CompuClever Blog

Foistware – Remove and Restore

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Synopsis: In our companion article we introduced foistware and focused on detection and prevention. Here we look at how to remove these items and restore your browser settings. We will cover removal of foistware from Browser toolbars and uninstalling unwanted items using the Uninstaller tool available with PC Clean Maestro. After this we will cover the basics of restoring your browser to its previous condition.

To reverse the impact of foistware on your PC, you need to do the following:

1. Remove foistware items.
2. Restore changes to your PC made by foistware items, especially to your web browsers.

Removal

One of the most noticeable effects of foistware is having one or more applications installed. Most of these applications nag you to acquire and/or pay for extra software or services. For example, the 24×7 PC support foistware installs itself to your PC, nags you by attaching itself to every active Window, and shows signs of reluctance when you go to uninstall it.

Uninstalling unwanted software.

 

The first step is to remove any application installed by a foistware. To do this we will focus on using the Uninstaller, one of the major tools available with PC Clean Maestro which is free to use. Our previous article covers in detail how to use the Uninstaller. The article also covers other important information such as backing up your system and using the Clean tool. With PC Clean Maestro you can also remove junk files and uninstall programs. You get the added benefit of freeing up space by ridding yourself of “clutter” which can bog down the system and lead to poor system performance. Please refer to the full article: The Clean and Uninstaller Tools.

Removing foistware item is the first step. The next step is restoring your PC. Many anti-virus software tools detect and remove these items but do not restore your PC to its previous settings.

Restore

If you have experienced slower performance in your web browser and changes that occur all of a sudden such as having a different and unknown search engine or homepage, then it is likely you have been subject to foistware. Typically in these situations your web browser settings have been modified without your consent. There are multiple causes of altered web browser settings including installation of browser adware and hijackers program as well as simple misconfiguration as a result of a manual change. The consequence always include poor user experience and often slower web browsing speed.

Excessive invasion of browser toolbars and add-ons.

You can use anti-virus software to remove virus, adware, and hijackers. However, most often security software applications don’t go the extra step – restoring your web browser settings. We provide this guide to show you how you can re-gain control of your web browser by restoring all important settings. Follow this link for more information and instructions:

How to restore your web browser

This guide covers complete sets of instructions for restoring three most popular web browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome.

Foistware – Messing Up Your PC Experience

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Synopsis: How often have you experienced changes in your computer without knowing how it occurs? It could be that your Internet browser opens to a new homepage or your search engine is no longer the same. Or maybe there are more items in your Browser toolbar or you are getting popup messages appearing. It could be that, in general, these changes have slowed down your computer performance in one way or another. These changes are the direct result of something now known as foistware. This is also known as “crapware” and is appropriately named. In this article we will begin by describing the condition and then move into methods of detection and prevention. In our follow up article, we will get into more details of how to remove these items and restore your browser settings.

What is foistware?

Our CompuClever support team is dedicated to assist our customers who experience a noticeably slower PC in terms of performance. Recently when performing our initial investigations with the use of our support tools we have frequently come across common changes that result in poor PC “health”. Examination revealed that these changes were the result of what is currently considered foistware.

Having foistware on your PC can range from a mild annoyance to a real impediment.  Having additional browser toolbars foisted onto your web browser is a bit like having advertisements in a YouTube video; it competes for space.  The real impediment comes not only when performance is compromised but when attempting to revert the changes.  How these items become installed provides some insight as to why they are appropriately named.  The term “foist” means:

To force upon or impose fraudulently or unjustifiably: to foist inferior merchandise on a customer.[1]

The following screenshot demonstrates the state of a web browser that has been victimized by foistware.  There are three areas that are affected.

A web browser infected by foistware.
  1. The Home page URL was changed to search.conduit.com a third-party search engine that profits from every web search you perform.
  2. Extra browser toolbars and add-ons were installed to attract your attention, lure you to install more software, and bring you to other affiliated online services from whereupon the foistware benefits from “referral fees”.
  3. Blinking ads with scare tactics to entice you to download so-called PC optimization or cleaning software.
The invasive 24x7 PC support foistware.

Another example is the annoying 24×7 PC support foistware.  There is a man or woman’s face attached to every program window of your PC.  No matter what you do, you can’t get rid of this face that always appears on whatever active window you have open.  This little gem is the 24×7 PC Help software link and it is very much in your face and on your nerves.

In most all these cases you install this software without explicit knowledge of it or without knowing what the results will be.  There are other instances of foistware that are more aggressive and capable of doing more harm to your PC.

The Condition:  Foistware is known as software that gets installed in addition to another software install typically without your full knowledge.  Typically these fly under the radar by being bundled with software you install and, if you take the time to look closely, you can see how it’s done on one of the install screens where a checkbox is selected so that unless you clear the checkbox you will install the additional item.  Most often the result is an additional browser toolbars – those items that get added onto your browser toolbar that include searches or quick links.  Frequently the change that occurs to your PC happens automatically as soon as the foistware has been installed.  Other examples include changing your default search engine (for example, from Google to Bing), or changing your browser homepage.  Some of the more invasive instances involve displaying pop-ups with scary messages like “Back up your PC or lose it”, or “Your computer has 1000 errors”.  Even if you were to uninstall the original software, these changes would still remain.  In some cases there can be more than one of these items on your toolbar.  It is not uncommon to see three or four toolbar add-ons.  When this happens you can notice a difference in PC performance.

Potential symptoms:

  • Search engine changes
  • Homepage changes
  • Pop-ups come up luring you to click to download
  • PC performance slow down

Why? The reason for this is a simple one – money.  Often companies that offer freeware (software that is considered free in that you do not have to pay to use it), will come bundled up with other software.  These companies can profit from this as they are paid by the foistware companies.  The manufactures of the foistware get on your system and can provide advertisement or benefit from you clicking to their site.

Is It Legit? The reason that this practice isn’t considered to be malware (or malicious) is that you have the option of not installing it.  However, most users go quickly through the installation process clicking through the pages of the installer wizard, and do not even see the items that are checked on by default.  To be fair, we often are given the recommendation to keep the settings that are presented during an install and there is an implicit trust built into this procedure.  This is why software manufactures that are more reputable need to build their install wizard with pages that include an “opt-in” process.  That is, one where you can choose to install these extra items by checking the box and accepting the additional item rather than having to clear it.  In the case of browser toolbar add-ons… we recommend that you do not choose to include these as you can experience a performance loss.

Who Are the Offenders?  Surprisingly, even reputable companies can download bundled packages in this manner.  One website[2] has included Adobe and Skype in their hall of shame.  Another website[3] includes Adobe, Sun’s Java, CCleaner, Foxit Reader, and more.  Given pressure, these companies can make more ethical installations of their software.  We hope that these websites help to steer them in the right direction.

Detection:

In order to detect that you have suffered from a foistware “hit” you can follow this line of questioning:

  1. To your knowledge, have there been any recent installations to your PC?
  2. If “Yes”… did they include any foistware items?  (We’ll come back to this point.)
  3. Have you noticed any unusual changes such as more items added to your browser toolbar, a new browser homepage, a new search engine, or other changes such as popup messages?
  4. If “Yes” you can take note of the names of these items and we can identify these for the purposes of removal (as presented in our next article).  One example could be “Conduit Toolbar”.

Point 2 above may be difficult to answer.  However, if you did install something recently you could try installing it again to see if there are any extra pages which give you the option to install something extra (including a checkbox that is selected).  You can then take note of this and cancel the installation.

Once you have some names of software add-ons you can check online to see if it is best to remove them.  We recommend this site:  http://www.shouldiremoveit.com.  Once you open the webpage you can use the text field at the top right to enter the item and search for it.  We like this site as it has a very good database of software and it includes a very visual representation of the percentage of people that remove the software once having it installed.  This will give you a good idea as to whether you should remove the item.  Of course, if you never intended it to be on your system in the first place, that would be good reason to have it removed.  We will speak to removal in the companion article for those of our readers who have these items and need to remove them.  Before we do, we think it is best to look at ways to prevent getting them in the first place.

Prevention:

With respect to prevention, the best advice to pass to you is to be prepared when you install anything to your computer.  There are instances when you can be the victim of downloads without even knowing it such as in the case of drive-by-downloads.  In cases such as these you can get items downloaded to your PC or mobile device simply by visiting a web page that is compromised.  In these cases the software is likely malware or a virus and you need adequate software to remove the item and to either update your system to patch the security hole or to block the occurrence from happening.

In the case of foistware, you can detect and remove the item in a more straightforward manner as we have described above.  Prevention comes from paying close attention to what you are installing.  Here is what you have to do:

Whenever you install something, read the information closely on each install page and clear the checkbox of any items that you do not want to have installed.

In the case of downloading “free” programs – pay very close attention to what is offered.

Removal and Restore

If your PC has been affected with foistware, don’t panic. Under most circumstances, you can completely remove foistware and restore your PC back to its original state. We have prepared a comprehensive guide that shows you how to get rid of foistware and restore your PC:

Foisware – Removal and Restore

It’s been our intent to shine light on what our experiences have been when assisting our customer base. Providing you the tools and the know-how is a top priority for us as we are invested in bringing about a positive PC experience for you and your family.

 

[1]http://dictionary.reference.com
[2]http://www.zdnet.com
[3]http://www.howtogeek.com

InPrivate Browsing

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Synopsis: In this article we focus on a recent technology that is available with most browser types – web browsing in Private mode. The concept is straightforward: you select a private session so that certain items are not stored on the PC. We will cover a description of this as well as describe how you can easily begin a session. Also, we point out the difference between privacy and security –an important distinction to make so that you do not rely on a technology that can still leave you vulnerable to certain malicious threats when surfing the web.

Have you ever wondered if it was safe to use a computer that was not your home PC – like the one in a library, hotel lobby, or Internet café?  You may not have anything to hide but do you want to inadvertently share your browsing information?  We are continuing the theme of privacy – one that relates to browsing the web using Internet Explorer. While there are many other good browsers, the majority of people at this time are using IE.  The functionality of this feature – InPrivate browsing and filtering – is available with other browsers.  Without dismissing these, we do want to say that the techvnology in IE is well crafted.

  • Google Chrome uses something called “incognito window”[1]
  • FireFox uses Private Browsing[2]
  • Safari also uses Private Browsing[3]

Privacy has become a growing concern in recent years as the amount of data and the options for mobility of communication and the proliferation of data expands.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been involved in an effort to balance out the innovation focused on new products and services with the privacy interests of consumers.  In their report[4] they state:

Technological and business ingenuity have spawned a whole new online culture and vocabulary – email, IMs, apps and blogs – that consumers have come to expect and enjoy. The FTC wants to help ensure that the growing, changing, thriving information marketplace is built on a framework that promotes privacy, transparency, business innovation, and consumer choice.

The report goes on to say that efforts by industry to address privacy via self-regulation have been slow and have in the past failed to provide adequate and meaningful protection.  Private Browsing is one response to providing a technology that offers you a greater choice with respect to privacy.

The Technology

Let’s begin.  InPrivate browsing is a fairly recent option available to Internet web surfing.  For IE version 8 and up, you can easily begin a session.  Let’s first get an idea of what this technology is and how you can use it.

What is InPrivate Browsing? InPrivate Browsing prevents the web browser from storing data while you surf the net. By doing so you prevent anyone else from accessing information on your computer related to what you were looking at and the sites visited.  This protection is only in effect during the time that you use that window. Ultimately it means that you are keeping your browsing information to yourself so as to not leave a trace of your web browsing activity on your PC.   As Microsoft states: “Whether it’s shopping for a gift on a shared PC or checking an account at an Internet café, you don’t want to leave any evidence of your browsing or search history for others to see.”[5]

Microsoft goes on to say that InPrivate Browsing prevents certain information from being retained by the browser including: your browsing history, temporary Internet files, form data, cookies, and user names and passwords.

What is InPrivate Filtering?  Many sites use additional content (for example, advertisements, maps, or web analysis tools), from other web sources.  These sources are called content providers or “third-party websites”.  Surfing sites that include third-party content can result in personal information about you being sent to the content provider.   The content provider attempts to come up with a profile of your browsing preferences which can be used for analysis and for targeting specific advertisements.  Internet Explorer offers InPrivate Filtering so that you can prevent website content providers from collecting information about the sites you visit.  InPrivate Filtering analyzes the web content of the sites you visit.  If the same content is used on several sites it will give you the option to allow or block that content.  There is also an option to have InPrivate Filtering automatically block content providers and third-party website.

Certainly if you are annoyed with advertisements and are suspicious of these content providers, we would recommend that you use InPrivate Filtering.  For the purposes of this article we will focus more directly on inPrivate Browsing.

The Rundown:

From a Microsoft site[6] we have based the following information in this table to give an idea of what kind of coverage you can expect from InPrivate Browsing:

Browsing Content InPrivate Browsing action
Cookies From our previous article on Security we identified a web cookie as a little programming device that is downloaded to your PC and can identify you so that a web page can be proactively customized for you. A third party can also track your activities using cookies. With InPrivate Browsing, cookies are kept in temporary memory so web pages work correctly. When you close your browser these items are cleared.
Temporary Internet Files These items are stored temporarily so web pages continue to work correctly. They become deleted when you close the browser.
Webpage history This information is not stored.
Form data and passwords This information is not stored.
Anti-phishing cache Internet Explorer uses an anti-phishing cache which works by checking the sites you are visiting and comparing them to a Microsoft database of malicious sites.  You are then warned in the event that there is a match.  With InPrivate Browsing temporary information is encrypted and stored so pages work correctly.
Address bar and search AutoComplete This information is not stored.
Automatic Crash Restore (ACR) With InPrivate Browsing, when a single browser tab crashes during your browsing session, ACR can restore the tab and the content.  However, if the whole window crashes, data is deleted and the window cannot be restored.
Document Object Model
(DOM) storage		 The DOM storage is a kind of “super cookie” web developers can use to retain information.  Like cookies mentioned above, they are cleared after the window is closed.

Why and When Would You Use This?

There are two main reasons for using this technology.  For one, data left on a computer can be used by other parties including advertisers or those with malicious intentions.  Cookies for example, can reveal account information that could be used for hacking into your online financial or banking credentials.  Secondly, not having items stored on your computer, like temporary files from your browsing session, is good computing practice.  We’re talking about less clutter.  Having the browser automatically delete files from browsing sessions is a positive step to a “lean and mean” PC.  The other option is to do this manually or with software solutions that can provide schedules (such as… PC Clean Maestro).

Caution

InPrivate Browsing is a useful feature for being stealthy but it does not provide complete security.  In other words – there is a difference here between secrecy and security.  While you are able to browse online in a more private fashion, you are still susceptible to other threats.  Some things to be wary of include:

  • Key loggers: the recording of key strokes on your keyboard (sometimes used in an attempt to gain account and password credentials).
  • Tracking software:  Programs that can track and record your computer activities.
  • Malware, spyware, and viruses:  malicious software designed to collect sensitive data, gain access to PC systems, bombard a user with ads (ad-ware) or disrupt PC operations.  You can still become infected with malware when using private browsing techniques.
  • Survelliance programs:  software that monitors your activity and collects data (as described in our previous article)

When you do use private browsing you are not in disguise when visiting sites.  The websites you browse to can record your IP address and record information about the searches and information you enter.[7] You need to keep in mind that if you have private and confidential data on your PC it is still susceptible to data theft.

How To Use InPrivate Browsing:

There are many ways you can initiate InPrivate Browsing.

Option 1:

  1. Open a new tab.
  2. In the page that is displayed click the blue link as seen here:

Option 2:

  1. In the toolbar area, locate and click the Safety button.
  2. Select the InPrivate Browsing option.

Option 3:

With your Internet Explorer browser open, click the Ctrl+Shift+P keyboard combination.

During InPrivate Browsing:

When InPrivate Browsing is turned on, you will see this indicator:

To turn it off:

To turn off your InPrivate Browsing session, you can simply close the entire browser window.  The next time you open the browser it is returned to the regular mode of browsing.

In Summary:

While InPrivate Browsing is not a completely secure method of browsing but it can provide you with a more private experience when browsing the internet.  There are even more private solutions available and if you are interested you can check out the free program: Tor[8] although be prepared that you may experience a loss in browsing performance.

We hope the information presented here will help increase your confidence in browsing online and inspire you to explore the possibilities of what is offered in our computer age.  We will continue to introduce and research available technologies explained in a manner that is not beyond the reach of average, everyday computer users.

[1]https://support.google.com/chrome
[2]https://support.mozilla.org
[3]http://support.apple.com/kb/ph5000
[4]http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/12/privacyreport.shtm
[5]http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/internet-explorer/products/ie-9/features/in-private
[6]http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows-vista/what-is-inprivate-browsing
[7]http://www.pcworld.com/article/152966/private_browsing.html
[8]https://www.torproject.org/

Privacy – Don’t Give It Away

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Synopsis:  We have founded a nation established on individual freedoms and rights.  Our right to privacy is fundamental.  But what about data that we make available in some manner such as with social media services like Facebook or Twitter?  Are we entering into a fuzzy area when we submit and share our content?  What is at risk when we open ourselves to digital communications?  We’re going to take a look at these questions and attempt some solutions for keeping our digital information from being used in ways we do not intend.  In part, we have to take responsibility for making good choices with data that is available to others and can be used for unethical or malicious purpose.

Privacy:

We begin with answering the question: What is privacy?  David Banisar of the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Simon Davies of Privacy International authored a report on privacy.  They begin with:

Privacy is a fundamental human right recognized in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the International (Covenant) on Civil and Political Rights and in many other international and regional treaties.  Privacy underpins human dignity and other key values such as freedom of association and freedom of speech. It has become one of the most important human rights issues of the modern age.

If you are unfamiliar with your human rights we implore you to take a moment to read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights[1].  From the start it is stated that the “inherent dignity” and “equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”  It is written in article 12: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”

At Risk:

With the age of information technology (IT), we have seen greater technological capabilities with respect to collection of data.  There are numerous devices that are mobile to meet our needs which can record video, audio, and image with ease.  We can communicate across the world using email, text messages, video chatting, and of course telecommunications.  The level of information generated by each of us has dramatically increased.  And yet, the findings of the fifth annual IDC Digital Universe study as reported by ComputerWorld[2] states that: “the amount of data people create by writing email messages, taking photos, and downloading music and movies is minuscule compared to the amount of data being created about them…”.

So what’s the harm?  What do any of us stand to lose?  Good questions!  We need to look at two very important factors in this new age of data creation:

  1. How is this data being used without my knowledge in ways that impact me and,
  2. How safe is my personal and private information.

Here, in part, are the answers:

Computers linked together by high speed networks with advanced processing systems can create comprehensive dossiers on any person without the need for a single central computer system. New technologies developed by the defense industry are spreading into law enforcement, civilian agencies, and private companies.[3]

…though 75% of data today is generated by individuals, enterprises will have some liability for 80% of it at some point in its digital life. And less than one-third of all stored data today has even minimal security or protection; only about half the information that should be protected is protected at all…[4]

Giving It Away:

In recent news we have seen considerable attention placed on Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA, and his leaking information on data collection by the US government.  A CNN report[5] clearly lays out many examples of data mining that go on without our knowledge or consent.  Let’s take a closer look at some of the 10 ways you give up data without knowing it; how data is being used in ways we are seldom aware.

  • Earlier this year, Facebook purchased information on 70 million US households from a data mining company called Datalogix.  Facebook went public with a statement that confirmed what many users were noticing: they were tracking user’s behaviours for advertising purposes.  The creators of adverts have been given the opportunity to select their audience targeting options.”
  • Twitter is partnering with WPP, a leading advertising firm, to analyze Twitter data so as to better monitor consumer behaviour in real-time.  This will enable advertisement to better market to you.
  • Amazon was one of the first companies to start using cookie trackers.  Cookies are downloaded to your device or computer to track and analyze where you are browsing and what you are looking at online.  The Amazon advertisements then are matched accordingly.  Fortunately, there are methods of turning cookie tracking off.
  • Target made use of a mailer system to track purchases – a system that would send coupons by mail based on analyzing what purchases are made.  The system was so accurate that in one case it predicted a teenage girl was pregnant based on the purchase of toiletries and groceries. Unfortunately the teenager and her family did not know of the pregnancy prior to receiving the coupons.
  • Law enforcement agencies across the country are constructing DNA databases under the radar.  Previously this was in the domain of FBI agencies.  These local agencies however, operate with considerable more leeway and police are able in some cases to collect samples from innocent victims of crimes.  In some case these people do not realize their DNA will be saved for future searches.

We pay the price for taking advantage of what we consider “free” services such as email, social networking, and other digital services including simply browsing online.  In the latter case we are exposed to tracker cookies, advertisements, and a host of files that are downloaded to our systems without knowledge or consent.  As we have clearly pointed out in this month’s articles, there are those that can access our information including the data we simply volunteer from regular use and the items that may be more personal or confidential.  If the government can access our data, you can bet that cyber criminals can.  Next, we point out how to guard your information.

How To Be PC Secure:

We are going to look at closing some security holes ranging from web browsers to encryption and back again to cleaning up what private information you unknowingly make available.

Step 1 – The Web Browser:

There are many websites that offer you the option of using a secure connection when you browse on their site.  Security experts agree that this is a good decision when the option is available.  The technology for this is referred to as “Transport Layer Security” (TLS), its predecessor is “Secure Sockets Layer” (SSL).  Here is what you can do:

  1. When you are browsing (try it with Wikipedia for example), change the URL in the address bar from “http:// “ to: “https://”.
  2. You can with some browsers such as Google Chrome, see an icon at the left side (it may appear as a padlock) or on the right side with Internet Explorer.  You can click this and get all sorts of information and options including permissions about using cookies.  You can also view certificate information and configure certificates.

Note:

  • You may have to type “https://” when no preface appears.
  • A certificate is a digitally signed statement that binds the value of a public key to the a person, device, or service with the corresponding private key.

Further to this:  For some browsers you can check the options or settings to configure the Security or Privacy settings.

For an advanced option:  you can try HTTPS Everywhere[6] an extension that works with Firefox and Chrome browsers to encrypt your communications when connecting to many major websites.

Search Engine:  All of Google’s data is aggregated and used to customize and target advertising (among other things) aimed at you the user.  To use a search engine that does not use tracking you can try the following suggestions.  You can disable all your Google, YouTube, Chat (and more) history tracking.  However, we find it is sometimes useful to use your history to find something you viewed in your recent past.  We recommend trying out Duckduckgo which uses:

…several mechanisms to try to ensure user privacy: It keeps cookies only if a user wants to change settings on the site, such as turning off ads; it saves searches but does not link them to a user’s IP address or with any unique numbers, and the search engine says it has no way of figuring out what queries came from where. For advertising, the site may put its own code into ads to get credit for the clicks, but it doesn’t track who clicks what…[7]

Step 2 – Email:

Most major email services (including Outlook and Gmail), offer encryption of some kind.  You can open your settings and review the security settings and options.  Unfortunately with some (like Google mail), you have to dig deep and you may end up with statements of how they may share aggregated information that is non-personally identifiable to their partners including advertisers.

For an advanced option:  Read more about how to encrypt your email connection, content, and stored copies.

Step 3 – Data Encryption:

You can also encrypt the entire data content of your system or a portion thereof.  This would be useful in the event that someone steals your laptop or you risk losing it.  All content you choose to encrypt is scrambled and would require a password.  With some data encryption tools you can encrypt a USB key, an entire hard drive, or the partition where Windows is installed so that you have to use a password to pre-boot the system.

We recommend checking out TrueCrypt a free open-source disk encryption software for Windows 7/Vista/XP, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Note:  As with any of our recommendations we suggest checking out the online reviews for it – see what other customers and reputable websites say about the vendor and what they offer.

Step 4 – VPN:

Now if you want to get serious – try out a VPN, a Virtual Private Network.  You can group a number of computers over a public network so as to encrypt data being sent back and forth.  Many businesses use this to connect remote datacenters and to get access to resources.  For more information on this and for a list of reputable VPN providers follow this link.

Step 5 – Clean Up:

The reality is… if you have something worth stealing or to warrant surveillance, if you have information that is confidential and available in digital form, you put yourself in a place of being vulnerable to data capturing and potential abuse of information.  The greatest measure you can take is to take what is valuable out of harm’s way when possible.

Take action: Refer to our previous article on “Security”.  Once you have read information on backing up data, go the section “The Personal Security and Privacy Scan”.  You get good instruction and information on how PC Clean Maestro can detect personal data items that are automatically stored on your PC and “clean” these to keep your computing practices safe and private.

You can keep your digital information secure and away from the wrong hands – or just “other” hands entirely.  We hope you are well on your way to taking full advantage of current technologies without the loss of privacy and confidentiality.

 
[1] www.un.org
[2] www.computerworld.com
[3] www.gilc.org
[4] www.computerworld.com
[5] www.cnn.com
[6] www.eff.org
[7] www.washingtonpost.com

Digital Security – What can you do?

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Synopsis:  If we are living in and exposed to a digital universe, and if this “universe” can be accessible through surveillance and by other parties, the real question is not “Are You Ready?” but “What Can You Do?” We take a look here at the first step – being informed. Edward Snowden has recently become an informant and has effectively unveiled mass government surveillance programs that have taken place without public consent or knowledge. The intent of this article is to avoid political comment and instead shine light on digital communication and what this means in terms of maintaining our privacy – what this means in terms of keeping our private information secure.

Trends

In a report by IDC[1], this current decade is declared as the “Digital Universe Decade” and asks: “Are You Ready?”  In this decade:

…the amount of digital information created and replicated in the world will grow to an almost inconceivable 35 trillion gigabytes as all major forms of media – voice, TV, radio, print – complete the journey from analog to digital. At the same time, the influx of consumer technologies into the workplace will create stresses and strains on the organizations [and individuals] that must manage, store, protect, and dispose of all this electronic content.

Despite a time of global recession, the “Digital Universe” expanded by 62% and by 2020 it will be 44 times as big.  We will have amassed digital information that can be described in zettabytes – that is to say, one zettabyte being a million, million gigabytes.  This would be the equivalent of a stack of DVD’s going halfway to Mars.

Up in the Air:
Are these current trends “inflated” and will they level off or come crashing back to Earth? How is it possible to support these communications? Just how far can service providers extend their range of communication and continue to pave the way for the information highway? Not many would say: “To infinity and beyond!” Actually… take a look at Google’s “Project Loon” as provided by CNET.[2]

We believe that it might actually be possible to build a ring of balloons, flying around the globe on the stratospheric winds, that provides Internet access to the earth below. It’s very early days, but we’ve built a system that uses balloons, carried by the wind at altitudes twice as high as commercial planes, to beam Internet access to the ground at speeds similar to today’s 3G networks or faster.

It sounds like it may be a bit crazy and Google acknowledges this as a bit “loony” but a pilot program is being tested in New Zealand.

Up in the Cloud:
The IDC report referenced earlier states that by “…2020, a significant portion of the Digital Universe will be centrally hosted, managed, or stored in public or private repositories that today we call “cloud services.” No one solution is completely safe and we recommend overlapping your important files in two storage areas – an external hard drive and with a cloud service provider such as Dropbox. You can refer to our previous newsletter for more information about this.

Surveillance

In the face of this massive amount of information you may say to yourself: “My data is but a drop of water in a vast ocean.”  You would be right.  But consider this… with the Edward Snowden news story that has surfaced, we can be sure that mass surveillance is occurring.  This means the surveillance of the majority if not an entire population.

Billions of dollars per year are spent by agencies such as the Information Awareness Office, National Security Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to develop, purchase, implement, and operate systems such as Carnivore, ECHELON, and NarusInsight to intercept and analyze the immense amount of data that traverses the Internet and telephone system every day.[3]

What are we talking about when speaking of surveillance?  This includes: public transport tracking; workplace surveillance, examination of communications (collecting data on all phone calls, emails, chat room discussions and web-browsing habits); mobile phone tracking; vehicle tracking; DNA database sampling; overseas travel; collecting data on political and environmental protestors; and using unmanned aircraft systems (drones) for purposes of security.

Just one example:  According to a report on Privacy and Human Rights:[4] “Employees in nearly every country are vulnerable to comprehensive surveillance by managers. Legal protections are generally more lax in such circumstances because surveillance is frequently imposed as a condition of employment. In many countries employers can tap phones, read email and monitor computer screens. They can bug conversations, analyze computer and keyboard work, peer through CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) cameras, use tracking technology to monitor personal movements, analyze urine to detect drug use, and demand the disclosure of intimate personal data.

The report goes on to describe “how technology works to the advantage of employers:

  • Recent technology can analyze “keystrokes” on a terminal to determine whether employees are making efficient use of their time between telephone conversations.  (This is referred to as “performance monitoring.”)
  • Modern networked systems can interrogate computers to determine which software in being run, how often, and in what manner.
  • A comprehensive audit trail gives managers a profile of each user, and a panorama of how the workers are interacting with their machines.
  • The software also gives managers total central control over the software on each individual PC. A manager can now remotely modify or suspend programs on any machine.

Impact: Not all of this can be thought of as simply having a negative impact on our freedoms.  Some people indeed feel safer in the knowledge that surveillance cameras are being installed in public places.  There is of course a tradeoff between what we consider safe and what can be considered invasive to the point of exposing our personal rights and freedoms without our knowledge and feeling as though we are subject to scrutiny and examination.

Matthew M. Aid, an intelligence historian in Washington, said disclosures linked to Snowden have “confirmed longstanding suspicions that NSA’s surveillance in this country is far more intrusive than we knew.”

What is the motive?
In a CNN article[5] we are able to get a good indication of how data collection is expanding to Internet and credit card data.  The U.S. officials say that the information helps to stop terror plots.  Here is a subset of what is presented in that article: 

  • Internet monitoring data.  James Clapper, director of National Intelligence, states that this is “used to protect our nation from a wide variety of threats.”
  • Overseas monitoring: internet data collected overseas “is among the most important and valuable foreign intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from a wide variety of threats,”
  • Telephone records:  Clapper states these “allow analysts to “make connections related to terrorist activities over time.”

Where is this Going?

We’re not passing judgment here as to the tradeoff between national security and individual freedoms and rights.  Instead, we emphasize that today’s methods of communication are digitized whether for personal matters or for business.  Where the world once had vast outreaches and unexplored frontiers, we are now a global community and only our thoughts are in fact private.  In some situations this requires us to make adjustments where necessary.

With the onslaught of digital data we have to deal with information in new ways:

  • In order to locate digital data without painstakingly exhaustive measures we need effective search and discovery tools.  Most of the information we have is unstructured data.  The fastest-growing category in the Digital Universe is metadata, which is data about data.
  • In order to know what information we need to keep we will need technical solutions tied to storage and effective methods to manage our information.   We’ll need to know when it is alright to delete it.
  • In order to protect our information we need the right tools. We need to feel assured that proper methods of encryption are employed.  This is vital in considering that vast amounts of unprotected, sensitive data is available and can be accessed despite our wishes to have this data shared or scrutinized for whatever purpose or gain.

In essence we need: effective tools to analyze data, weed out the information that can be safely deleted, remove personal information that can cause us harm if it falls into the wrong hands (including hackers or unethical online businesses), and we need secure storage.

Moving forward

In our How To article we are going to identify where we as individuals give up data without knowing it.  We will also explore how to hide data from Internet snooping, and finally we will revisit a recommendation on how to clean up your data and protect the bits that are private and confidential.  We hope these strategies will help you as an individual increase your confidence in using computing technologies safely rather than taking extreme measures like living in a cave.