"Deep in the sea are riches beyond compare.
But if you seek safety, it is on the shore."

Why is it REALLY important to protect your privacy and computer?

Why should we get ourselves stuff like PGP or not leave ANY tracks about our activities?

Because, my friend, besides what mr. Gates says, Internet isn’t a child’s play. Enormous amount of data is already being collected by internet service providers, email providers, religious cults, marketing experts, intelligence agency’s, etc. Cookies are the most infamous “features” that can be used to track you and build a profile from you, but there are plenty of others as well. And that data they collect isn’t going to "vanish" anywhere. Governments and companies chance overnight, but technology, information and files remain. Think about the cruel fact that you might not get some job you apply for just because you have spend too much time in www.playboy.com or because you have send few emails to your friends that say:"xxxxxx is bastard!". Or because you have by an accident surfed into www-site that contains illegal or dangerous information. Or because someone has used your internet userID and password and done that ! Even today employers sometimes check their "rookies" internet image. Why ? Because they can easily built up a profile from you that way and because its perfectly legal! Here in Finland, some internet activity’s are protected and compared to the "phone privacy", but in most countries, there’s no law that sayes:"Thou can not follow ones internet activity nor sell that information to third parties". And since information is worth $$$, just guess how many people earn their incomes from that ?

One good proof about this is SPAM. SPAM is junkmail, advertises that you can get to you email account. I have gotten SPAM before I learned to protect my internet activities. Then I also changed my email address, and off went the SPAM. As far as I’m a aware of, EVERYONE I know, gets SPAM and curses it to hell, because they don’t (want to) know how they can prevent SPAM. However, its simple: take care on your privacy !

Besides what goes on in the internet, your privacy and even safety, can be violated pretty easily if your computer gets attacked physically. Someone, for example, steals your computer or breaks into your house. Not to mention if you have a laptop computer, then your computers physical safety is in severe risk. Your documents can be read by anyone who gets an access to your computer, your emails can be read, your passwords and login information can be stolen and used without your knowledge, and documents that you have deleted earlier can easily be recovered and read. Not to mention that your computer can be installed with Trojan horse programs that monitor your computer usage and steal your passwords! Computers and operating systems themselves provide no security or very limited security, and only if you know how to use them properly. Would you like that your personal files and emails would be read by some criminal or psycho that broke in to your house or stole your laptop computer? Would your company like the idea that documents related to your work are read from your machine? I bet not. If you are a reporter or journalist, then these issues can be a matter of life and death to you, depending upon what information does the villain or hostile government get their hands into.

Also remember, that Windows and many programs in Windows OS environment, create logfiles and history information about your activities. Most of them are pretty harmless, except that they take out your harddrive space, but there are some which you should think about. Your TEMP-folder, for example, can contain almost anything. It can have copies of documents you have deleted, programs you have installed or uninstalled, log files from various programs, etc. If you are using normal settings, you Internet browser is almost a gold mine: it stores information about the sites you have visited for weeks, in theory, forever! So, anyone getting into your computer, one way or the other, can easily see what did you see in the net and when. Programs also contain information about what files they have last opened. Also, remember, that deleting a file doesn’t erase it…when you delete a file, Windows simply marks those clusters as “unused” so that something MAY be written to them in the future. Using a simple, freely available undelete tool, most of them can be recovered even months after! You need to overwrite the files if you don’t want them to be recovered by anyone.

Besides privacy and physical security, what else is on the line here? Why should I be worried?

In short, a lot! Besides “normal” criminals, there are plenty of hackers, crackers and lurkers out there to get YOU. Why you? Because you are easier target than I am. They try to find the easiest target they can, and believe me, they will find it. The question is, will it be you or the guy next door...Until he patches he’s system and the hacker either moves to an other target or gives up because its become too complicated and hard to attach someone.

So what can they do to you? Well, they can hack into you or your companies computer and steal precious information (industrial espionage) or personal information like emails and documents you store on your computer. They can use your computer to launch attacks against other computers, and YOU will get the blame for it. Usually the targets are companies and websites, perhaps the company you are working in, and they are using you and your computer to get them. Either for money, fame or revenge. One example about this is DoS or DDoS attacks (Distributed Denial of Service attack). In DoS, the hacker gets he’s hands on computer by planting a Trojan horse program, and then uses that computers connection and resources to flood some specific target, like a particular www-page so it cant be used at all and has to be shut down. You can read more about DoS attacks in the net, Im not going to go to the specifics here, but the point is, that your computer can be used to commit crimes without your knowledge if you don’t know how to protect yourself! Also, hackers use computers to launch SPAM, store pirated software or just mess them around for their own amusement. There are also cases where some perverts use their victims computer as a tool to get her/him in person or via net….or just terrorise her/him. And NO, children are NOT safe from these perverts either, on the contrary, children are the easiest targets for hackers and perverts to attack.

When you surf in the internet, you can be attacked as well. Hacker might plant an Active-X component or Javascript on the www-page and trick you to run it, in fact, if you have default settings, it might be done in the backround without you knowing anything about it! It can just crash your computer or browser, or exploit some security hole in your system and do…well, almost anything. No, I’m not joking here! Active-X component can format your harddrive, they can do ANYTHING what the creator of them wants them to do. Here you can find more information about Active-X and Java: http://www.cs.princeton.edu/sip/java-vs-activex.html If you want examples, then go to my next page (Are you in danger? etc.)

Also, in many xxx-rated sites they offer you to download file that they say “will let you to see all xxx-pics and videos”…they are usually dialers, and when you launch them, they can make your modem (if you have one that is) to call somewhere like Brazil....on to some very high-cost xxx-phone service. You credit card information can also be stolen and used for hackers own amusement and you have to clean up the entire mess and perhaps even pay a part of he’s “shopping”. Also, if someone is just being naughty to you, they might lock you out from your own email service by capturing and chancing your passwords. Or send email under your name to your friends, boss, anyone.

But I have nothing to hide! If someone really wants to hack me, go ahead!

Now, most people who refuse to listen to common sense and protect their privacy and security, say something like:"I don’t have anything to hide. If someone wants to do that or that, I don’t really care." Now, this kind of comment is very easy to crush:"Would you like me to read your personal mail (both email and regular mail)? Would you like me to read your personal files on your computer? Would you like me to give your home address and phone number to hundreds of commercial enterprises for marketing purposes, and for every crazy people I see on the street? Or how about it, would you like me to mess around in your house, steal, break or just pillage it?" Nobody would say yes to those questions. The problem, however, is that people simply don’t realize the fact, that in the age of computers, your email IS as good as your regular mail, your IP-address IS your home address, and basically the only thing that protects you is YOUR own actions. There’s no international police force operating in the internet. There are no international courts where you can easily sue a cracker. Welcome to the digital age.

These are just some examples about what not only can be done, but what is done on daily basis. There is very good chance that if you don’t pay attention and know how to protect your privacy and security, some hacker or cracker or psycho might get your computer under he’s control. Usually things don’t get that far and there are plenty of easy targets in the net, so you might be lucky enough not to get abused or hacked. But don’t count on it. Protect yourself, because nobody else will!

Also something to think about

Ever heard of system called: Echelon ? It is global spying network created by (as so far is known) USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. It not only scans all international communication lines (using 120 satellites, microwave listening stations and an adapted submarine) but also analyses and stores usenet messages. All of this is done transparently and automatically (bits are easy to handle). There is no certainty that how long has this network being active, but it was "compromised" couple years ago.

"NSA (National Security Agency of USA) has also intercepted confidential company communications and given them to favored competitors. Thomson S.A., located in Paris, and Airbus Industrie, based in Blagnac Cedex, France, are said to have lost contracts as a result of information passed to rivals. The U.S. government misled states in the EU and [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] about the true intention of its policy," the report (http://jya.com/ic2000.zip) adds… European Union has considered that Echelon is severe threat to safety and privacy in the EU region and has suggested that strong encryption from “open sources” should be used to counter it. “Open source”, because NSA has planted several backdoors to encryption systems around the world. More information about EU and Echelon can be found in here and here.

Remember, that Echelon doest just spy on companies. It spyes everyone. Everything that moves in bit-format. Just think about it: Big Brother IS watching. Every email you send, every message you post, every page you visit…they will know about it! Scary. Horrible. And, reality. Again, welcome to the digital age!

Also, I STRONLY suggest you read these two document about NSA and Echelon. The first one is about NSA infiltrating to cryptosystems and companies around the world and being able for the last 40years to intercept and decrypt and read ALL diplomatic communications from over 120 countries because of NSA build-in backdoor to cryptosystems! Second gives more details about Echelon project.

http://mediafilter.org/caq/cryptogate/
http://mediafilter.org/caq/echelon/

Spooky, eh? Then think about THIS:

TEMPEST stands for Transient Electromagnetic Pulse Standard.
Its electromagnetic radiation "leaking" from every electronic equipment. Including your desktop PC... We are used to think that spying is something that you do with hidden cameras, microphones or sneaking into someone’s office. Well, maybe we should start to think otherwise. Snooping information from your computer is basicly speaking much, much more easier.

TEMPEST attacks are most easily done by analyzing the electromagnetic radiation from your monitor (usually). With kind a phased array antenna & few electronical components it is possible to "see" what you see in your computer screen...But as an exception that it can be done from across the street and there’s absolutely no way you can know whether or not you are targeted by TEMPEST. This makes it very powerful way to do some serious espionage.

- Markus Jansson