Danger,Lurking,Behind,Those,In DIY Danger Lurking Behind Those Innocent Client Servers
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and
Did you know that sharing your music or your videos on the net couldexpose you an entire network of criminals trying to access yourpersonal data? And while you may be smug in the feeling that you aresharing just a few music files, you may well be sadly mistaken.A study was recently conducted by Dartmouth College's Tuck School ofBusiness to examine the dangers of data disclosure inadvertently onfile-sharing networks. This study involved examination of data relatingto P2P searches and files of 30 top US banks. The period covered was ashade under two months, from Dec 2006 to Feb 2007.A search engine technology from Tiversa Inc. was used by the studygroup to collect and scrutinize all the P2P traffic that mentioned thebanks under study by name, or mapped them to a particular digitalfootprint that was created by the University for each of the financialinstitutions that were being studied. Latest networks such asBitTorrent, FastTrack, Gnutella and eDonkey were used to gather thedata for the study.The study found that an exceedingly high number of consumers doing simple tasks such as sharing music softwareon the P2P networks were inadvertently divulging sensitive data such asbank account and credit card details to criminals lurking around forsuch information. As per Eric Johnson, a study author and Professor ofOperations at the Dartmouths Center for Digital Strategies, asignificant number of individuals as well as firms face this risk fromthe peer-to-peer file sharing networks.What happens is this. When people share their files such as free music softwareand just plain music also, they are inadvertently exposing the entirecontents of their computers to the entire network. This is quicklylapped up by criminal minds lurking around for this very purpose.The reason for the exposure is that the popular P2P clients likeBearShare, Limewire, Morpheus, Kaaza etc are specifically designed tosearch for and retrieve certain types of media files on a userssystem. If the music files have accidentally been included in anotherfolder, the contents of the entire folder would be exposed to the P2Pnetwork. If this folder happens to contain sensitive information, thenbe rest assured that all that sensitive information is going along withthe music recordingthat you had done and wanted to share with your friends. Thus itbecomes extremely important to control the access of the folders beingshared.Another reason for the exposure is the confusing interfaces of some ofthese clients that may result in sharing of a folder that was notintended to be shared. Wizards included with the clients often manageto complicate the problem further, by searching for and recommendingsharing of all kinds of media files in the entire computer. Just one ofthese files needs to be in a folder containing sensitive information.While some of the information could be leaked inadvertently,cybercriminals are increasingly using P2P networks to specificallysearch for and harvest such data. A considerable portion of the searchterms that were analyzed appeared to be looking for account and userinformation, databases, routing and PIN numbers and passwords. It is the home users that account for a majority of the leakedinformation as high as 80% of the entire data came from them. Mosthave limited knowledge of security systems that make them morevulnerable to data theft. Other stolen data came from bank systems orbanks partners.So whether you are a home or a business user, you need to be extravigilant the next time you decide to share some of your files withyour friends.
Danger,Lurking,Behind,Those,In