For all of you who are contacting us from work from one of the NATO countries I wish to point a few things that are very important:
Take into consideration that 50% of the companies (maybe more) use network monitors which means they can see everything you do with your computer: which sites you visit, what you post on those sites, contents of those postings and your e-mails. Legally they are allowed to do so. WITHOUT any warning. Don't think that Serbian language is any kind of protection as there are easily obtainable translating programmes for all the languages. Everything is logged and may later be used against you. The witch hunt is on and many people lose their jobs "for mysterious reasons."
The same goes for your home use. It is possible that you may hear a knock on the door.
Therefore:
Try not to connect from work.
If you can't help it then:
1. use anonimisers
2. use security proxies
3. Use firewall at home - go to www.zdnet.com www.download.com www.tucows.com and search for the word firewall
4. Bear in mind that with certain kinds of AT systems if your computer is attached to a modem it is possible to access it without your knowledge as the computers turn on when they get a signal from the modem.
5. Turn off ActiveX controls, Java script, Java Aplets, Aol messenger, ICQ. They are security risks.
6. If you connect to hotmail yahoo and the other public e-mail services network monitor gets your password which means that they can access your e-mail and do whatever they want with it. That way they can also see the contents of your messages, practically everything you see on the computer they can see too. BEAR IT IN MIND!!!
7. Every e-mail that you send contains in its header the original IP address which makes it possible to trace you using an anonymous mail.
Cyber war - part three...
(Fight back)
To start with a couple of interesting things: Did you know that every time you visit a website (Albanian, Croatian, NATO etc.) you give away many information to the server (which you don't want to give away). For example your e-mail address, ISP provider, browser type, CPU type, everything goes to the server. You don't believe it? You can see it for yourself at www.anonymiser.com. Erase your e-mail and user ID in all types of browser if you don't want to reveal yourself (edit preferences > mail> identity). Cash memory and cooky search can lead to loss of your job.
That is why you need to regularly clean the history, cash and cookies or turn them off altogether. Edit > preferencies > advanced > or Edit > preferencies > Netscape. Windows 95 will show all the documents recently used, like your bank transactions and so your bank account number etc. This is especially dangerous if you do it from a public PC (library, job etc.) So always erase all the documents once you are finished with them: balk right button > properties > programs start menu > ERASE DOCUMENTS
As far as the provocateurs and crackers are concerned see following:
As soon as you learn their IP address (Through firewall or otherwise) go to www.ripe.net - whois database and type in IP address. That will give you all the info on the provider (e-mail, telephone, address etc.). Or you can go to www.thefreesite.com and type in the search box netlab and download that program (free) so that you can call the provider and give them the log or the text of the provocation and the provocateur will be traced and excluded from the net.
The provocateur is thus blacklisted and will not be able to open an account anywhere. In almost all the countries spreading of the national resentment is illegal and punishable by law. Any provider who allows it to go on is fined or taken off the web. Internet centre will immediately take off the net any server that serves as a base for spreading viruses or hacking as they are held responsible for the damage. In your communication with the internet provider state that unless they react PROMPTLY you will inform CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) www.cert.org or IETF (Internet Emergency Task Force) www.ietf.org and they will be banned from the net. That will make them sit up and listen. Be careful - it works both ways. All these were polite ways. Next time we will discuss less polite techniques. That is if anyone is interested in this short course. Is anyone likely to use it? It takes time and effort but if you are interested we will continue.
We can even be more technical if people are interested. I will do everything in my power to help. Brotherly greetings to all...
Reply to: komi@tron-inter.net