Social networking sites are the favorite haunt of online hackers and malware planters. These networking sites like Facebook, offer a veritable and large resource of accounts – over 250 million – that can be rigged. Hackers often use keyloggers and network sniffers to hack Facebook accounts.

Posts and messages on Facebook are all about personal communication. When anybody posts you a message, or you respond to your friends, the connection works on the basis of trust. You would rarely assume that the friend you are “talking” to via Facebook is actually not the real guy but someone who is acting as his proxy. Many a times, hackers posing as one of your known friends, ask for money on an urgent basis. If you are a Facebook user, however trustworthy you are of your friends, make sure you call them or meet them face to face before transferring any money. For all you know, you may end up a fool while the hacker laughs his way to the bank.

Many a times hackers not just change passwords, they change the entire Facebook profile of the user. To their shock, many users could not log into their accounts before figuring out that these have been totally overtaken and rigged.

Sadly, there are not too many known ways of how to reset your password after your Facebook account has been hacked. Since the fraudster is faceless and may be too far off to track, the best possible solution is to just sit back, stay off your Facebook account for a few weeks and then start afresh.

You may not be very successful in using tools such as Faceboos because if you have a few failed attempts at accessing, Facebook will block your IP address.

However, Curl is touted as a powerful command line tool that can help recover any Facebook account password that has been lost or forgotten.

To secure the user, there are alarms, laptop locks, stickers and labels that have been developed. Mere password locking is not sufficient to ensure data security. Full-disk encryption (FDE) is a widely used method to protect the laptop before the operating system starts up. FDE can be done by adopting a software-based approach or hardware-based approach or both.

Then there is the remote laptop security (RLS) with which access can be denied to a stolen laptop, thereby ensuring security of information. Also, there are programs that can be installed using which the owner of the stolen laptop can wipe financial or client-sensitive information from a remote location. There are also GPS tracking programs that can help to trace stolen laptops.

One of the smart things to do while traveling with laptops is to ensure that you have a back-up for everything you need and avoid accessing any financial information so that you do not leave a trail of your sensitive information.

However, there are doubts over the effectiveness of anti-theft measures that can prevent sensitive information from getting lost when a laptop is stolen. On both the Mac and PC, a laptop robber can get rid of many of the checks and balances that anti-theft and recovery software impose. The network connection can be turned off so you can never track the software’s location; the thief can even clear the hard disk.

If you are still keen to try out any recovery software, check out Undercover for the Mac (and iPhone). Nowadays it also comes with a WiFi-based positioning to help map where the stolen laptop may be possibly stored. Also, there’s the MacTrak software which transmits pictures and network with the help of e-mail or to a Flickr account.

For Windows, LoJack for laptops is popular. The software’s location can be traced via network connection daily. If the laptop is stolen, you can trace location changes every 15 minutes. You can also remotely wipe data.

Proposed Amendment: … Specifically,the proposed amendment responds to a concern about whether, in a case involving computers, the defendant’s use of any technology or software to conceal the identity or geographic location of the perpetrator qualifies as “especially complex or especially intricate offense conduct pertaining to the execution or concealment of an offense” within the meaning of the sophisticated means…

A proxy server is simply an internet server that controls client computers’ access to the Internet. Using a proxy server, a company can stop employees from accessing undesirable websites, improve performance by storing web pages locally. They can be used to disguise that person’s numeric Internet Protocol address, which is akin to a street address for a computer. People also use proxy servers to surf anonymously.

Users are often aware of the fact that they are using a proxy. For example use of Opera Mini on the mobile phone, the traffic is routed through a Swedish proxy server.

The Justice Department pushed for the change as a way to exact a harsher punishment on criminals who set up extensive proxy networks in multiple countries to evade law enforcement. Investigators can spend months, if not years, unraveling the networks. Sometimes, it’s impossible if they can’t get cooperation from foreign governments.

http://www.ussc.gov/2009guid/20090127_Reader_Friendly_Proposed_Amendments.pdf

Recognizing the privacy concerns of mobile phone users, Latitude allows you to control your privacy as you wish.  In the privacy menu of Latitude, you can choose to detect and share your location automatically or manually set your location (you can even choose to enter a false location!), hide your location to all or a chosen few of your group, or completely turn off Latitude.  Another privacy control option allows you to decide how much details you want to share.  One can choose between no location data, city-level info or even a ‘best available’ data mode.

Google Latitude is not an auto detection add-on that lets anybody and everybody to track each other.  To let two individuals to track each other, both have to give consent to each other and also that both will have to be subscribers of the same mobile network. (This restriction may soon disappear, depending on how enthusiastically customers will receive this location based service.)  Invitations can be sent out through email or can be added through Gmail contacts.  Since privacy settings for each contact is individually set, one can always reconfigure the settings for each contact at will.

Google Latitude can be installed on mobile devices where Google Maps for mobile v3.0 and above is supported.  Some of the currently available devices are – Android-powered devices, BlackBerry devices, Windows Mobile 5.0 devices, Nokia smartphones, Symbian S60 devices, etc. Latitude is not presently available on iPhones but apparently Google is working on developing a version of Latitude for iPhones too. Google Latitude is now offered in 27 countries.

On the Latitude activated devices, the location detection and updating is done automatically in the background, letting your friends, who have permission to track your location , to update your progress constantly.  However, continuous location sharing involve high amount of data traffic, and therefore it is advisable to subscribe for unlimited data plan before Latitude is activated. Another concern is the expected high drain on your mobile battery, though no data on battery drain is as yet available.

BrightKite and Loopt are two similar services already in existence, and Google’s Latitude seems to be an attempt to beat the competition.  Both the BrightKite and Loopt have limited audiences currently and only time will tell whether Latitude can attract a wider customer base and become successful.

Google with its worldwide presence and muscle may be able to market Latitude much better.  However, the privacy concerns may be a daunting impediment to overcome for the desired penetration.  If you are able to willingly announce and share your location, it may also be possible for the crooks to ‘steal’ the information for their wicked activities.  So, the conservatives may decide to wait and watch, but the adventurous guys are welcome to jump in.

I am Jamil Ahmed from Aden, Yemen and a native of Pakistan. I studied computers in Yemen for a few months, back in 2006. A strange thing happened during my study there. I would like to share the experience with you on how I managed to figure things out.

I studied computer at a near by computer center and the lab instructor often amazed me by hacking into my email every time. I tried all possible tricks I could. I changed the password once a week, used the most complicated password, never typed in front of him, checked the computer for key logger as per my friend’s advice etc. Nothing could stop my instructor from hacking into my email even when the password was new.

I was wondering what to do. I was almost sure that somehow he was managing to spy on the computer that I was using. But how was it possible? It’s not a virus; it’s not a Trojan, its not any remote screen capturing system as I checked the computer meticulously.

Then one of my friends told me it’s because you are using the school network. Your instructor is sniffing the networking packets and finding out the password. I decided to have a check on the same. I asked my friend to start an email address for me from Pakistan. I never tried to open the email from the school network. To our expectation, he was not able to find the password for that address.

Few months later on a casual chat with my instructor, he admitted that it was indeed a network packet-sniffing program. I forgot the name of the software, but through that he was able to monitor each and every conversation that we had from lab. He was given specific instruction by the principal to monitor this due to security constrains. He installed the software in the school proxy server and managed to hack into all the school computers.

Ever since then, I am very cautious in using any school or office network for personal use.

Written by : Jamil Ahmed, Yemen
Date: December 14, 2008
Payment status : Paid via paypal on December 18, 2008

This mobile phone tracking method doesn’t need any hardware or software installation on your cellphone and it works on all mobile phones out there in the market. Its works on cell tower based tracking method and doesn’t need a GPS device.

All you need is to figure out on how to send that LOCATE message from the mobile phone which you wish to track. So next time you hand over the phone to someone even for five minutes, beware!.

Company says it plans to send out random SMS stating that the cell phone is being tracked to prevent abuse. More details and free sign up at http://www.world-tracker.com/

Install ‘Google maps’ on any S60 based mobile phone (like Nokia E51, E71, N73, N96) and press the option “My Location” from the “Options” menu. It will show you the location within 100 meters to 2 km depending on the cell tower and network availability. In places where there is good connectivity, it will track you down more efficiently than any GPS device, which won’t work indoor.

“Google maps” is distributed free by Google and you can install it without any hassle by visiting http://m.google.com. All you need is an active GPRS/ EDGE /3G connection to make it work. Nokia maps and other mapping software do not have this feature and it works only via a GPS device at the moment.

Give it a try.

What does it mean to Google? Why they want to track mobile users?

Google, as always, wants to sell its advertisements through all mediums practically possible. The multi billion giant needs to know your area of interests in order to sell their so-called targeted ads. They find their answers through various mediums – ‘what you want’ from “Google search”; ‘what you do’ from Gmail, Calendar, Docs etc”; what you see from “You Tube”. Imagine the possibility of displaying the ads about your local coffee shop on your mobile; imagine the reach and relevance of the advts you will be seeing. They simply enhance their ‘free’ software and track you even without GPS.

“The My Location technology is available on most smartphones, including all color BlackBerry devices, all Symbian Series 60 3rd Edition devices, most Windows Mobile devices, newer Sony Ericsson devices, and some Motorola devices.”

The one word answer is YES and the descriptive answer is as follows

Tracking cell phone without any software

Any GSM/ CDMA cellular service providers can pin point the location of the users within a certain area. Every few minutes cell phone sends the signal back to the service provider announcing the location of the handset. The nearest cell/ mobile tower picks the signal and alerts the central server that the user is within that certain cell site and all calls should be routed to that site. The same information can be used by service providers to track the cell phone. Though they won’t publish the information publically, they used to co-operate with law enforcement officers to track suspicious mobile numbers.

Tracking cell phone with software

Companies like this (http://www.microlmts.net/) provide software’s (LMTS) which can be installed in a mobile phone. This type of software’s are meant to track the phone if it’s stolen and not used for tracking the location of the mobile phone. The software works like this. The software once installed sits silently in the phone memory and detect any change in mobile number. When ever we replace the SIM (or if the thief does), it prepares an SMS and send the new mobile number to two (or more) predefined numbers set by the original owner of the phone.(or the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)).

Powered with the above information we can contact law enforcement officers to track the location of the cell phone. This is not a foul proof method as it’s quite possible that the person who took the phone can start the phone without a SIM card and then format the phone memory to wipe out any existing software or data. (Without SIM card means no SMS sent out)

Using IMEI number

International Mobile Equipment Identity or the IMEI number can also be used to track stolen cell phone if we are getting good support from law enforcement officers and service providers. Each GSM mobile phone has a unique number which is called IMEI number. The service provider keeps track of this number to identify the phone in the network.

Suppose if the phone is stolen and we are giving the instruction in writing to all the service providers to track the cell phone, the providers can easily find the location or disable the phone to function in that particular network. This makes the phone practically useless and thereby discourages further theft.

But for this method we need lot of support from the service providers. As every city might be having 6-10 providers and each of them having its on rules, it will be a haunting process to make it work.

Other than that there are no viable solution available at the moment which tracks the location of the cell phone on a GSM or a CDMA network

Scientists admit that their experiment was hacked into by maverick hackers and the hackers were dangerously close to the mission control system. The hackers breached the CMSMON system, which monitors the CMS software system. CMS takes vast amounts of data during collisions.

Greek Security Team (Known as 2600) broke into the experiment and left a message saying, “We are 2600.. don’t mess with us…”

Scientists now have to deal with the collision of protons as well as hackers! A not at all expected twist to this massive experiment

Well these are haunting questions for many. People are using the anonymity of the internet to harass others over, chat, email and other source of internet tools. But keep it mind that anything and everything on the internet keep a trail behind. Some level of knowledge is needed to dig it out, that all. And with the help of modern day technologies and cyber crime detectives its easy to find a persons location over chat, email etc.

The only way to figure out the location of the person in a chat (chat room) is to get his or her IP address and track the location using some program. It’s no easier to figure out the location as the servers (Yahoo, MSN, Gtalk, Jabber chat servers) sit in-between. Many of these programs connect directly to the user IP only when a huge amount of data needs to be sent across. Something like a file transfer, cam (video) session or even a voice chat session. Once the connection is established its easy to find the IP address using any of the tools listed below.

Here are some ways to get the IP address

1. The first and the simplest is to use the ‘netstat’ command from the windows command prompt
2. Use some software like this.

Sometimes it’s every difficult to find the exact IP address from the pool of IPs connected to the machine. Try your maximum to limit the number of inbound and out going connection from your computer while doing this. Close the browser sessions, disable antivirus updates or other software updates will reduce the number of connection made from your machine to the victims machine. Run the tool and analyze the list of IP address in that pool. Few of them will be the Yahoo, MSN or Gtalk server address and which can be easily identified with little practice. Short list the suspicious IP address and try to trace route the IP address

1. To trace route an IP address give ‘tracert<space>IP-ADDRESS’ in command prompt

This will give you an idea of how far the victim in located.

Next is to find the geographic location of the person.

Each ISP is given a particular set of IP address and the provider divides it among its users. So it’s possible to trace the location to a particular ISP or to a certain geographic location on the globe. You can use so many free tools available on the web. One thing to note here is no tool available on the planet will be able to provide the street level address information from a given IP address. But once you can pin point the IP address you can use the law enforcement officers to get the address from the ISP. The ISPs simply will not answer to your queries regarding the user location. So don’t waste time digging for it.

City level information will be suffice in most cases as we will be able to understand who the person is.

Hope it helps. Best of luck, happy hunting