Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Hacker Season Comes But Once A Year

Hackers are now in full swing, tempting and luring us into parting with our cash and identity for an empty promise.

It's that time of year, the 20th of November, typically known in the retail trade as 'Black Friday' has come and gone.  Hackers are now in full swing, tempting and luring us into parting with our cash and identity for an empty promise.  Black Friday, known among the retail trade as the start of the holiday shopping season is also the start of the Hacker's busiest period.  This year, the biggest concern among technology experts is web-borne malware.

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is followed in marketing lingo by Cyber Monday. Both are big days for retailers and online fraudsters. Consumers should watch out for e-mails advertising incredible deals that seem too good to be true.

Emails purporting to be from Ebay, Amazon or other Specialist E-tailors hide the true website addresses that you are directed to visit through clickable links.  Another trick is to send out (blast) emails to innocent internet users, advertising a hot product for far less than normal retailers.  This years hot products will, in our opinion be electronic goods like the Nintendo Wii and quite possibly the Amazon Kindle, both of which look set to be sold out!

Reports indicate that this year fraud losses due to e-commerce will top the 3 and a half billion dollar mark.  This is predominantly due to an increase in online users and those looking for hot deals on the web.   It's also important to remember that websites at the top of Google, Yahoo or MSN may not be the safest domains.  Tactics are widely used to get top rankings and the search engines don't vet websites for authenticity!  Basically, buyer beware.  If there isn't a phone number or valid trading address on the website, don't buy from it.


Saturday, January 19, 2013

Why Should You Worry About A Malicious Code?

 A malicious code can be a program. It can also be a part of a program. Further a malicious code can attach itself to a good program. In that way the malicious effect occurs first when the good program runs.
The last time you installed a large software, let us say a photo program, you just executed one command, for instance INSTALL or SETUP. After that the installation program took control, creating and deleting files. A few minutes later you have a lot of new code and data installed.
You had really no idea of what you had received. Hopefully all you received was good and may be it was. But think for a minute of all the millions of byte that were transferred and all the modifications that were made to the existing files. And all this was going on without your consent or knowledge.

A malicious code can do anything other program can. It can write a message on the computer screen, erase a stored file or stop a running program. Malicious codes can do different things every time. They can also do nothing most of the time and then suddenly act in a very dramatic way.

What is a malicious code?  How is it possible that it can take control of a system? How can you recognize a malicious code? Is it possible to stop it? Let me try to give you some answers.

A malicious code is an undesired effect in a program or in a part of a program, caused by an agent intent on damage. A virus is a program that can pass on a malicious code to other good programs by modifying them. A virus “infects” a program by attaching itself to the program. Then the virus destroys the other program or it exists with it. Also the good program can be modified. It then acts like a virus and starts to infect other programs. A transient virus acts when the attached program runs and terminates when the attached program stops. A resident virus locates itself in the memory of the computer and can remain active even if the attached program stops.

A Trojan horse is a malicious code that besides its primary effect even has a non obvious effect. It can for example take the identification and password of a user, passes the identifi-cation information on to the rest of the system, but keeps a copy of the information for later use.

A logic bomb is a type of malicious code that goes off when a certain condition happens. A time bomb is a logic bomb, where the trigger is a time or date. 

A worm is a malicious code that spreads copies of itself through a network. The difference between a worm and a virus is that a worm operates through a network and a virus is spread through a medium, usually a copied program or data files.

The only way to prevent an infection by virus is to avoid sharing an executable code with an infected source. Of course you cannot know which sources are infected, the best advice I can give you is to expect that any outside source is infected. The problem is that you cannot cut out all contact with the outside world. However there are some techniques to obtain a fairly safe community for your contact with the outside world.

1.    Use only commercial software from established vendors
2.    Test all new software on an isolated computer
3.    Made a bootable disc and store it on a safe place
4.    Make backup copies of executable system files
5.    Use virus scanners regularly


You can never be quite safe for a malicious code, but at least you have a good chance to diminish the harm if you follow these fairly simple rules.

Why Sell Information Products Online

They’re free! You only need a brain and a computer which if you’re reading this now, you meet the criteria. Time needs to be put in to do the required research and make sure that your information meets and exceeds the needs of your chosen market. When organized properly, your information becomes a positive cashflow asset. Robert Kiyosaki is a strong advocate of creating positive cashflow assets. Many people think of assets as those things that have value but a real asset puts money in your pocket on a daily basis. Examples of free content that became an asset is any musician that you know and love. The Righteous Brothers are a classic group that came up with a few chart-topping hits and assuming that they wrote the music themselves, created an asset that has continued to create revenue even decades later.

It’s fast and easy to create info products. This article took me about an hour to create and as part of a series of articles could be sold as a ebook or mini-course that created cashflow. You can have unlimited inventory and instant access for your customers. A eliable webhosting account will only cost you about $20 per month and your digital asset can be sitting on the server, downloaded repeatedly and you’ll never run out of inventory, it’s fantastic! Stop thinking about physical products, focus on digital.

The profits from an online website are instant and automatic. Each time a consumer buys, your account is credited. No hassles, no paperwork, all profit! As you may be aware of, an exra talented person may be worth $100 per hour and have a capacity to earn 2 hundred thousand dollars per year. What if they want to earn more, they are limited to their earning capacity. You are well aware of the need for leverage hence you’re reading this article. Online enterprises are one of the best forms of leverage. You can create a 24 hour money machine that never tires.

The types of info products you can create are ebooks or electronic books, where your information can be saved as a pdf or in a custom application.The next is an audio product where all you need is a decent microphone and earphones. Software can be downloaded for free or cheaply that will compress your audio into an appropriate format. The final type is video. Here again, there is free and cheap software available to make it happen. No special I.T. skills required.

Have a unique product with a unique selling proposition. You can surely think of at least 1 thing that differentiates your product from the rest in the market. The more content you create, the more money you can make from your website.

Hope you enjoyed this article. All the best with your online aspirations. Take action and make it happen.


Write Positive Testimonials For Other Websites And See Traffic Increase On Yours

Increasing traffic on your website is a smart thing to do.  When trying to build a successful site, traffic increases are one thing to focus on.  While there are several ways to increase traffic, it is most useful to utilize several methods to do so.  Writing positive testimonials for other websites and including them on your website is a great thing to do.  Not only is it a lovely way to give respect to sites you admire or utilize often, but it is also a great way to see traffic increase on yours.

When you use other website links and names in your website, you will be attracting their traffic as well.  This occurs mostly due to search engine requests.  When someone types in the website name used in your testimonial, to try to gain access to their site, it is likely your site will come up as well since you included their website name in your site content.  You can use their name on your site as a portal of sorts.  They will in turn visit your site and mostly likely look around a bit before going on to the site they intended to visit.  This may seem a little tricky, but it really is a great way to get more traffic on your site.  This is especially true if you utilize popular website names in your testimonials.  If you include a positive testimonial for a website that gets a large amount of traffic each day, it is only logical you will receive some of that traffic due to search engine requests. 

After deciding to write positive testimonials for other websites and see traffic increase on yours, you will need to choose which sites are best for the task.  Think about using sites that are highly used, but perhaps not too highly advertised.  It can be challenging to get the right mix.  The idea is to find sites that are often requested on search engines.  Sites that are highly advertised are usually easy to remember and web users will not use search engines to get to them.  Sites that may contain tricky names, but are highly used may be better options because people are more likely to use search engines to get to them.  Try adding different sites each month and research the sites that seem to bring more traffic to your site. 

After choosing the sites, you will need to determine exactly what to say.  Never write a testimonial before visiting the site yourself.  You certainly don’t want to write positive testimonials about horrible sites, because they will only make your site look bad to viewers.  Make sure you agree with everything that the site represents.  Always keep the testimonials positive and encouraging.  You can write a synopsis of the site, review its services, review its customer service, or simply outline the business as a whole.  No matter what you do, be sure to mention the website address as many times as possible in the testimonial.  The more you mention the complete address, the more likely your site will pop up when someone does a search for that particular site on a search engine. 

After completing the testimonial, be sure that the site’s address shows up in a different color than the rest of the text.  You want to draw people into your site and if they are trying to get to another site, they need to see that your site offers a link to get there.  They may bookmark the page and therefore use your site as a portal each time they want to get to the other site.  This is great for your traffic statistics.  Even if they don’t give your site a good look over the first few times they visit, it is likely they eventually will.  If you make money off of each visitor to your site, then you likely don’t care whether he or she looks around or not, because you will collect just because they visit your site to get to the other site. 

Writing positive testimonials for other websites is the perfect way to draw in more visitors to your site.  Your website traffic will increase because of it and it won’t cost you anything but a little time to get it done.  This is an inexpensive and effective way to help your site along.  The more traffic your site receives, the better it will succeed.  Trying methods such as this is a great way to do all you can do to make the success of your website a reality.

Friday, January 18, 2013

'Help The Court Has Seized My Assets' - Garnishment In Law And Practice

A court order that seizes assets from the defendant to pay off a debt is known as Garnishment. One form of garnishment is automatic withholding of the debtor’s wages. When a creditor fails to satisfy the debt taken, the court can issue a garnishment against him. When the creditor petitions the court to send a portion of its pay to satisfy the debt then this step is taken.

The garnishment law differs from state to state and varies in details also. Generally, the TVA is required to take over 25% of an employee’s disposable earnings or assets, thereafter sending that amount to court. The pay of an employee can be under garnishment until the complete of the debt has been collected.

This situation arises when we fail to pay taxes, skip out on child support or overlook some bills. Under these circumstances the state government or the creditor can seize our wages as well. This process is known as Wage garnishment. Most garnishment requires court orders and employers are supposed to notify the creditor before any step is taken. But garnishment is the last option for which a government goes for. It is taken up only after all other options have exhausted.

One should never ignore IRS because due to ignorance there are chances of increase in garnishment, as they know our work place, living place and even the bank account. The loans or the help provided by the government are of many types such as student loan for education, business loan, child support, and etc. To collect the loans back, IRS is not alone but the state government, private creditors, or even an ex-spouse demanding the alimony can also demand garnishment of our pay. To claim the garnishment, only different branches of the government do not need to take court orders, other than every other agency needs to obtain a court order to claim the garnishment.

Losing the income is not easy but there are some limits for garnishment. Title III of the Consumer Credit Protection Act caps the amount of wages that can be taken from an employee. In this manner, the person is also left with some part of the income as well as the creditor is also paid up. This also prevents the creditor to speed up the debt recovery procedure and harass the debtor.

The level of garnishment is based on the disposable earnings of the employee. This amount comes after deducting the legal deductions of federal state and local taxes, social security, unemployment, insurance and state employee retirement system. Things that do not come in the head of voluntary deductions are union dues, health and life insurance, charity, purchase of savings bonds and payment for payroll advance. After taking all the preventative measures, the disposable income amount is calculated the maximum amount that can be garnished in any pay period should not exceed more than 25% of the employees’ disposable earning.

The garnishment law allows up to 50% of the employees’ disposable income to be garnished, if he supports the wife and a child. The restrictions on garnishment do not apply in case of court orders of bankruptcy and outstanding debts of federal or state taxes. When the federal law differs from the state wage garnishment law, the smaller garnishment amount must be followed.

Care should be taken to stay from the evil of garnishment. In some cases this situation occurs when a letter is received form the IRS department 20 days before the garnishment date. That time if the person goes to the IRS and explains the problem and repayment schedule or apologize and seeks more time for repayment then the problem at hand can be solved. If the creditor also has a problem he also needs to go to the court and seek an order for garnishment. Thus if the reason explained by the debtor is genuine then the department chalks out a repayment plan. But if the second chance of the repayment is also defaulted then further garnishment proceedings and called for.


$1000 Provable Income Cash Advances: Should You Take The Opportunity?

Many finance firms are wiling to offer a sum of $1000 to those in need, provided the beneficiary has a provable source of income and agrees to repay the amount as per the firm’s outlined repayment schedule. However, needless to say that you would end up repaying more than you acquire from the cash advance firm. This is because the cash advance firm is likely to charge an interest on such credit lending.

Getting hold of a $1000 cash advance won’t be a cinch by any means. You would have to carry out a preliminary research of reputable cash advance firms willing to lend $1000. Though it’s easy to find cash advance of around $250 to $500, you might have to shop around a bit in order to bag $1000. It is recommended to keep several options open during your quest for a cash advance. This way, if one cash advance firm leaves you high and dry, you could easily switch to another.

Sums of $1000 and below are considered trifling amounts by bigger loan firms’ standards. Therefore, it is highly unlikely to acquire a $1000 loan from a loan firm. However, cash advance firms are a viable option for people in urgent need of around $1000. Cash advance firms would gladly approve your application, provided you have a provable income source. But, cash advance companies normally charge a higher rate of interest relative to bigger loan firms.

All in all, cash advance is a nice and quick way to acquire that much needed cash in a jiffy. But since the rate of interest is on the higher side, it’s best to take up a loan from a loan firm, if possible. In general, you should turn to a cash advance firm only when you have no other means of acquiring cash.


Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Top 5 Reasons to Choose An Internet Filtering Appliance Over Software

The advantages an internet filtering appliance has over software include security, stability, accuracy/reliability, maintenance and the total cost of ownership.

The need for organizations to monitor and control Internet usage in the workplace should be an accepted fact of doing business in a cyber-connected world. Statistics indicating that 30 to 40 percent of Internet use in the workplace is unrelated to work issues should come as no surprise. Neither should the report that 90 percent of employee computers harbor as many as 30 spyware programs. In fact, studies indicate that companies may be incurring average costs of $5,000 per year per employee in lost productivity due to Internet abuse. Other data suggest that as much as 72% of employees are downloading music and video clips, eroding bandwidth and leaving networks open to spyware and other malicious agents.

As these dramatic statistics show, the need for organizations to manage their Internet access should be a baseline requirement. But how do organizations choose from the wide range of filters available to them? Perhaps one of the first decisions they will to make is between a software-based filtering solution and dedicated filtering appliance.

Both appliance and software-based options offer standard functionality -- they monitor Internet activity, block site access, automatically enforce corporate Acceptable Usage Policy guidelines and report inappropriate behavior. However, upon closer examination, there are some important and compelling reasons to choose an appliance-based solution.

An overview of the advantages of an appliance over software when it comes to handling your organization’s Internet access include these basic five categories:

•    Security
•    Stability
•    Accuracy & Reliability
•    Maintenance
•    TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)

Because software-based filtering solutions must integrate with your OS, you cannot be assured that the complexity will not cause security and stability problems. Filters that are software–based can degrade performance because they share resources with their hosts and performance degradation can increase in conjunction with load. It’s hard to scale a software-based filter because more users create increased loads on the host systems. A dedicated Internet filtering appliance uses pass-by technology to check website and IM requests against a list that is updated automatically. If the request matches a name on the list that is not allowed, a denial is sent back to the requester and no bandwidth is utilized.

The dedicated resource of an appliance and its pass-by technology will prevent network slowdowns as well as single-points of failure on the system. The accuracy and reliability of an appliance-based Internet filter is maintained through fluid updates to the system. Software has to ‘check’ every single request, creating a bottleneck that it is a single point of failure. If the bottleneck becomes overwhelmed or crashes, no Internet traffic will be able to pass into or out of the company.

In terms of time and cost, a dedicated Internet filtering appliance requires less maintenance than a software-based filtering system. The database is maintained on the appliance filtering device, where it can be updated automatically with new sites, protocols and even port activities in order to block port-hopping servers. Software filters require manual updates and again, require all traffic to travel through that one single point of failure.

The cost of maintaining both is measured by what each type of service provides. While investing in an Internet filtering appliance may not be feasible for a very small company with only a handful of employees, software based programs are not scaled for handling large loads. The costs of failing software filters are more likely to impact a company’s revenues than the investment in an Internet filtering appliance.

The ultimate task of a Web filter is to filter both incoming and outgoing Internet traffic. The Web filtering solution you choose must be able to protect employees from visiting sites that do not match the Acceptable Usage Policy while also protecting the company from the financial, legal and security ramifications of employee Internet activity. An appliance-based Internet filter protects a company’s assets, reputation, employees and their bandwidth in one package.


Monday, January 14, 2013

5 Tips On Finding The Best Topics For Your Blog...

Blog topics are an important part of a successful blog. Some bloggers simply write about whatever is on their mind, creating an online journal of sorts. Successful bloggers know however that to have a great blog, you cannot always write about what you want to write about. You must also keep the interests of your readers in mind when writing. After all, if you want a successful blog, you have to depend on the readers to show up often. To keep your blog as fresh as possible, consider using these five ways to find winning ideas for your blog topics.

Do Your Research

Smart bloggers know that each day there are popular search terms listed on large search sites. Bloggers can use these search terms to help them get more traffic to their blogs. Each day a blogger can look at these popular search terms and creating posts using them. If the blogger is lucky, they will increase their traffic due to more people looking for that term. By researching the topics that are hot with readers each day, bloggers can create things specifically for the readers. Doing research may take a little time and you might never be writing about what you want to write about, but you will likely have more traffic than ever.

Ask Around

If you have been blogging a while you might have began to hit low points where you really have no more topic ideas left. Some writers call this “writer’s block” while others just see it as a small hurdle to be surpassed. When you have come to this difficult point, the best thing to do is ask around. Talk to interesting people you know. You can ask them what topics they find most interesting at the time. If you would rather be a little more subtle, simply bounce a few topics off of them to see which ones they respond strongly to. Use the topics that they respond strongly to in order to gather ideas for posts.

Use the News

The news is a great place to gather topic information for your blog. News teams research and investigate for hours to gather their topics. By using similar topics, you can skip all of the hard research work and still be a success. Never use their ideas exactly, just take them and use them to develop your own. For instance, if there is a major political issue going on in the news, consider creating a post about what you think about it. You don’t have to use the news story, just the topic idea along with your own words.

Follow the Lead of Others

When you are looking for great blog topics, consider visiting popular blogs to see what they are talking about. Don’t steal their ideas, but use the visit to stir up great ideas of your own. Sometimes when you see others working at their highest potential it can spark new potential in yourself. You can see which topics get the best response for their blog and decide if you could get the same response with a similar topic.

Sleep On It

If all else fails and you are still trying to come up with a list of interesting blog topics, consider this interesting strategy. Go to sleep each night with a clear head. In the morning, before you even open your eyes, target the first thing on your mind. Write it down immediately so you don’t quickly forget. Then use these things to develop interesting blog topics. You would be shocked at how inspiring our first thoughts can be. They are so interesting because they are not clouded with any outside stressors from reality. They are simple thoughts typically that can be used successfully on a blog.

These five ways to find winning blog topics are proven to be among the best. A blog topic is one of the basic important aspects of your blog. Be sure that you pay attention to which topics get the best response on your blog so you will know which ones are most effective. Use all or some of these tips to help you get on your way to better blog topics right away!

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