The Internet Threat Landscape

Various Ways of Losing Confidential Information

Did you think you will only lose personal information when you send your computer for repairs? For any data stored in the computer, there is likelihood that it might be Trojan infected or your personnel particulars stolen by hacker.

 

Many times, hackers exploit the loopholes in the browser software or flaws in the computer security settings to insert backdoor programs. Whenever we connect to the World Wide Web with our browser, we download tons of information such as pictures, text, flash animations, video clips from the websites. If these data do not seem to be what you expect it to be, there is a chance it already has certain malicious links incorporated in it. Even normal looking webpage can contain dubious contents and downloads malware to the user when the webpage is being viewed. In fact, this happens pretty frequently.

How do you reduce the risk of getting phished?

My calender just reminded me to e-file my income tax return again. Have you? 

A kind friend of mine just shared with me that we can opt-in for Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS), which offers attractive tax benefits. It is a voluntary scheme to encourage individuals to save for retirement, over and above their CPF savings. Contributions to SRS are eligible for tax relief. Investment returns will also be tax-free before withdrawal and only 50% of the withdrawals from SRS are taxable at retirement.

The following table shows the yearly maximum SRS contribution for a Singaporean/SPR and a foreigner.

	Singaporean/SPR	Foreigner
SRS Contribution rate	15%	35%
Maximum SRS contribution= SRS contribution rate X Absolute income base	(15% x $76,500) = $11,475	(35% x $76,500) = $26,775

Source: Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore

The current absolute income base is $76,500. This is based on 17 months of $4,500, which is the current CPF monthly salary ceiling.

This sounds like a great deal indeed especially if you have some spare cash in the bank. Anyway, click on the link above to find out more at the IRAS website. 

A gentle reminder from me. Just be wary of fake websites from the nasty phishers when you surf online or submit an online form!

Below is a sharing by Christopher Talampas on how phishers hack into legitimate websites, create spoof sites and steal confidential information. Find out more about the security policies and practices that help ensure attacks like this don’t happen!

What if you receive an email, reporting of a bomb blast in Chinatown?

I always thought that spamming is just sending junk emails to my mailbox. After reading this blog post from Jake Soriano, I learned that there are very sophisticated spamming techniques that will make a spam more personalised and believable. 

Did Online Gaming Kill the NTU Student?

The recent report about the NTU student who has stabbed his professor and then jumped to his death has invited a lot of attention from parents. Why? Because it was reported that he is an avid and skilled computer gamer... Today, a lot of parents are able to associate themselves with the sad news...

I heard an interview on radio last week that motivated me to write this. The interviewee, a mother, was really concerned about her son indulging in online gaming. According to her, he gets violent whenever he is interrupted while gaming. As a result of his addiction, he gets very little sleep, causing him to neglect school. His school work deteriorated...

I can only think of two ways to resolve such issue...

New DOWNAD Generates More URLs!

The WORM_DOWNAD.KK malware seems like a hot topic these days. Here's another discussion on the malware, and Trend Micro Advanced Threats Researcher Paul Ferguson says that blocking these domains is almost impossible not only because of the daily volume, but also because there is a high possibility of legitimate domain collisions where DOWNAD generates domains already in use by legitimate entities.

Does it matter if I have the Trojan Horse virus as I do not have important documents in my computer?

Actually, as long as the computer is infected, it can potentially result in huge losses. You may think that the data in your computer is not worth much; however, a hacker can use your computer as a platform for his illegal acts. As a result, you get involved in police inquiry and bring tremendous disturbance to yourself to prove your innocence, as their investigations showed your IP address being involved.

Hence, even if you have done nothing wrong, you may still need to spend lots of effort to prove that your computer is indeed being used by a hacker as a springboard. Failure to do so may bring you even more distress. Do not think there is nothing in your PC that is worth hacking into. Unless you have zero transactions on the internet, else a hacker can also use your (eg. online auction) account and mislead other users to trade with you, while transferring the cash to his own. For such a situation, you will still be the highlight of the investigations as your IP, auction account, and email address are used for the transaction when you are infected with a backdoor program. There are actually more information in your PC than what you think, that can be used by a hacker for his unlawful activities.

Download free internet security software to protect you against Trojan Horse infection!

WORM_Downad.KK – Activates on April Fool’s Day

A computer virus is believed to be activated on April Fool's Day. 

While kids are planning to play on prank on one anther on April Fool's day, hackers are also waiting to activate the WORM_DOWNAD.KK  malware, which believed to have infected more than 15million computers! The clock is ticking... 

Security Policy for Dummies - how to avoid WORM_DOWNAD infection

How would you explain to your boss if you have caused all the company’s computers to be infected with a virus as a result of choosing a simple default password like “123456” for all your company’s computers and servers? Everyone should be able to avoid a mistake like that.

e-Filing Income Tax Return - Are you protected against Internet Threats?

My internet savvy friends were sharing the benefits and convenience of e-filing the YA2009 Income Tax Return, and how it has made life easier. I had no choice but to be the party spoiler by sharing with them the possible internet threats that await them. Once again, I re-establish the fact that most internet users still do not understand and remain gullible towards internet threats. (if you cannot articulate the difference between an Anti-virus and Internet Security software, you should continue to read this post)

To clarify, I am not saying that going to the secured IRAS website to e-file your income tax return is dangerous and will expose you to malwares. What I would like to advise everyone to be wary of are the cyber criminals who leverage on the topic on e-filing tax return, create a fake bad websites and lure you into accessing them. Such tactic is commonly known as Phishing.

The article written by Verna Sagum below shows good examples of how Phishers trick victims into providing user information at spoofed web pages.

To ensure that you do not become a victim of phishing, there are free tools that will help to access links to ensure that they are not bad websites in disguise. 

Find out more...

Security In Recession

The previous time that my fingers turned blue from writing, was way back in my primary school days. Recently, Robert, an Ireland colleague, was experiencing the same effect while typing a mere 700 word article. Why would such a short article have such prowess? I guess it is pretty cold in Ireland. Even then, Robert was working within the comfort of his office tower. Sigh.. I guess this is due to the recent world financial crisis (which resulted in aggressive energy saving policies). When Robert was working on the article below, the heater unit in his office tower was set at 5 degrees lower than normal. In his article below, he talks about strict controls on IT budgets, and also his opinions on how leakage of confidential information can be more prominent during times of recession.