Originally posted on January 27, 2004 @ 4:46 pm

Almost every device that connects and communicates on the Internet is doing so over TCP/IP and thus uses an IP address. If you’re reading this article online, you have an IP address. IP addresses are allotted to Internet service providers (ISPs) and distributed to your PC each time you connect to the Internet. It’s how you communicate online, and it’s also how you are tracked.

If you commit a crime online (please don’t) you’ll be tracked by law enforcement using your IP address. The ISP gets subpoenaed, and it turns over the record of who was using that particular IP address at that given time.

Learn from hackers

How do hackers keep from getting caught? One trick is to use anonymous proxy servers, which are servers that sits between a client (you), and the Web server on the Internet that’s providing information for the page you are viewing. The proxy acts like a shield that hides the fact that your computer made the data request. Instead, the Web server sees the request as coming from the proxy.

A hacker connects through multiple proxy servers and then performs whatever evil deed he’s planning. The user’s compromised computer reports the anonymous proxy server to law enforcement.

Now, I know none of you will be using this application to perform crimes. But it can be a great way to surf the Web anonymously. Internet Anonym changes anonymous proxy servers every few seconds, keeping your connection 100 percent anonymous.

Download a free trial version of Internet Anonym

If you like the trial version, the retail version of Steganos Internet Anonym is $29. A pro version is also available for $49.

Originally posted on March 1, 2004 @ 9:05 pm

Tonight’s hack post… how to create hack-proof passwords so you can feel safe about your computer.

Tips to create hack-proof passwords:

1. Never, ever use whole words. If the word exists in the dictionary, it can be easily hacked.

2. Combine special symbols with numbers and upper and lowercase characters. Examples: n$iK@07 or 8*neB#kc.

3. Make sure your passwords are at least six to eight characters.

You’ve followed my tips, and now you have a hack-proof password. The problem is that your cryptic passwords are hard to remember. Seriously, are you really going to remember “n$iK@07”? I’m not. You need somewhere to store your passwords.

Password management:

If you’re like me, you have a dozen or so passwords for various websites, applications, networks, and so on. Now that you’ve changed each password using my tips, you need someplace to store them. Safely.

I recommend and use the following: Password Safe. This is an open-source project, a database that encrypts each individual password.

The Pros: Since it’s an open-source project, anyone can look at the source code of the application (there are no hidden backdoors), based on strong Blowfish encryption, auto-generates strong passwords, free.

The Cons: Interface needs work

Originally posted on March 4, 2004 @ 2:49 pm

What motivates a computer criminal? The answer is: MEECES. What does MEECES stand for?

Money: Stolen credit cards become currency for certain crime rings and social groups of carders who trade them for access to other compromised credit card databases.

Ego: Spanning the entire spectrum of the community from black hat to white hat hackers, ego is the drive to solve a problem, look inside the code, see how something works, and then get it to do something it wasn’t created to do.

Entertainment: The bored teenager syndrome is not as strong as in the days of big disk drives and mainframes, but it remains a motivator. “You’ll still see a hacker break into a system, trash it up and sit back and watch the system administrator scurry around trying to save it,” Kilger says.

Cause: Think hactivism, mostly Web site defacements and distributed denial-of-service attacks for politics and ideologies.

Entrance into social groups: Hackers achieve this by sharing their successful break-ins with the groups they want to be included in.

Status: This is the strongest motivator among all hackers, crackers and carders because their main emphasis is on skills. The higher profile the target, the higher their status.