Learning about SSL on the Internet
Have you ever ordered some products over the web? Ever noticed the little lock icon in the corner of the browser windows? It’s actually surprising how little we know about the security we rely on to keep our transactions secure. Well the security that protects the majority of our online transactions is based on SSL.
First things first, SSL stands for Secure Socket layer, the system which was developed by Netscape in the mid 1990s for use with their Netscape Navigator web browser. This browser was the very first to offer secure and reliable e-commerce features. It addressed the problem that when browsing the web anyone could spy on your communications. The issue is mainly due to the complete lack of security in the HTTP protocol, which means that it is not safe to send your credit card or any personal details across the web.
So netscape designed a protocol, a new way for two computes to talk with each other, in fact to send encrypted messages to each other. This made it impossible for anyone to read the messages being sent apart from the two computers involved.
The way it works is for the owner of the web server to get what’s called a digital certificate from a company called a certification authority (CA). Each certificate comes with a link to the company that issued it, and eventually ends at what’s called a “root” CA.
Every browser has a list of CAs that are considered “trustworthy.” When you make a secure connection to a web server that has a digital certificate, your browser traces up what’s called the “chain of authority” – checking each certificate to see if the CA that issued it is in the list. If the browser gets all the way back to the root CA without finding it in the list, you get a warning that this certificate is not trusted.
When a certificate is not trusted, you don’t know for sure that the information listed in the certificate – the company name, address, phone number, etc. – is accurate. Trusted CAs verify business licenses and contact information. Any of the Other CAs may not. But even if the contact information isn’t verified, the traffic between your browser and the web server is secure from eavesdroppers.
Once the browser has established that you want to trust this web site’s certificate, whether because the CA is in the browser’s list or you confirm your trust in the warning dialog, the two computers will exchange “keys.”
A “key” is just a large number that is mathematically related to another number in a very specific way. The way these numbers are chosen is complex; explanations of the process tend to start with things like “Agree on a finite cyclic group G with a generating element g in G.” Like most cryptographic concepts, it’s probably easiest to just pretend it’s magic.
Each computer will create two keys. The special mathematical relationship of these keys guarantees that any data encrypted with one key can only be decrypted with the other. One of these keys is kept secret, and the second is sent to the other machine.
Once the keys are exchanged, each machine uses its own secret key and the key received from the other machine to encrypt any data it sends. When the other machine receives the data, it will decrypt the data using the two keys it has.
Because the keys will only decrypt data encrypted with the matching keys, each machine knows both that the message came from the same machine, and that it was intended for this machine. So the data is secure, and nobody can spy on it.
Protect your privacy online and your identity by surfing through a High Anonymity proxy. To learn about other privacy issues read this blog – Online Privacy protection
In Search of the Ninja Proxies
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, a fact that can be illustrated perfectly by those who seek to protect themselves online with proxies. The problem with proxy servers,is what they do, how they work and most importantly who runs them. Proxies are appealing because they can hide your IP address and idenity from the web sites you are visiting, well they do if they are set up properly.
But for those who seek the ultimate ninja proxy, I want to tell you of a very real threat. There are of course thousands of free proxies on the internet which people bounce off for a variety of reasons from security, bypassing censorship and other less legitimate uses.
The threat comes from the rise of cybercrime, the stunning rise of cyber crime orchestrated from the well organised cyber criminals across the globe. For instance there are very advanced criminal gangs working from South America, Brazil in particular. They steal from peoples bank accounts, they steal peoples data, they steal peoples identities – their crimes are committed from a keyboard in front of a VDU screen.
But what of the risk from Ninja proxies?
The cyber criminals need your data, they need you passwords, user accounts. One way they can easily obtain many details is by setting up a free proxy. The method is simple, hack into an internet web server with poor security, then install or enable a proxy server on it.
Post it to a few anonymous proxy server lists, wait for the ninja proxy finding tools to pick it up and soon you’ll have thousands of people surfing through your server. That means sending absolutely everything they do online is under their control. They can intercept and store any information that passes through. Logging every packet of data, you can soon steal important details from thousands who use the server, including our budding ninja.
The criminal possibilities are varied – theft from accounts, identity theft, blackmail. They can redirect you to fake web pages, copies of your bank site, and then compromise your computer with viruses, keyloggers and trojans. Basically you are sending everything you do online to a bunch of cyber criminals.
The beauty of this method if you’re a cyber criminal is obvious, instead of hacking into peoples computers, sending out millions of spam emails, you simply wait for people to send their data to you.
There are legitimate and highly secured servers which you can use as a ninja proxy. They are run by legitimate companies and controlled by professional administrators, they are rarely free though but ultimately they are safe and secure. Don’t use a proxy server if you don’t know who it is run by, you’re much safer online using no proxy at all.
So be careful, use proxies wisely – they can help or hinder you, make sure you use a Ninja proxy.
Customising the Internet – Geotargeting
It’s not the most advanced technological concepts on the internet today but geotargeting is probably one of the most used. In fact you’d be unlikely to use the internet for very long without being the subject of some sort of geotargeting.
Very simply geotargeting is the principle of targeting what you see or can do on the internet depending on your location. As soon as you use a search engine or an advanced web site, you’ll be the subject of geotargeting.
When you fire up a search engine and search for something, the location you are in will be taken into account. Which is all perfectly sensible, after all if I’m in the UK and search for window cleaners, I don’t want to see a firm listed from downtown Chicago !
The search engine will tailor my search results depending on where I am, so if all works well I should get results which are more applicable to my area. It’s not the best system but it definitely has it’s uses.
Perhaps the more annoying use of geotargeting is when the technology is used to modify or block what you see. For instance if you want to play online roulette, you’ll be blocked from many casino sites if you are in the US due to American legislation on online gambling.
Also when you try and access certain media content from different locations you could get blocked. For instance if I try and access Hulu or ABC.com from a non-US computer I won’t be able to view their shows. Similarly I won’t be able to access UK BBC programmes if I’m outside the UK or at least my computer is.
So how does it work, well to be honest the technology is rather dated and is often unreliable. When you visit a web site, your IP address is presented to the web server as part of the underlying communication. All the web site will then do is run a short script which will look up this IP address in a database, and decide which country you originate from.
The problem is that many of the databases which lists which countries have which ranges are incorrect. Unfortunately there are many different databases of IP addresses and many of these are out of date or just plain wrong. You will often have a specific network range appearing as registered in multiple countries. Of course sometimes this can be beneficial to the user or sometimes just plain annoying!
If you’d like to read a little more, you’ll find more here – Iplayer France
Don’t Waste those Empty Toner Cartridges
The environmental battle is real, urgent and you can help. If you own a laser printer please don’t end up throwing those empty toner cartridges away. There’s lots of ways you can help by starting to recycle them. Remember the mantra for our day simply has to be “reduce, reuse and recycle”
The simple fact is that you can save valuable raw materials, energy and waste by simply using your laser toner cartidges again. In Europe there are nearly 50 million laser cartidges bought each year, 95% of these only get used once. Considering each new cartidge takes between 1 and 2 litres of oil to produce, that’s a lot of waste.
These cartidges end up in landfill areas, thousands of tons every year across the world. The materials don’t exactly decompose quickly either, the plastics are usually non-biodegradable. Every single time you reuse a cartridge you really do save on waste landfill.
Don’t throw these cartidges away or even send off to the many ‘so-called’ environmentally friendly remanufacture schemes, designed to save the print companies eco-reputation. Remember these empty toner cartridges all used to come with a little stopper which you could use to refill with compatibe toner ink, now that’s eco friendly. However the printing companies realised they were missing out on a huge source of revenue here – so they removed them.
There are many companies who can provide you with simple kits which can refill most empty toner cartridges. Many of these cartidges can be refilled 4 or 5 times with no real problems and each time you are saving up to 87% of the cost of a new laser toner cartridge. It’s a serious way of saving money and to be honest virtually anyone can do it, the majority of cartridges are relatively easy to refill but check with an expert first.
All you need is one of the kits and some compatible toner to refill it, most cases it’s a 5 minute job, and requires no real skill. Empty toner cartridges still work they just have run out of ink so just refill them.
It’s true these cartridges are not broken, they’re not faulty, they are merely empty. If you notice a little plug or stopper on your cartridge, it means that your toner is one of the lucky few and is designed to be refilled. Just buy some replacement toner and refill the empty cartridge.
Other cartridges need you to create a refiller hole but it’s very simple with the right kit anyone can do this. You don’t need to tamper with the cartidge itself (as you have to in remanufacturing), so there’s little that can go wrong. Your just filling it up with ink.
They won’t damage your printer, and you can refill the cartidge until you see a deteriation in the print quality and then buy a new one. The advantage you will have saved hundreds of dollars and reduced environmental waste significantly. Imagine if every one did this, saving millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands less toner cartridges being produced and thrown away.
So explore our site and check out some links, please don’t throw away those empty toner cartridges, refill them with Compatible Toner and save some money.
In Search of the Ninja Proxy
There are many reasons to want to protect your information online, so the quest for a ninja proxy is not an unreasonable one. The image of some shadowy electronic surfer, gliding through the internet ether unnoticed is quite appealing to.
The problem with proxy servers,is what they do, how they work and most importantly who runs them. Proxies are appealing because they can hide your IP address and idenity from the web sites you are visiting, well they do if they are set up properly.
But for those who seek the ultimate ninja proxy, I want to tell you of a very real threat. There are of course thousands of free proxies on the internet which people bounce off for a variety of reasons from security, bypassing censorship and other less legitimate uses.
The threat comes from the rise of cybercrime, the stunning rise of cyber crime orchestrated from the well organised cyber criminals across the globe. For instance there are very advanced criminal gangs working from South America, Brazil in particular. They steal from peoples bank accounts, they steal peoples data, they steal peoples identities – their crimes are committed from a keyboard in front of a VDU screen.
But what of the risk from Ninja proxies?
The cyber criminals need your data, they need you passwords, user accounts. One way they can easily obtain many details is by setting up a free proxy. The method is simple, hack into an internet web server with poor security, then install or enable a proxy server on it.
Post it to a few anonymous proxy server lists, wait for the ninja proxy finding tools to pick it up and soon you’ll have thousands of people surfing through your server. That means sending absolutely everything they do online is under their control. They can intercept and store any information that passes through. Logging every packet of data, you can soon steal important details from thousands who use the server, including our budding ninja.
The criminal possibilities are varied – theft from accounts, identity theft, blackmail. They can redirect you to fake web pages, copies of your bank site, and then compromise your computer with viruses, keyloggers and trojans. Basically you are sending everything you do online to a bunch of cyber criminals.
The beauty of this method if you’re a cyber criminal is obvious, instead of hacking into peoples computers, sending out millions of spam emails, you simply wait for people to send their data to you.
There are legitimate and highly secured servers which you can use as a ninja proxy. They are run by legitimate companies and controlled by professional administrators, they are rarely free though but ultimately they are safe and secure. Don’t use a proxy server if you don’t know who it is run by, you’re much safer online using no proxy at all.
So be careful, use proxies wisely they can help you when you use a real Ninja proxy