Most of the people don't realise that browser extensions might  be dangerous .But why they download & installing it?.May be  they are too lazy to download and install a software with the same functions as the extension, or  it may  save some time or it is a faster way to explore lots of features in a short time.After installation, the malicious extension can gain complete control of the victim’s profile and  may have access to your data.By installing these extensions, you give your browser additional functionality unknowingly . So  don’t install an app or extension unless you trust its creator.

ExtShield (formerly Chrome Protector)tells you that you need to download Google Chrome in order to run it. It keeps a more than  100s of blacklisted  browser extensions known to contain adware, spyware or malware.It  will scan your browser and alert you if any of these are installed.

ExtShield extension is a freeware  available  at Chrome webstore. Once installed, you can access the shield located at the right hand top corner of your webpage to know the status about your other installed extensions.

✔ Stops over 100 adware, spyware or malware extensions that are currently available in chrome web store and used by millions
✔ Monitors extensions and websites behavior to detect malicious patterns
✔ Shield code is protected to avoid bypassing by malware creators

It is essential to keep your computer functioning at its best by  regularly cleaning obsolete files  and deleting invalid links .Wise Care 365 is the best solution to improve your PC's performance.With Wise Care 365 and your computer will never run slow again.It  includes both Wise Disk Cleaner and Wise Registry Cleaner.  It  is a user-friendly application that can help you remove all the redundant data on your PC without affecting its stability.

1.Clean registry and junk files from your PCs
2.Defrag and free up space on your hard disk
3.optimize the Windows Registry
4.Prevent & Protect  unauthorized use of personal applications
5.Hide important files or folders in your PC
6.Protect your privacy and make your PCs faster and more secure
7.Recover lost files, local file fast search and other useful free tools.
8.Auto shut down your PC
9.All together  "One Click Tune-up" option will optimize your PC& make it faster

Wise Care 365 costs $39.95 for pofessional version, but now you can download it free from Tipradar where around 4000 licenses is available to giveaway.Visit Giveaway page.Provide your name and a valid  email id

Check your inbox for the activation keys.Download  the Wise Care 365  professional version  from  here .

Fraudsters now appear to have switched their attention to those using on-line banking services. The theft of bank details online, is on the increase. With the ATMs of numerous banks being compromised by fraudulent activities and the 'phishing' for information via email accounts.

Image Courtesy:SBT

Skimming is the illegal copying of information from the magnetic strip of a credit card.The skimmer is a small device that scans a credit card and stores the information contained in the magnetic strip.PoS (Point of Sale) machines at  where skimming is mostly  happen. Skimming can take place during a legitimate transaction at a business.It can occur easily in a restaurant ot textile shop  because your card is taken away when the bill is being settled .A person  have skimmed your card, can create a fake or ‘cloned’ card with your details on it.

Protect yourself from card skimming

• Before swiping your debit card, give a small tug on the card swiper. If there is any movement or the device comes off, don't use that ATM -- it could be a sign a thief has inserted a skimmer.
• You may be able to keep the thief from seeing your PIN by covering the keyboard with your free hand and blocking the view of a camera.
• Check your account statement regularly for suspicious charges or withdrawals.
• Cover your hand while entering your PIN number, so that if criminals have installed a surveillance camera, they won’t be able to see your secret code.
• If you think your card has been part of a skimming scam, contact your financial institution immediately.
• Keep your credit card and ATM cards safe. Do not share your personal identity number (PIN) with anyone. Do not keep any written copy of your PIN with the card.
• Check your bank account and credit card statements when you get them. If you see a transaction you cannot explain, report it to your credit union or bank.
• Choose passwords that would be difficult for anyone else to guess.

Read:How does ATM skimming work?

Phishing (also known as "carding" or "spoofing") refers to emails or SMSs that trick people into giving out their personal and banking information.A common phishing scam starts official-looking e-mail from a business. The   e-mail looks in every respect like one from a trusted source, such as a bank .

The email will contain a link that directs the user's Web browser to a Web site that, to all intents and purposes, appears authentic. Once you're on the fake site, you're invited to enter your logon name, password and credit card number - that's all they need to hijack your account.

Sample Phishing email text is reproduced below:

Dear valued SBI Net banking Customer,
SBI’s Internet Banking, is hereby announcing the New Security Upgrade. We have upgraded our new SS: servers to serve our customers for a better and secure banking service, against any fraudulent activities. Due to this recent upgrade, you are requested to update your account information by following the reference below.
Reference*
Regards
Customers Service
State Bank Of India

Protect yourself from Phishing

• Consider all email requests for personal or payment information to be suspicious
• Be cautious about clicking on links in unsolicited email that you receive
• Check the legitimacy of any email requesting your personal or payment information by looking upon company's phone number separately and calling to verify the request .
• Watch the typos and bad grammar.Those are warning signals that an email may be fraudulent
• Use spam blockers and keep your Antivirus software up to date
• Access your bank website only by typing the URL in the address bar of your browser
• Scan your computer regularly with Antivirus to ensure that the system is Virus/Trojan free.
• Change your Internet Banking password at periodical intervals.
• Always check the last log-in date and time in the post login page.
• Avoid accessing Internet banking accounts from cyber cafes or shared PCs.
• If you think the URL is legitimate and you click on the link, you can still check that it's a trusted website and business. Modern browsers like Safari 5, Firefox 7, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer 10 display the company name in green if the site has been issued an Extended Validation (EV) Certificate and is a legitimate website/business.

Extended Validation Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates are special SSL Certificates that work with high security Web browsers to clearly identify a Web site's organizational identity. Extended Validation (EV) helps you make sure a Web site is genuine and verified.

For example, if you use Microsoft® Internet Explorer 7 to go to a Web site secured with an SSL Certificate that meets the Extended Validation Standard, IE7 will cause the URL address bar to turn green. A display next to the green bar will alternatively (toggle) display the organization name listed in the certificate and the Certificate Authority (VeriSign, for example).

Read : How Does Phishing Work?

To  prevent Skimming and Phishing , most of the Banks in India have started issuing chip-based EMV.EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard, Visa and  is the international standard for chip based payment cards to ensure the highest security level for Credit Card transactions.

With the EMV chip technology, all the data that was stored on the magnetic strip will be additionally embedded     on the chip. . A Credit Card with a chip is more secure and reliable than the one with just the magnetic stripe on the reverse of the card, as it is difficult to  copy customer details from an embedded chip. This safeguards the Credit Card from skimming frauds.

 
The biggest benefit of EMV is the reduction in card fraud resulting from counterfeit, lost and stolen cards.EMV chip payment cards can use their card on any EMV-compatible payment terminal. EMV technology supports enhanced cardholder verification methods and, unlike magnetic stripe cards, EMV payment cards can also be used to secure online payment transactions.

EMV supports four cardholder verification methods (CVM): offline PIN, online PIN, signature, or no cardholder verification method (CVM). So it ensures that the person attempting to make the transaction is the person to whom the card belongs.

EMV cards store payment information in a secure chip rather than on a magnetic stripe and the personalization of EMV cards is done using issuer-specific keys. Unlike a magnetic stripe card, it is virtually impossible to create a counterfeit EMV card that can be used to conduct a EMV payment transaction successfully.

To know more about EMV cards All About EMV Cards

In view of the rampant rise in credit card frauds, Reserve Bank of India  recently  issued guidelines for card issuers to only issue cards with an embedded chip and a compulsory pin (like that used for ATM transactions) from July 2013.

Protect and speed up your computer with Advanced SystemCare PRO .It provides an always-on, with anti-spyware, privacy protection, performance tune-ups, and system cleaning capabilities. It has been built as an all-in-one PC care solution ready to tackle issues such as performance slowdowns and it fights spyware and adware off the system. The suite encompasses a wide variety of programs in order to maintain the system to its best: registry cleaner, privacy sweeper, junk files cleaner, file and registry defragger, uninstaller, startup manager, context menu manager or shortcut fixer. Beside incorporating maintenance instruments and Windows optimization for various user profiles, the application also makes available driver backup solution.This powerful and award-winning precision tool fixes stubborn errors, cleans out clutter, optimizes internet and download speeds, ensures personal security and maintains maximum computer performance automatically.

IObit Advanced SystemCare Pro  is celebrating  their  5 th birth anniversary.So this giveaway offer is available  to you from May 17, 2010 to May 19, 2010.Visit the promotion page and fill the details to get the free 1 year licenses of IObit Advanced SystemCare Pro (Cost $29.95)

You will be given a download link and  the serial code for  registration .

Install Advanced System Care Pro ,by default  installation  will be basic version.To convert into Pro version click to upgrade.

To activate the Pro version provide the  Account Name and License Code  you got earlier and press  Activate Now button.

All of us want to clean and optimize  our PC, also need better  privacy and security . For that you need  tools like  Start up Manager, Registry Cleaner ,Disk Cleaner,Uninstaller,Tracks Eraser ,Memory Optimizer etc. Many  individual  tools  are available  in net   to  maintain  your  computer  healthy .But it is not easy to find  out a  single solution that incorporates all the instruments needed for this kind of tasks.

Glary Utilities offers multiple system tools to fix, maintain, and protect your PC.It's free ,simple to use, and it'll make your computer run much better.This excellent free tool promises one-click cleanup.It  includes  a Registry cleaner and disk cleaner . Other optimization tools are a startup manager, and a context menu manager for editing the right-click context menu that appears when you click a file.It cleans unwanted junk files and removes invalid and broken shortcuts, freeing up valuable disk space.It also deletes traces of your Internet surfing and cleans up temporary files.

Features:

• Disk Cleaner
• Registry Cleaner
• Shortcuts Fixer
• Startup Manager
• Memory Optimizer
• Tracks Eraser
• File Shredder
• Internet Explorer Assistant
• Disk Analysis
• Duplicate Files Finder
• Empty Folders Finder
• Uninstall Manager

It is designed for both novice and professionals. User-friendly interface shows clear  and detailed directions. For anyone who wants to take control of their PC, and doesn't want to pay a penny, Glary Utilities is a great one to get.

If you get a message from Facebook saying that  your  Facebook password has been changed due to some security reasons and the new password is attached,be careful!.Don’t open the attachment. Remember that Facebook will never send you a new password in an attachment.  The attachment is a Trojan horse program designed to infect a computer.Immediately delete such mails.

Facebook users are being warned of a malicious email password reset scam that is making its rounds and quickly spreading across the social network the past couple of days. This massive spam run is the latest version of malicious emails targeting Facebook’s 400 million global users.

Social networking sites will always be a favorite target of scammers, spammers, phishers because of the huge number of users and the large percentage of “ignorant” users. So its important that users should always be protected and be educated about these types of email scams.

• Keep your Anti virus software and firewalls up-to-date.
• Protect your PC by installing a complete security software suite that includes anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall protection.
• Don’t click on the embedded links and NEVER download any attachments!
• The curiosity to open the spam mails  can burn your fingers. This malware is not basically targeted to steal your Facebook password, it can steal all the other user ids and passwords used on the computer .
• Don’t make any internet banking transactions from the infected PC. Immediately change the passwords/user ids.
• Frequently  check your  security software  updates for this type of malware, install any available updates, then immediately run a full scan.

Looking for free Security Tools for you computer? Then visit .This is the right place for you! Here you will be able to find from Anti-virus, Anti-Spyware AntiRootkit Firewall and much more for free! 

AndyManchesta  is the developer of SDFix  the famous tool that removes thousands of different types of trojans, worms, rootkits and other malwares

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Sharing your computer with others? Worrying that other user may pry into your private files?Worrying that they may modify your system settings arbitrarily?MK Drive Access Control is a small and easy to use application that helps you lock your drives from unwanted access.It doesn’t matter  whether it is a portable USB drive, Local Drive on hard disk or it is a CD / DVD  drive you can lock them.This  tool  will lock these drives and prevent unwanted access by other users on these locked drives which you define with this software, so it prevents others to copy your private files and view them.

Features

· Lock CD/DVD drives doors to prevent write CD / DVD from your files
· Lock and Unlock all kind of drives from access and show in Windows Explorer, include Windows Drive
· Password Protecting Program Changes

Protect and speed up your computer with Advanced SystemCare PRO.It provides an always-on, automated, all-in-one PC Healthcare Service with anti-spyware, privacy protection, performance tune-ups, and system cleaning capabilities.This powerful and award-winning precision tool fixes stubborn errors, cleans out clutter, optimizes internet and download speeds, ensures personal security and maintains maximum computer performance automatically.

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If your system is being used by multiple users, then there is a huge possibility of data being leaked  from your system.They can simply plug in a USB device and copy sensitive data.If you are concerned about   data security  , you can disable writing to USB  drives with a simple registry tweak.

To disable the writing of data  to USB drives do the following

• Start>Run>type ‘regedit’ in the text box and press enter.
• Browse to the key ‘HKEY_LOCAL_MECHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/StorageDevicePolicies’ registry key.
• Right click anywhere on the right pane and  select the ‘DWORD(32bit)Value’ option.
• Double click the newly created  key and type ‘00000001’ in the ‘Value data’ field.
• Restart your system for changes to take effect

USB Locker is a small tool,which disable (when needed) writing to external USB flash drives to prevent unauthorized copying of your files from your computer

Download | Windows XP/Vista/7|Freeware

Easy File Locker is a light-weight and easy-to-use  software tool  to protect and secure your files and folders.Users will not be able to open, read, modify, delete, move, copy the locked files/folders, or even not be able to see it. The hidden files/folders will be totally invisible to all users and to any program.So  Easy File Locker  provide the total of solution for protecting the sensitive data.  In  Windows Safe Mode also  you can  protect files/folders by this tool.

Users can enable or disable the files/folders restriction to be ‘Accessible’, ‘Writable’, ‘Deletable’ or ‘Visible’.It  will not slow down the system speeds and it will never have the chance to destroy your data.

Features:

• Lock files, Lock folders : The locked files/folders are protected from accessing, users can not open, read, modify, move, delete, copy, rename the protected files/folders. Files and sub-folders in a locked folder are also protected.
• Hide files, Hide folders : You can hide your private files and folders, to make them completely invisible to users and programs.
• Password protected GUI and uninstaller : Once you set a password, no one can launch the application or uninstall the software without the correct password.

  Easy File Locker |301 KB| Freeware |Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 7

Keylogger is small spy program or hardware device , that  has the ability record everything you type on the computer.It either stores this information in a hidden place on your computer or sends it over the Internet to the person who infiltrated it.

Keyloggers can be used  to monitor employee's activity or  watch your computer while you are away. But  some people abuse the program to steal others' passwords.They can violate user privacy for months and even years until the user will notice them. During al l this time a regular keylogger is able to find out everything about the user. Someone who controls a keylogger gets priceless information including the monitored user’s passwords, login names, credit card numbers, exact bank account details, contacts, interests, web browsing habits and much more. All this information can be used to steal victim's valuable personal documents, money, use his name, address and other identity data for criminal offences.

Keyloggers can come in many forms, as emails, viruses, Trojan horses; from people who might try to invade your privacy .Most of them are  invisible, so you won't know if they are running on your system.How can you know if such program has been installed on your computer?How can you protect your privacy?

                                                                                             Hardware Keylogger 

1.Check the Windows Task Manager for all running tasks by hitting Control + Alt + Delete. You can verify all the tasks and research unknown tasks by Google Search.

2.Start >> Run >> type msconfig >> hit enter>> Start tab >>  Verify all programs that are set to start up each time you boot the computer. Compare the programs listed and learn more about them on the internet to see whether  they are legitimate startup programs or possible keyloggers

3.Check the cable connections of the keyboard  and make sure there are not "extra connectors" on the end of it. The keyboard should have a single cable with no removable bit on the end and it should plug directly into a port on the back of the computer box. Hardware keylogger.

4.Check the services  running in your PC.Start > Run >type services.msc.Check those items running automatically.If anything found suspicious stop  those.

5. You would fist look in the add/remove programs to see if anything has been installed that can monitor keystrokes.

I recommend setting new passwords (good strong passwords are at least 8 characters long and use a combination of UPPERCASE, lowercase, numb3rs, and speci@l ch@racters) on all programs .

Softwares to detect keyloggers:Spyware protection software or keylogger remover is the easiest way to remove spyware and keeping it away. It detects and removes all pieces of spyware and adware automatically. Spyware is extremely difficult to remove manually and should only be removed with effective and advanced keylogger or spyware protection software. Protect your computer from these malicious spywares and enjoy peace of mind.

• XoftSpySE Anti-Spyware 
• Lavasoft's Ad-aware 
• Elite Anti Keylogger v3
• Spybot Search & Destroy 
• Webroot's Spy Sweeper 
• Anti-Keylogger Elite 3.3.3 
• SpyHunter,
• eTrust PestPatrol  
• a2-squared free 4.5    
• SpywareDoctor
• Advanced Anti Keylogger
• Unlogger
• KL-Detector

Are you sure that your security software is capable of identifying keylogging activities? Here  is a simple test software available from Zemana, which lets you simulate a keylogger on your computer. It is a free download which can  run it on your computer. If your security software is able to detect it, then you may be confident about the effectiveness of that against keyloggers, otherwise it is time to have a second look at your choice of security software. Check :http://www.zemana.com/KeyLogger_Test.aspx

Here is a   checklist  which helps in protecting Windows, applications, browser and hardware.

Web browsers are  the most common target of an attack.  Malware and Spyware  is get into  the  PC through modified websites which trigger buffer overruns for instance; hackers can thus crash the browser.

Following are  some of the most common ways users are fooled .

• Links can lead you to malicious material such as hidden drive-by downloads that attempt to silently install software onto your computer without you doing anything or knowing about it.
• Links can also lead you to a phishing site designed by scammers to trick a user into revealing confidential information such as account passwords for banking or social networking sites.
• There are downloads that seem perfectly safe, such as a video, screensaver (screensavers are the most notorious) or some even offer to give you security protection, but they are actually malware. 
• A link from a friend might not be safe either.  Your friend’s computer could have been infected and now is part of a botnet being used to send malware and dangerous links. 
• Tweeters often use URL shortening services such as tinyurl.com to obtain a shorter URL that fits within the 140 characters restriction.  This means you don’t know what site your are really going to until you are there.

Here are some utilities to test your browser and other securities

Bcheck-Scanit:Check out the security of your Web browser with the help of Scanit to see whether your browser will be able to withstand such an attack. To run the test, open the website from your preferred browser. With ‘Start the test’, you will expose the browser to an attack that can possibly cause a crash. We subjected our default Web browser , Firefox , to nine different exploits; there were seven in the  case of Internet Explorer. If everything is alright, you will get a confirmation after the test. If the browser crashes, reload it, restore the session and open the site again. You will now see the test result and an explanation of what went wrong.

BrowserCheck is another online  utility  to check  whether your Web browser secured or not.It will tell you the browser's encryption strength.

AuditMYPC-FirewallTest : will check your computer for ports that are commonly left open. Open ports could allow your computer to be compromised. This firewall test will also check for open ports known to be used by Viruses and Trojans.This site also contains Anonymous Test  and InternetSpeedTest

ShieldsUP:This website will help scan the Open Port to test the security of your computer. See if you can clear it.

Symantec Online Security  Check  also  a nice tool to tests your  computer's online threats. It's an effective tool that helps determine your Internet security needs

Popup test is the most complete way for you to test your popup blocking software. Your popup blocker will be given a series of tests that range from your standard popup to very complex popups that will slip by most popular ad blockers

A simple way to disable any virus,worm or trojan from entering your USB drive, is to create a folder by the name of ‘autorun.inf’.Once this is done, right click on the folder ,navigate to properties ,hide the folder as well as write protect it.This works as well with a text file of the same.This ensures that even if a virus,trojan or worm does get into the USB drive.It does not being to operate as soon as the drive is connected to my computer.

Scr.im converts your email address into a short, and safe link you can share on the web,twitter, blogs, forums, Craiglist or anywhere.It  is a very simple service that creates small, custom URLs for sharing your email with real people

To view the email, the other person had to pass a simple test that other automated scripts and bots cannot pass.

 http://scr.im/

Gumblar is currently targeting users of IE and Google search, delivering malware through compromised sites that infect a user's PC and subsequently intercepts traffic between the user and the visited sites. This means that once infected, anything the victim types could be monitored and used to commit identity theft, such as stealing credit card numbers, passwords or other sensitive data. Visitors encountering the compromised website also risk having their subsequent search results replaced with links that point to other malicious websites. The malware can also steal FTP credentials from the victim's computer and use them to infect more sites, thus increasing the spread of this threat.

Gumblar was first detected in March and has spread more quickly since then, against the expectations of security experts.The scripts attempt to exploit vulnerabilities in Adobe's Acrobat Reader and Flash Player to deliver code that injects malicious search results when a user searches Google on Internet Explorer

How to protect and remove?

If you are running ZoneAlarm® ForceField™ browser security technology you are already protected. If you are running ZoneAlarm Extreme Security, you must turn ON ForceField virtualization (Open ZoneAlarm Extreme and go to 'browser security', 'settings', 'advanced' and click 'enable virtualization'

Read more

Gumblar .cn Exploit

Removal and Prevention of Gumblar.cn Infections

When you are sharing your computer with others or you do not want that other persons run all installed applications in your PC.For example you want to disable web browsing on a computer used by a young child.It is not possible to uninstall Internet Explorer to get rid of it.

AppLocker  a freeware provides  a complete solution to block any programs from being executed on a target computer.The application will display a list of popular programs including Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer or Nero Burning Rom at startup.

These applications will be displayed even if the programs are not installed on the system. A click on a checkbox will block the software on the computer system.

AppLocker can be used in single PC and multiple PC’s. If you are  intended for multiple machines, it should be installed on one machine, then the target folder is to be copied to a shared location and the executable file should be run from that location. By doing so, AppLocker does not have to be installed on each machine individually.

You can lock the programs by clicking the “Configure” button to open the configuration window. Type the caption you want displayed on the ‘Lock application list’. Then, type the programs executable file name and click the ‘Add’ button to add new applications.

The drawback of the software blocker is that there is no protection of the application itself.

AppLockerV1102.zip | 991KB |OS:Windows 2K,  XP,  2003 and  2008| Freeware

If you’ve used a PC at a library or internet café, you’ve probably discovered that it’s been ‘locked down’. In all likelihood,Windows will have barred you from installing new programs, launching the Run dialogue and fiddling about in Control Panel. It’s understandable, of course – no administrator wants to deal with a Windows installation trashed beyond redemption by a vandal or inexperienced user.

Many shared, public PCs are configured using Microsoft’s Steady State . This provides administrators with an easy method of implementing user restrictions. It’s suited not only to commercial and institutional environments, but is also perfect for the home. If you’re setting up a PC for a child, for instance, Steady State will give you almost total control over what they can and can’t do.

There are  2 settings available there,Global Computer Settings and User Settings. Most of the action will take place in the latter.

Features

• Set Computer Restrictions (Computer Restrictions).
• Schedule Software Updates. (Allows you to specify whether SteadyState automatically applies Windows Updates. This is recommended, since it handles dealing with Windows Disk Protection for you, and also updates the signatures of several popular Antivirus programs.)
• Protect the Hard Disk (Windows Disk Protection).
• Add User (User Account Manager).
• And  Microsoft gives it away for free!

By using Windows SteadyState, you can more effectively: Defend shared computers from unauthorized changes to their hard disks; Restrict users from accessing system settings and data; Enhance the user experience on shared computers.With Windows SteadyState, Windows administrator can minimize the windows corrupting rate and protect their windows shared computer in better management.

  Windows SteadyState 2.5