[ISN] Simple steps can prevent e-fraud: Specialist

From: InfoSec News <alerts_at_private>
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:38:09 -0500 (CDT)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/kolkata-/Simple-steps-can-prevent-e-fraud-Specialist/articleshow/4921062.cms

[Any guesses which classified international intelligence agency 
Ankit Fadia is working with? I'll place my bets its listed below...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Fictional_intelligence_agencies - WK]


The Times of India
22 August 2009

KOLKATA: In June, Praveen Rai in Mumbai saw his coffers swell by Rs 
90,000 while Akhilesh Bagla a Kolkata businessman sat baffled as the 
same amount exited his bank account overnight. Though Bagla had done 
nothing apart from some e-banking, Rai sitting on India's other coast 
had successfully hacked into the businessman's account, to commit 
possibly the first e-fraud in the city.

Although the rise in online presence and transactions pose a potential 
risk to users, there are ways to safeguard your identity and information 
on the internet, ethical hacker and cyber security expert Ankit Fadia 
explained in the city on Friday.

"There are solutions that can substantially reduce the risk. Installing 
a firewall for your personal computer, as well as installing a good 
anti-virus and anti-spyware can provide significant protection," Fadia 
said. He was speaking at a seminar at the Heritage Institute of 
Technology.

"It is a misconception that firewalls are only for corporate use. Using 
them on your personal computer can mean that criminals have a harder 
time trying to access your personal information," he revealed, while 
adding that regular updates for operating systems, anti-virus and 
anti-spyware softwares were essential.

Fadia also recommended the use of strong individual passwords for each 
website or online service by using a combination of alphabets, numbers 
and special characters. "It's not good having your name followed by your 
birthday as a password for protecting vital information. You should also 
instal and use a key scrambler, so that your typing patterns cannot be 
copied or tracked," he said.

On the cyber terrorism front, Fadia who had worked with international 
intelligence agencies in the aftermath of 9/11 said terror organisations 
were now improvising email accounts to exchange information.

"Terrorists can sign into a single email account from different parts of 
the world and save their messages in the draft form, which the others 
can then access. As the email never leaves the server, it becomes 
increasingly difficult for security agencies to track these 
conversations," he said.


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Received on Mon Aug 24 2009 - 22:38:09 PDT

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