Keeping the credit card data with USC Password Security Storage System Light Version

The USC Password Security Storage System Light Version is designed for passwords. As mentioned, I use the same version for a long time to see if there is any problem myself.

Recently, when I have to renew one Domain Name, I have to input the credit card data. Since the Keylogger is a threat today, I dare not to input such sensitive data through the keyboard.

So I use the Adaware SE to clear the spyware first. Then turn off the router and input the password data with the USC Password Security Storage System Light Version.

I use the fields as follow:

Website --- VISA
Login --- the card number
Pass --- the control code

With such records input, I can renew the Domain Name without inputting credit card data through the keyboard.

Without users' comment, nothing will be perfect

About the USC Password Security Storage System Light Version 2.5, I have used it daily and yet I must admit that I overlooked an important point.

Fortunately, a client told me that he preferred to hide the login and password during browsing with the program. That means the procedures of CHECK, SHOW and INTERNET must be changed to meet such demand.

After testing for amendment, it seems that the new procedures offer a better way for users to browse the Internet without any threat online, being picked up by passerby or keylogger.

I really appreciate such comment and I do believe that without others' suggestion, there is no way to build any perfect products.

The follow up is to upgrade the Version 2.5 to Version 2.6 and free upgrade must be delivered to all clients. That will be done within this week.

If you are one of my clients, do give me your comment. I have said that although this program is in the One Dollar Software House, that is, sold for one US Dollar only, there is no reason not to make these programs perfect.

We may have less spams for a while

It is good to know that "Zombie king suspect alleged to have sent 18 million spams per day".

Ever since I started online, I have experienced with hundreds of spam daily. Of course, for some months, the number fell to less than fifty. This would take a few minutes for me to clear them from my mailbox. One friend had said that spams cost him a few hours daily. My response was that he must had read those porno instead of deleting them instantly. With experience, we just look at the title or the sender to confirm whether to delete it. Spending time to read the whole email is just an excuse to see if there is any porno image only.

Marketing by email is the best method. Certainly, we cannot have a method to stop bad guys taking the same way. I do enjoy reading marketing emails. It is part of the information to know new things.

This is a personal choice. For me, I never use filters and I do like to read scam emails. Unfortunately, they are not so creative as before.

One thing is certain, there is no way to stop spams. Just to keep them down to a lower number will be good enough for most of us.

A suggestion to fight against virus and spyware

There are many reports and estimation about the trouble and loss due to virus and spyware. I do believe that some of these estimations are exaggerated. Of course, such problem has hurt the joy of going online and forced down the efficiency of working.

It is glad to find that legal system starts to punish those bad guys. However, after reading "Two years after author's arrest, Netsky worm still tops virus chart", it is certain that the damage is far exceed any such punishment could match.

Let's discuss the concept of punishment. It is certain that all punishment is not a kind of revenge. That had been employed in the old days. Besides repaying by losing one's freedom for what has been done, punishment serves as a warning to all others. Warning must be enforced, otherwise we shall continue to have such crimes in the future.

Most crimes ended with someone being hurt or even dead. The different levels of punishment have taken it into account. Death or life sentence is the highest punishment. Cases closed.

Virus and spyware are not traditional crimes; no one will be hurt physically. However, the damage will be continued even the author had been jailed or barred from any computers.
Sentence for a number of years cannot stop the damage, especially there are copycats and a few bad guys can continue to modify the codes and extending the threat to everyone for many years, if not forever.

Furthermore, with legal action comes to an end after verdict, there will be no more protection for all of us from the relevant virus etc. In other words, the legal system has failed to terminate the damage of such crime. If we shall have a hundred bad guys producing such virus, after they had been jailed and released some years after, we may have to face the hundred viruses for the rest of our lives. It would be unfair for all of us.

Therefore, I suggest that we have to change the punishment. Anyone who produces a virus should have the responsibility to clear it from the world. That means he/she has to spend whatever time is required to clear the virus until we have the report that their viruses are disappeared. The prison has to provide a room with Internet connection, they have to use their own computers and pay the accommodation too.

Since we already have a number of reports for active viruses, it is easy to select a few as watch lists. There will not be any cost at all.

How about the same virus disappeared for a short period before coming back? It depends on the law. If the punishment is effective whenever the virus exists, there is no need to go through any process again. That means if the same virus appears again, the guy will have to continue to work in jail again.

Due to the internationalization of such type of crime, it will be good for every country to act together. The punishment can be performed anywhere in the world. So the guy can choose where to serve his/her punishment, provided that he/she paid for the travelling.
Remember that such guys have good talent, it would be a waste to lock them up without application of their skill. We do not need to tell them what to do, they should know better than we do.

Whether my suggestion can be enforced remains unknown. It would be good to find a better way to deal with this type of crimes because Internet connection will continue forever.

(The original essay is published in my site, www.uscforesight.com/2006002ENG.htm, for Chinese Traditional Characters, cnt.uscforesight.com/2006002.htm and for Chinese Simplied Characters, cns.uscforesight.com/2006002CS.htm)

The best encryption or any great effort would fail to protect if your computer has keylogging spyware.

Encryption is not applied by users. It is the e-business website's tool to protect online customers.

Recently, someone raised the question "Is encryption really crackable?" in a blog. If you want to know about encryption, it will be good to read the various posting. Among the messages, "However if the PC has a keylogger, or a hidden partition wher all your plaintext is copied to, NO encryption will protect you." posted by michael_orton is a good reminder to users.

My friends always said that I might be too fast ahead of them because I always worked on something that they had not yet aware of. It sounds great. No, I think that the problem is most of them relied on their chosen channel of information and had not spent time to see by themselves.

When I first heard of Keylogging, I immediately rushed to get information so that I could understand what it was and how to avoid this threat.

For the time being, I believe that the keyboard cannot be replaced by any other ways because other method would be the same as input from keyboard for the processor. Therefore, keylogging spyware can catch all such type of input.

Of course, we may hope that Intel and Microsoft will come out with a technique to overcome this type of problem. However, even if that would be happened, it might not be any time soon. We are still in danger because our computer may be invaded by keylogging spyware before or in the coming future.

A new online business: seeking ransom openly

It looks like a legal business, give ransom to save your computer, any problem email for help.

Check "Ransom Trojan horse demands money with menaces" for details.

No matter how insane this guy be, we have to know that such type of crime will be continued and perhaps it would evolve to team works. One will be in charge of spreading the specific virus. The next one will be in charge of urging for ransom. The third one will be in charge of assisting victims to recover the computers. All of them are in different countries with no law against each part of deal.