Internet Safety Security and other assorted tricks

Superman · Admin Number of posts: 224 Age: 59 Registration date: 2006-12-29

Hi all,

I went and promised Internet Security and here is where I start making good on that promise. 1st. The need for it. We are an on line community that is a part of a Global on line culture. If you weren’t a part of that culture you wouldn’t be reading this now. This help is intended for the good guys but as it’s out in the open like as not the bad guys will look at it too likely taking notes. Not that it will do them all that much good as learning how to protect things doesn’t show you any ways to take them apart. Since I started the statement leading to this I have gotten 2 replies of particular note. 1 from 1 of the good guys identifying himself as a trained IT specialist and a 2^nd inquiring about particular help for apple computers. Now I do not claim any sort of school training and I know very little about apple computers. I got started on commodore computers and went to IBM format from there. Also as egotistical as I am I make no claims about knowing it all or being the only one capable of a decent idea. So any that wish to contribute to this are more than welcome to do so. Just so you’ll know when I state something as a fact it’s because it is one not just because I say it is. When I state an opinion I’ll say in my opinion and usually explain why it is. So if I get 1 wrong opinion wise feel free to let me know but when you do please be civil. While I’m a great believer in freedom of speech I also require and expect a certain civility in answers along with a minimum of profanity. Eventually my part in this along with the responses it elicits will be edited and placed in multiple locations. So keeping it clean will get it put in more places. Now as a starting point here are a few of my opinions. 1. Stand Alone (user made sites) are the way to go. That way you aren’t dependent on any but you and or your group and you have control of the site and the situation. Linking your site into another is 1 thing but making it a sub site as in ning.com is quite another. The Signal Light Foundation http://answerthecall.ning.com/ was briefly down undergoing a facelift for a new look. As a result all sub groups appended to it have gone poof including the 1 I made. So profit from my mistake there and make your own stand-alone group. For those with limited web page making skills I offer my assistance on line free of charge. I can teach you how to make a web site of unlimited size on line utilizing free space. As the instruction is also free you have a net cost of nothing cash wise and a darn good looking site to boot. If you can find a better deal than that let me know and I’ll go there too getting in line behind you. 2. Save out the code for your site and anything else on line you value to off line. In case you haven’t heard there are bad guys out there who will delight in messing with you just because they can. Now I use ZIP DISKS and CD-ROM’s for mine. It doesn’t matter so much what you use but that you use it and save out your work often. I don’t care how damm good someone is or claims to be there’s no way they can get to stuff saved out and sitting in a box beside your computer. When you have your site all saved out you can also put it in several different locations creating on line backups covering them by use of a URL forwarder masker which we will cover later on. 3. Now to e-mail security. I have been absolutely amazed at how many trying to maintain a secret identity have a e-mail address leading right back to their civilian ID. How long would Batman have a secret identity if all of his e-mails went to WayneInterprizes.com? So if your identity is supposed to be secret use a different and usually free e-mail service for it. Preferably a different one than the 1 used for your secret identity to avoid cross contamination. When sending out e-mails try to avoid sending them to yahoo e-mail addresses. If you open up the full e-mail header on a yahoo e-mail (most usually don’t) you’ll see the IP address where said e-mail originated. That’s giving possible enemies the 1^st clue they will need to track you down. There are other ways of locating an IP address but there’s no sense making it easy for them. There is a simple way around this. You open up an e-mail address using the free e-mail service maintained by zzn.com. For some reason this particular service generates a different IP address that where you actually are. Now I’m not sure why it does and to be truthful I really don’t care why. But for purposes of concealment it works well. When I Made the Earth Agents site http://earthagents.official.ws/ I included a zzn e-mail service there to address this very situation. Now the only way I will ever know you have a address like NAME\@earthagents.zzn.com is if you send me a letter from it. Despite the form letters it sends out the whole thing is automated. If you want and are willing to do the work you can blend in a zzn e-mail service into any site you make. This will have to do for a part one as I have relatives visiting from Illinois. I’ll be adding and annotating as replies etc come in and time permits.

Superman

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Superman · Admin Number of posts: 224 Age: 59 Registration date: 2006-12-29

Internet help Part 2

Well for those who care I had a nice visit with my family and they are back home safe and sound. It does point out the need to have backups in people as well as sites and equipment. There would have been no way to function effectively with the Sentinels while they were here. When I got another look at the revamped signal light it was readily apparent that the inmates / wannabes/ trolls had taken over the asylum. That kind of emphasizes the need for stand-alone places on line. As far as the current RLSH set up on line goes I see several things that need improvement in order for the movement to survive and flourish. Most of the sites set up on line seem to be for 1 set of heroes or hero groups to impress another and they are usually put in places like my space and ning.com where you pretty much have to be a member in order to see what’s going on. Many of these sites are so full of flash animations and such that they take way too long to load and don’t work on many of the lower end machines out there. This is not a popularity contest people! There is a whole underclass of folks out there in need of our help and most don’t have the resources or personal equipment to join groups on line. Now if all you want to do is make a golly whiz site with all the bells and whistles to show how clever you are to all your on line buddies go for it and brand yourself forever as the preening wannabe you truly are to all the real heroes. If however you are serious about helping folks here are some things to remember. K.I.S.S. or Keep it simple stupid. The more complex a site is the fewer lower end machines it will run on and the longer it will take to load on any machine. Many of those who will need us the most have little to no computer skills or they wouldn’t be the disenfranchised underclass in the first place. When they do get on line it will be with brain damaged pieces of computer crud like WEB TV’s or publicly available computers in libraries, Internet Cafes, and public Kiosks. Most of these aren’t up to date and just won’t run many of the things we take for granted on our machines. It doesn’t matter how good a site is if it can’t be accessed and understood by its intended audience. Later on we will be getting into the things you need to make a secure site. I digress but many so called heroes on line seem to want to stick their collective heads in the sand when it comes to facing down computer hackers / bad guys. I hear things like "If we ignore / placate them they will eventually lose interest and go away". For those who act that way and we all know who they are, I say either find some courage or get your happy butt out of the hero business because you have no place in it. These are bad guys people and aren’t heroes in the business of kicking bad guy butt? I know I am whenever and wherever I find them. Most of these on line cyber bullies are 1 trick ponies with little or no actual skill. Even if they were the Mega-Hackers you see on TV and in the Movies the worst they could do is screw with your computer. If you are scared of opposition on line God help you if you run into a bad guy in the real world. Like as not we need a multinational group of talented individuals dedicated to protecting folks on line and educating them so they can surf the net safely. This applies especially to those on line predators that go after little kids. I’d tell you my feelings about them but I’m trying to keep this profanity free. Presently there is no such a group on line . As heroes who also have computers some of us ( especially hero support techies and injured folks and the less than physically fit for whatever reason) should look into forming just such a group. As always I’d appreciateyour commentson part 2 the same as on part 1,

Superman

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This looks like a job for...Superman!!! Up Up and Away!!!