Tags: cyber security / hacking / infosec / review / VPN

HideIPVPN: Don't compromise on your online identity, use a VPN [Review]

- Monday, 9 February 2015 No Comments

Compromising on your online identity is like compromising your life on the internet world that is highly connected. Safeguarding one’s privacy on the internet has become a primary motive for many users and no one is trusting tools and service that brands themselves as completely anonymous. Even the latest viral Snapchat image sharing app isn’t as private as it is widely known as to be and there have been many cases of privacy breach. These issues are enough to get it established that online privacy in his connected world is too much to ask for. Compromising your online identity for browsing around the internet doesn’t seem like a valid risk.

For such activities, a VPN service is something that could be of great use for you in your online endeavours. Marissa Mayer is one of the most known women in the tech industry; the CEO of Yahoo has claimed to use VPN tools to keep a tab on her employee’s work habits. A VPN, or Virtual private network, is a tool that lets you mask your online identity and access the internet tunnelled through a server of your choice. VPN establishes a secured, physical connection between your local computer and the internet through the use of their servers located at different parts of the world. Finding the right VPN service for such activities would come down to a few key decisions and here we will be taking a look at one such premium VPN service provider – HideIPVPN.

An introduction to HideIPVPN

HideIPVPN is a premium tool that provides users with a good VPN service. A Virtual Private Network, or what it is commonly referred to as - VPN, is the tool required to channel your internet traffic over through another server. HideIPVPN offers a powerful encryption tool that lets you mask your IP Address and keep you anonymous on the web. HideIPVPN makes accessing your online activity untraceable, even though someone manages to intercept the data on their servers. The encryption makes it impossible to trace back to the originator of the data.

With its own dedicated software for Windows and Mac OS X and an easy-to-use interface, HideIPVPN is one of the best tools for all your VPN needs and it can be downloaded from their official website.

Connecting to a VPN server

Once you’ve downloaded the tool and installed it, you will be presented with a login page that would need your credentials after you register for an account. You will be mailed with these login credentials once you register, enter them at the main screen and you will be presented with another screen seen below.

Here you can choose from a host of settings before connecting to your VPN server. Among the networking protocols to choose from is the widely popular OpenVPN and others include PPTP, L2TP and SSTP. Below it is an option to choose the VPN server location, offered in US, UK, Netherlands and Germany.

Once you are done with these settings, hit ‘Connect’ and off starts your online anonymity journey.

Application killer

HideIPVPN features a powerful application killer that lets you kill applications that are using the VPN servers, in the event of a connection breakdown. Add applications to this window to choose which applications are to be closed if and when the connection to a VPN server falls down.

HideIPVPN settings

HideIPVPN offers a minimalistic-yet-powerful settings panel, accessible from the left sidebar. Among these settings are the options to launch the tool at startup and reconnect if the connection drops off.

Plans and Pricing

HideIPVPN offers competitive pricing and you can choose between different locations for your VPN servers and the pricing varies accordingly. The pricing for the US or UK VPN is $5.99 per month and for an all-inclusive US/UK/DE/NL servers, it is $9.99 per month.

For the purposes of downloading torrents, the DE and NL servers will be needed, as they are blocked on the UK and US servers.

The premium plans of HideIPVPN come bundled with a free SmartDNS proxy server.

Conclusion

HideIPVPN is a premium VPN service that offers up the chance to access blocked websites and maintain anonymity on the web. Below is a comprehensive outlook on the tool. It lets you access on 3 devices simultaneously from a single account, mask your IP Address, access Geo-restricted websites, proxy support in-browser, free SmartDNS subscription. What more do you expect?

Tags: cyber security / Information Technology / infosec / network / security / VPN

Access Geo-restricted content and hide your online activity with HideIPVPN [Review]

- Wednesday, 21 January 2015 No Comments

While the dawn of internet has bridged the barriers of communications and made intangible information within reaching distance, its state of privacy issues are still mind numbing to date. With many websites and online services being limited geographically, accessing these services need a work around. Also, as an internet user, one must be quite aware that he is never safe from the clutches of eavesdroppers on the internet. Your ISP also has access to your internet browsing activities and to keep away from eavesdroppers, accessing geo-restricted sites and to hide your IP address, you would need a smart tool that does all of them.

Why use a VPN?

VPN or Virtual Private Network providing tool is what that will be needed in your online invincibility endeavours. What the VPN technology does exactly is that routes your outgoing online data through its own server to keep the data away from other third parties. This data is completely encrypted and as many users simultaneously access these servers, the potential eavesdropper couldn’t possibly trace back to the content owner.

Once you’ve decided you will need a VPN for protecting your online activities, you will need to find a tool that fits the perfect mould for you. Here we will be taking look at one such powerful VPN tool.

HideIPVPN – An Introduction

Having the right tool for the task goes a long way in helping you accomplish what you set out for. HideIPVPN is a premium VPN tool for safeguarding your online activities. What makes this tool the best fit for your online activities is that this tool comes bundled with features that make it easily benefitting to both the novice and advanced internet users. For getting started and trying things out, you can download the 24 hours free trial VPN server at their official website. You can download the Mac OS X or the Windows variant, depending on your operating system. The download comes in at 2.5MB and the installation is straightforward. You will be presented with a screen as shown below upon launching the tool.

The login details for your account will be emailed to you once you register at their official website. Further ahead, we will be taking a look at the simplicity and robustness of this tool that makes it better placed to be your VPN service.

Setting up VPN with HideIPVPN

The setup of VPN with HideIPVPN is completely straightforward. Once you have your login details ready, enter those at the home screen and hit sign in. Now you will be presented with a screen seen below.

At this window, you can select a few things like your preferred VPN Protocol, the server location and once done, hit connect. That’s it! And now your online data is untraceable by eavesdroppers.  This simplicity makes HideIPVPN very popular amongst its users.

We will be taking a look at some of the other options it provides while accessing the VPN.

HideIPVPN Settings

You can easily access the settings panel from the left-sidebar and see a few toggle bars and support for further updates. Among these settings are the options to run-at-startup and reconnect if connection drops.

These are the basic settings for the application that let you decide when to connect to your VPN service.

HideIPVPN Advantages

Access Geo-Restricted content

If you access networks like Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, Sky Go, ESPN, and such; you must know that they are inaccessible if you are at a location they are not officially supported at.  Now you can easily access these networks by choosing the VPN location that is supported by these networks and hit ‘Connect’.

Now you will never miss your favourite shows and content on geo-restricted websites.

Spoof your IP Address

Spoofing your IP address is one way to stay off the grid. HideIPVPN automatically does that for you when you connect to one of their VPN servers.

Application killer

HideIPVPN includes a handy little feature that lets you define the applications that get automatically closed when the connection drops. This feature prevents you from sending data unprotected, when your VPN connection automatically gets disconnected.

Access VPN on three devices simultaneously

With support for multiple devices, HideIPVPN supports access to one single account from three devices, simultaneously.

Free SmartDNS

When you register to the premium plans at HideIPVPN, you get SmartDNS along with it.

Pricing

Users can make use of the standard OpenVPN encryption technology or choose from PPTP or SSTP from the tool. Users can also select their VPN server between United States, Germany, UK and Netherlands. The pricing for US or UK VPN is at $5.99 per month. For an all-inclusive US/UK/DE/NL server, it is priced at $9.99 per month.

Conclusion – Simple and Powerful VPN for everyday user

HideIPVPN is the simplest VPN tool that provides better service for both the novice and the power user. Safeguard your internet data and identity by using this nifty VPN service. Being lightweight and ease of shifting between multiple servers, this is the best VPN service in its price range. Although it has a few servers compared to its competitors, it gets the job done perfectly, on a budget.

Simply one of the most recommended tool for internet users sceptical about their online privacy.

Our Rating – 4.8 Out of 5

Tags: How To Guides / infosec / network / security / Wi-Fi

How To Stay Safe When Using Public Wi-Fi? 9 Awesome Tactics to Remain Safe with Public Wi-Fi Networks

- Saturday, 27 December 2014 No Comments

Who does not like things that are available for free? It feels really good when you do not have to pay for the things that you are using. But be aware. Not everything which is available for free is good for you. Hence it is important for you to keep your eyes open and be conscious about what all you are going to do. For example, there are a number of free public WI-Fi hotspots but not every hotspot provides protection like your home network provides you.

Your notebook, your smart phones and your tablets offer your default settings that keep you safe from all prying eyes while you are on the way. If you really want to keep your files and information secured, here are some essential tips that will help you in protecting your documents and files secured when you are away from your home.

       Turn Off Sharing

You must be sharing your music library, printers or files or even you will be allowing remote login from other computers on your personal Wi-Fi network at home. If you do not disable these settings before you share any other public Wi-Fi network, anyone else will be able to hack your PC in your vicinity.

       Get a VPN

This VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and is considered as the most secured way of browsing the internet on a public network. This VPN will route your traffic through a secure network, even when using in public WI-Fi and will provide you with all the perks of our private network while you still be having a freedom of using a public Wi-Fi.

While there exist free VPN services, where a paid VPN service guarantees the integration of your connection. If you connect regularly to some unknown networks, setting your VPN could be a smart move for protecting your personal information.

       Try Not To Use Wi-Fi Spots That Connect Automatically

Your smart phone or a tablet might be set to get connected with the WI-Fi that gets connected automatically, but this could be very dangerous for you and your personal information. Not only this will allow your device to get connected to the public networks, but will also get connected to the malicious networks that will steal your specific and useful information.

       Make Use of HTTPS

Generally websites transfer the content in plain texts, making it easy for anyone who has hacked your network information. Many websites make use of HTTPS to find out the encrypted transferred data, but you should not rely on these websites for keeping you protected.

You can always keep this encrypted connection with the HTTPS browser extension everywhere. With the help of this plugin enabled, almost all your website connections get secured with HTTPS and will make you sure that any kind of data transfer is safe from all the prying eyes available in the market.

      Two-Factor Authentication Should Be Used

Two-factor authentication means that you have to use two pieces of information for logging into your account. The first information is that you already know and the other is that you have with you. Most of the time this takes a kind of information and a code that is being sent to your cell phone.

Many popular websites and services will support you two-factor authentication. This will mean that even if someone gets your password because of your bad and unreliable Wi-Fi network, they won’t be able to login to your account.

       Always Confirm The Name Of Your Network

Sometimes hackers use fake Wi-Fi network to attract innocent public Wi-Fi users. If the Wi-Fi is not named properly, it means the Wi-Fi is fake and connecting to it could make your device into the hands of malicious users that could misuse your personal information for     

Protect Your Passwords

It is good to use unique and original passwords for protecting your different accounts and this will also help you in keeping your accounts well compromised. By keeping a track of multiple secure passwords will become tricky for you. It would be good to keep your passwords safe and secured that nobody could misuse your personal information.

   

       Turn on Your Firewall

Most of the Operating Systems offer built-in-firewall settings which will monitor your incoming and outgoing connections. A firewall will not provide you complete protection, but this is a setting that you need to keep enabled always.

When you use Windows notebook, you can locate your firewall settings in the Control panel when you look into the System and Security. Click on the Windows Firewall and click on the Turn Windows Firewall On or Off whatever you want. Enter your admin password that will verify that your Windows Firewall is on. 

       Run Anti-Virus Software

Running your up-to-date anti-virus software will help you in providing the first alert if your system has been compromised well while it is being connected to an unsecured network. An alert will show you if any virus is being loaded onto your PC or if there is any strange behavior of your system like modifications to the registry of the files.

By keeping these 9 points in mind, you can always be sure that you are working safe with your PC or your mobile device while using it with a publicaly shared Wi-Fi network.

It is possible that your anti-virus software might not catch all the unauthorized activities while running, but this is a great way of protecting your mistakes against most of the network attacks.

Author Bio: Kaylyn Gabriele is a Network Engineer who has completed her graduation in Networking from Canada University. She is also responsible for organizing various Network Administrator Programs for the same university. After this she is very good with technical writing and she likes to share her views about Networking and Technical issues in her blogs. Also she keeps on sharing tips and tricks regarding networking and technology. Writing posts and articles is her hobby and she lives up to her readers’ expectations almost every time. Follow her on Twitter and catch her on Facebook to know her better.

Tags: cyber crime / cyber security / infosec / mobility / NSA / security / smartphone

Operation AURORAGOLD - How NSA Hacking Every Cellphone Network in the World

- Wednesday, 10 December 2014 No Comments

In March 2011, the National Security Agency received a secret message prior to the Western intervention in Libya. An intelligence unit in the United States military’s Africa Command required help to hack Libya’s cell phone network to be able to monitor their text messages. This task was easy for the NSA as they had already gotten their hands on technical information about their carrier’s internet system by spying on the documents sent among their company employees which were perfect to provide help to break into the networks.

NSA giving its assistance in this matter was not an isolated case, rather it was part of a much a larger surveillance program. Documents which were part of the material provided to The Intercept, NSA had spied on a number of companies and international organizations to be able to find weaknesses in their cell phone technology which they could exploit. It also reveals how NSA plans on introducing new flaws intocommunication systems which they can tap into which is seen to be a controversial tactic.

The covert operation is known as AURORAGOLDand has monitored content which has been sent and received by more than 1200 email accounts as part of major cell phone network operators and has also intercepted confidential papers which have helped NSA hack into cell phone networks.

According to a cell phone security expert and cryptographer, Karsten Nohl, the broad scope of the information collected from AURORAGOLD appears to be aimed at ensuring that NSA can access every cell phone network possible. He also said that collecting such an inventory on world networks is likely to have ramifications as well since it does allow the NSA to track and circumvent upgrades in encryption technology, which is used by cell phone companies to prevent calls and texts from being eavesdropped. The operation is one which is carried out by special surveillance units of the NSA whose existence hasn’t been disclosed.

The information which is collected from the companies is passed to the signals development team of the NSA which focuses on infiltrating communication networks. It is also shared with other agencies which are NSA’s counterparts in countries known as the Five Eyes surveillance which include the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

The NSA documents do not have the names of many operations apart from those in Iran, China and Libya. However a world map feature in 2012 suggests that the NSA has network coverage in almost every country in every continent. One of the main targets under the AURORAGOLD program is the GSM Association, headquartered in London which represents the interests of more than 800 cell phone software and internet companies from almost 220 countries.

The NSA focuses on getting their hands on important and obscure information which is circulated among the GSMA’s members which are known as IR.21s most cell phone network operators share IR.21 documents with each other as part of their agreement allowing customers to connect to the foreign networks while they are abroad.

The details of the IR.21 serve as a warning mechanism which flags any new technology, which is used by network operators. This allows NSA to identify any security vulnerabilities in latest communication systems which can be exploited and helps efforts made to introduce further vulnerabilities where they may not even exist.

The IR. 21’s also contain information about the encryption which is used by cell phone companies in order to keep their customers communication safe and private while they are transmitted across the networks. These details are of interest to the NSA as they can help in listening to conversations.

Last year, the Washington Post stated that the NSA had managed in breaking the most common encryption algorithm used which is known as A5/1. The information which is collected under AURORAGOLD however, allows the agency to focus on circumventing stronger and newer versions of the cell phone encryption system such as the A5/3.

Extensive attempts to attack cell phone encryption has been replicated throughout the Five Eyes surveillance alliance as well.

Documents by the NSA show that the focus is placed on collecting details about all technical standards which are used by cell phone operators and their efforts to stay ahead in technology yields surprising results. In 2010, its operatives had found new ways to penetrate the fourth generation of smart phone era technology for surveillance, years before it was adopted by people all around the world.

The agency says that their targets are terrorists, weapons proliferators and other foreign targets and not ordinary people. However the methods used by them and their partners pose significant risks. In April, officials from the White House confirmed that Obama had told the NSA to disclose any vulnerabilities it may find, however qualified that with a loophole flaws should be secretly exploited as long as there is deemed to be a clear national security or law enforcement use.

Author:

Nicki is a tech blogger and gadget lover, she loves to write about Android and iOS security and cell phone spy apps.

Tags: apps / infosec / mobile apps / mobile enterprise / mobility / mobility management / security / smartphone / tablet

4 Compelling Factors That Can Impact Your Enterprise Mobility

- Friday, 14 November 2014 No Comments

With the advent of high end user-friendly mobile devices like Smartphones, tablets, etc., and advancement in technology, the Enterprise mobility is gaining great popularity among the organizations. It can be observed that there are several companies that are making strives to efficiently deploy the enterprise mobility and boost their business values.

 Indubitably, by becoming a mobile enterprise, an organization can get brighter opportunities. The mobile work-style solution can help you stay ahead of your competitors while driving outstanding growth. For this, you may hire the mobile apps development services from a reliable and highly experienced mobile development company. However, to generate improved productivity without compromising on the work quality, it is imperative to make sure that enterprise mobility management (EMM) has been cleverly perceived and deployed. There are certain crucial factors that must be considered by every organization to ensure efficient implementation of EMM.

 

Without any further ado, let's have a glimpse over a few factors that can affect your enterprise mobility management.

 

1. Application Management can help ensure a secure EMM: This area possesses great responsibilities like managing an application's life-cycle, which  primarily includes creating an app, updating it, and eventually removing it when it is not required anymore. It also the duty of app management team to ensure all the security policies. And since, with the interconnection between different resources and end-users increases, the  mobile-centric environment becomes more complex, a proficient management framework is required.

 

Hence, it is advisable to choose an EMM solution that possesses ultimate application management with integrated security policies and role-based app distribution. It should be designed to efficiently handle critical functions like jailbreak detection, data encryption, document sharing, reliable productivity apps (including browser, email and more), user authentication and a lot more.

 

Security is a vitally important aspect of any enterprise application. Since an enterprise app often exhibits highly crucial information, it is imperative to ensure the utmost security to keep your essential data away from prying eyes.

 

2. The Foundational Mobile Device Management is the paramount of EMM planning: There is a plethora of mobile platforms available out there that supports innumerable device types featuring different screen sizes and screen types. Thus, if you will allow your business to implement different mobile devices, then the mobile device management (MDM) must not be ignored. It includes superior functions like security, device set up and mobile's assets management.

 

To handle the critical business data efficiently, it is essential to first identify whether the device seeking permissions to access the corporate device is an employee-owned device or organizational device. This technology is primarily aimed at data security by enabling passwords in device and and automated device setting configuration. It can be said that this factor is quite powerful than any other as it can help you accentuate productivity, augment dynamic access to the corporate resources via some reliable organizational devices.

 

Moreover, when dealt with utmost precision, it can even help deliver optimum results with minimal complexity and reduced IT cost. You can remotely monitor all the involved devices with proficient MDM.

 

3. Mobile Content Management to keep risk to sensitive corporate data at bay: The file sharing services are quite resourceful features that is often deployed by most of the employees. With this feature, employees gets access to highly sensitive and crucial company information, thus it creates a security risk that can't be ignored. Thus, to ensure an easy access while keeping the corporate content safeguarded, an efficient mobile content management can surely help you.

 

An ideal solution must deploy functions like restrictions for content sharing, intuitive user interface, powerful encryption policies and a lot more.

 

4. Real time protection from Threats: Resolving a mobile crime could be a daunting task, as these are quite hard to be handled and they have gone beyond malware. Every day a range of new security threats are popping up in the mobile and Internet domain. Mobile applications have become a hot target for hackers. Hence, to ensure security of highly confidential organizational as well as user data, it is essential to create reliable corporate systems that must prohibit unauthorized entry.

 

Therefore, it is imperative that the EMM must feature a robust and dynamic app intelligence functionalities to protect the services and organization framework safe from several risks like malware, data theft, battery drainage, etc.

 

Wrapping Up:

If you are making strives to create mobility standard for enhancing your business performance, these aforementioned key factors can help you conveniently achieve success. A perfect blend of these capabilities can result in efficient Enterprise Mobility Management that can surely deliver rapid solutions with improved productivity and greater user satisfaction.

 

Author Signature: Lucie Kruger is an eminent Senior Content Editor and IT consultant for Mobiers Ltd. She provides concrete information on latest technologies like iOS and android mobile apps development.


 

Tags: app / infosec / review / security / software / VPN

CactusVPN — The Simplest Way to Stay Anonymous Online

- Tuesday, 11 November 2014 No Comments

Here is a brief review of CactusVPN, covering different aspects of this VPN Tunneling solution.

Nowadays, considering all these sorts of surveillance programmes out there, it doesn’t matter your main purpose for using internet, but you might need a VPN Tunneling solution to ensure that no one else is spying on your activities on World Wide Web! As you might know, VPN Tunneling works based on the process of encrypting your internet traffic in such a way that your ISP will no longer be able to track you. Now, however, there are a number of VPN providers available in market and it has become somewhat a tough task to find the best VPN Tunneling solution! To the respite of all yours, today, we are here with the review of a wonderful VPN Tunneling solution — CactusVPN! In this review, we shall have a glimpse on various aspects of this Virtual Private Network Tunneling solution that makes more than enough sense when it comes to protection of online identity and privacy. First of all, we will have an introduction to CactusVPN.

CactusVPN — Basics You Should Know

Well, in simple words, CactusVPN is a Virtual Private Network Tunneling solution that offers support for a big variety of devices and platforms, such as Windows, Ubuntu, Android, iOS etc. Having been providing top-notch VPN service for many years, CactusVPN has created a superb impression among customers! Now, however, CactusVPN has come up with plethora of productive features when it comes to the perspective of a user seeking internet privacy as well as a way to escape from these surveillance efforts of authorities. Also, CactusVPN offers superb features such as 30-day money back guarantee and torrent downloads. Now, however, we shall have a glance on different aspects of the VPN solution.

VPN Client with Ultra-Simple UI

VPN software of CactusVPN is easy enough to get used to because the team has implemented such a simple UI! It’s a matter of a few seconds to install CactusVPN in your computer and establish a powerful connection to VPN server of CactusVPN, regardless your level of expertise when it comes to VPNs. In addition, as a matter of productivity, the tool has a feature to shut down a particular set of applications (most probably, applications that you don’t want to use publicly, such as torrents) when there is an obstruction between VPN server and your computer.

Servers & Protocols — Up to Your Convenience

For those who are aiming at productivity while purchasing a VPN solution, CactusVPN is the best because it has a lot to offer. As of now, CactusVPN has fourteen VPN Servers that are located in different parts of globe — including UK, USA, Netherlands and Romania. Despite the fact that all these servers offer top-notch encryption, you can use some of those servers for particular purposes. For instance, you can use Romanian or Netherlands-based servers of this VPN solution to download torrents anonymously.

Apart from this, five different VPN protocols are available from CactusVPN and you can use each of these protocols for variety of purposes. These protocols include SSTP, OpenVPN and SoftEther and CactusVPN was the first to offer SoftEther VPN Protocol.

Verdict

While considering all these factors, we have no doubt to state CactusVPN as one of the best Virtual Private Network Tunneling solutions in industry! Especially, we were impressed by its simple interface as well as variety of resources that are made available!