(Copying and pasting from my other Facebook post) This article rather unfairly makes Tor our to be some shady blackhat tool. This is not true. Tor has many legitimate uses, including uses by our own military. Actually, Tor was originally developed with the U.S. Navy in mind, for the primary purpose of protecting government communications. Today its available and usable by anyone. Its used by internet activists and journalists, especially those living under oppressive regimes. Its also used to avoid internet censorship in countries such as China and Egypt. It is not blackhat software and it is most certainly not maleware infested. You can read more about Tor (and yes, download it) from their official website here: https://torproject.org/ The website is perfectly safe. Dont be intimidated by this article saying dont be curious, stay away from this evil piece of software. Its good to at least learn about it and educate yourself on how it works. (Side note: Many months back, the FBI did actually exploit a now fixed vulnerability in a version of FIREFOX that the Tor browser BUNDLE (not Tor itself) used to track and monitor people using the service. This isnt actually truly relevant though.) Regarding the websites this article is talking about now, these websites existed long before Tor. They were simply hosted on foreign networks and utilized via general proxies instead of Tor. Dont think this is a new problem /created/ by Tor, because its not. Tor offers anonymity. It is a pretty powerful and very widely used tool in this regard. Anonymity can be used for both good and evil. So can the internet in general. These websites will exist for as long as the internet exists, just like underground criminal organizations in the real world will always be lurking somewhere in the shadows. In countries where you actually have to fear for your life if you do or post anything speaking out against your own government, or where the government attempts to heavily censor all news sources, anonymity tools like Tor can become vital. --- As for staying safe online, I could probably go on about this for hours if I wanted, but there are some key points to make here. Most of the time getting a virus or having one of your bank accounts compromised is (at least partially) your fault. Harsh reality. A lot of people like to say they became a victim and there was nothing they could have done to prevent it. They didnt click that link to a phishing website in an e-mail, or they didnt download that fake anti-virus software from an internet pop-up. People like to convince themselves that they are the victim and arent at any fault. This is rarely true Im afraid. Many people have their computers compromised by following phishing links sent to them in e-mails. There are several key ways to identify phishing e-mails. Yahoo! has a decent writeup on avoiding them here: https://safety.yahoo/Security/PHISHING-SITE.html Aside from this, its important to stay on top of your finances. Monitor your accounts, dont just set up automatic billing and trash your bank statements every month. Its not that hard. Dont say you dont have enough time, thats just being lazy, youre not /that/ busy. Keep a lookout for any suspicious transactions. Set up e-mail/text alerts to notify you of large or foreign card transactions, most credit card providers offer this service. For processing online transactions, the advice not to link your Debit Card online is good advice. If your credit card is compromised, its usually relatively easy to deal with. Call your card company and notify them of the unauthorized transactions, theyll cancel your card and almost always process a full reversal of the charge without question as long as youre prompt in reporting it. With debit cards, its usually not so easy. Some banks offer a feature for generating virtual cards that can be used online however. You can generate these, use them once for an online transaction, then immediately cancel them. This is one of the safest ways to process credit card transactions online. You can call your bank and ask if they offer this feature. Lastly, I strongly recommend staying on top of your credit as well as your finances. You can request a free credit report from TransUnion, Equifax and Experian once per year. Take advantage of this and review your credit reports for inaccuracies every year, https://annualcreditreport/index.action On top of that, I recommend signing up for a service such as Credit Sesame, which offers you free monthly credit score updates as well as basic credit tracking services. They can notify you any time a new account is opened under your name, its also a good tool for staying on top of your credit score if none of your current credit card companies offer this feature. csesa.me/?r=HQQLBeTLZ
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 08:50:12 +0000
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