Online fraud: Avoiding the seven deadly sins

By using the points below, companies transacting online can reduce the threat of fraudulent purchases or unauthorized account access and ensure a safer experience for their legitimate customers.

1. Don’t miss the opportunity to log transactions – sessions should be designed to do more than just execute or take an order

Online forms can be designed so that they provide clues and signals for use during a fraud investigation. Retailers should ensure they issue a unique 'key' for each transaction. This will make it easier to find a specific order/activity involved in a chargeback claim.

2. Don't ignore the information from browsers and http headers, it can deter or detect fraud

It is fairly straightforward to lift the time zone from a device purchasing a product or claiming a chargeback. This can be compared to where the claim is coming from in order to identify anomalies. Internet tools, such as Google Maps, can easily confirm that shipping addresses match the likely end-consumer.

3. Don’t transact with automated scripts – have a plan to identify BOTS

Look at session times and orders for clues that it is not a human conducting the transaction. These can include purchases being made at very high speeds or extremely high volumes of orders.


4. Don’t tip your hand – keep your fraud deterrent tactics covert, don't let a fraudster know you are on to them.

Let all transactions flow as if they will be processed and only review the suspicious ones. Also, forcing data entry to comply to a specific format hurts your chances of recognizing fraud. Many clues on a repeat offender can be recognized by looking at how they complete applications or forms, such as the use of punctuation in street abbreviations.

5. Don’t ignore the growth in mobile commerce – and the associated risk of fraud

Do not skimp on security layers for a mobile commerce site. Fraud Rings use VMWare to emulate smartphones and gain access to mobile commerce websites. Retailers must create multiple authentication layers on every online portal because fraudsters commonly take the easiest route to the information they need.

6. Don’t give them what they need – mask sensitive data to deter ID theft

For companies that keep images, such as cheques, contracts or invoices online, they must mask the critical account information and personal information. Legal documents and other filings on municipal sites should also mask the personally identifiable information to avoid facilitating ID theft.

7. Don’t allow forms to include "Rubbish"

Set monitors to look for non-words, such as 'asdf' in the name field and don’t allow forms to auto-accept an entry just based on it having the correct number of characters, such as six digits for the post code of an area.

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Email Security - What Are The Issues?

In today’s electronic world, email is critical to any business being competitive. In most cases it now forms the backbone of most organisations’ day-to-day activities, and its use will continue to grow. According to the The Radicati Group’s study, “Microsoft Exchange and Outlook Analysis, 2005-2009,” the worldwide email market will grow from 1.2 billion mailboxes in 2005 to 1.8 billion mailboxes in 2009.

As email becomes more prevalent in the market, the importance of email security becomes more significant. In particular, the security implications associated with the management of email storage, policy enforcement, auditing, archiving and data recovery. Managing large, active stores of information takes time and effort in order to avoid failures – failures that will impact the users and therefore the business, undoubtedly leading to lost productivity. For secure and effective storage management, organisations must take a proactive approach and invest wisely in a comprehensive solution.

When considering a secure email storage management solution, a layered approach, combining both business processes and applications makes sense. By considering the service email provides to the business, email management can be broken down into a number of components: mail flow, storage, and user access – both at the server and user levels. Whilst each one of these components should be addressed separately, they must be viewed as part of a total security agenda.


Mail flow can encompass many aspects of an email system. However, the security of mail flow is for the large part focused around the auditing and tracking of mails into and out of the organisation. Monitoring the content and ensuring that any email that has been sent and received complies with business policy is fundamental. Proving who has sent or received email is a lawful requirement for many industries and email can often be used as evidence in fraud and human resource court cases.

Another key aspect of the management of mail flow security is the protection of the business from malicious or unlawful attacks. It is at the gateway into the mail system where a business must protect itself via a variety of methods including hardware and software protection systems, such as spam filters and virus scanners.

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Why is the computer security important?

Computer security is the process of preventing and detecting unauthorized use of your computer. Prevention measures help you to stop unauthorized users (also known as "intruders") from accessing any part of your computer system. Detection helps you to determine whether or not someone attempted to break into your system, if they were successful, and what they may have done.

We use computers for everything from banking and investing to shopping and communicating with others through email or chat programs. Although you may not consider your communications "top secret," you probably do not want strangers reading your email, using your computer to attack other systems, sending forged email from your computer, or examining personal information stored on your computer (such as financial statements).

Intruders (also referred to as hackers, attackers, or crackers) may not care about your identity. Often they want to gain control of your computer so they can use it to launch attacks on other computer systems.

Having control of your computer gives them the ability to hide their true location as they launch attacks, often against high-profile computer systems such as government or financial systems. Even if you have a computer connected to the Internet only to play the latest games or to send email to friends and family, your computer may be a target.

Intruders may be able to watch all your actions on the computer, or cause damage to your computer by reformatting your hard drive or changing your data.

Unfortunately, intruders are always discovering new vulnerabilities (informally called "holes") to exploit in computer software. The complexity of software makes it increasingly difficult to thoroughly test the security of computer systems.

Also, some software applications have default settings that allow other users to access your computer unless you change the settings to be more secure. Examples include chat programs that let outsiders execute commands on your computer or web browsers that could allow someone to place harmful programs on your computer that run when you click on them.

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What is method required for internet security

 1. Use a firewall

We strongly recommend the use of some type of firewall product for Internet security, such as a network appliance or a personal firewall software package. Intruders are constantly scanning home user systems for known vulnerabilities. Network firewalls (whether software or hardware-based) can provide some degree of protection against these attacks.

2. Don't open unknown email attachments

Before opening any email attachments, be sure you know the source of the attachment. It is not enough that the mail originated from an address you recognize. The Melissa virus spread precisely because it originated from a familiar address. Malicious code might be distributed in amusing or enticing programs.
If you must open an attachment before you can verify the source, we suggest the following procedure:

    a. save the file to your hard disk
    b. scan the file using your antivirus software
    c. open the file

For additional protection, you can disconnect or lock your computer's network connection before opening the file.
Following these steps will reduce, but not wholly eliminate, the chance that any malicious code contained in the attachment might spread from your computer to others.

3. Don't run programs of unknown origin

Never run a program unless you know it to be authored by a person or company that you trust. Also, don't send programs of unknown origin to your friends or coworkers simply because they are amusing -- they might contain a Trojan horse program. These programs seriously hurt Internet Security.

4. Disable hidden filename extensions

Windows operating systems contain an option to "Hide file extensions for known file types". The option is enabled by default, but you can disable this option in order to have file extensions displayed by Windows. After disabling this option, there are still some file extensions that, by default, will continue to remain hidden.
There is a registry value which, if set, will cause Windows to hide certain file extensions regardless of user configuration choices elsewhere in the operating system. The "NeverShowExt" registry value is used to hide the extensions for basic Windows file types. For example, the ".LNK" extension associated with Windows shortcuts remains hidden even after a user has turned off the option to hide extensions.

5. Keep all applications, including your operating system, patched

Vendors will usually release patches for their software when a vulnerability has been discovered. Most product documentation offers a method to get updates and patches. You should be able to obtain updates from the vendor's web site. Read the manuals or browse the vendor's web site for more information.
Some applications will automatically check for available updates, and many vendors offer automatic notification of updates via a mailing list. Look on your vendor's web site for information about automatic notification. If no mailing list or other automated notification mechanism is offered you may need to check periodically for updates.

6. Turn off your computer or disconnect from the network when not in use

Turn off your computer or disconnect its Ethernet interface when you are not using it. An intruder cannot attack your computer if it is powered off or otherwise completely disconnected from the network.

7. Disable Java, JavaScript, and ActiveX if possible

Be aware of the risks involved in the use of "mobile code" such as ActiveX, Java, and JavaScript. A malicious web developer may attach a script to something sent to a web site, such as a URL, an element in a form, or a database inquiry. Later, when the web site responds to you, the malicious script is transferred to your browser.
The most significant impact of this vulnerability can be avoided by disabling all scripting languages. Turning off these options will keep you from being vulnerable to malicious scripts. However, it will limit the interaction you can have with some web sites.
Many legitimate sites use scripts running within the browser to add useful features. Disabling scripting may degrade the functionality of these sites.

8. Disable scripting features in email programs

Because many email programs use the same code as web browsers to display HTML, vulnerabilities that affect ActiveX, Java, and JavaScript are often applicable to email as well as web pages. Therefore, in addition to disabling scripting features in web browsers, we recommend that users also disable these features in their email programs. It is important to Internet security.

9. Make regular backups of critical data

Keep a copy of important files on removable media such as ZIP disks or recordable CD-ROM disks (CD-R or CD-RW disks). Use software backup tools if available, and store the backup disks somewhere away from the computer.

10. Make a boot disk in case your computer is damaged or compromised

To aid in recovering from a security breach or hard disk failure, create a boot disk on a floppy disk which will help when recovering a computer after such an event has occurred. Remember, however, you must create this disk before you have a security event.

11. Consult your system support personnel if you work from home
If you use your broadband access to connect to your employer's network via a Virtual Private Network (VPN) or other means, your employer may have policies or procedures relating to the security of your home network. Be sure to consult with your employer's support personnel, as appropriate, before following any of the steps outlined in this document.

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Home Computer is most wanted target of hacker's

The Your home computer is a popular target for intruders. Why? Because intruders want what you've stored there. They look for credit card numbers, bank account information, and anything else they can find. By stealing that information, intruders can use your money to buy themselves goods and services.
But it's not just money-related information they're after. Intruders also want your computer's resources, meaning your hard disk space, your fast processor, and your Internet connection. They use these resources to attack other computers on the Internet. In fact, the more computers an intruder uses, the harder it is for law enforcement to figure out where the attack is really coming from. If intruders can't be found, they can't be stopped, and they can't be prosecuted.   
Why are intruders paying attention to home computers? Home computers are typically not very secure and are easy to break into. When combined with high-speed Internet connections that are always turned on, intruders can quickly find and then attack home computers. While intruders also attack home computers connected to the Internet through dial-in connections, high-speed connections (cable modems and DSL modems) are a favorite target.
No matter how a home computer is connected to the Internet, intruders' attacks are often successful. Many home computer owners don't realize that they need to pay attention to computer security.
How do intruders break into your computer? In some cases, they send you email with a virus. Reading that email activates the virus, creating an opening that intruders use to enter or access your computer. In other cases, they take advantage of a flaw or weakness in one of your computer's programs - a vulnerability - to gain access.
Once they're on your computer, they often install new programs that let them continue to use your computer - even after you plug the holes they used to get onto your computer in the first place. These backdoors are usually cleverly disguised so that they blend in with the other programs running on your computer.
Whether your computer runs Microsoft? Windows?, Apple's Mac OS, LINUX, or something else, the issues are the same and will remain so as new versions of your system are released. The key is to understand the security-related problems that you need to think about and solve.

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HOW YOU CAN IMPROVE A SECURITY OF INTERNET EXPLORER

There is no question that Internet Explorer is the most popular web browser in the world, but with great popularity comes great responsibility. Since one program is used by approximately 75 percent of the world to browse the web, you are forced to deal with the majority of the world’s hackers who are all trying to break down your defenses. Luckily, there are certain things you can do to improve the security of Internet Explorer so you don’t fall victim to the same problems that have already infected millions of computers already.

These days, most Windows Vista systems are set to automatically download updates from the Microsoft website, but for those that aren’t and for those folks still running Windows XP, you need to make a weekly pilgrimage to the Microsoft website via the “Windows Update” feature to download the latest updates that can keep you and your computer safe. As quickly as hackers can discover and exploit a new vulnerability in Internet Explorer, there are teams of Microsoft technicians working hard to close that loophole. It is only with regular updates that you are able to put those fixes to good use. Good Internet Explorer security means staying on top of security updates at all costs.

Next, you can help improve Internet Explorer security by watching where you surf. Part of the fun of the Internet is exploring new websites, but some websites are like traps that wait for Internet Explorer browsers to visit them so that they can try to infiltrate your machine. Your virus protection software should alert you if a website attempts to access your computer or change any of your settings. Your machine may lock up or freeze so that you can’t close the browser window. Once you regain control, run an immediate virus scan and never revisit that website. Many adult websites and hacker/peer-to-peer sharing websites feature these types of traps.

One of the most popular features in web browsers is the ability to add on toolbars and extra features that run along side the stand alone browser. As useful as these programs can be, they are often doorways for other programs to install themselves on your machine. You can download one toolbar and before you know it, you have a dozen different bars installed and you can’t see a thing. If you want to install a toolbar to give Internet Explorer extra functionality, make sure you do some research first to find out which toolbars live up to the hype and which ones are simply gateways to viruses and Trojans. You would be surprised how much you can improve Internet Explorer security by simply watching what add ons you use.

Finally, you can improve Internet Explorer security by simply getting to know the usual behavior of your browser. If you suddenly notice that web pages are taking significantly longer to load than they did a little bit ago, something might be wrong. Get to know what the usual pop up windows that come with your browser look like, so when a website attempts to get you to click on a box, you’ll know if you should or not. When it comes to Internet Explorer security, a good portion of the battle is common sense and not falling for traps set by hackers.

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Be careful when reading email with attachments

We’ve all heard stories about people receiving an item in the mail that in some way caused them harm. We’ve heard of letter bombs and exploding packages, and in 2001, we learned about Anthrax-laden letters. Although their frequency is low, they do make news.

These unsolicited items are sent to unsuspecting recipients. They may contain a return address, a provocative envelope, or something else that encourages its receiver to open it.

You probably receive lots of mail each day, much of it unsolicited and containing unfamiliar but plausible return addresses. Some of this mail tells you of a contest that you may have won or the details of a product that you might like. The sender is trying to encourage you to open the letter, read its contents, and interact with them in some way that is financially beneficial – to them. Even today, many of us open letters to learn what we’ve won or what fantastic deal awaits us. Since there are few consequences, there’s no harm in opening them.

Email-borne viruses and worms operate much the same way, except there are consequences, sometimes significant ones. Malicious email often contains a return address of someone we know and often has a provocative Subject line.

Email viruses and worms are fairly common. If you’ve not received one, chances are you will. Here are steps you can use to help you decide what to do with every email message with an attachment that you receive. You should only read a message that passes all of these tests.

1.The Know test: Is the email from someone that you know?

2.The Received test: Have you received email from this sender before?

3.The Expect test: Were you expecting email with an attachment from this sender?

4.The Sense test: Does email from the sender with the contents as described in the Subject line and the name of the attachment(s) make sense? For example, would you expect the sender – let’s say your Mother – to send you an email message with the Subject line “Here you have, ;o)” that contains a message with attachment – let’s say AnnaKournikova.jpg.vbs? A message like that probably doesn’t make sense. In fact, it happens to be an instance of the Anna Kournikova worm, and reading it can damage your system.

5.The Virus test: Does this email contain a virus? To determine this, you need to install and use an anti-virus program.

You should apply these five tests to every piece of email with an attachment that you receive. If any test fails, toss that email. If they all pass, then you still need to exercise care and watch for unexpected results as you read it.

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The keys for firewall protection

Firewall protection primarily uses packet filtering to detect and block intruders. Some also include application filtering. In addition, these applications typically generate alerts and log intrusion attempts.

Packet Filtering

In packet filtering, the firewall software inspects the header information (source and destination IP addresses and ports) in each incoming and, in some cases, outgoing, TCP/IP packet. Based on this information, the firewall blocks the packet or transmits it. The firewall uses the port information to block idle or nonstandard ports such as a listening port opened by a Trojan horse. In this way, the firewall blocks packets sent from a hacker to the Trojan horse listening port. Increasingly, personal firewalls also block outgoing traffic on these ports. This precludes a Trojan horse from sending outgoing packets.
The firewall protection also uses the port information to block certain types of incoming packets associated with common hacker attacks. For example, hackers use port scanner software to identify target computers for attack. Port scanners “ping” ranges of IP addresses via port 7. If a computer responds to the ping, it becomes a target for further probing for open ports. By default, personal firewall software packages block these incoming pings on port 7 so that the computer does not respond.
Personal firewalls also use the source and destination IP addresses to filter packets. Firewalls can be configured to allow or block packets from specific IP addresses. However, packet filtering is susceptible to “IP spoofing,” which refers to the practice of forging the source IP address in a packet. In this way, a malicious hacker can try to gain entry by spoofing the source IP address. For example, some firewalls will not block a packet if its source and destination IP addresses correspond to IP addresses behind the firewall on the private network. Hackers exploit this vulnerability by forging the source IP address. In another IP spoofing scenario, the source and destination IP addresses are the same; this type of packet will lock up some computers.

Application Filtering

As one important function of firewall protection, Application-level filtering uses higher-layer protocol information to filter traffic and implements additional security and access control services. More typical in enterprise networks, application-level firewalls are implemented as hosts running proxy servers. These proxy servers are used to prevent direct traffic between network peers. Additionally, proxy servers can log and audit network traffic. Many personal firewalls have a basic form of application-level filtering that allows users to specify which applications on the computer may access the Internet.
Some Trojan horse programs may circumvent this filtering by modifying a program that is commonly granted full access to the Internet through a firewall. In this way, the Trojan horse masquerades as a harmless program on the PC, but provides a hacker with access to the PC, in spite of application-level filtering firewalls. Only a personal firewall software package, which also checks programs for unauthorized modifications, can successfully defend a user from this type of attack.

Alerting and Logging

A key feature of any firewall is its ability to alert the user when it detects an “attack,” and to maintain a system log of these events. This allows the user to identify threats and to fine tune the firewall configuration appropriately. A key responsibility of the user is to monitor the logs and take appropriate action when necessary. and assigns “private” IP addresses to each client PC on the LAN. These private addresses are not known outside the LAN on the Internet. All incoming packets arriving at the NAT gateway have the same destination address. The NAT gateway refers to its association mapping table to determine the actual client address and port number for a destination packet and forwards the packet to the correct client. Many of these NAT devices also include additional firewall protection in the form of basic packet filtering. Some NAT implementations also include “stateful” port inspection, in which the firewall monitors the state of the transaction to verify that the destination of an inbound packet matches the source of a previous outbound request. Stateful port inspection helps to prevent denial-of-service attacks (which typically use the UDP transport) that can be mounted using IP address spoofing techniques

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How To Trace an Email Address And Original Sender?

Hello Guys Nowadays spamming is the Most common .. Out of the 5 emails you receive 2 are spams... And Out of 5 spam Mails 1 contains Virus or Botnet.. Its hard to believe but its truth... So Today I am Going to share with you HOW TO TRACE THE EMAIL ADDRESS AND ORIGINAL SENDER?? .. So guys Read On.------

1.TRACING AN EMAIL ADDRESS------

The purpose of this guide is to show the process involved in tracing an email. The first step required to tracing an email is finding out the headers of the email. What are headers? Email headers are lines added at the top of an email message that are used by servers as the email goes on route to get delivered. Generally email clients only show the standard To, From, and Subject headers, but there are more.

1) Enabling Email Headers

Enabling Email Headers For Gmail
Step 1:Once Logged into your Gmail Account open the Email whose headers you want to view. Click on the “More Options” link in the message next to the date of the email.

Step 2: Now click the “Show Original” link.

Step 3: This link will popup a new window the headers and the body of the message.

Enabling Email Headers For Hotmail

Step 1:Once logged in, click on the "Options" link in the upper navigation bar.

Step 2: Now click on the "Mail Display Settings" link.

Step 3: Change the "Message Headers" option to "Full" and click ok.

Step 4: Go to your inbox and open any one of your email. You emails show now contain additional headers.

Enabling Email Headers For Yahoo

Step 1:Once logged in, click on the "Options" link in the upper navigation bar.
Step 2: Now click on the "General Preferences" link.
Step 3: In the paragraph titled Messages and locate the "Headers" heading and select "All".
Step 4: Go to your inbox and open any one of your email. You emails show now contain additional headers.
2) Understanding Email Headers
In this example the “Sender” located at sender@exampleuniversity.edu want to send an email to “Receiver” located at receiver@exampleisp.com. The sender composes his email at his workstation in the university’s computer lab (lab.exampleuniversity.edu). Once completed the email message is passed to the university’s mail server called mail.exampleuniversity.com. The mail server seeing that it has a message for receiver@exampleisp.com, contacts someisp.com mail server and delivers the email to it. The email is stored on someisp.com server until Receiver logs on to check his/her inbox.

In this example, four headers will be added to the email message. This first header is generated by email client on lab.exampleuniversity.edu when forwarding it to the mail server at mail.exampleuniversity.edu.
The following header is added when mail.exampleuniversity.edu transmits the message to mail.exampleisp.com.
The following header is added when mail.exampleisp.com stores the message on the server for Reciever.
The following header is added when Reciever downloads the email from home machine called reciever.local.
3) Tracking The Orginal Sender

The easiest way for finding the original sender is by looking for the X-Originating-IP header, this header is important since it tells you the IP Address of the computer that had sent the email. If you can not find the X-Originating-IP header then you will have to sift through the Received headers to find the sender's ip.
Once the email sender's ip is found go to http://www.arin.net/ to begin a search.
Now click on the "NET-24-16-0-0-1" link.
Scroll down the page untill you find the OrgAbuseEmail field.

Remember to include all the headers of the email along with an attached copy when filling a complaint.

I am Not the Original Writer of this Post. I have take It from Security Forums...But I thought It would be Useful So I am Sharing It with you Guys...
IF you have Any Queries Ask Me!

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Top 3 Tips For Deploying NETWORK ACCESS CONTROL

A few things you'll need to know before you get started.

1. Explore requirements
Should you really be buying NAC? Jeff Falcon, senior security specialist with solution provider CDW, said customers often lack a clear understanding “as to why they may need, or not need, a NAC solution.” He recommends identifying high-risk and high-value data that needs protection as an initial step. Next, customers may look at network traffic in monitor mode to analyze threats, he added.
2. Pursue policy
Before implementation, organizations would be well advised to focus on creating a comprehensive policy to govern access to networks and applications. Customers “need to spend a lot of time … making sure their security policy asks the right questions,” noted Brendan O’Connell, manager of the product marketing group for Cisco Systems’ NAC Appliance. What software should or shouldn’t be present on an end point device? Which users will or won’t have access to a particular resource?
3. Consider enforcement point locations
NAC solutions typically provide considerable leeway as to where in the network access policies will be enforced. So, it’s up to the customer to determine the top protection priorities and locate enforcement points accordingly. An organization that seeks first to guard access to applications, for instance, may use a firewall as an enforcement point, noted Karthik Krishnan, manager of Juniper Networks’ access control products. But an organization more concerned with policing guest access may want to focus on areas such as conference rooms. In that case, a switch may be the preferred enforcement point, Krisnan said.

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