Internet safety (Please read)
Alright guys, I have been wanting to post this thread for some time, and I got brave .. so here goes.
Some safety precautions that you may find that will help you protect yourself on the Internet.
Now by no means what I say in this thread are to be taken in any aspect that I am a dealer or participate in any sort of illegal activity, because I do not practice in such matters. However, I do read a lot, and knowing what I know, and seeing what I see, I get inside info pretty steady.
Okay with that said, here a few things that most of you guys need to be aware of. The FBI and DEA have very useful tools at their disposal, to help catch people doing illegal activities on the Internet, email etc.
One of the tools that is raising eyebrows, is this new thing they call, “The Magic Box”. Now I have been doing searching and trying to find out how this technology works, but so far all I have come up with is, that this “computer” or device, can lock into your Internet connection and record your keystrokes as they are leaving your computer. So what this means is, that there is no need for a keyboard sniffer, to be loaded on your computer. They (meaning anyone who is trying to look for suspicious activity) simply tap into your Internet connection and monitor what you do, by watching and recording the signals and packets leaving your computer. They can also ask ISP companies to watch and track your movements, on the Internet. Also if you use encrypted emails accounts, the “Magic Box” not only can record where you go and how many times you access your email, but can also provide prying eyes with your user name and password. This way someone can log into your account without having the encryption key. This brings me to another point; online emails, such as hush mail, cyber rights, zip lip, etc.
I personally would recommend you delete everything in your boxes. Inbox, sent items, and trash. Keep them deleted, and always if you “RESPOND” to someone else email, it is best to delete the text that you are responding to. This could lead to a trail, and as most of you know, when you respond to an email, all previous conversations are there in that responding email.
Don’t’ forget about the sent and trash folders with your “Online email accounts as well”. Also another good practice is to maybe check and answer your emails from other computers such as friends, work, etc. But beware, some offices, can record where you go, and could have keyboard loggers installed as well. Watch out.
I would also recommend an ISP that changes your ** numbers regularly, (DHCP leases). What this means is every 2 or more hours your ** number changes, therefore it is harder for someone to lock onto your ** number.
Again, I am not exactly clear how this technology works or any counter software that will prevent this. The FBI, for obvious reasons do not and will not share this info with the public. This is because they know that if they let everyone know how the technology works, there will be hackers all over the world trying to find ways to get around this, and stop it.
I know of one case that it was used to bring down a hacking ring, and actually led FBI to the guys that were committing the crimes. They were grabbing their emails, everything they would type to one another, sites they visited, keystrokes they made etc. They used all of this along with phone tapping to catch these hackers. Actually the “Magic Box” is similar to a phone tap, just on a computer and Internet level.
I can’t say I blame the FBI for not sharing to the public how this technology works. We live in a country in which national security is a very important thing now, since September 11th. I applaud the FBI and DEA for cracking down on Terrorists activities and hope that this technology will lead to stopping them as well as other things that are happening on the Internet.
Now a possible way of working around this:
For those of you who are interested, I believe that this technology can be worked around if you are fearful that someone is snooping around where they shouldn’t be. There are a few rules and guidelines I would suggest to people, if they are worried about prying eyes. One way to counter act this, disconnect your computer from your Internet connection. Once this is done, open up a word document, or other type of word processor, even notepad, type what you wan to type, save the file, and reconnect your Internet connection. (This may require a restart).
Yet another simpler way of doing this is to have a program such as Zone alarm. Go into zone alarm, set it to “Internet Lock”, that way no traffic leaves your computer via Internet. Open up your Word Processor and type what you want, copy it, now reengage your Internet connection via Zone alarm by taking the Internet lock off, now surf to your website, (bare in mind, now someone could be recording your keystrokes, therefore, it may be good to keep the website or email addy in your favorites.) Now compose an email, or whatever, now paste the info you just copied into your email, thread, or whatever, then send. To my knowledge there is no way for them to track this unless they intercept your username and password, and you forget to delete your sent items or trash mail boxes. Now this works if you are using a secure online email service. It may not be as effective if you use a regular email program such as outlook express, or use hotmail or another none encrypted email.
Once your computer is restarted and logged onto the Internet, surf where you want, open your document that you previously saved containing the text you want to send, copy the text you typed previously, and then paste it in an email, thread or whatever. This in theory from what I know about this technology, does not allow someone to snoop on your keystrokes, because you have no connection to the Internet. Once you have copied and pasted, the info you want, use a good “file shredder” to delete that document. I use Norton Utilities to delete files, or X cleaner has a good shredder built into it.
Secondly if you are a source, I would suggest your keep your price lists on a diskette. They are easier to destroy, and can be easily transported from computer to computer. Always have a back up plan, like a quick way of formatting your computer or keeping incriminating evidence from your hard drive. I also see a lot of guys who actually are starting to use external drives to store data on then moving that hard drive to an undisclosed location. I don’t recommend this, due to if anyone finds it, then they got any info they need. The FBI and special teams have ways of retrieving data from formatted hard drives and yes deleted files. This can be done, and is done all the time. So really the only way of protecting yourself, is to keep things off your hard drive. This means using cleaners, and file shredders.
I am not going to stress the importance of a firewall, updated virus scanner, history and Internet Cache Cleaners; I have other post that explains the importance of these items.
Again, I feel that this info is important to some of the members here, because no one likes someone snooping around on their computers. I was also told by one member here, that there are “special teams” of FBI and DEA agents that troll the boards, and try to catch people practicing illegal activities. Of course this does not apply to the members here at AR, we do not participate in Illegal activities here, well none that I know of.. LOL..
I like the fact that the members here, try to help others not only with AS questions, but diet, nutrition, and other things that it is hard to find answers anywhere else.
Just some info I wanted to share with you all.
Here is also a very interesting article which describes something similar to what I am talking about.
http://www.corpwatch.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=1092
How about encryption software?
