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Thread: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

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    Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    I just have my credit card account abotaged for the 2nd times within 6 month ( im with halifax / bank of scotland ) so im considering how can make things more difficult for any fraudsters out there including my email.

    Right now Im basically using free email services like yahoo / google / hotmail and some others , though all my paid services are connected to my yahoo address mainly.

    Is there any free or paid any one could recommend for security amongst other things ?

    I dont really like how hotmail and google constantly try to conenct all their related services through the same emails as it just feel to me like its piss poor excuse to exploit users privacy and make it more accessible to any one else.

    I use anon ip, key scrmabler and all the usual security measures so im completely confused how this person used my card because they didnt even have the right billing address !!

    cheers,

    melon

  2. #2
    Splash
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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    Email is insecure. Anyone telling you otherwise is trying to sell you something, and lying. Never put anything in an email that you wouldn't feel comfortable putting on the back of a postcard.

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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    "anon ip" and "key scramabler"? I've never heard of those, which probably means they're either snake oil or malicious.

    I think you need to reformat and then choose your applications & passwords carefully.

    Google has two-factor auth now, which is easy to set up. Firefox + AdBlock + NoScript (with additional options) + MSE + Malwarebytes active protection module + Foxit/Sumatra/PDF X-Change as a PDF reader & regular OS & applicaion updates will suffice for any competent person, as along as you constantly evaluate the risks of what you're about to click on, open & run.

    Everyone will have their credit card details taken at some point, because all retailers will eventually be hacked or have some kind of security incident - they just might not tell anyone about it.
    Last edited by smargh; 28-08-2011 at 05:49 PM.

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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Splash View Post
    Email is insecure. Anyone telling you otherwise is trying to sell you something, and lying. Never put anything in an email that you wouldn't feel comfortable putting on the back of a postcard.
    Unless you are using some form of end-to-end encryption, such as smime or PGP or something similar. Few people can be bothered though.

    Your credit card details might not have come from a hacked account though - a few years ago I had a call from a bank's fraud department about some transactions in California. I was in another part of the world, the credit card in question had never been used (anywhere) - so I think the perpetrators had just got lucky with a random number.
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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    so I think the perpetrators had just got lucky with a random number.
    The numbers all fit a pattern and some mathematical formulas, since thats how validity is checked.

    Given that, they only need to find an active number and somewhere that doesnt necessarily make lots of security checks, and theyre done.

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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    Quote Originally Posted by BobF64 View Post
    The numbers all fit a pattern and some mathematical formulas, since thats how validity is checked.

    Given that, they only need to find an active number and somewhere that doesnt necessarily make lots of security checks, and theyre done.
    Yes, I think the first four identify the card type and issuer, and the last two are a checksum. I don't know what the algorithm is, but I don't think is particularly complicated.
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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    Quote Originally Posted by BobF64 View Post
    The numbers all fit a pattern and some mathematical formulas, since thats how validity is checked.

    Given that, they only need to find an active number and somewhere that doesnt necessarily make lots of security checks, and theyre done.
    thats pretty worrying .. the thing that bothers me is this is the second time in 6 months , there is some spyware of some sort on my pc but AVG cant seem to remove it ( which I thought was one of the better ones )

    Before that i used to use Kapersky , spybot ..

    As far as browsers go , I use firefox , dont trust IE never have really, do any of you use anon any ip anon software /services ( im assuming most do now ) ?

    cheers,

    m

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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    Quote Originally Posted by melon View Post

    As far as browsers go , I use firefox , dont trust IE never have really, do any of you use anon any ip anon software /services ( im assuming most do now ) ?
    I use IE and have never come accross anon ip or key 'scrmabler' or services like them, yet my bank/credit card details have never been compromised.

    I've never been cyber stalked either.

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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    Quote Originally Posted by melon View Post
    As far as browsers go , I use firefox , dont trust IE never have really, do any of you use anon any ip anon software /services ( im assuming most do now ) ?
    I'm assuming most don't have a clue what your talking about. You simply can't 'anonymise' your IP address - it's an address so anything on the other end NEEDS to know it in order to send traffic to it. Your ISP assigns you an IP address, you can't chop bits off of modify it. The only way I could think this is real is some sort of TOR network, but I'm suspicious. I'm equally suspicious of this 'key scrambler' - what keys is it 'scrambling'? Of course, it could be a name for a password manager? Anyhow, what software claims to be doing all this?

    AVG has gone downhill recently, I'd recommend software listed by smargh above. This sounds like something is wrong your end, or maybe you're using extremely weak passwords?

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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    Quote Originally Posted by watercooled View Post
    I'm assuming most don't have a clue what your talking about. You simply can't 'anonymise' your IP address - it's an address so anything on the other end NEEDS to know it in order to send traffic to it. Your ISP assigns you an IP address, you can't chop bits off of modify it. The only way I could think this is real is some sort of TOR network, but I'm suspicious. I'm equally suspicious of this 'key scrambler' - what keys is it 'scrambling'? Of course, it could be a name for a password manager? Anyhow, what software claims to be doing all this?

    http://download.cnet.com/KeyScramble...-10571274.html

    AVG has gone downhill recently, I'd recommend software listed by smargh above. This sounds like something is wrong your end, or maybe you're using extremely weak passwords?
    I dont use password managers , i just do it old skool , but my passwords are not weak IMO or obvious , i had the same ones for long enough until i had to alter them due to my last attack 6 months ago , and that was before i started using more protection etc

    There are lot of networks that offer privacy esp in sweden , are you saying their unsafe ?

    So what do folk recommend for antivirus software if AVG is no good ?

    m

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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    Quote Originally Posted by DDY View Post
    I use IE and have never come accross anon ip or key 'scrmabler' or services like them, yet my bank/credit card details have never been compromised.

    I've never been cyber stalked either.
    Well maybe you just havent meet the right people yet or online as much - in fact i think few probably are.

    m

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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    As previously mentioned, for a free service, the Microsoft AV product isn't all that bad.

    That said, from a professional standpoint, you are barking up the wrong tree if you think anonymous browsing if going to prevent identity theft imo.
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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    Financial transactions are (or should be!) encrypted anyway with SSL. Now while there is a debate about the security of SSL, it will give end to end encryption of web traffic from your computer to the destination server. And then on top of that, there is the bank' system 'verified by Visa' and the equivalent Mastercard system, which should mean that the mercant doesn't get the card details. So from that point of view, web based transactions should be secure. As for online banking, the card readers are an authentication method.

    A virus and/or keylogger is a risk - one way to minimise that is always to boot of a live CD - keep nothing on a hard drive and simply switch off the computer at the end of the session. Some ditros (Knoppix for example) allow you to store your home directory on an AES256 encrypted USB stick - so you get some permanent data retention.

    But, IMHO, the greatest threat to id theft or credit card fraud is social - letting the card out of your sight, carelessness with passwords and so on. Skimming cards in a reader is harder with chip and pin, but not impossible. And tokenless payment methods, like PayPal, also have risks of their own, as the ultimate security depends on the strength and security of a password.
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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    Quote Originally Posted by peterb View Post
    Skimming cards in a reader is harder with chip and pin, but not impossible.
    Unfortunately, I've seen shop workers have trouble using the chip+pin so allow the customer to sign instead. Very bad practice.

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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    Quote Originally Posted by watercooled View Post
    Unfortunately, I've seen shop workers have trouble using the chip+pin so allow the customer to sign instead. Very bad practice.
    Not necessarily. Some people can't use C&P (mainly because of some form of disability) and can insist they are given chip&sign card, including a friend of mine. I grant you that this is the exception not the rule, but it does happen.

    Also, what happens when you've got a duff reader that's throwing a wobbly when you try to use them, and the customer has no other method of payment. Shops then have a choice - accept a signature, or decline the customer's business altogether. And if you do that, as a business, you ruin the risk that not just do you lose that transaction from that customer but that you alienate the customer and lose them, period.

    I'm aware (and I'm sure I'm not the only one here that could name them) of a couple of supermarkets that have had significant problems with the reliability of C&P terminals, to the point of having thousands of them taken out and checkouts retro-fitted with a different make. That could cost you a LOT of custom if you refuse to accept a signature when the terminal's having a brain-fart.

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    Re: Is it worth upgrading to paid email service ?

    But the downside is, you steal a card and don't know the pin so fry the chip or varnish over a contact so it malfunctions forcing the signature method. Makes the 'security' it provides a smokescreen - it must be enforced on cards that support it for it to be worth implementing at all. I understand about chip+sign cards or whatever, but for normal cards the PIN should be the ONLY accepted method.

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