ANTI-HACKER GUIDE

IF YOU HAVE BEEN HACKED IN THE PAST OR SIMPLY WANT TIPS TO PREVENT HACKING YOU MAY FIND THIS GUIDE HANDY IN SOME PARTICULAR WAY.

PREVENTING PEOPLE FROM GETTING YOUR PASSWORDS

FIRSTLY YOU MUST MAKE SURE THAT THE COMPUTER YOU'RE USING AS THE LATEST SECURITY PATCHES FROM WINDOWS UPDATE. HAVING THE LATEST SECURITY PATCHES IS ESSENTIAL BECAUSE HACKERS CAN FIND WAYS TO GAIN ACCESS TO YOU PERSONAL DETAILS IF THERE IS SOME KIND OF SECURITY HOLE OR GLITCH IN YOUR BROWSER THAT YOU USE TO SURF THE INTERNET.

FOR EXTRA SECURITY IT WOULD BE EXTREMELY HANDY TO BUY SOME KIND OF FIREWALL. MOST FIREWALLS WILL ALLOW YOU TO REVIEW ALL INBOUND AND OUTBOUND EVENTS THAT ARE OCCURRING EVERY SECOND OF THE DAY.

SO ANY HACKER RELATED ATTEMPTS WILL MOST LIKELY BE BLOCKED AND LOGGED IN YOUR FIREWALL. SOME FIREWALLS ALLOW YOU TO REPORT THE HACKER OR TRACE THE HACKER DOWN SO YOU KNOW WHAT KIND OF INTERNET CONNECTION HE AS, WHAT COUNTRY HE/SHE LIVES IN ETC..

ANOTHER TIP WOULD BE TO NEVER WRITE DOWN YOUR PASSWORD ON PAPER AND LEAVE IT ON YOUR DESK UN-LESS YOU'RE 100% SURE THAT NO ONE WILL EVER READ IT AND ATTEMPT TO STEAL YOUR PASSWORD.

THEREFORE, IT IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA TO MEMORIZE THE PASSWORD AS AN ALTERNATIVE

MAKE IT HARDER FOR AN HACKER TO RETRIEVE YOUR PASSWORDS

1. CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH.

2. NEVER USE A WORD OUT OF THE DICTIONARY AS A PASSWORD. (HACKERS CAN SCAN ALL OF THE WORDS IN A DICTIONARY)

3. USE A PASSWORD THAT WILL BE HARD TO GUESS.

4. NEVER SHARE YOUR ACCOUNT WITH YOUR FRIEND.

5. ALWAYS ENABLE YOUR FIREWALL (SET IT TO TIGHT SECURITY OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT..)

6. LOCKDOWN YOUR CONNECTION WHEN AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER TO DISABLE INBOUND AND OUTBOUND ACCESS.

7. SCHEDULE A VIRUS SCAN AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK.

SPY-WARE, AD-WARE, DIALLERS ETC..

SPY-WARE, AD-WARE AND DIALLERS CAN BE USED TO HACK.

HACKERS BASICALLY CAN USE THESE KIND OF SCRIPTS TO TRACK YOUR BROWSING HABITS AND TO SEE WHAT KIND OF WEBSITES YOU ACCESS 24/7.

IF THEY SUCCESSFULLY TRACK WHAT WEBSITE YOUR VISITING THEY COULD TARGET THE ACCOUNT THAT YOU USE ON THAT PARTICULAR WEBSITE AND ATTEMPT TO RETRIEVE THE USERNAME AND PASSWORD.

IN ORDER TO STOP HACKERS FROM DOING THIS YOU MUST HAVE SOME KIND OF PRIVACY SOFTWARE. PRIVACY SOFTWARE WILL BASICALLY PREVENT PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM LEAVING YOUR COMPUTER AND IT WILL TELL YOU IF SOMEONE IS ATTEMPTING TO ACCESS A FILE OR FOLDER ON YOUR COMPUTER.

MOST PRIVACY SERVICES WILL COME WITH ANTI-SPY-WARE AND ANTI-AD-WARE SCANNERS. SO YOU COULD ATTEMPT TO REMOVE THE SCRIPTS FROM YOUR COMPUTER.

PRIVACY SERVICES MAY ALLOW YOU TO CONTROL WHETHER COOKIES, POP-UP WINDOWS, WEB BUGS ETC.. ARE ALLOWED. THIS WOULD BE EXTREMELY USEFUL IF YOU'RE A PERSON WHO VISITS LOTS OF WEBSITES THAT CONTAIN THIRD PARTY BANNERS OR UN-WANTED POP UP WINDOWS.

IF YOU HAVE A DIALLER ON YOUR COMPUTER IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU REMOVE IT STRAIGHT AWAY. DIALLERS ARE DIFFERENT TO SPY-WARE AND OTHER THINGS LIKE THAT. DIALLERS CAN CONFIGURE THEM SELVES TO USE YOUR DEFAULT INTERNET CONNECTION, MOST DIALLERS MAY BE USED TO TRACK YOUR BROWSER HABITS, BUT SOME ARE BASICALLY MADE TO STEAL EVERY PASSWORD ON YOUR COMPUTER.

TO STOP A DIALLER FROM FUNCTIONING PROPERLY YOU MUST EITHER DELETE IT WITH A VIRUS SCANNER OR CONFIGURE YOUR FIREWALL SO IT TELLS YOU WHEN SOME KIND OF PROGRAM REQUEST INBOUND OR OUTBOUND INTERNET ACCESS.

GENERAL TIPS AND HINTS

1. IF YOU USE MANY WEBSITES YOU MAY USE THE SAME USERNAME AND/OR PASSWORD FOR EACH OF THEM. THIS CAN BE DANGEROUS IN SOME CASES IF YOUR COMPUTER IS NOT VERY SECURE. WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU NEVER USE THE SAME PASSWORD FOR EVERY SITE YOU USE.

2. NEVER OPEN EMAILS THAT CONTAIN ATTACHMENTS UN-LESS YOU KNOW WHOSE SENDING IT AND WHY. MANY EMAILS CAN CONTAIN TROJANS THAT ARE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO GAIN ACCESS TO PASSWORDS ON YOUR COMPUTER.

3. IF YOU'RE USING A PUBLIC INTERNET CONNECTION THAT MIGHT BE IN-SECURE ALWAYS ENABLE SOME KIND OF FIREWALL. TELL YOUR FIREWALL THAT ALL TRAFFIC ON THE WIRELESS CONNECTION ISN'T TRUSTWORTHY. YOUR FIREWALL SHOULD THEN BLOCK ALL IN-COMING UN-SOLICITED CONNECTION ATTEMPTS.

4. NEVER GIVE YOUR PASSWORDS OR CREDIT CARD DETAILS TO PEOPLE IN AN INSTANT MESSENGER CONVERSATION. YOUR CONVERSATIONS MAY BE LOGGED AND SOMEONE MAY HAVE ACCESS TO THEM. NEVER EVER DO THIS IF MULTIPLE PEOPLE ACCESS YOUR COMPUTER FOR VARIOUS THINGS.

5. NEVER ADD PEOPLE TO YOUR CONTACT LISTS IN ANY I.M (INSTANT MESSENGER) IF YOU CONSIDER THEM UN-TRUSTWORTHY. PEOPLE HAVE SAID THAT SOME PEOPLE ADD YOU AND FIND WAYS TO SEND HARMFUL SCRIPTS TO YOU.

6. NEVER BASE A PASSWORD ON YOUR FAVOURITE HOBBIES. THIS COULD TRIGGER A MAJOUR SECURITY RISK.

7. DON'T ENTER YOUR PASSWORD INTO A COMPUTER THAT AS NO ANTI-HACKER PROTECTION. ONLY ENTER PASSWORDS INTO YOUR COMPUTER, WHICH YOU KNOW IS SAFE.

8. IF SOMEONE ATTEMPTS TO HACK YOU MULTIPLE TIMES AND YOU DON'T WANT TO COMMUNICATE WITH HIM/HER BLOCK THE PERSONS IP ADDRESS USING YOUR FIREWALL. ONLY DO THIS IF THE PERSON IS USING MULTIPLE HACKER RELATED METHODS TO TRY TO GAIN ACCESS TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM IN SOME WAY. AS A LAST RESORT, YOU COULD SUBMIT THE INBOUND EVENT LOGS TO HIS/HER ISP.

THANKS FOR READING - I HOPE THIS GUIDE WAS USEFUL TO YOU IN SOME WAY.