Scroogle is a front end to google that encrypts the connection to google and prevents google from recording personally identifiable information.

Check it out:  https://ssl.scroogle.org/

Goggle has developed a new web browser called Chrome. We advise anyone who values their privacy to stay away from this browser. A look at the licensing agreement tells it all:

“[Y]ou give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display,”

Say what?

That’s right “Your browsing are belong to us”

Unfortunately, someday, somehow, someway, somebody may get a hold of your browsing history and your search history, possibly including “unique identifier” and IP address and exact time of the search.  Not good.

And Google is not alone in this,  as most search engines do the same. 

We recommend ixquick.com. The web search engine that respects YOUR privacy.

(awarded the European Privacy Seal)

Extra added bonus!  ixquick also provides access via secure server, so mot only do they not store your search queries, you can encrypt the connection with SSL.

http://ixquick.com  or

https://ixquick.com (SSL encrypted link)

And hey, it also works very well.  Quality seach results.

The bad news is that, Yes, AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition must be upgraded to version 8 by May 29, 2008.

The good news is that AVG Free is still free.  Now that may seem redundant, but lots of folks thought AVG Free was going away when they had to upgrade to version 7.0.  In fact, ever one of my customers who were using AVG free at that time, thought they had to pay for the new version.  Not true then, and not true now.

AVG Free Version is still alive and well.  Just download AVG Free, version 8 before May 29 and install it.  There is no need to uninstall version 7.5 before installing version 8.   The installation routine will find your old version and uninstall it automatically.

The following link will take you to the download page:  http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe

Adobe Flash Player is one of the apps that we recommend that users upgrade to the latest version ASAP, because of security vulnerabilities.

Check to see if you have the latest version at the following link:

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_15507

Jeremiah Grossman is the founder and Chief Technology Officer of WhiteHat Security.  His blog site is a good resource for security related knowledge, therefore we are adding his blog to our official Blogroll.

To see why it is  so very important to secure your wireless network with WPA security, as well as taking some other simple precautions, such as naming your network in a way that is not personally identifiable, check out this YouTube video:

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A88XB7_Jz7s

Keeping Windows up to date is critical for maintaining a secure computer.  But downloading all those updates over a slow connection can be an onerous time consuming task.  Let alone hours of busy signals on you phone line.  Follow this link to PCmag.com instructions on how to transfer the required updates from a fast connection to a slow connection via a flash drive or CD.

 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2017577,00.asp

Google, and other search engines may know much more about your search habits than you want them to know.  At least Google has responded to privacy concerns and provided a way to control, and even to erase your search history.  A good article on the subject can be found at the PC Magazine web site at the following link:

 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2089112,00.asp

 Carnegie Mellon University has produced a little phishing game to test you skills at spotting fake Internet addresses (URL’s).

The game can be accessed at the following address:

http://cups.cs.cmu.edu/antiphishing_phil/

TOR, AKA “The Onion Router”, is described on their web site as follows:

Using Tor can help you anonymize web browsing and publishing, instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications that use the TCP protocol. Tor also provides a platform on which software developers can build new applications with built-in anonymity, safety, and privacy features.

But several security issues have been raised recently with the TOR, and a number of security professionals believe TOR should not be relied upon to provide secure communications or anonymous web browsing.

In fact, TOR provides this warning on their download page:

Warning: Want Tor to really work?
…then please don’t just install it and go on. You need to change some of your habits, and reconfigure your software! Tor by itself is NOT all you need to maintain your anonymity. There are several major pitfalls to watch out for.

Tor only protects Internet applications that are configured to send their traffic through Tor — it doesn’t magically anonymize all your traffic just because you install it. We recommend you use Firefox with the Torbutton extension.

Browser plugins such as Java, Flash, ActiveX, RealPlayer, Quicktime, Adobe’s PDF plugin, and others can be manipulated into revealing your IP address. You should probably uninstall your plugins (go to “about:plugins” to see what is installed), or investigate QuickJava, FlashBlock, and NoScript if you really need them. Consider removing extensions that look up more information about the websites you type in (like Google toolbar), as they may bypass Tor and/or broadcast sensitive information. Some people prefer using two browsers (one for Tor, one for unsafe browsing).

Beware of cookies: if you ever browse without Tor and Privoxy and a site gives you a cookie, that cookie could identify you even when you start using Tor again. You should clear your cookies frequently. CookieCuller can help protect any cookies you do not want to lose.

Tor anonymizes the origin of your traffic, and it encrypts everything inside the Tor network, but it can’t encrypt your traffic between the Tor network and its final destination. If you are communicating sensitive information, you should use as much care as you would on the normal scary Internet — use SSL or other end-to-end encryption and authentication.

While Tor blocks attackers on your local network from discovering or influencing your destination, it opens new risks: malicious or mis-configured Tor exit nodes can send you the wrong page, or even send you embedded Java applets disguised as domains you trust.

Also, the ‘exit servers’ on the TOR network can easily be compromised, and all traffic through an exit router can be misused, as evidenced in the following article:
http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11486?ref=rss

In other words, even if you use TOR, secure communications requires careful configuration and the use of encryption and a secure pipe, such as SSL or VPN. And, as evident in the above article, you may indeed be less secure using the TOR network than when using other means of secure communications because TOR may give users a false sense of anonymity or security.

For secure email, we recommend using an email service that allows full SSL encryption for the entire session, not just the login page. And if you use email through a hosted web site, we recommend that you contact the host and ask if their email is secure or can be made secure. Many cannot.

We recommend any of the following options:

• HushMail, is one of the best.
• Alternatively, Gmail can be made secure if you log in using SSL, as in “https://gmail.google.com”.
• Or set up an Exchange Server account. We recommend Mailstreet, and use it locally or online.
• Or use a secure email installation on your computer. We recommend Ciphire Mail. (for maximum protection, both sender and reciever must be using Ciphire.) Ciphire can secure email using most any email client, such as Outlook.