|
Raw Bytes Computer News KPBX FM 91.1 Radio National Public Radio Network Frank Delaney Producer Broadcast on Thursday Morning 7:35 AM During Morning Edition Support Public Radio ! The Theater Of the Mind |
In computer news this week 5/17/2006 |
|
|
A review of Anonymizer software – a software
program to hide your identity on the internet, and to protect you against
such perils as Phishing, pharming, and Evil Twins: Part 3 In addition to protecting
your IP address, so websites can’t identify you, Anonymizer also
protects you against phishing and pharming and evil twins. Phishing threats lure
unsuspecting email recipients into clicking a link in an email that looks
like it’s from their bank to update their account information. However,
these clever scams are simply trying to steal your personal information,
credit card information, and more. Often these emails look
completely genuine, and if you click on the website link in it – you
will be taken to a website that looks genuine too. That’s because
it’s easy for hackers to completely steal websites from say –
your bank or credit card company – and create a bogus website that
looks real. What’s hard is for you to determine what’s real, and
anyone can be fooled. Anonymous Surfing
protects against phishing scams with a real-time anti-phishing feed that
integrates into your Web browser to block you from clicking through to these
fraudulent sites. Updated every fifteen minutes, this added protection
automatically displays a warning page to notify you that you are being led to
a known phishing site. If you click on a link in
a phishing email, Anonymizer has a popup screen that will warn you that site
is bogus:
Another even more
dangerous internet threat is known as pharming. Pharming attacks are
similar to phishing in nature but they don’t rely on you clicking on
their fraudulent email. Pharming attacks are even
more dangerous because they are able to redirect you to a fraudulent Web site
even if you type the URL into your Internet browser. There’s no way the
average user can detect a pharming attack. Pharming is all done behind the
scenes, when a hacker is able to intercept and redirect traffic from a
legitimate website to their own bogus website. Anonymous Surfing
protects against pharming threats by routing all of your Internet traffic
through their secure servers. In addition, when you have Anonymous Surfing
activated, your Host file is never accessed so even if it’s corrupted,
you will still arrive at your intended destination safely. Everywhere you go today
businesses offer wireless free internet access; which creates the new threat
of evil twins. Evil twins trick wireless
users into connecting a laptop or PDA to a tainted hotspot by posing as a
legitimate wi-fi provider. Once you connect to their wireless network, the
evil twins can watch your online activities and steal your confidential
information. Anonymous Surfing
protects against evil twins by routing all of your Internet traffic through secure
servers, thus bypassing the fraudulent hotspot. So the Anonymizer program
protects your internet identity, and protects you from phishing, pharming,
and evil twins. . The cost – $ 29.99
per year. More information is
available at www.anonymizer.com
The company also offers
anti-spyware and other security programs on their website. For Raw Bytes This is Frank Delaney (C) 2006 MTA Micro
Technology Associates http://www.mtamicro.com/kpbx.html PO Box 31522 Spokane, Wa 99223-1522 (509)624-7230 |
|
