Internet Training

PLEASE READ THIS PAGE CAREFULLY BECAUSE
YOU ARE SURROUNDED AND UNDER ATTACK!

The information on this page and the linked security/ information pages changes regularly. Please be sure to use the Reload/ Refresh button your browser when viewing these pages so that you are getting the very latest information. Thank you.

The Internet, like so many other things today, is both a wonderful and a very dangerous place. Unfortunately the arrival of super worms in late 2002 has made the Internet far more dangerous than it ever was before.

Now rootkits have become increasingly popular. Rootkits are the ultimate in stealth attack software and the most difficult malicious programs ever to detect. Worse yet, starting sometime in the spring of 2005, Sony BMG Music^® irresponsibly placed poorly coded rootkit technology on their audio CDs and this has created a VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION.

In a very short period of time, you can learn almost anything on any subject in the world. You can work from home, send text, graphics, sound and videos to friends and relatives and have audio - video conferences. You can also purchase goods and services, pay your bills on-line, file your income tax and reconcile your bank accounts.

Unfortunately as of May 01, 2010, there were over 4,064,070 viruses, worms, trojans and other malware risks on the Internet. There were also at least 25,513 phishing web sites, 23,947 malicious banners on web pages, 19,162 malicious scripts and 128,743 suspicious web sites out there in the wild. Your computer can catch a virus and your data and/ or hardware can be destroyed. Nimda and other hybrid worms can enter your computer through your web browser and it is possible to activate some viruses simply by visiting some web site or by reading or previewing an E-mail message in the Microsoft preview or reading pane. Worse yet, many trojan horse viruses are massively invasive and are designed to provide the hacker controlling he trojan with an unbelievable amount of information about you and your computer. This can include a complete file inventory, total file access and real-time keyboard keystroke logging. If this happens, you might as well have the hacker standing right behind you, watching and recording your every move. Secure or encrypted web sites mean nothing here as your keyboard is being logged. The purpose of a trojan is to provide the hacker with every piece of important information he/ she can learn about you and your family including all passwords, bank card numbers, bank account numbers, PIN numbers, credit card numbers, frequent flier card numbers, employee numbers, utility account numbers, Social Security Numbers and Social Insurance Numbers. This is one way a hacker can steal your identity and your money. Even worse, a hacker can actually turn your computer into a (hidden from you) illegal server on the Internet. If this happens and in extreme cases, you could actually end up being charged with a serious crime and find yourself facing serious prosecution.

It has long been known that certain web sites, mostly adult, can infect a viewer's computer just by visiting them. The introduction of the proactive Microsoft Research Branch^® Strider HoneyMonkey Exploit Detection System^® has now turned up some very interesting facts as follows:

(1) That most of these malicious web pages are on adult web sites so STAY AWAY from all of them!

(2) That many of the people who coded these malicious web sites are in contact with others who also write malicious code on their web sites. They then refer viewers to each others web sites which generally contain different malicious code.

(3) That some of the more obscure search engines contain malicious code so STAY WITH the big search engines such as Google^® or Yahoo^®!

(4) That some of the more obscure free software download web sites have malicious code built in to the downloads so if you don't get them from our web site, STICK WITH the big download web sites such as Tucows^®, CNET^® or with reputable company web sites that offer free software of their own design.

(5) That they found at least one exploit which, although secretly known to Microsoft, had never been patched thereby making Internet Explorer^® totally vulnerable to that exploit. Thus all the more reason to use the Firefox^® web browser or the Linux^® operating system. Please note however that both have become popular and both are beginning to be attacked more often.

March 2010

FIREFOX 3.6^®

If you are not using Firefox^® as your default browser, you should DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL IT RIGHT NOW. You should only use Internet Explorer^® for updating Windows^®. You will be far, far safer.

One important point with Firefox 3.6^®. Once you have it installed, go to; "TOOLS | OPTIONS | PRIVACY" and uncheck "Accept third-party cookies". Likewise, select Keep until: "I close Firefox^®" and click " OK "

FLASH COOKIES

We are all familiar with the simple, standard browser cookies that some web sites place on your computer and then later read, modify and re-store on your computer the next time you visit that very same web site. Later, other more malicious web cookies were developed and these were called "Tracking Cookies". "Tracking Cookies" monitor your browsing habits on the Internet and then report that information to someone. These cookies are considered spyware and that is why it is so important to clean out all the browser cookies on your computer every week.

Well those were the good old days because today, more than half of the major web sites in the world are using Adobe Flash generated "Flash Cookies". These cookies are very sticky, contain a great deal of information about you and no scan will find them on your computer. More worrisome is the fact that almost all web sites using Flash Cookies do not advise you that they are identifying you that way.

So then just how do we get rid of these pesky Flash Cookies? Well, we have to go to the Adobe Website Storage Settings Panel on the Internet to do it. We suggest you clean them out about once a week. Just one more thing to worry about.

WEP IS DEAD

When it comes to Wi-Fi encryption systems classes, Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) is now so badly broken that anyone in the world, armed with the latest free and readily Internet downloaded WEP cracking tools, can crack the WEP encryption key on a WEP-encryption network in about one minute.

As of right now, Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) is the only safe Wi-Fi encryption systems class. Any version is adequate. UPGRADE YOUR ROUTER ENCRYPTION NOW!

SECURITY INFORMATION WINDOWS

We have updated, simplified and expanded our information windows below. This is an ongoing process so the information changes regularly.

We suggest you carefully read and understand those that are appropriate to your computers. The most important issues are highlighted in red.

Take your time and read them at your leisure, perhaps more than once, and in a week or so you will be well on your way to becoming a security expert.

Stewart-Hay Associates has more than fourteen years of intensive experience with the Internet and is very pleased to give others lessons on how to properly use this astounding collection of worldwide computers. We won't flood you with computer jargon that you might not understand or even care about and we give you lessons in the privacy of your own home, at your own speed and, on your own computer. Our service actually evolved from people asking us to help them often after they had had some kind of bad experience on the Internet.

We have found that everyone is at a different level of understanding and thus our goal is to make you as Internet streetwise as possible and thus, totally secure. We also encourage you to ask all the questions you want during the lesson because this is one of the ways you really begin to learn. Just review the pop-up list below and see if there are areas you would like to learn more about.

We usually start each lesson by using your computer as a demonstration device and we recommend that you to take notes as we go over the information in the lesson. We then ask you to sit at your computer and, with the help of your notes, recreate the training session. This is way we are sure that you have not been swamped by the information presented.

A typical lesson is one hour or more in length.
We do not provide lessons for Apple^® Computers.

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