Online Business is this safe?

You might think that your internet business is safer than it actually is. Because we often can't see or tell that someone is trying to hack into our systems - until it's too late - it's easy to be blissfully ignorant and assume that everything is okay. That's why it pays to sit down and analyze your whole business to see how well protected it really is.

The steps you can take vary from the most basic to the more advanced, which you will probably need help to achieve. Make sure you have the right anti-virus and anti-spyware software in place to protect you and perform your updates and scans on a regular basis. Make sure you have a secure firewall as well, since this will also help protect your data. If you employ a lot of people it is wise to make sure they are aware of the need to protect the business in every possible way. Don't assume that everyone knows what to do because not everyone does. It only takes one person opening an infected attachment on an email to cause havoc and lose you business as a result.

There is something of an assumption that hackers are only after personal information, but that isn't always the case. Some businesses have been the victim of hackers who have used their systems to distribute spam emails by the thousands, for example. If this happened to you, you can bet it would effectively shut down your website until the problem was sorted. Pure Hacking helps protect your Internet security by providing world-class penetration testing and ethical hacking risk management services. For a free consultation, please visit Penetration Testing.

The New Route to an American War with Iran

Although American attempts to convince US and world opinion of active Iranian involvement in attacks on American forces in Iraq have scarcely been more successful than the Bush administration's constant refrain about Iran's nuclear threat, some incident, real or contrived, may occur which will be used by Bush and Cheney to justify air strikes on Iran.

Initially, limited air attacks on Iranian military targets may not prove to be unpopular in the United States. Outsiders rarely grasp that hostility to Iran's revolutionary Islamic government is almost as deep-seated in many parts of the United States as hatred of the American 'Great Satan' is among much of the Iranian people. This is hardly surprising given that the Islamic Republic of Iran is the only country in the world which has humiliated not one but two US presidents: Jimmy Carter over the Tehran hostages crisis in 1979-81 and Ronald Reagan in the Iran-Contra affair of 1986-7.

Even many Congressional Democrats would no doubt be ready to support limited air strikes on Iran if the Iranians could be plausibly linked to incidents in Iraq in which American personnel had been killed. Whatever their reservations about the Iraq war, both Democratic presidential contenders, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have been noticeably bellicose in their comments about Iran.

Once air attacks on Iranian military targets have begun, they would no doubt become a regular occurrence. American and world opinion would quickly become used to them, familiarity soon blunting initial outrage in most quarters. Like the intermittent Anglo-American air campaign against Saddam Hussein's Iraq during the 1990s, the air strikes on Iran would eventually seem unremarkable. Even Operation Desert Fox in December 1998, a series of major air attacks on Iraq in retaliation for Saddam Hussein's expulsion of UN weapons inspectors, excited only limited international indignation.

Not only would people become used to air attacks on Iran, lessening likely hostile reaction to a shift to nuclear targets, but the attacks themselves would prepare the way for later strikes on nuclear sites by steadily destroying Iranian defences. Anti-aircraft batteries, radar systems, and command and control facilities would have to be destroyed to ensure the safety of US aircraft hitting IRGC 'terrorist bases' however 'limited' the initial air strikes were said to be.

Once Iranian defences have been sufficiently degraded and diplomatic attempts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions have failed, as they probably will, the Bush administration can easily switch to attacking Iranian nuclear sites in the knowledge that such attacks will provoke a much reduced level of international outrage.

Although most scenarios see the excuse for US air attacks on Iran as being an incident in Iraq involving the deaths of US ground personnel caused by Iranian weapons and/or forces, a maritime incident might have advantages for the United States. The most feared Iranian retaliation in the event of an American attack on the country is an attack on tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz which would send world oil prices rocketing into the stratosphere.

If a maritime incident set off hostilities between the United States and Iran, American naval forces in the Gulf could immediately seek to repeat their success in Operation Praying Mantis back in April 1988. On that occasion US forces crushed Iranian naval power in less than twenty-four hours.

Most large surface units of Iran's navy are obsolete, but in recent years Iran obtained three Kilo class diesel attack submarines from Russia. US naval commanders have expressed concern about the threat posed by these vessels to Gulf shipping and they will no doubt welcome the opportunity to destroy them as soon as possible.

Of course the Iranians have so far done their best to avoid provoking the Americans. The arrest of the British naval boarding party in March was a local IRGC initiative and the incident was soon brought to a close by the Tehran government before the Americans could exploit their ally's difficulty as an excuse for war. If a suitable incident does not arise soon, Bush and Cheney may have to create one to justify their planned attack on Iran. Perhaps US naval vessels will be sent into Iranian territorial waters in the hope of provoking a violent response. This was what was done in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 and resulted in the famous 'incident' which led to full American participation in the Vietnam War. Will the American Congress and people fall for the same trick a second time?

Getting SSH Proxy to Work Under Vista

Download putty first. Then created the Dynamic Port Entry like so:



and grabbed a copy of FoxyProxy for Firefox so that your proxies do the right thing on demand. All is well, except you're constantly getting "Empty return from Server" or "The proxy server is refusing connections", and now you're starting to really think hard about installing XP. (Granted, you probably should, but let's assume that's not an option.)

Well, turns out that Vista is again being "helpful". (i have a long standing hatred of things that are "helpful" because they usually just get in the way. While this can be cathartic when driving steam rollers, it's often less so when you're working on software.)

First, the proxies. Chances are VERY good that this is enough to get you going: You need to use 127.0.0.1 as your localhost address rather than localhost.

This is because Vista "helpfully" configures IP6 above IP4. (IP6's version of "localhost" is "::1:", but i'm pretty sure that putty will choke on that.)

Change your Proxy Host Name and things should work just fine.

If not, you'll need to punch a hole through your local firewall for that port. (thanks to The Great FB who provided that tip). To do that, you'll need to go to your Control Panel (seriously, switch to classic view. You're not an idiot.), Windows Firewall, then click on the Allow a program through Windows Firewall on the left side. (this will bring up the Settings/Exceptions tab) and [Add port...] Name: Proxy ; Port number: 1080 (or whatever port you're using) ; (*) TCP ;[OK]

That got me online and hopefully you too.

Wi-Fi Hacking (NEW) Tool

Wi-Fi hackers have gotten more advanced and your private information is even more at risk. The recent Black Hat conference in Las Vegas featured a demonstration by Errata Security that detailed how a hacker can use new tools to steal your encrypted cookies and passwords and then control your online sessions.

Errata has combated this new hack threat with their own tools, Hamster and Ferret, which prevent attacks. It appears that the good guys are following closely behind the bad guys but they’re still slightly behind and all Wi-Fi users need to be careful.

Online Casino Sites

According to popular casino reviews sections, another recent trend is on its way to become a decisive factor in the classification of the best-ranking online casinos. Statistics show that this trend is getting momentum now and is currently spiraling.

Namely, the tendency is that female players on top online casinos comprise a substantial part of all online casino players. Besides, the point is that female players have been claiming their intention to be a factor on classy online gaming sites. Encouraged by the lower costs of broadband internet and greater access, women players are acknowledged to continuously spend more time online, respectively more time gambling than men. In tune with this current trend, online casinos are adapting to cater for the growing demographics of female players.

Top online casinos are becoming regular at providing attractive bonuses and campaigns like weekly Ladies Nights promotions. All of these offer huge prizes to attract women players focusing on particular games craps, video poker, roulette.

Casino reviews reveal that women are frequenting mainly casino sites which offer social networking. Having in mind the idea of bringing more women players to their sites, many of the top online casinos have developed Ladies Only forums.
Many of these online casino sites have even established educational portals where they have placed information which helps the new players to learn all about how to play online. Statistics shows that these best-ranking online gambling sites are regularly bringing out new attractions to draw players by putting forward high-value prizes, free games and different kinds of competitions.

Wireless Networks Are Everywhere

Where can you find the wireless networks, or electronic “highways,” to connect all of your devices? The answer is simple: everywhere. Wireless networks are an increasingly ubiquitous part of our existence.Satellite networks blanket the entire globe, touching just about everywhere that people live, and most places that they don’t (excepting only the North and South Poles). Closer to earth, terrestrial (ground-based) networks of all sorts cover homes, buildings, cities, and even wider areas. Wireless networks let you stay in contact, online, connected, entertained, and informed, no matter where you go.

Spyware is one of the biggest threats

Spyware is one of the biggest threats to your privacy and the security of your data. It's also the number one cause of system slowdowns on computers because it uses precious system resources including RAM (memory) and hard drive space. Some Symptoms of Spyware, Adware, Malware Infection: The symptoms of a malware infection vary.
Spyware is one of the biggest threats to your privacy and the security of your data. It's also the number one cause of system slowdowns on computers because it uses precious system resources including RAM (memory) and hard drive space.

Malicious software may also shut down or disable your anti-virus program or your firewall program. It may prevent the normal activity of your anti-Spyware software. It may prevent you from accessing Task Manager or msconfig or regedit.
Adware programs may create new icons on the Windows desktop, task bar, or system tray. They may also create popup windows that you are unable to close. If your computer mysteriously dials the phone on its own, it may be infected with a porn dialing program.