[quote name='hangbelly' date='11 May 2010 - 08:32 AM' timestamp='1273563141' post='179481']
Now nearly every second poster seems to be from Russia. I am suspicious. What does anyone think?
[/quote]
Salut Hangbelly , you don't state what you are suspicious of , but I suspect you mean phishing links , XSS attacks & the general fear of having your box pwned or compromised ?
Without wishing to offend our Russian members of the board , some of whom are excellent posters , or to generalize , it does seem to be true that Russian & Ukranian hackers in particuliar are the source of many banking & ID theft attacks on the interwebs today.
Or , hackers are using proxy's or bots in Russia & eastern European countries to launch attacks making it hard if not impossible to trace the source of the attack because of inadequate political legislation in these countries.
The result is the same - At the [u]very best[/u], your Rapidshare / Sharingmatrix / whatever account you have / login details have been stolen.
Using a few basic safe surfing rules you can help to protect yourself against attack:
1)DO NOT use Internet Explorer , it is a worthless piece of badly coded junk at best , hence the majority of exploits are aimed at IE. NEVER , EVER use it.
2)DO USE [URL=http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/]Firefox[/URL] along with the [URL=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/722/]Noscript[/URL] and [URL=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1865] Adblock [/URL] extensions.
[right][/right] 2a)ONLY allow javascript with NoScript on sites when you are sure the site you are visiting is legit (like here at Rosebuttboard) , until then [u]only allow temporarily[/u] & [u]only [/u]if the page needs Javascript to render properly.See [URL=http://noscript.net/faq]here [/URL] for more.
3)ALWAYS check the url of any download links you wish to click on.Hover over the link with your mouse pointer & look in the bottom left hand corner of the page , the url's should be the same :
[right][/right] 3a)Good Download link http://sharingmatrix.com/file/4669515/winking3.flv .Thx to Paxan
3b)Bad Download link :[URL=http://EvilHacker.com]http://sharingmatrix.com/file/4669515/winking3.flv[/URL]
4)NEVER install a program if you are on a streaming site or indeed any site & you get a message saying "You need to have XYZ program installed to see the video" or something similar.
If you need flashplayer or any other plugin get them [URL=https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:7[URL] here [/URL]
5)If you have a Rapidshare account go to Premium zone > Settings > Configuration & tick the box "Direct downloads , requested files are saved without redirection via rapidshare".
5a)Then when you click on a legitimate Rapidshare link it will start downloading automatically. If it is a [u]bad link[/u] you will be taken to a FAKE Rapidshare login page.DON'T login !
These few tips can help to make surfing safer , but it is a far from comprehensive list.
The weakest link is YOU , the user. Attackers focus on tricking the user into giving them access to their computers (Client side attacks) , it's far easier than using software exploits to gain access.
So Use your common sense , if you're not certain about something , trust your instincts & avoid like the plague !
Specifically for the Rosebuttboard Forum:
Is the poster unknown to you , joined yesterday & has 1 post to his/her name then look carefully at any download [u]AND [/u] screenshot links.
If you find a suspicious link , report it to a mod & leave a comment warning others.
Safe surfing with a little paranoia
