Password secrets Unleashed!

Did passwords strong enough to protect your valuable information?

Actually the answer is NO! Theoretically there is no password which is 100% secure.. I.e. all passwords can be hacked! That’s why fingerprint reorganization technology all came into market! Even though theoretically all passwords are hack able but practically there are several difficulties. A very strong password will take about several years to hack practically; maybe it will take more than 10 to 20 years to hack the strongest password in the world even if with a super computer! Do you think the password will be same throughout those years when hackers run the super computer? No rite.. Till now I am saying about the strongest passwords using by big organizations like defense and all. Even now some organizations also dont understand some vulnerabilities inside their system.

What about your passwords? End users password can be hacked with in 30 min by an expert hacker! So do you want to change your password in every 30 min? If an expert hacker targeted you as his next victim, whatever you do without the basic understanding about security is absolutely a waste of time... So how you protect yourself with good passwords?
• Use long words as much as possible
• Include numbers and symbols
• Use alternate uppercase and lowercase
• Avoid dictionary letters
• Use unique words not in dictionary
• Always use logout button whenever you want to close a logged in site, don’t just close the window without logout especially while using Internet banking
• Don’t copy paste any scripts or codes into your address bar no matter whoever sends it to you or whatever it says, there is a great threat in that and it may spread to your contacts with you as the sender
• See the below passwords and select the strongest one by yourself and change your passwords with that logic in mind
1. Eg: youshouldfollowme
2. y0u5h0u1df011wme
3. #y0u$h0u1df011wme@
The above way you can change your passwords for your emails. But remember no passwords are 100% secure!

Which one do you think is better longer the password the time taken to hack is more; mixed characters password the difficulty to hack is more..

So what about protecting the computer with valuable pieces of information?
In my college there are more than fifteen thousand students and our college computers are highly secure with all the most modern soft wares and hardware’s. Last week one of our friend had found a great vulnerability inside the campus network which maybe exploited in a way that all user name and passwords can be recovered using a third party software..
To protect your computer the best ways are
• Restrict physical access to others
• Use a boot up password instead of windows password
• If possible change to windows vista which has better security than XP
• Disable remote access feature in your computer
• Change first boot device to hard disk all the time and set a admin password for boot up which will needed to change boot settings
• Backup all important documents to a cd, use an encryption software to encrypt it before copying to cd.
• Don’t share thumb drives or any storage devices with others, if you share check your device thoroughly for any new programs installed or run a virus scan before using it.
• Don’t open unknown attachments in your email, if you want to open first check the file extensions and make sure its a well known file extension like .doc or something
• Never open extensions with .exe or .bat mail attachments
• Viruses can be embedded into files like .doc or .ppt so run a virus scan before opening
• Try to open the attachment in some other computer rather than opening in your computer
• Run full system scan at least once in a week
• Change all passwords weekly
• Don’t use remember me
Practice good security habits with the computer like usual password changing and change passwords with the above key points in mind...
Don’t use internet banking with a computer without a good antivirus like Norton. Update the antivirus software daily or whenever new updates are available...
Try not to save any passwords or set any passwords for any software within the harddisk, because passwords are saved as hashes (a bunch of hexadecimal characters) and any one who can retrive this can decode the hash code to get the actual password…
If you have any doubts with any security issues feel free to contact me...! Comment me if you want to know how to set boot password or any other doubts…!

The Life Hacking...!

Yes the future hackers can hack your life also..! Human Implantable devices are programmable through a wireless interface. This helps the physician to adjust or make changes to the devices (to better suit the patient) without the need of a second surgery. These devices have a wireless infrastructure which allows remote controlling of the device to change settings. But recently there is a security flaw identified in those type of implantable devices. What if the setting is not changed by the physician but through a program from a hacker? A hacker can control the device the way he wants, he can deplete the battery, mistime the working or even stops the device! Implantable defibrillators and pacemakers can be hacked from the outside, leading to all manner of undesirable outcomes.
So far this attack is only theoretical, (but easily possible too) and that patients with such devices should not be soo concerned at this point.
By 2040 we may be much more bionic, and we'll need to know that our electronic parts are secure. What about installing an anti virus in our brain??

source : http://www.pcmag.com, http://www.secure-medicine.org/icd-study/icd-study.pdf

Vishing

Now most of us are aware of phishing threat in the internet and phishing is almost an outdated form of identity theft. Hackers are looking forward for innovative ideas to gain illegal access to your account. No body is safe from hackers, anyone-anytime can be a victim of those intelligent people.
Vishing is the new technique used by hackers to theft identity. Vishing is somewhat similar to phishing. Vishing is phishing through voice! Usually criminals make use of IP phones (Voice over IP) to call the victim (usually the numbers stolen from financial institution), when the victim answers the call an automated recording, often generated with a text to speech synthesizer, is played to alert the consumer that their credit card had a fraudulent activity or that their bank account has had unusual activity (criminals changes this message quite often in order to get the originality). Then the message instructs the consumer to call the following number immediately. The same phone number is often shown in the spoofed caller ID and given the same name as the financial company they are pretending to represent. When the victim calls the number, it is answered by automated instructions to enter their credit card number or bank account number on the key pad. Once the consumer enters their credit card number or bank account number, the visher has the information necessary to make fraudulent use of the card or to access the account. The call is often used to harvest additional details such as security PIN, expiration date, date of birth, etc. VoIP calls are difficult to trace, the criminals make use of those vulnerabilities in the developing VoIP technology.
So next time if you receive any such calls don’t call back or call the number they ask to call, instead call the financial institutions helpline first to confirm the information. Don’t be a victim of identity theft. Take more care when you use i-banking or other online banking facilities.

Apple unveils iPhone 3G

Phone, iPod, and Internet in one fast 3G device. Starting at $199

Apple's CEO Steve Jobs unveils iPhone 3G before a raucous audience at the company's annual world wide Developers Conference at San Francisco. The next generation iPhone have faster internet access run on advanced wireless networks like 3G. Apple claims that the new 3G connection will be roughly 2.8 times as fast as the Edge wireless connection on the original iPhone. Apple suggested that the new iPhone 3G would run faster than other 3G handsets, claiming that it outperforms the Nokia N95 and Treo 750 by some 36 per cent.Support for enterprise features like Microsoft Exchange, and the new App Store, iPhone 3G puts even more features at your fingertips. And like the original iPhone, it combines three products in one — a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device with rich HTML email and a desktop-class web browser

Features
3G Network
Built in GPS
3.5 inch screen
Battery Life
Talk time of 5 hrs
Standby : 300hrs
Audio : 20hrs
Video : 7 hrs,
12.33mm thickness
8GB : US $ 199
16GB : US $ 299
For more info visit: http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/

iGoogle

All of us have a personal computer or a laptop and every one is familiar with our desktop screen where we can add shortcuts to favorite softwares or webpages or anything as our wish... have you heard thought of a personalized home page for your browser? i have recently found a google website called www.igoogle.com which provides facility to personalize our home page where we can see shortcuts and preview of our google mail (gmail)...iGoogle supports the use of specially developed "gadgets" to display content on a user's page. The gadgets interact with the user and utilize the Google Gadgets API. Some gadgets developed for Google Desktop can also be used within iGoogle. The Google Gadgets API is public and allows anyone to develop a gadget for any need. With iGoogle, users can select unique themes for one's Google homepage. Some of the themes are animated depending on weather conditions, the time in your area (It asks you for your location upon selecting a theme), and so on. iGoogle is developed using AJAX..you can click drag the gadgets to arrange it... and its time to set your home page to www.iGoogle.com .. lets explore igoogle.com togther and do post your experience...!