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Internet Alerts

Watch out for Hidden Browser Helper Objects

A Browser Helper Object, or BHO, is a program that runs automatically every time you start your Internet browser. Usually, a BHO is installed on your system by another software program.

What do BHOs do? The answer is "anything", but generally, it will have something to do with "helping" you browse the Internet.

Many BHOs are "ad-ware" or "spyware": they do things like monitor the websites you visit and report this data back to their creators."

They often conflict with other running programs, causing such problems as page faults, run time errors, and slow down or hinder your surfing. As a matter of fact, I couldn't access certain parts of our on-line site-building software because I had a BHO on my system

One of the best tools for sniffing out, viewing and disabling BHOs is BHODemon.

It can be downloaded here

For more information visit Spyware Info

URGENT: Beware of "Phishing"

"Phishing" is rampant on the internet. Say you get an email from your bank asking you to confirm your indentity for their new security system. The email looks like others you've gotten from them. The link to their website looks good. But it might be all bogus. If you provide your Social Security Number or other personal identifying information, you could end up a victim of identity theft. In order to get a better handle on how to identify "phishing", click here and test your IQ.

More on Phishing- Keyloggers

In recent months, the researchers at security software company Websense detected a rise in schemes involving malicious programs known as keyloggers, according to the March phishing trends report released Wednesday by the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

The technology, which records the keystrokes of people using infected

machines, could be designed to help phishers stay one step ahead of honest folk. In the past, attackers have relied mainly on e-mail messages that lure victims to malicious Web sites, where they are duped into disclosing logins and usernames for banking sites and other sensitive online accounts. The messages are typically spoofed to look like they come the bank or other trusted provider.

The keylogger programs are built specifically to capture login names and passwords for online bank accounts and to send them to the attackers, Websense Security Labs said. They typically exploit vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser program.

http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-5695874.html