we do a whole lot of things with our smart phones right from logging or chatting on twitter, face book and many other social networking sites or sending emails. We even keep our banking and credit card PIN and TPIN information on our cell. But did you ever give a second thought to this that what will happen if, unfortunately, someday you tend to lose your cell or if it gets stolen. Yes, I agree now-a-days cell phone comes with the application called mobile tracker which might help you in this but then there are instances where I have found that people with this thing embedded on their device don't know how to use it or perhaps don't think the necessity to enable them. Some of my friends even answered that enabling this application only led to increase their headache for every time they changed their Sim card with another one it resulted in sending fake messages about their phone being lost with their own account balance getting deducted. While there is another section of my friends who believe that they by no way ever can be so unfortunate to lose a thing like cell phone. Well that's their point of view.
My advice for those who are not so overconfident ( as my friends who tend to think that they will never going to lose their cell phone ) should either buy and install a phone security utility like WaveSecure so that it can wipe your data remotely in case you misplace the handset or at the very list what you can do is to deploy a PIN code to lock your phone. It is always a good idea to install a phone security application as well.
Believe me I ask you to follow this preventive measures because once you lost your cell phone in India there is hardly you can do anything about it rather than lodging an FIR complaint at the local police station or blocking your Sim through customer care of your Sim service provider. You don't have the privilege of blocking your lost mobile handset through your device IMEI number which I am quite sure is available in other countries.
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