Joanne's school work

2011-02-22T02:42:00.000-08:00

Scareware

Basically, scareware, also known as rogueware or put in simple terms, fake security software, is a legitimately looking application that is delivered to the end user through illegal traffic acquisition tactics starting from compromised web sites, malvertising, or blackhat search engine optimization, to ultimately attempt to trick the user into believing their computer is already infected with malware, and that purchasing the application will help them get rid of it.

how to prevent it ?

Most computer techs will tell you to use Mozilla Firefox as it does not allow ActiveX, Microsoft’s version of Javascript and that is a good start, but some sites rely on it more than Javascript. You can manually set your browsers to disable or notify you of every java/activeX script attempting to load, but you would quickly be overwhelmed by the pop-ups asking permission.

Whether you use Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, there are now add-ons that disable Ads and scripts until you tell the add-on the website is ok. Usually they will add a notification bar or an icon in your browser to alert you that a script was stopped. At that point you have a decision to make. Do you really need to see what is missing

spear phishing

Spear phishing describes any highly targeted phishing attack. Spear phishers send e-mail that appears genuine to all the employees or members within a certain company, government agency, organization, or group.

The message might look like it comes from your employer, or from a colleague who might send an e-mail message to everyone in the company, such as the head of human resources or the person who manages the computer systems, and could include requests for user names or passwords.

The truth is that the e-mail sender information has been faked or "spoofed." Whereas traditional phishing scams are designed to steal information from individuals, spear phishing scams work to gain access to a company's entire computer system.

If you respond with a user name or password, or if you click links or open attachments in a spear phishing e-mail, pop-up window, or Web site, you might become a victim of identity theft and you might put your employer or group at risk.

how to prevent it ?

5 tips to prevent avoid spear phishing scams

•	Never reveal personal or financial information in a response to an e-mail request, no matter who appears to have sent it.
•	If you receive an e-mail message that appears suspicious, call the person or organization listed in the From line before you respond or open any attached files.
•	Never click links in an e-mail message that requests personal or financial information. Enter the Web address into your browser window instead.
•	Report any e-mail that you suspect might be a spear phishing campaign within your company.
•	Use Internet Explorer 7 or the Windows Live Toolbar, both of which contain Phishing Filter, which scans and helps identify suspicious Web sites, and provides up-to-the-hour updates and reporting on known phishing sites. To learn more, go to Phishing Filter: Help protect yourself from online scams. Auto Run attack ! AutoRun was introduced in Windows 95 to ease application installation for non-technical users and reduce the cost of software support calls. When an appropriately configured CD-ROM is inserted into a CD-ROM drive, Windows detects the arrival and checks the contents for a special file containing a set of instructions. For a commercial application, these instructions normally initiate installation of the software from the CD-ROM. To maximise the likelihood of installation success, AutoRun also acts when the drive is accessed ("double-clicked") in Windows Explorer (or "My Computer"). how to prevent it ? Generally all the secondary storage devices have this feature of Autorun and this virus virus takes advantage of this feature and infects our system. So, we ought to have a good anti-virus on our system to take care of it. Today, we will be reviewing a tool which will specially take care of Autorun.inf file and if any suspicious changes are detected in the files then it will take care of it and this tool is called as No Autorun. Now, you can easily predict about the reason for which this tool has been developed. We have already published some of the tools which are useful in removing the viruses like Avira, AVG and few more but still they take care of all the viruses which are present in your system but the above cited will take care only of the autorun virus. So, I can say that this tool will be more effective as compared to the other anti-viruses. So, if you have a habit of attaching secondary devices to your system then you should go for using this tool.

MetoYou, National Council on Problem Gambling and National Crime Prevention Council.

2010-12-12T18:51:00.000-08:00

Me to You

is a real-time counselling chatroom for the youth. If you have visited other chatrooms like IRC, msn Chat and ICQ, this will sound familiar to you.

Be it school, friends, families or within ourselves, what we do everyday often triggers feelings inside us. We can be upset with parents for not giving enough freedom, be stressed out with our studies, or finding out what we want for ourselves, what we want to be in future.

Everyone is bound to go through many situations where we find ourselves seeking support from others. metoyou simply provides just that, a channel for youth to share their feelings with someone.

Simply, you could call this your hangout place to share and discuss your life experiences.

The reasons why i like this place,

This place is where the youth's virtual experience and real world converge.

The cyber world is often viewed as negative or dangerous for the youth. But over here, their experience of the cyber world is different. over here, it is safe, positive and therapeutic. and this aspect is usually overlooked by many.

metoyou cyber counselling will always have a special place in this helping network. There is always a group of youth that chat with us who don't want to seek face-to-face help and may not have been helped otherwise if not for this service.

National Council on Problem Gambling

NCPG are dedicated to helping individuals and their families deal with problem gambling. Now in our third term, we continue to strive to minimise the number of Singaporeans suffering, through providing counselling services, conducting training sessions and various other programmes.

There's only a fine line that separates us from the effects of problem gambling. Here are some warning signs you can look out for in order to get appropriate help.

Increasing preoccupation with gambling

A need to bet more money, and more frequently

Restlessness or irritability when attempting to reduce or stop gambling

Chasing losses

A loss of control

Continuation of gambling behaviour despite mounting negative consequences

Looking for the "high" that comes from gambling

Increasing isolation from family and friends

Declining work performance

Neglecting basic needs like money for food and rent

Pressuring others for money as financial problems crop up

Lying about how money is spent

Escaping to other excesses (alcohol, drugs, sleep)

Denying there is a problem

WHAT ELSE CAN PROBLEM GAMBLING LEAD TO?
Problem gambling may be associated with mental health and well-being issues. These include feeling a loss in control, decision-making, ability to cope and autonomy. In addition, gamblers may also engage in other negative behaviours.

National Crime Prevention Council

The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) is a non-profit organisation committed to promoting public awareness of and concern about crime and to propagate the concept of self-help in crime prevention. The Council comprises representatives from the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as from the public sector and the Singapore Police Force (SPF). The NCPC is incorporated as a charity and depends entirely on donations and sponsorships to run its programmes and activities. It is registered as a society with the Registry of Societies.

The NCPC is a catalyst, advisor and partner to mobilise the support of groups, organisations and individuals from the community to work closely with the Police to prevent crime. Specifically the objectives of the council are:

	to raise the level of public awareness and concern about crime;
	encourage self-help in crime prevention;
	examine, develop and recommend crime prevention measures suitable to the public;

Preventive measure.

For PickPockets.

Ladies, carry your bag tightly under your arm and always keep it properly fastened.

Sling your handbag in front of you so that you can keep an eye on it.

PS: you never know how fay you can go until you do it :)

Various Penalties for Various Cyber Crimes

2010-12-12T18:44:00.001-08:00

Cyber crime is a type of of crime that not only destroys the security system of a country but also its financial system.

Punishment

Cybercrime must be dealt with very seriously because it causes a lot of damage to businesses and the actual punishment should depend on the type of fraud used.

The penalty for illegally accessing a computer system ranges from 6 months to 5 years. The penalty for the unofficial modification on a computer ranges from 5 to 10 years. Other penalties are listed below:

Telecommunication service theft: The theft of telecommunication services is a very common theft and is punished with a heavy fine and imprisonment.

Communications intercept crime: This is a Class-D crime which is followed by a severe punishment of 1 to 5 years of imprisonment with a fine. Other cyber crimes like telecommunication piracy, offensive material dissemination, and other cyber frauds also belong to this category.

Information Technology Act-2000: According to this act, different penalties are available for different crimes. Some of the penalties are as follows:

Computer source document tampering: The person who changes the source code on the website or any computer program will get a punishment up to 3 years of imprisonment or fine.

Computer hacking: The individual who hacks the computer or computer devices will get an imprisonment up to 3 years or a fine.

Government protected system: An act of trying to gain access to a system which is a protected system by the government, will result in imprisonment for 10 years and a heavy fine.

The introduction of such penalties have lead to a drastic reduction in the cyber crime rates as more and more criminals are becoming aware of the penalties related to them. Spreading the word about the penalties of cyber crime can serve as a deterrent against such crime.

Various Cyber Crimes That Has Been Committed

2010-12-12T18:38:00.000-08:00

Cyber crime can take the form of cyber stalking, where they follow you around into various chat rooms and harass you online. This can also be things like a hacker taking control of yourcomputer or someone stealing your identity online. Everything can be destroyed by cyber criminals. They can wipe entire hard drives, steal your entire life and everything about it and essentially just mess with your entire world.

How can you protect yourself from becoming a victim of cyber crime?

"Prevention is always better than cure. It is always better to take certain precaution while operating the net." 

The 10 steps are:

1. To prevent cyber stalking avoid disclosing any information pertaining to oneself. This is as good as disclosing your identity to strangers in public place.

2. Always avoid sending any photograph online particularly to strangers and chat friends as there have been incidents of misuse of the photographs.

3. Always use latest and up date anti virus software to guard against virus attacks.

4. Always keep back up volumes so that one may not suffer data loss in case of virus contamination

5. Never send your credit card number to any site that is not secured, to guard against frauds.

6. Always keep a watch on the sites that your children are accessing to prevent any kind of harassment or depravation in children.

7. It is better to use a security programme that gives control over the cookies and send information back to the site as leaving the cookies unguarded might prove fatal.

8. Web site owners should watch traffic and check any irregularity on the site. Putting host-based intrusion detection devices on servers may do this.

9. Use of firewalls may be beneficial.

10. Web servers running public sites must be physically separate protected from internal corporate network.

Crimes Committed
Some of the many crimes that are regularly committed with the facilitation of the Internet are child pornography, fraud, the sell and purchase of illegal guns or drugs, or other material that are protected by copyright. In the worst cases, cyber crimes can result in child abduction and molestation, and physical harm to victims. These heinous crimes have forced lawmakers and legislators to look long at hard at the state of crimes in relation to the Internet, and what laws are in effect to protect and prevent such crimes from harming those at risk.

Computer Crimes can be broken down into three Categories:

1."Hacking" into someone's computer for the purpose of stealing by taking complete control over the information contained within, or gaining control over someone's computer in an effort to sabotage information or mess up the flow of information or crash the server.

2. Criminals use computers as ways to keep up with illegal contacts, such as drug dealers. A person who steals identities may use the computer to store stolen passwords, credit card info, and other sensitive information in furtherance of an illegal act.

3. The other way in which criminals utilize the computer to further illegal acts is through the act of communication. Email accounts on a computer can be used to set up any number of unlawful acts

Internet addiction.

2010-12-12T18:27:00.000-08:00

We all enjoy the benefits of the Internet, and for many of us it is also an indispensable tool for work, education, and communication. While time spent on the Internet can be hugely productive, for some people compulsive Internet use can interfere with daily life, work and relationships.

When you feel more comfortable with your online friends than your real ones, or you can’t stop yourself from playing games, gambling, or compulsively surfing, even when it has negative consequences in your life, then you may be using the Internet too much. Learn about the signs and symptoms of Internet addiction and how you can get balance back in your online life.

What is Internet addiction or computer addiction?

Internet Addiction, otherwise known as computer addiction, online addiction, or internet addiction disorder (IAD), covers a variety of impulse-control problems, including:

Cybersex Addiction – compulsive use of Internet pornography, adult chat rooms, or adult fantasy role-play sites impacting negatively on real-life intimate relationships.
Cyber-Relationship Addiction – addiction to social networking, chat rooms and messaging to the point where virtual, online friends become more important than real-life relationships with family and friends.
Net Compulsions – such as compulsive online gaming, gambling, stock trading, or compulsive use of online auction sites such as eBay, often resulting in financial and job-related problems.
Information Overload – compulsive web surfing or database searching, leading to lower work productivity and less social interaction with family and friends.
Computer Addiction – obsessive playing of off-line computer games, such as Solitaire or Minesweeper, or obsessive computer programming.

People addicted to Internet is To relieve unpleasant and overwhelming feelings.

Risk factors for Internet addiction and computer addiction

You are at greater risk of Internet addiction if:

You suffer from anxiety.
You are depressed.
You have any other addictions.
You lack social support.
You’re an unhappy teenager, you might be wondering where you fit in and the Internet might feel more comfortable than real life friends.
You are stressed. While some people use the Internet to relieve stress, it can have a counterproductive effect. The longer you spend online, the higher your stress levels will be.

To Prevent getting Addicted to it. Here's the TIPS.

Be a good role model. Manage the Internet and computer use in your own life well.
Introduce the Internet addict to other people who handle their Internet use sensibly.
Get your friend involved in non-Internet related interests.
Talk to your friend about your concerns with their Internet use.
Support their desire for change if they think they have a problem.
Encourage them to seek professional counseling.