Agape Blog

VASCO Data Security Inc. announced DIGIPASS as a Service (DaaS) authentication model. The company expands its offering to Application Service Providers (ASP) and SaaS vendors. This newest service solution from VASCO offers a complete platform incorporating the user, the enterprise and e-commerce. Today many service providers face high costs to add strong authentication. DIGIPASS as a Service allows customers to secure access to their webmail, network, ERP and CRM systems with one DIGIPASS. The DaaS authentication service enables the user to access their online bank, credit cards, webmail, buy tickets over the Internet, play games and access his/her social network account with one DIGIPASS. DIGIPASS comes as a blessing because this service will exempt the user from remembering endless passwords for various online activities. With one DIGIPASS it will be possible for the user to access countless applications. For application owners and companies too, the benefits of DaaS are many. DIGIPASS as a Service offers on demand identity and transaction security. This application has a high value to the end user. VASCO believes, all online applications have the right to be protected with best-of-breed authentication.

Trojans:

A Trojan is a destructive program that poses as a harmless application. Some Trojans will claim to get rid of viruses or other harmful applications, but instead introduce viruses and leave it vulnerable to attacks by hackers and intruders.

You can minimize your chances of unintentionally downloading Trojans by:

• Not opening emails or accepting attachments from unknown sources.
• Installing software from trusted sources only.
• Not clicking on links contained within emails of unknown sources.
• Regularly scanning your computer for Trojans and other malicious programs with up-to-date anti-virus software.
• Using a firewall to monitor traffic to and from your computer while connected to the Internet.
• Downloading and installing security patches for your operating system as soon as it is available.

Viruses & Worms

Computer virus is software that affixes itself to another program like a spreadsheet or word document. Active virus attempts to reproduce and attach itself to other programs.

A worm is similar to a virus. It exploits computers in a network that contain security holes. Once a security hole is found, the worm will attempt to replicate itself from computer to computer. Like viruses, worms can be equally destructive.

You can increase your chances of ensuring your computer is free from worms and viruses by:

• Installing anti-virus software, and keeping it updated with the latest virus definitions.
• Downloading and installing security patches for your operating system as soon as they become available.
• Not accepting attachments from emails of unknown sources.
• Installing software from trusted sources only.

Spyware & Adware

Spyware is a type of software that covertly collects user information while on the Internet.
Adware is a type of spyware used by marketers to track Internet user’s habits and interests for the purpose of customizing future advertising material. Adware can monitor information such as the types of sites visited, articles read or the types of pop-ups and banners the user clicks on.

You can minimize your chances of unintentionally downloading spyware onto your computer by:

• Being wary of banners, ads and pop-ups while surfing the Internet. Do not click on them no matter how enticing they may appear.
• Reviewing terms and conditions when you install free programs or subscribe to services from the Internet.
• Using up-to-date anti-spyware program to regularly scan your computer.

Phishing

You can minimize your chances of being a victim of Phishing scams by:

• Treating all emails requesting personal log on information such as username, password or PIN with extreme caution.
• Immediately deleting emails of unknown origins, no matter how innocent or provocative the subject headings sound.
• Changing your Internet Banking password on a regular basis.
• Keeping your anti-virus and firewalls up-to-date and perform regular scans of your computer.

In the past week i had presented the top 10 security threats for the year 2008. Below i am mentioning a detailed report on those threats and the issues related to them. This report has been made by our Fraud Management expert: Mr. Prabhat Tiwari.

Today, i am presenting links which are mostly information based, but very useful at the same time. The links provide effective tips which everyone should know, to avoid being caught in a major internet security breach disaster.

1. Dating can be dangerous in the cyber world. Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner Linda Kelly explains the right way. Read more
2. How to prevent cyber cops from ringing your doorbell. Read more
3. Ensure your data is recovered before a disaster occurs. Read more

Forensic science is being used extensively by investigators, experts and law enforcement agencies to punish the criminals, develop more intelligence using more research and to implement certain principles, respectively. Here are some of the cases which speak for the importance of forensics in various fields and for various reasons.

1. The use of forensic science in criminal trials is critically important. But the system needs some immediate reforms. Radley Balko and Roger Koppl have come up with some suggestions and examples to bring some reforms to forensic science. Read more.

2. Prof. Charles Uwadia (President: Nigerian  Computer Society), stressed on the importance of fighting cyber crime. He also asked for help from the Federal Government, when he was speaking at the annual general meeting and 30th anniversary of NCS. Read more.

3. Catching World’s high tech criminals becomes easier with the Logicube CellDEK. Nick Heath presents his review on this tool. Read more.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham is warning computer users of a new spam scam! E-mail is vastly used to stay connected with other people by sharing information and this has been the target of spammers since a long time. Of course, forensic experts  helped in nabbing many cyber space criminals. But as forensic science is advancing, so are the spammers.

They create emails that look normal, but instead of taking you to the body of the email, it takes you to the malware. These are not phishing emails, which ask for your bank account or credit card details, etc. These are of a different type referred as “drive-by infectors”. Usually, the links provided in the email open a pop up which will tell you that your computer is infected. To help you out, it will take you to an anti-virus website, which is deceiving and instead takes you to a malware.

The latest exploitable target for the spammers is - Media. And the latest example is CNN being targeted by spammers. Basically spammers have cloned the news alert the same way that we get breaking news from CNN.

Forensic experts suggest that if you do not trust any email, the easiest way to double check is to log on to the source website mentioned in the email. Also, you should be on the lookout for suspicious emails cluttering your inbox.

We had attended the largest IT security event in South East Asia: SECURASIA. It was a 2 day event held in Malaysia. We were the Diamond sponsors for the event. The slideshow given below describes all the activities we had at the event.

This presentation highlights the challenges of cyber forensic investigation and explains the need of having a forensic lab. It also explains the procedures and strategies for creating a new forensic lab.

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