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AN ALL-TOO-EASY WAY TO PREVENT IDENTITY THEFT
INCLUDES A HUMOROUS APPROACH TO ID THEFT SOLUTIONS

SECURE DATA REMOVAL
INCLUDES INFORMATION ON CLEANING WORD DOCUMENTS

FREE COMPRESSION (ZIP) TOOLS

HARD DRIVE TROUBLESHOOTING

BASIC ONLINE SECURITY TIPS, COURTESY OF YAHOO!
OPENS IN A NEW WINDOW

Spyware is Getting Sneakier!
Courtesy of "Uptime" - A Productivity Enhancing Blog from Butler Consulting, Inc.

"... After the initial scan, it discovered a hidden process called tdssserv.sys. Turns out, this file is a variant of the clbdriver/Troj/NtRootK-DR malware. Now, here’s the problem. This malware is designed to hide itself from the Operating System so it won’t show up in the process list or during a directory scan. Needless to say, this also makes it fairly difficult to eliminate."

For more, please see the original blog entry or the removal instructions at the Malware Bytes Forum
 

KEEP AN EYE ON THAT MOUSE POINTER!

The "conspiracy" story below highlights a PRIME EXAMPLE of something I have stressed to people who have come to me with issues they think are related to "viruses" but are in fact caused by "spyware."  My emphasis on this point is underlined within the article, but to sum up, I have always known and enforced the idea that the best practice is to WATCH YOUR MOUSE POINTER when clicking on a dialog box that looks like a standard Windows error. 

IF THE POINTER REMAINS LOOKING LIKE A "HAND" NO MATTER WHERE YOU PUT YOUR MOUSE, DO NOT CLICK ANYWHERE ON THAT ITEM!    The best thing to do is to press ALT-F4 to close the offending window.  Also, two more dead giveaways are:

• standard windows "errors" do not include the text "Microsoft Internet Explorer" or "Windows Internet Explorer" in their window titles.  If you look carefully for the word ADVERTISEMENT in the window you will also know that you are looking at a web ad, and not an actual Windows error.

• standard windows "errors" are NEVER "embedded" into a website, or seem to be integrated within it.
   

THE ANTI-SPYWARE CONSPIRACY?
(courtesy of Lockergnome and SysInternals/Mark Russinovich)

ADDED 1/17/2006 - UPDATED 2006.
ARTICLE HAS NOW BEEN ARCHIVED AND IS PROVIDED COURTESY OF
THE INTERNET ARCHIVE - WWW.ARCHIVE.ORG

ABOUT INTEGRATED SEARCH TECHNOLOGIES

ADDED 3/21/2005

offsite archived link - actual "attack" is now out-of-date, but the information is still valid, as it demonstrates one such technique used by malware writers.
 

IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION:
IT'S EASIER THAN YOU THINK!
by Joseph Ruggiero

The majority of information on this page deals with methods of preventing or removing malicious computer programs or websites that are designed primarily to harvest your personal information -- from finding out where you like to surf on the Internet and your personal online shopping habits, to the actual account information linked to your bank and credit cards.  Most of the time, these websites work because they rely on "social engineering" - the fact that you trust a name like E-bay or the company associated with your credit card makes the websites associated with those organizations easy targets for spoofing.  Our page on PHISHING can give you more details on how to spot fake websites and e-mails, and what to do if you are unsure about the validity of a given site or e-mail request.   But, besides the "new rules" for keeping your information safe online, there have always been traditional rules that come into play when dealing with personal, private information, and performing tasks associated with that information.  An example of what NOT to do follows...

One afternoon in February, 2006, I was riding a public bus, and a lady was sitting behind me on her cellular phone.   She was speaking quite loudly, and although there was a general din of conversation among the other passengers, her voice was easily heard and understood, at least to a person sitting directly in front of, behind, or even next to her.  Apparently, this woman's regular land-line phone had been turned off, and she was speaking with the phone company in an attempt to get it re-activated.  I was actually only half-paying attention to her conversation, BUT my ears perked up even more when she asked if she could make a payment right then and there.  You can probably guess what came next.  All at once, this lady (whose name was Daphne) proceeded to give her debit card number, personal PIN number or password, and a home address to the person on the other end of the line, seemingly unaware that she was also vocally broadcasting that information to anyone in earshot!  I am sure she could have waited until she was in a more private location before she rattled off her private account details to the customer service representative and thus the majority of the passengers on the bus. 

Believe me, I am NOT the kind of person who would use that kind of information, and frankly my brain has more important things to remember - by now I have pretty much forgotten whatever details were exchanged.  But the fact remains, another more unscrupulous person COULD have taken note of everything she said verbatim, and used that information to do some serious damage.  So again, along with the rules of cyberspace, we have the rules of public space... DON'T REVEAL PERSONAL INFORMATION IN PUBLIC.  Keep personal account numbers, PINs, and passwords completely private.  And If you MUST speak on a cellular phone with someone who requires personal information, make certain you are in an area where you will not be overheard.

Daphne, I hope you are safe on Salem Road!

 

ADDENDUM - MAY 2006:  THE FUNNY SIDE TO IDENTITY THEFT?

Citibank is currently promoting its identity-theft solutions on television.  It is fantastic that a company is taking such an active role in monitoring customers' accounts, and providing real-time assistance in the case of problems.   I have made use of their services and have been notified by their automated early-warning systems when I charged a large purchase or several small ones in succession.  Also, although most may disagree, and the sheer act of identity theft remains a big problem, I think it is great that Citi has chosen to approach their ads with a bit of humor.  Check out a sample of their 2006 ad campaign.

WATCH DARREL P. - CLICK HERE
(1.7mb Windows Media file)
 -- right-click and save target/link to view offline --

Secure Data Removal:
Will Formatting a Hard Drive Truly Erase All My Information?

ADDED 2/2/2006

This question was answered on September 11, 2003. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting. Data Doctors makes no guarantees as to the quality of this answer, nor to the safety of any procedures contained herein.

"The most common way to delete files in Windows and Macintosh is to drag the file into the Mac "trash can'' or Windows "recycling bin.'' While that removes it from the desktop it does not remove it from the computer. In fact, you can restore the file by simply opening the trash or recycling bin and dragging it back to the desktop.

Both the Mac and Windows allow you to go one step further by emptying the trash which appears to delete the file completely. The Mac, for example, asks you if you are sure "you want to remove the item in the trash permanently.'' Windows asks if you're "sure you want to delete all of the items in the recycling bin.''

But neither method is permanent. Erasing a file doesn't actually delete the data; it just removes the file name from the directory. The data is still there. Deleting a file the standard way is a bit like crumpling up a piece of paper and throwing it in the trash can rather than running it through a shredder. The MS-DOS delete command doesn't have an obvious "undo'' feature but it too can easily be reversed..."

CONTINUE READING AT SOURCE:
CLICK HERE

GOOGLE SEARCH:
FREE SECURE ERASE

DIRECT LINKS:
ERASER
Advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. Works with Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and DOS. Eraser is Free software and its source code is released under GNU General Public License.
SDELETE
SDelete is a secure delete application that can overwrite a disk's unused or unallocated space, or securely delete existing files. It implements the US Department of Defense clearing standard DOD 5220.22-M, and you can specify the number of overwrite passes it makes. It can also wipe Windows NT/2K compressed, encrypted and sparse files (it uses Windows defragmentation API to accomplish this), and clears the NTFS Master File Table (MFT). (It does not delete the filenames of your files in the free disk space though - apparently it is not possible to do this in NT/2K.) This program comes with source code and works under Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0 and Windows 2000. It is a command line utility.

DARIK'S BOOT AND NUKE
Darik's Boot and Nuke is a utility that you use when you want to completely obliterate all your data in all your hard disks and their partitions. It comes in the form of a bootable floppy disk or a bootable CDROM image (you download whichever you prefer), complete with an operating system (Linux) and the Boot and Nuke utility. Once you boot up that floppy (or CDROM), the utility will proceed to destroy all your data in every partition of every hard disk. The site says that it is designed for bulk or emergency data destruction. (It is probably also useful in less dramatic cases, such as when you want to wipe your disks prior to giving your computer away to someone).

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Keeping Your Word Documents Clean originally published as part of LOCKERGNOME'S WINDOWS FANATICS Newsletter (www.lockergnome.com) 3/8/2006 "If you e-mail business letters, resumes, and personal documents as Word documents you need to keep in mind that if you’re not careful, recipients of those Word documents can easily see what you deleted or modified. That letter you hacked from something you downloaded, the draft where you called the Boss “smart arse” before a final search and replace changed that to “great guy and brilliant visionary.” But if you’re not careful, 'Smart Arse' may know what you really think. Hidden within your letter is the original wording. Microsoft Word saved it all and the recipient doesn't have to be too smart to find it. Word inserts metadata (information about data) to help identify author names, document titles, keywords, print and save dates, and all the names of people who reviewed and saved the document. Metadata may include your place of business, your company or organization's name, the name of the network server on which the document is saved and all the comments you and your ghost writer have added. There are a number of ways to ensure that your personal data and the mess that you call a draft stays with you: Turn off Fast Save. This feature speeds up saving a document by saving only changes made to a document. However, text that you delete from a document may remain. Microsoft recommends turning off this feature to eliminate any chance of deleted text remaining in the document. Click Tools, then Options. Click the Save tab. Clear the "Allow fast saves" check box and click OK. You can remove personal information when you save a doc. In Word 2002 and 2003, click Tools, then Options. Click the Security tab. Under Privacy options, select "Remove personal information from file properties on save" and click OK. In Word 2000, click Tools, the Options. Select the User Information tab. Clear the information in Name, Initials and Mailing Address and click OK. Turn off the Track Changes tool. In Word 2002 and 2003, click Tools, then Track Changes. In Word 2000 and earlier versions, click Tools, Track Changes, Highlight Changes. Click to clear the check mark in the "Track Changes while editing" box. You can tell if the Track Changes feature is on by looking at the status bar. When Track Changes is enabled, TRK appears in the status bar. When Track Changes is disabled, TRK is dimmed. Track Changes must be disabled before writing the document. Otherwise, any changes made will not be removed. A Microsoft tool exists that can remove hidden data from Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The Remove Hidden Data add-in tool will delete text and comments from files."

INFORMATION ON "COMPRESSION" SOFTWARE:
WHY "WINZIP" IS NO LONGER SHAREWARE, AND SOME FREEWARE ALTERNATIVES