Security breaches and password leaks happen constantly on today’s Internet. LinkedIn, Yahoo, Last.fm, eHarmony – the list of compromised websites is long. If you want to know whether your account information was leaked, there are some tools you can use.
These leaks often lead to many compromised accounts on other websites. However, you can protect yourself by using unique passwords everywhere – if you do, password leaks won’t be a threat to you.
Image Credit: Johan Larsson on Flickr
Why Password Leaks Are Dangerous
Password leaks are so dangerous because many people use the same password for multiple websites. If you register for a website with your email address and provide the same password you use for your email account, that email/password combination may be present on a list somewhere.
Crackers can then use this email/password combination to gain access to your email account. Even if you use a different password for your email account, they may try the email or account name and password combination on other websites to gain access to your other accounts.
For example, crackers recently compromised over 11,000 Guild Wars 2 accounts. They didn’t use keyloggers or compromise the game’s servers – they just tried logging in using email address and password combinations found on lists of leaked passwords. Players who reused a password that had already been leaked were compromised. The same will happen for other services that crackers want to gain access to.
How To Protect Yourself
To protect yourself against future leaks, ensure you use different passwords on each website – and ensure they’re long, strong passwords. Otherwise, a compromise at one website could lead to your accounts elsewhere being compromised. While compromised websites will generally inform you of the leak and have you change your password immediately, this won’t help much if you’re using the same password on many other websites.
Remembering unique passwords for all the different websites we use can be difficult, which is why password managers can be so useful. We like LastPass, but many people swear byKeePass, which keeps you in control of your data.
Read More:
Checking If Your Password Was Leaked
If you’re curious whether your email address appears on one of these leaked password lists, you don’t have to find a shady download site and download the lists yourself. Instead, you can use a tool that quickly checks for you.
PwnedList is a good one. LastPass now uses PwnedList to monitor whether LastPass account email addresses become compromised. For example, if your LastPass account email address is you@example.com, you’ll get a notification if you@example.com appears on any lists of leaked email addresses and passwords. This only applies to the single email address you use for your LastPass account, not every address you have in your LastPass vault.
If you want to check an email address manually, you can use PwnedList’s website. Plug in an email address and PwnedList will tell you whether it appears on any leaked lists. (Note that you can also enter SHA-512 hashes of your email address if you don’t trust PwnedList with your email address – you can use a tool such as this one to generate a SHA-512 hash.)
If your email address does appear on a list, don’t panic – this just means you should ensure you’re not reusing the same passwords on multiple websites. If you use the same password everywhere and your email address appears on one (or more) of these lists, you have a problem – you should change your passwords immediately.
LastPass also hosts some tools that allow you to see whether a specific password appears on the leaked lists of LinkedIn or Last.fm passwords. You can actually plug passwords in and see if someone was using them. The results show how weak many passwords are – plug in “password123” and you can see that at least one person was using it as their LinkedIn password.
Your email account is the center of your online security – websites generally allow you to change your password as long as you can click a link in an email. If someone else gains access to your email account, it can be game over for your other accounts. Read How To Recover After Your Email Password Is Compromised for more tips on protecting yourself.
We’ve covered several solutions for accessing your desktop remotely over the Internet, including TeamViewer and VNC. However, if you have a Professional edition of Windows, you already have Windows Remote Desktop installed.
By default, Windows Remote Desktop will only work on your local network. To access Remote Desktop over the Internet, you’ll need to use a VPN or forward ports on your router.
Before you continue, enable Remote Desktop on your computer and ensure you can access it from other computers on your local network.
Set Up a VPN
If you create a virtual private network (VPN), you won’t have to expose the Remote Desktop server directly to the Internet. Instead, you’ll first have to join your computer to the VPN. Your remote computer will act as if it’s part of the same local network as the computer running the Remote Desktop server. This will allow you to access Remote Desktop and other services only exposed on your local network.
There are a number of VPN applications you can use to create your own VPN, from complicated servers you configure by hand to easy-to-use graphical applications. We recommend LogMeIn Hamachi – download and install it on the computer you want to Remote Desktop to. Click here for more information on setting up Hamachi.
Once you’ve created an account, you can log into Hamachi on another computer and join both computers onto the same “Hamachi network.” They’ll act as if they’re connected directly, even if you’re doing this over the Internet.
You can now use the Remote Desktop Connection application on your computer to connect to the Remote Desktop server. Use the IPv4 address of the other computer, which is displayed in the Hamachi window while you’re connected.
Forward TCP Port 3389
You can also skip the VPN and expose the Remote Desktop server directly to the Internet. If you do this, ensure you have strong passwords set up on your computer. You wouldn’t want malicious people logging into your computer remotely.
We’ll go over the process quickly here. For more detailed help, read our in-depth guide to port forwarding. If you follow that guide, ensure you forward TCP port 3389 to the computer running Remote Desktop.
First, locate the IP address of the computer running Remote Desktop. On the computer running Remote Desktop, open the Control Panel, click View network status and tasks, and click the name of your current connection to the right of Connections. Click the Details button and note the number displayed to the right of IPv4 Address. (Click here for more detailed step-by-step instructions to find your computer’s IP address.)
Next, access your router’s web interface. If you don’t know its address, it’s probably the same as the “IPv4 Default Gateway” address in the Network Connection Details window. Plug this address into your web browser’s address bar to access the router’s web interface.
Log into the router and locate the Port Forwarding section. Forward TCP port 3389 to the IPv4 address you located earlier.
You can now log into Remote Desktop over the Internet – connect to your network’s external IP address, also known as its public IP address.
If you’ve forwarded ports, you may want to set up a dynamic DNS service so you can always connect, even if your network’s IP address changes. You may also want to set up a static IP address on the computer running the Remote Desktop server. This will ensure that the computer’s internal IP address won’t change – if it does, you’ll have to change your port forwarding configuration.
10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8
It’s easy to focus on how Windows 8’s new interface doesn’t feel at home on a traditional desktop PC or laptop. But that’s only one part of Windows 8 – the Windows 8 desktop includes a variety of useful improvements.
If you’re a desktop user, you owe it to yourself to look over the improvements and consider upgrading. If Microsoft hadn’t removed the traditional Start menu and added a new interface, we’d all be considering Windows 8’s desktop an upgrade.
Boot Speed
Windows 8 uses some tricks to dramatically improve its boot speed. Some people have seen boot times drop from 30 to 15-20 seconds on existing hardware. Instead of shutting down normally, Windows 8 employs a clever trick – it saves the state of low-level software such as the kernel and hardware drivers to the disk and restores them when you boot it up. Essentially, Windows 8 “hibernates” low-level system software instead of shutting it down, resulting in greatly increased boot speeds.
New Windows 8 PCs using UEFI will also boot faster than systems using the old-style BIOS.
File Copying
File copying in Windows 8 is dramatically improved. The new file copy dialog allows you to pause file-copying operations, view multiple file-copying operations in the same window, and more easily manage file conflicts. The interface is simple by default, but you can also expand the dialog to view more information, including a graph of the file transfer’s speed over time.
Improved Multiple Monitor Support
For power uses with multiple monitors, windows 8 allows you to place separate taskbars and wallpapers on each monitor. Previously, this required third-party software.
Task Manager
The new Task Manager is a huge improvement over the old one. It features a Startup software manager that allows users to easily control the software that loads at startup. It’s also easier to understand at a glance, with color-coded resource usage columns and more human-readable program names. You can also quickly research a mysterious process online by right-clicking it and using the Search online option.
File Explorer Improvements
Windows Explorer has seen quite a few changes. For one, it’s now named File Explorer. While some users may dislike the new ribbon interface, it makes it easier to access powerful options like viewing hidden files without digging through menus and dialog boxes. You can also easily collapse the ribbon if you never want to see it.
There are also quite a few straight-up improvements, including the ability to mount ISO and VHD files by double-clicking them – no need to install any additional software. The Up button on the toolbar that was removed in Windows 7 is now back.
Storage Spaces
Storage Spaces is a power-user feature that allows you to combine multiple physical volumes into one logical volume. In other words, you can create a pool of storage from several physical hard disks. The storage pool will behave as if it were one hard disk.
Hyper V
Windows 8’s included Hyper-V feature allows you to create virtual machines out-of-the-box. Hyper-V was previously used on Windows Server and replaces the Windows Virtual PC virtualization solution used for Windows XP Mode on Windows 7. For example, you can use Hyper-V to install Ubuntu on a virtual machine without installing any third-party software.
Refresh and Reset
The ability to refresh your device to its factory state may seem like a tablet feature, but it isn’t. You can actually create your own system image and refresh Windows to it, quickly resetting Windows 8 to a fresh-installed state whenever you like. This can save you time when reinstalling Windows.
Battery Life
Low-level system changes, including optimizations to squeeze more battery life out of tablets and other portable computers, should result in a more power-efficient operating system and longer battery life. The removal of Aero should also result in longer battery life for laptops.
Security
Security has seen a lot of attention in Windows 8. Microsoft has finally included an integrated antivirus in Windows 8. It’s named Windows Defender, but it’s actually a renamed Microsoft Security Essentials. This will ensure that even less-experienced Windows users have an antivirus, but you can easily disable it and install any other antivirus product you prefer.
Secure Boot provides protection from rootkits that hijack the startup process, assuming you’re using a new PC with UEFI instead of the traditional BIOS. (On Intel x86 PCs, you can disable Secure Boot or add your own keys to Secure Boot in the UEFI firmware, so Secure Boot won’t prevent you from installing Linux. However, Secure Boot is used to lock-down ARM-based Windows RT computers.)
The integration of Microsoft’s SmartScreen filter at a lower level helps prevent less experienced uses from downloading and installing malware by warning them when they install software that is known-bad, or software that hasn’t been seen before.
There are also low-level changes to memory allocation and ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) that make security vulnerabilities harder to exploit, even if security holes are found.
If these were the only changes that were made in Windows 8, desktop users would see it as a worthy upgrade over Windows 7 – especially for $40.
Even if you dislike Windows 8’s new interface, the availability of third-party Start menus and software that hides a lot (but not all) of the new interface on the desktop should make you seriously consider upgrading to Windows 8 if these improvements seem significant to you.
Chromebooks aren’t like traditional laptops. While they’re much simpler, they still have various useful features you may not know about. These tricks will help you take advantage of your Chromebook’s true potential.
From accessing remote computers and printing to wiping your personal data, recovering Chrome OS, and installing desktop Linux, these tricks will help you get the most out of your Chromebook.
Control Who Can Log In
Chromebooks are marketed as laptops “for everyone.” By default, anyone with your laptop can pick it up, plug in their Google account, and log in. They won’t be able to access your data, but they will be able to use your Chromebook.
If you want to restrict access to your Chrome laptop, you can open Chrome’s settings screen and control who can log in. Only the Chromebook’s “owner” can do this. The first account you log in to the Chromebook with becomes the owner account.
You’ll find these options on the Settings screen, under the Users heading. You can also use the options here to have Chrome prompt you for your password every time you open it — by default, Chrome will wake from sleep without prompting you for a password. It’s fast and convenient, but potentially insecure.
Access Remote Windows, Mac, and Linux Desktops
You can’t run Windows programs on your Chromebook, but you can access remote Windows, Mac, and Linux desktops. The Chrome Web Store offers VNC clients for connecting to traditional VNC servers, but Chrome actually has Google-built remote desktop features. You can use this to access your desktop PC from a Chromebook or to remotely run that rare Windows application.
To do this, install the Chrome Remote Desktop app in Chrome on your PC. You can then activate the “Enable remote connections” option and connect to your PC from your Chromebook using the Chrome Remote Desktop app there.
This isn’t a Chrome OS-only feature. You can also use Google Chrome to remotely access Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs from any other type of PC, whether you have a Chromebook or not.
Print via Google Cloud Print
If you ever need to print something, you should be aware that you can’t plug printers directly into your Chromebook and print to them. However, you can set up Google Cloud Print and use it to remotely print to supported printers from your Chromebook.
There are two ways to set up Google Cloud Print. Either you have a Google Cloud Print-ready printer, or you can install Chrome on a computer connected to a traditional printer and set up the Google Cloud Print connector, which will allow you to remotely print to that PC. Think of it like sharing a printer on a traditional Windows network, but even better — it also allows you to print to Google Cloud Print printers over the Internet.
Click the Print option in Chrome’s menu, click the Change button under Destination, and use the Google Cloud Print option to set this up. Chrome OS also includes the ability to print to a PDF, so you can always print to a PDF file and print that PDF file later on another computer, if you like.
Use Powerwash to Wipe Personal Data
Chrome OS includes a “Powerwash” feature that functions similarly to the Refresh or Reset options on Windows 8, performing a factory reset and removing your personal data, putting a Chromebook back into its clean state. It’s ideal when you are going to give your Chromebook to someone else, as it will remove all of your personal data. Think of it like reinstalling Windows or performing a factory-reset of a tablet.
You’ll find this option on the Settings screen. Click the Show advanced settings link and scroll down the bottom, where you’ll see a Powerwash button.
Create Keyboard Shortcuts
Want to create your own keyboard shortcuts on Chrome OS? Use the Shortcut Manager extension, created by a Google employee. It allows you to assign custom keyboard shortcuts to everything from browser actions to running JavaScript bookmarklets on the current page. If you’re a fan of AutoHotkey on Windows, you may find that the extension can replace many types of shortcuts you would create using AutoHotkey.
View Local Files
Your Chromebook isn’t just a web browser. It also includes a Files app along with local file viewers that allow you to watch videos, play music, read PDFs and Microsoft Office documents, view images, and more. You can download all sorts of media files and open them later from the Files app.
Recover Chrome OS From a USB Drive
Chromebooks include a recovery mode that allows you to reinstall Chrome OS if your Chromebook’s software becomes damaged. However, this is unlikely to happen unless you’re messing around in Developer Mode.
To recover your Chrome operating system, you’ll need to create a recovery drive. You can do this by downloading and running Google’s Chrome Recovery Tool for Windows, Mac, or Linux. You can also create a recovery drive on Chrome OS itself. Just plug chrome://imageburnerinto the address bar on your Chromebook and you’ll access the interface. The recovery data can be copied to a USB stick or SD card.
To actually recover Chrome OS, you’ll need to press Escape + Refresh and hold down the Power button. This accesses the Recovery screen. Older Chromebooks have dedicated recovery buttons — you’ll find more information on Google’s website.
Use Developer Mode to Run Desktop Linux
Chromebooks allow you to disable their security features and enable Developer Mode. In Developer Mode, you can modify Chrome OS all you like and boot other operating systems, including Ubuntu and other traditional desktop Linux systems. You can even run a desktop Linux system side-by-side with Chrome OS, switching between the two with hotkeys.
Follow our guide to enabling Developer Mode and installing Ubuntu alongside Chrome OS for more information.
Know any other useful Chromebook tricks you’d like to share? Leave a reply in the Discourse thread!
DOS isn’t widely used anymore, but you wouldn’t know if from reading instructions written by manufacturers for BIOS updates, firmware-updating utilities, and other low-level system tools. They will often require you to boot into DOS and run the utility.
We once formatted our floppy disks with MS-DOS using the format utility built into Windows, but most computers don’t have floppy disk drives anymore. They may not even have optical disc drives!
Use Rufus
Windows won’t allow you to select the “Create an MS-DOS startup disk” option when formatting a USB drive – it’s grayed out. We will be using Rufus instead. It’s a fast, lightweight application that includes FreeDOS.
Download Rufus and launch it. Rufus doesn’t require any installation – you will see the Rufus application as soon as you launch the downloaded .exe file.
Creating a bootable USB drive with DOS is simple:
- Connect your USB drive to the computer and select it in the Device box.
- Ensure the “Create a bootable disk using” checkbox is enabled and ensure FreeDOS is selected. (Rufus includes FreeDOS, so you won’t have to download anything else.)
- Click the Start button. This will erase the contents of your USB drive! Back up any important files on the USB drive first.
These should be the default options, so you may not even have to configure Rufus at all. The process should be extremely quick – it took five seconds on our system.
Copy Your Files Over
You have probably created this boot drive because you have a DOS-based program to run, such as a BIOS update utility or another low-level system program. To actually run these files from DOS, you will need to copy them over to your USB drive. For example, you may have a BIOS.BIN and FLASHBIOS.BAT file you need to run in DOS. Copy these files into the root directory of the USB drive after formatting it.
Boot Into DOS
You can now boot into DOS by restarting your computer. If your computer does not automatically boot from the USB drive, you may need to change your boot order or use a boot menu to select the device you want to boot from.
Once you are in DOS, you can run the program you copied to your USB drive by typing its name at the DOS prompt. Follow any instructions provided in the manufacturer’s documentation to run the application.
These utilities still use DOS to ensure they have low-level access to the hardware without any other programs interfering or Windows getting in the way. This helps ensure BIOS updates and other low-level operations work properly.
You could use a bootable USB drive to run old DOS applications, but you would be better offusing DOSBOX to run old DOS games and other applications.
Antivirus programs aren’t perfect — especially Microsoft Security Essentials. If you’re relying on your antivirus alone to protect you, you’re putting yourself at risk. You should still follow basic, common-sense computer security practices.
It’s hard to make a complete list of all the little tips and best practices geeks follow every day. This is an attempt at listing some of the most important security practices that you should swear by.
Use Antivirus
Whenever antivirus software is mentioned, someone always seems to chime up and say they don’t need an antivirus because they’re... [Read Article]
Even if you’re careful, you should use an antivirus. It’s possible you may be infected by a zero-day vulnerability in a browser plugin like Adobe Flash or your web browser itself. Even if you keep your browser updated, you may be infected by a new, unpatched vulnerability just by visiting a web page.
Now, this isn’t extremely common — but it does happen. An antivirus is an important layer of protection, as it will help protect you even in the face of such vulnerabilities.
Leave UAC Enabled
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User Account Control was obnoxious when Microsoft introduced it on Windows Vista, but it’s much less intrusive on Windows 7 and 8. It’s at its worst when setting up a new computer and installing your favorite software — but, after you set your computer up, it won’t bug you too much. UAC helps prevent malicious software from modifying your system without permission. Like antivirus, it’s an important layer of protection.
Leave the Firewall Enabled and Configure It Correctly
Windows has a built-in firewall, so you don’t need to install a third-party firewall. However, you should leave the built-in firewall enabled. The firewall blocks unsolicited incoming connections, protecting Windows and the other software on your computer from malware that exploits unpatched vulnerabilities in system services that listen to the network. This is how worms like Blaster spread so quickly in the early days of Windows XP and why such worms can’t spread as quickly anymore.
You should also configure your firewall correctly — when it pops up and asks you whether you’re on a Home, Work, or Public network, choose the appropriate answer. If you select the Home option when you’re connecting to Wi-Fi at a coffee shop, your laptop may make your shared Windows files available to other people on the coffee shop’s network. The Public option prevents other people from accessing shared resources.
Uninstall Java
Most web users have an outdated, insecure version of Java running. It’s therefore extremely easy for them to be infected by just visiting a web page. Java has seen a constant stream of massive security holes. The most tragic thing about the Java situation is that Java applets are so rare on the web these days that few people actually need Java installed.
If you have Java installed, visit your Control Panel and uninstall it. If you do actually need Java for something, you’ll be prompted to reinstall it — but you probably don’t.
If you do need Java installed — to play Minecraft, for example — you’ll want to disable the Java browser plug-in to protect yourself.
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Keep Your Software Updated — Automatically if Possible
All the software we use every day is likely riddled with security issues. These security issues are constantly being found — whether we’re talking about Windows, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, the Adobe Flash plugin, Adobe’s PDF Reader, Microsoft Office — the list goes on and on.
Software companies regularly release security patches for such software. Worse yet, the patches release notes themselves may give information to attackers that helps them develop attacks on unpatched machines. It’s important to install such software updates as soon as possible after they’re available.
To do this, leave Windows Update set to automatically update — or at least set it to alert you to new updates and install them quickly. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Reader all have automatic-update features — leave them enabled so you’ll always have the latest version without having to worry.
Browser plug-ins are a significant security issue. To be completely sure that you don’t have outdated browser plug-ins, visit Mozilla’s plug-in check website — yes, it works in other browsers and not just Firefox.
Be Careful About Programs You Download and Run
This one may seem obvious, but so much of the malware Windows users encounter seems to be as a result of accidentally downloading and installing bad software. Be careful about the programs you download and run. Only download and run trustworthy software. Get the software from its official website — if you want to download VLC, download it from VLC’s official website. Don’t click a “Download VLC” banner on another website and download it from someone else that may bundle malware or adware along with it.
The same goes for software that arrives via email attachments — don’t open executable email attachments.
And, when downloading software, be sure to watch out for advertisement banners disguised as “Download” links that will take you elsewhere and try to trick you into downloading possibly malicious software.
Be aware that there are many different types of “programs” — for example, screensavers in .SCR format are essentially just programs and could contain harmful malware. We’ve got a list of 50+ different types of file extensions that are potentially dangerous on Windows.
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Avoid Pirated and Cracked Software
When you acquire pirated or cracked software from peer-to-peer networks or shady websites, you’re taking a big risk. By running an .exe file from such locations, you’re trusting the distributor to not do anything harmful. Worse yet, the cracks you may need to run to make such software work properly are made by software-cracking groups. You can’t know if they’ve included malware or not.
Downloading pirated software and cracks is just a bad idea from a security standpoint. We’ve probably all seen people download files from peer-to-peer networks and become infected as a result.
Downloading unauthorized software is much riskier than pirating music or videos — software is machine code that can be tampered with. A video is just a media file that can play or not play — although untrustworthy individuals often try to disguise malicious programs as videos so less-experienced users will run them.
Beware Phishing and Social Engineering
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Browsers and email clients try to protect you from phishing attacks, but they’re not perfect. A phishing attack is the web equivalent of someone calling your phone, claiming to be your bank, and asking for your credit card number. Your bank would never call you and ask for this information, just as they would never email you and ask you to send the information in an email.
Be very careful when disclosing personal information online. Ensure you disclose it only to legitimate individuals and websites. To access your bank’s website, go directly there — don’t click a link in an email that claims to be from your bank, but may actually direct you to an imposter site.
Don’t Reuse Passwords
Password re-use is a huge problem. If you use the same password everywhere, a leak at one website would mean that your username, password, and email address are known. Attackers could then try your password along with your username or email address on other websites, attempting to gain access to your accounts. They could even try the password and email combination to get into your email account — so if you use the same password on your email account, you’re in trouble.
Such password leaks are happening with alarming frequency. If you use a unique password everywhere, you wouldn’t have to worry if your passwords ever did end up leaked. For help using unique passwords, you may want to use a password manager that makes this easier on you.
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Security breaches and password leaks happen constantly on today’s Internet. LinkedIn, Yahoo, Last.fm, eHarmony – the list of compromised websites... [Read Article]
Use Secure Passwords
Password managers can also help you use secure passwords, which are reasonably long and ideally contain some combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Password leaks have shown that many people use alarmingly simple passwords, such as “password”, “letmein”, and “12345″ to log into their favorite websites. It should be obvious — these passwords definitely aren’t secure.
There’s no way to make a complete list of all the best computer security practices, so we’re sure we’ve missed some important ones. Feel free to leave a comment and share other important tips people should follow.
