1.Use Tor for Ultimate Privacy

First and foremost, it’s essential to choose a browser that offers advanced privacy protection features, such as Tor . By using Tor, your online activities become untraceable since it encrypts your traffic. Sure, it is not the best option for everyday usage, but will fit well to conduct activities that require increased level of privacy.

When you use the Tor browser, your traffic is routed through a chain of Tor servers known as “relay nodes” or simply “nodes”. The data is first encrypted and then progressively decoded one layer at a time in each node. The encrypted data then passes through an ingress/protection node, several relay nodes, and an egress node, leaving no trace of your IP address, but only the IP addresses of previous and subsequent nodes.

Tor is a powerful tool for protecting your privacy online, which provides data encryption and anonymization of your IP address. However, it is important to remember that using Tor does not guarantee 100% protection of your privacy, so you should be careful and follow the security rules.

2.Don’t Forget about Incognito Mode

Next, enable the privacy or anonymity mode available in most browsers. This mode does not store your browsing history, cache, or cookies, which helps to protect your privacy.

Incognito mode simply does not save your browsing information. Sites can still track your IP address, operating system, browsing behavior, and other details they can use to identify you.
Incognito mode simply does not save information on the computer. It does not prevent sites from tracking you while you browse. If a site uses tracking technologies, it will still be able to see you and track your activities.

3. Use Special Browser Extensions and Install Updates

Browser extensions are also an excellent option to enhance your privacy protection. Many extensions block tracking and advertising, which can help you maintain your privacy while browsing the web. Some may also block the script’s execution and show you if the website gathers any data about you. Still, it’s important to use well-proven plugins rather than just baubles which only imitate the effect or even make the website malfunction by excising some of its elements.

Also, ensure that your web browser is always up to date with the latest version to take advantage of any security improvements and patches that could prevent possible attacks.

Criminals constantly find new ways to attack users and gain access to personal information. Developers are usually quick to find browser vulnerabilities and improve security with each new version. If you haven’t updated your browser for a long time, then there is a high possibility that you will become a victim of information theft.

Apply Reliable Password Storages to Improve Privacy

Avoid saving passwords and payment information in your browser, as it could jeopardize your privacy if someone else gains access to your device or computer. In this way, your private and payment information can simply be stolen by criminals who somehow gained access to your computer. Therefore, it is better to store passwords and private information with a password manager, or in a “safe place”, such as encrypted documents.

Picking the password-storing tool is either not an easy task. Fortunately, the Internet never forgets, thus any data breaches or cyberattacks related to a certain app will likely appear in the search results. Do a diligent search before trusting a service not only with your money but also with keys to all your private information.

Use Virtual Private Network (VPN) Service

Finally, use a VPN (a virtual private network) to safeguard your online privacy further. VPNs encrypt your traffic, preventing it from being tracked or monitored by anyone. Moreover, it makes it impossible for website masters to filter your traffic depending on your IP address. The latter will always be one of the VPN provider’s, which is generally different from your location.

VPN has numerous applications, but it is almost essential when you use Wi-Fi in public places. Such networks are usually unprotected and may easily be scanned by hackers. But it is worth remembering that choosing a VPN should not be less careful than choosing a password manager. For example, free VPNs can also collect your personal information, payment details, etc. And the providers of such a VPN will sell this information about you. It is especially probable with “free” services, that monetize the server time spent for you by selling data. Before downloading, it’s worth doing a little research and choosing a provider with a strict privacy policy and one that won’t log your online activity.

The post 5 Tips to Improve Your Privacy on the Web appeared first on Gridinsoft Blog.

Meet the Google searching hints

Search Tabs for full information

Use Tabs introduced under the search bar if you need to get more complete information about the subject of search. This advice may sound like a truism, however, there is still a significant amount of people who don’t use this function. If the object you are searching is quite popular, Google may offer you fresh news about it, as well as videos on YouTube.

Quotes for precise google searching

Sometimes, Google searching can disappoint you with useless results. Such a situation occurs when you are searching for a specific subject with a complex search query. When your search query looks like , the search engine will show you a lot of irrelevant or low-relevant websites, which, however, contain the majority of words of your query. Google tries to find the website where all words you typed are present, regardless of their order. But if you specify that you need to find an exact phrase by taking your search query into quotes (“ntoskrnl.exe error fix”), Google will try to find the phrase you inputted with a strict word order.

Hyphen to exclude excessive results

It’s quite a common case when your search queries have several commonly used meanings. For example, if you are googling for fast food images, you will definitely see a lot of photos of full bunch of different fast food dishes. However, you are likely searching for other pics – without fries, for example. To avoid any results with fries during Google searching, add an unwanted adjective/subject to your search query, dividing it with the “-” symbol after the initial part of the query (fast food -fries).

Specify the websites you need

Imagine that you may need an article/deal from the specific website. It’s quite hard to find this post manually on this site. Google will show you a lot of different materials following this theme, but missing the website you need. To force the search engine to show you the results from the exact website, enter the site name in the search bar, using the following syntax :

Asterisk wildcard to uncover the forgotten words

I think everyone was in the situation when you want to find the song by a single line, but don’t remember several words of this line. There are no chances to find the song without any tricks – Google searching mechanisms will show you everything in spite of the song you need. To solve such a problem, enter the search query with the asterisk symbol substituting the forgotten words.

Google searching by the time period

Google searching about some events which took place in the specific period of the past is possible without this advice, but will take much more time. For example, you need to find the list of prime ministers of the UK in the 90s. Usually, you search for the Wikipedia article which contains this information, and then scroll down to the period you need. But if you will google “UK Prime ministers 1990..”(exactly with 2 dots after the lower timeline border), you will see this list at the top of the results window. By analogy, you may search for something which was before the specified period, simply adding 2 dots before the upper timeline border (..1990).

Professional slang for professional help

You may notice that Google will show you different forums or other low-trustworthy resources if you google something like “my chandelier is blinking constantly”. Of course, it is unlikely that you will get good advice on mentioned resources. But it can be solved easily : just try to use more formalized vocabulary to form your search query : “repair the blinking chandelier”.

Afterword

This is not a full list of hints that is embedded in Google search engine. But this ones are the most useful and will surely help you to find exactly what you need. If you like this article, and these advices helped you in your queries, please, share it with your friends or in social networks.

The post Unknown Google tricks for better searching appeared first on Gridinsoft Blog.

What Is Data Protection?

People have been practicing data protection since ancient times. Imagine a messenger running from one city to another, carrying a ribbon with seemingly random letters. Or a medieval scribe who makes copies of his manuscripts. Both were protecting data. The runner was using a scytale encoding to keep the message from being read by enemies should he even be caught. The writer made a copy of the text to hide it in a chest to protect it from wind, rain, snow, and thieves. Today we do the same things, but the threats are different.

Data protection encompasses any measures we take to secure data regardless of where it is stored: on a remote server or a hard disk of our computer. These measures include inputting passwords to any devices or Internet accounts, undergoing biometric authentication, installing antivirus software, conducting regular scans, etc. These measures can be arbitrary or obligatory.

What Are Data Protection Regulations?

People’s attitude to the security of their private data can be astoundingly careless. But it’s their problem. On the contrary, those companies who take responsibility for storing or processing their clients’ personal data (like social networks or electronic mailboxes, state registries, public services, etc.) oblige themselves or are obliged by law to implement data protection regulations within their workspace. An example of such obligatory guidelines is GDPR, the International General Data Protection Regulations accepted in the European Union in 2018.

Why Is it Important?

One can hardly find a modern industry that would not rely on information technologies or involve them. Criminals and thieves of all sorts now have a new catch – information. Computer hackers can steal information, destroy it, blackmail owners with its disclosure, or encrypt the data on hacked computers. Then they can demand a ransom from their victims for having their data decrypted. The last case is the first viable and widely-used hacker business scheme – a ransomware attack. In a world where all person’s work, private life, plans, notes, and even dreams become the content of a portable device – the security of this content becomes crucial, and its loss can be deplorable.

Tips & Ways to Protect Yourself

What is very important to remember is that although various internet services comply with their data security policies and regulations, users should cooperate with these services and not overthrow all the responsibility for the safety of their data on the corporations. The following list of data-safety measures is good for protecting data on a personal device and the cloud.

1. Set up two-factor authentication on your financial accounts. Financial accounts are usually more protected than social media profiles, mailboxes, or messengers, but they require more attention and care. A breach of a bank account is like nothing you want to experience. Therefore, use the two-factor authentication in your banking service to protect yourself from fraud, deceptive social engineering, and phishing attacks. All it takes is to press a button on your telephone every time you try to access your banking account. If any crooks get your login and password, you won’t let them use those credentials.

2. Malware protection is a must. Without an anti-malware solution any system today is bare against a jungle of harmful entities. A modern security program will 1) warn you about suspicious webpages you are trying to access, 2) stop you from entering overtly dangerous sites, 3) quarantine and remove any recognizable malicious programs as soon as they end up on your device, 4) clear all hidden threats with the help of a deep scan function.

GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a versatile solution featuring all the described functions and providing consistent protection without inconveniences typical for bulky and “heavy” antivirus programs. Economically beneficial, Anti-Malware is one of the most efficient and quick security programs on the market.

3. Use a firewall. A firewall is a program filter separating a network it protects from the external environment. It can be protecting one computer or an entire workgroup. Most of the OSs have an in-built firewall. It controls the incoming and outbound traffic using pre-defined rules. Users tend to switch off firewalls temporarily to access suspicious websites but later forget to reactivate the defense. That is dangerous and puts a device or a network at risk.

4. Use free Wi-Fi with care.  A Wi-Fi router can be a source of a so-called Man-in-the-middle attack that uses a spoofed network name. After you access the wrong network by mistake, all the data outbound from your device comes into the possession of crooks. Later your data can be used directly against you up to identity theft or blackmailing, or, in better cases, it can be collected and sold to third parties for their own needs.

5. Protect your email accounts. An email account is the core of any person’s virtual representation. Profiles in social media and other internet services often refer to your email address, and that address is essential to password restoration if you happen to need that. Therefore, email safety should be of the utmost concern. Remember to log out from your mailbox on any device except for yours. Also, make sure you use a strong password and change passwords from time to time.

6. Update your software regularly. Computer software nowadays gets updated automatically or with the slightest effort from the user. However, many program vulnerabilities emerge in in-between moments, when one program (let’s say operating system) is already updated, while some different software is not yet up-to-date. Such inconsistent versions can lead to malware infection if cybercriminals intend to pull that over. The most wanted updates are the updates of security programs. The more malware signatures an antivirus program has in its libraries, the more malicious items it will remove from your PC before they can even harm it.

7. Back up your data. Advice to have a backup of all critical information to preempt physical damage of the drive, loss, or theft is one of the wisest hints one could harken to. Anyone who has ever experienced anything mentioned above knows how important it is to have everything in two or maybe even three instances.

8. Don’t store passwords on your laptop or mobile device. Always consider that your portable device might get into someone else’s hands. It might be a good person, but some bad person might also steal your device. You must be ready for such an unfortunate event. And that means not only photos and videos you wouldn’t like anyone to see should not be there on your device, but definitely, passwords should not be stored thereon. By the way, don’t forget to log out from all the accounts remotely when you notice your device is gone.

Always know what you are doing on the web. This tip is not as silly as it sounds. Advertising banners that lead users from one site to another create a wave of curiosity. At first, the user thinks that he or she is surfing that wave, but eventually, it turns out that this wave pushes the user towards dangerous websites that can be filled with scripts – commands that the operating system will start executing if no security software stops this process. These scripts can be the beginning of an automatized malware attack.

The post 10 Working Tips to Protect Your Personal Data appeared first on Gridinsoft Blog.

Alas!

The browser starts to act stupid, redirecting and taking you places filled with creepy adverts or worse yet, issuing warnings of possible harm if you don’t “Update Your Flash Player.” And while the naïve would likely fall for the trap, smart and tech-savvy individuals may automatically note the adware running in the background. But as ubiquitous as the phenomenon is, adware attacks are a discreet way cyber criminals are using to make money off the unsuspecting.

Though it is probably the most popular way of telling that you are under attack, there are other subtle and perhaps less ferocious cyber attacks. There’s a form of adware gradually going mainstream. Besides redirecting, the virus goes ahead and alters your default search engine to something weird.

You start your PC, ready to browse the web, but once you key in whatever you need to search the web, you are redirected to a page with bizarre search results. It happens often and hurts the unsuspecting!

Pop-ads are yet another sign your computer is under an immense adware attack.

Simple as they appear, these pop-ads can be a source of immense misery, hurt your typical browsing habits and perhaps steal valuable data as you browse.

Many other times, these malicious occurrences make the PC act slower than it normally does, including lowering the average browsing speed and how the computer executes simple tasks. Of course, the phenomenon becomes more suspicious when you note the occurrence yet your PC doesn’t have a heavy program running or when you’re connected to a fast internet.

How Adware Works

Generally, these malicious tools are embedded into ‘free-ware’ or pirated software and act as part of a bundle of payment to the proprietor of the freely downloaded software.

Adware is simple software that comes with integrated advertising materials, including those that trigger redirects and pop-ups.

Mostly, the adware is activated whenever the tool that it is embedded in runs and the PC is connected to the internet.

At the moment, many software developers offer their products as “sponsored software” so that the ad pays for the free services provided. It is a pretty common type of adware and may continue until the user pays to register and thus unlock the ad off the software.

Regardless of how they work, these malicious attacks are very much annoying. Pop-ads waste a lot of time, while redirects and the slowing down of the PC hurt the ordinary performance of the computer. Aside from these, adware can set the stage for various other attacks, including spyware, ransomware and virus attacks.

How to avoid Adware

Tip #1 Never click any suspicious-looking pop-up windows and ads
Tip #2 Don’t answer or reply unsolicited emails and messages
Tip #3 Exercise utmost caution when downloading free software applications

Above all, invest in the best malware removal software. GridinSoft Anti-Malware does a great job!

The post Adware Everywhere: Who Knows What Is Happening? appeared first on Gridinsoft Blog.

• CIH, 1998

  This virus was created by a student from Taiwan whose initials were CIH. It had spread across the network on April 26 – the date of the Chernobyl accident, so many users call it simply – Chernobyl. This virus is dangerous because it not only overwrites data on the host PC’s hard drive, making it unusable, but it is also capable of overwriting the BIOS of the host. After this, the PC can’t boot up. For the time being, CHI or Chernobyl has infected nearly half a million PCs worldwide.

• Morris worm (1998)

  The first ‘Worm’ virus. It gained a huge amount of attention via the press, and the creator was the first person convicted in the USA under Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. November 1998 was the month when one virus paralyzed the entire Internet’s work, resulting in direct and indirect losses totaling $96 million. It crashed a lot of PCs because of a minor mistake in its’ code – it continued installing on one PC an unlimited number of times, causing the total death of the system.

• Melissa (1999)

  On Friday, March 26, 1999, a new problem appeared– Melissa. It’s an email-based virus. You received an e-mail that contained just one sentence, “Here is that document you asked for…don’t show anyone else. ;-),” with an attached Word document. Nowadays, we understand that it is a virus, but in 1999, it was something new. Those who opened the DOC file (thousands did so) allowed the virus to infect their system and send this e-mail to all the contacts in your e-mail account using your name. Even worse, this virus modified users’ Word documents with quotes from the TV show “The Simpsons. The cybercriminal responsible was caught and sentenced to twenty months’ imprisonment.

• ILOVEYOU (2000)

  The most romantic one on our list of dangerous viruses is the ILOVEYOU virus. Maybe because of its lovely name or insidious strategy, it infected 45 million users for two days! The CHI virus would have taken about two years. So how did it work? A person receives an e-mail with a ” LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU ” file with a VBS extension (Visual Basics script). When entered into the system, it would replace all your files, images, and music and then spread itself to all your contacts. The damage was enormous – no one had expected this type of virus. And do you know what? The creator was found but wasn’t charged for this crime because the Philippines had no laws against cyber criminals then.

• Code Red (2001)

  July 13, 2001 – The day when another virus infected the Web. This time, you didn’t need to install a malicious file or even open the e-mail. Code Red or Bady virus just needed an Internet connection that changed the Web page you opened by displaying the text “Hacked by Chinese!”. It spread quickly, and it took less than a week to infect almost 400 000 servers and nearly one million damaged computers.

• MyDoom (2004)

  My Doom appeared in the malware world on January 26, 2004. Not for days, but for hours it infected nearly 2 million PCs! So how did it work? It came as an attachment to an e-mail with an error message containing the text “Mail Transaction Failed.” When you clicked on the attachment, it duplicated this e-mail to all addresses found in your address books. To stop this invasion was tough because the virus blocked access to the sites of antivirus software developers and Microsoft update services.

• Sasser (2004)

  This virus impressed the world because it managed to shut down the satellite communications for French news agencies and even led to the cancellation of several Delta airline flights. Impressive, isn’t it? Instead of e-mail, this virus used a security flaw in non-updated Windows 2000 and Windows XP systems to break into the system. Once the virus infected a computer, it looked for other vulnerable systems. Infected systems were experiencing repeated crashes and instability. Interestingly, this virus was written by a student who released the virus on his 18th birthday. He was fortunate because he wrote the code when he was a minor, so he just got a suspended sentence.

• Bagle (2004)

  At the beginning of 2004 new virus appeared – The Bagle worm. It has a classic method of infection – via e-mails. Why have we put it on the list? Because this virus is the first one created to make a profit by gaining access to financial, personal, and other information. Since then, a malware-for-profit movement has appeared and is currently a huge problem for many users and antivirus companies.

• Conficker (2008)

  Worm Win32 Conficker or just Conficker is a very insidious virus written to attack the Microsoft Windows systems. Using OS vulnerabilities, “Conficker” slipped unnoticed by antivirus programs, and even worse, it blocked access to their databases and updates for the OS. The names of all services were substituted, and the virus was registering in different parts of the system, so it was almost impossible to find and destroy all its fragments. There were more than 12 million infected computers worldwide, and it taught antivirus companies and OS providers a harsh lesson to improve their security.

• Stuxnet

  Last but not least was the worm called Stuxnet. It was discovered in 2010, and you’ve probably already heard about it. It targeted industrial control systems that monitor and control large-scale industrial facilities, including power plants, dams, waste processing systems, and chemical and nuclear operations. It allows the hackers to take control of every important system control without being noticed. This is the first-ever attack that allows cybercriminals to manipulate real-world equipment and bring huge damage to world security. Iran has suffered the most damaging effects of Stuxnet (nearly 60 percent of all the damage caused)..

So, as we can see, it took less than 20 years to develop viruses from the commonplace spam e-mail to a massive threat to the world. What will be next? Will antivirus programs be capable of protecting us in the future? And what about world peace? There are a lot of questions, and there are no definite answers. Leave a comment below. What do you think awaits us in the future of viral progression?

The post Top 10 Deadliest Virus in appeared first on Gridinsoft Blog.

What is a “botnet” network, why they are dangerous, botnet definition, how to tell if your computer is part of a botnet and how don’t they allow criminals to take control over your devices – we will answer all these questions in this post.

What is a Botnet: How Botnet Works

So botnet definition consists of any device with Internet access that was infected with malware virus and gained control in the wrong hands, without the user’s knowledge. This happens secretly, and the hacked device continues to operate as usual – but at the same time will do everything that cybercriminals command. Most often, criminals are infected by thousands of devices and combine them into a single network – a botnet, or “bot network”.

Creating a botnet is the first stage of the criminal’s evil plan. After a robust infrastructure forms the infected device, it can attack everyone on the network. There are four main areas where the owners of botnets and their puppets can act.

PLEASE NOT: It is essential to study the structure and understand how to check for a botnet on your computer, how a botnet works, and what steps to take to remove botnets.

Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attacks

Probably the most famous way to use such networks – Distributed Denial of Service attacs. DDoS-attack on botnet generates a lot of requests to the target server, which no server can handle, while ordinary users can’t use the server because of its overload.

What are DDoS attacks? Despite their primitive nature, these attacks are still the primary weapon of hackers. Their relevance will only grow with the increasing number of Internet-connected gadgets. DDoS attacks can be used literary any device with an Internet connection, even the most primitive instruments such as surveillance cameras or appliances.

Learn how to prevent DDoS attacks: You can laugh over Wifi-kettles and refrigerators, but the Internet of Things era has already come: IoT-device numbers in the hundreds of millions, and in the future will account for billions. There are many DDoS attacks today, BUT it is very important to be armed and know how to solve the problem.

What is Spam Botnet?

Therefore, all hackers hide behind other computers from botnets, so tracking them is impossible. In addition to spam with unwanted emails, botnets have the inverse task – to steal from the infected computer’s email address the owner and all email addresses from the contact list. Then these stolen addresses will be added to the spam database for mailings. If your spam filter doesn’t work well, you can imagine how many junk emails can be sent to the most common email address. But not all know that most spam is also a botnet network dirty trick because agencies strictly persecute spammers by blocking their email accounts and IP addresses.

Personal Information Stealing

If spammers steal your mail, it is unpleasant but not fatal. But, of course, email – is not the only aim of intruders. Passwords and personal information – all this is valuable. Using your computer or smartphone to log in to online banking or just shopping online? We have bad news for you. In some cases, malicious software as part of a botnet can steal the password and replace or modify a web page requesting the data that generally are not introduced, such as the PIN code for your phone or CVV2 code.

Storage and distribution: In addition, botnets are used to search for vulnerabilities of not yet infected devices, install new copies of themselves, and even become the storage of other viruses, trojans, and downloaders of different botnets networks. As you can see, the victim could be faced with a range of various troubles.

Useful Tips: How to Prevent Botnets

But don’t panic. Several simple rules accurately help reduce the risk of infection.

• Don’t dismiss the firewall alerts on suspicious network activity of installed applications, especially when the installed program isn’t intended for work on the Internet.     
• Change the default passwords on routers, web cameras, printers, WI-FI-refrigerators, and all other devices connected to the Internet. In general, any device connected to the network should be checked for the possibility of changing the password.         
• Always install security updates – and for the operating system and other programs.
• Don’t work on the desktop computer or laptop on the administrator account and a specially created account with limited rights. On smartphones and tablets, don’t hold Root access permanently. It is better don’t use it at all.
• Do not ignore the security updates of the operating system and other programs.
• Avoid suspicious sites, different kinds of browser hijackers, and especially avoid sites with cracks or patches to different license software. These sites – are a favorite place of cyber criminals. On such sites, they spread their malicious software.
• Check all files via antivirus if you download something like torrents or other unsafe files.
• Use Antivirus and firewall or buy a good defense, which contains both functions, such as GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

The post The Danger of Botnet Network: How to Detect Botnet on You PC appeared first on Gridinsoft Blog.