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Identity theft, hacking of financial accounts, and even illegal surveillance by governments are major concerns to anyone who is informed regarding electronic security. Our 'leaders', as usual, go about bragging how their ever-greater control of everything will make you safe… and that you should just trust them and just go back to sleep. And, as usual, their solution is generating some very nasty unexpected consequences.
Although globetrotting (both in real life and in the virtual world) opens up many opportunities, it also has its own set of unique problems. In The Q Wealth Report, we frequently examine these issues, together with high-tech but user friendly solutions designed with two simple things in mind: your privacy and your security. We understand that our members are mostly technology users but not experts, so our mission is to explain everything at a simple yet sophisticated level. What the intelligent person needs to know about Privacy Proptection Technology…
To find a solution, first analyze the threat
Computer crime used to be the province of angry, nasty hackers, who
stole credit card numbers and sold them on eBay-type platforms. But,
those days are mostly gone. The growing attention of banks, police,
consumer saviors, and credit card processors drove the hackers to the
mafias, and forced them to work together.
Today, the goal for stolen data is quality. The payoff comes in massive
credit card frauds, operating illegal businesses, emptying bank accounts,
blackmail, and associated organized criminal activities.
Stolen data is seldom traded anymore. Instead it goes to data refineries,
where large blocks of data are upgraded by using additional data for
cross referencing. Then, specific persons or firms are targeted for
additional data theft if they look interesting.
The critical factors here are cross-referencing and unique identifiers (for
example Social Security Numbers). In other words, the mafias need
verified data. And the best verified data comes from… you guessed it…
Governments! Government data is fantastically valuable to the mafias. It
is very accurate, seldom outdated, comes in large packages, and it comes
with unique identifiers.
By fighting against privacy and for "consumer protection," the
governments of the world have created a system that is prone to high
scale, high volume, coordinated attacks, which are perfect for mafia
groups. And, make no mistake, this is big business. The 2007 SANS report
pegged the profits from cyber-crime at $180 Billion! (Illegal drugs came
in at only $140 Billion.)
The Coming Windfall for the Cybercrime Mafias
If you think cyber-crime is bad now, just wait until government
control-freaks get their new ID schemes into place. Things like
Biometric Passports, Real ID in the USA, or the
National ID card scheme
in the UK. It stands to get much worse.
Biometric ID is the Holy Grail of cyber-crime; the dream gift of
mobsters everywhere. With it, the crooks will get ultra-rich, buy up all
sorts of assets, and quite possibly crash the consumer credit system
altogether.
By optimizing central control, governments have created a perfect
environment for cyber-crime. And they are working overtime to make it
even better.
The one technology that would massively reduce cyber-crime is anonymous
digital cash. No information to read means no information to steal and
abuse.
Protecting Your Identity Online
Protecting your online life is fairly easily accomplished, and the cost
is some in the range of one dollar per day. But before we get to
solutions, you really should understand the situation you face.
Probably the biggest single threat is your email. Your emails are like
an open book. They contain many details of your business and your family
life, and are notoriously insecure. For that reason, they are a prime target for people who want to spy on you. Who you communicate and do
business with are no one's business but your own. Because of this, you
should set up your email to be truly secure.
There are three primary threats to e-mail privacy:
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Outsiders being able to read your messages.
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Outsiders being able to see with whom you are communicating, even if
they cannot read the messages.
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Outsiders and Recipients of your mail being able to see your physical
location or other non-public personal information.
All of these can be addressed.
Introducing Encryption
There is just one standard, serious encryption program used almost
universally by everybody who is concerned with Internet privacy. It is
called PGP, short for Pretty Good Privacy. This is a program which can
be downloaded from www.pgp.com or
www.pgpi.org and is relatively simple
to use. PGP has a track record that goes way back before Windows® even
existed, and it's trusted by the most hard core privacy geeks. We highly
recommend it. There are free versions floating around the web, which
work perfectly for most applications, as well as GnuPG, a free (Open
Source) equivalent.
We advise you to take an hour or two to visit
www.pgp.com and/or
www.gnupg.org Download the software and install it. There are versions
for Windows, Mac, Linux and other operating systems. In case you are
wondering how to use it, it comes with quite comprehensible instructions.
It's easy.
PGP doesn't solve the whole problem
There is a flaw with using simple PGP encryption. Yes, the message may
be encrypted so that nobody but the intended recipient can read it. But
anyone who intercepts the message can still see who it is going from,
and who it is going to. And not just that, but anyone who intercepts the
message can also see where the sender is geographically located, right
down to your local Internet company (who have records which are
traceable directly to where you are connecting from).
This is due to the IP address (Internet Protocol address) Every single
computer connected to the Internet has an IP address, and on normal
e-mail that address is shown in the headers (that you won't not normally
see.)
Internet companies have a habit of storing all the e-mails you send and
receive. PGP encryption will stop them from reading these mails, but
they will still have copies of all the headers which can reveal who and
where you are.
The Cryptohippie service which we recommend below has a feature that
strips all of the identifying information from your emails. We'll get to
that in a moment.
How to Secure Your Web Browsing
Besides email, the other application people use most on the Internet is
web browsing (for computer dummies, that's what you are doing now!) To
remain safe here, you have to buy access to a secure network.
But first, you should know this: All websites log each and every access.
Even if you just view an introductory home page such as this one, your
'IP' (Internet Protocol) address is logged. Your IP address can be
traced back to your real world home address. Most site administrators do
precisely nothing with this information they have on you. It is mainly
used for statistical purposes, such as "from what part of the world are
people visiting our swell website?"
But if someone is watching either you, or a particular website you have
logged on to, that information is out there. Who knows when one of those
mafia data refineries may link it to some other bit of info they have
picked up on you.
A good secure network acts as your proxy. In other words, it takes your
instructions (such as "get me the homepage of www.offshorebank.com"),
executes them for you and sends the pages you request back to you. To
the machine on the far end, where the information you are viewing is
actually kept, only your proxy's information appears. You are anonymous!
As with email, free, anonymous proxy services are always available on
the net, but, DO NOT USE THEM. You want someone who has something to
lose by providing bad service or stealing (or maybe just "losing") your
information.
We recommend
Cryptohippie. The protection is simply superior to any
other provider, at any price. Over the years we have tried and tested
many similar systems. Some of them we have recommended to our clients.
Our colleagues at Quester Press and Geodex once sold a Computer Security
Kit. We haven't had time to bring that up to date yet, but we're working
on it.
But in our view, if you need a privacy solution right now, Cryptohippie
is the best out there. The cost is just €199 for a year's subscription,
or under a dollar a day. A small price to pay for privacy and security.
You will have to install software on your machine, but the process takes
only a few minutes.
Seven Strategies to keep your Surfing Safe
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This is obvious, but never keep your password (whether for your online
bank account or your e-mail account) near your computer or stored on
your hard drive. And don't make it easy to guess…
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Before using any online service, check its privacy policy. In response
to pressure from consumers and government agencies, the vast majority of
commercial websites now post their information-collecting policies on
site. Our privacy policy,
for example, can be seen
here.
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Assume that your communications are not private unless you are using
powerful encryption software as discussed above.
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Install an anti-virus program on your computer, and perform regular
updates and checks.
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Install an anti-spyware program on your computer, and perform regular
updates and checks.
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Use a Mac or Linux machine if possible. They are safer.
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Get a subscription to
The Q Wealth Report and the free
Q Bytes email updates, so you can be sure to keep on top of any changes and updates to
this article.
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