If you’re sharing a computer with other users and don’t want them to read certain files, you’re going to need a decent protection mechanism. Fortunately, Windows provides a built-in encryption mechanism that protects your files at the file system level.

Windows Encrypting File System provides a file encryption technology used to store encrypted files on NTFS file system. Once you encrypt a file or folder, you work with the encrypted file or folder just as you normally do. This means that you do not have to manually decrypt the encrypted file before you can use it. Continue Reading »

Web browsers are leaky faucets that are revealing email address, web sites you’ve entered, search queries and other information. This absolute invasion of your privacy is actually pretty common and there are several different ways you can take control and increase your privacy.

In this hack, we’re going to highlight 10 tips to bolster your privacy when surfing the Internet with Firefox. You can use any of these tips to add an extra layer of privacy to your browsing at work, on public computers or just on a shared computer at home. Continue Reading »

Windows remote desktop (RDP) is an extremely useful way to have access to your computer’s desktop from everywhere. Suppose you need to connect to your work computer through RDP, but your company’s IT staff configured the firewalls to block all remote connections except secure connections (e.g. SSH). This is just an example scenario where you need to tunnel remote desktop over SSH.

In this hack, we’ll show you how to tunnel remote desktop connections over SSH, and how to remotely connect any internal computer by tunneling remote desktop through the main gateway. Continue Reading »

Phishing attacks have become the epidemic in the past few years. They usually involve fraudulent web sites and email scams that try to collect sensitive information from Internet users such as account names, passwords, and credit card numbers.

To combat phishing attacks, you must know how to spot a phony web site. However, without proper knowledge, it can be very difficult to see all possible warning signs. One thing that would make your life easier is to have a utility that will automatically determine if a web site is trusted. Continue Reading »

Windows 2000 and later operating systems use the Windows Data Protection mechanism to protect private keys and stored credentials that applications and services want to keep confidential.

Each time you boot your computer, Windows uses the Startup Key to decrypt the private keys. The Startup Key is a unique key generated for each Windows installation that encrypts and decrypts local password hashes, private keys (e.g. EFS), information stored in active directory on domain controllers and the administrator password. Continue Reading »

In Windows Vista, you have limited privileges on the machine, although you’re a power user. This means that programs you run have limited permissions, and you must elevate your privileges whenever you want to perform certain administrative-tasks, such as changing system settings or installing programs. Continue Reading »

For most Internet users, defending against phishing attacks is a top priority. Typically, phishing attacks involve phony emails and fraudulent web sites that try to lure users into disclosing user names, passwords and other personal information, such as credit card numbers and social security numbers.

The damage caused by phishing attacks ranges from loss of access to your web account to identity theft. Once the personal information is obtained, the phishers may use one’s details to steal money, create fake accounts etc. Continue Reading »

Privacy and being anonymous on the Internet are large concerns and top priorities for many online users. For communicating anonymously on the Internet you use Tor. For secure communications, so that nobody can read your private information you use SSH. Combine both, and you have a secure and anonymous communication. In this hack, we’ll show you how to use Tor to anonymize your SSH connections. Continue Reading »

As more and more businesses move from legacy wireless security models, attackers are looking for new techniques to exploit wireless networks. One technique that is rapidly gaining popularity is to exploit vulnerabilities in wireless network drivers.

Most users and security managers are not aware of the security threats posed by outdated wireless drivers. Vulnerabilities in wireless drivers are extremely dangerous since client firewalls and other protection mechanisms provide little to no protection on the compromised host. Continue Reading »

As you may know, standard email is sent across the Internet as plain text, so that anyone with access to the Internet can read your private email and confidential documents. If you’re concerned about your email’s security and want to make sure that is read by its intended targets and absolutely no one else, this hack is for you.

In this hack, we’ll show you four easy steps to configure Mozilla Thunderbird email client to send encrypted emails. We’re going to use the Enigmail extension to provide public-key encryption extension to the Thunderbird email client. Continue Reading »