E-MAIL ADDRESSES

[don]

For all those newly registered and quite a few of you who have been long term users of this site. Please look in your PROFILE and hide your E-MAIL ADDRESSES... This is for your own security. Not everyone out there is a nice person.

[Zimmer]

I know it's well intentioned good advice by Don but I would add that trhe chances of someone gaining much info from coming on here - of all the sites in all the world - and seeing an e-mail address and stealing your identity is as likely as meeting a camel on Ben Nevis, dont get too neurotic is all I'm saying, doesnt do any harm to hide it, thats true, but it's not like theres a bunch of hackers keepin tabs either, it's like most things in life - proportion

and heres a possibly good piece of advice from "Holiday Truths" site

"When arranging to meet or exchange information with someone you have chatted to on the forums, please remember that you are dealing with a complete stranger.

Don't exchange too many personal details online or by pm, including home address or phone number, and dont divulge your full name. Never go alone to the first few meetings and don't be tempted to divulge too many personal detail at anytime.

Please try and remember during the relaxed holiday atmosphere on the board , that you have been conversing with a total stranger, who could be telling you absolutely anything which may or may not be entirely truthful."

[2sanstef]

Good advice from you both and even though I agree that the risk is low I would urge everyone to hide their personal email address on registration or use a hotmail address and NEVER include a personal email address within a post where the risk of them being harvested by spammers is a great deal higher. Believe me when I first started this website in 2001 I included a contact email on the webpage and you would not believe how much crap I received within a very short period of time.

If you wish to contact another member use the Personal Message option as your email address will remain hidden.

Also take note of the good piece of advice from the "Holiday Truths" site

Admin

[Zimmer]

May I ask the admin, why the site gives the E-Mail option? would it not be simpler not to have it?

I recommend AVG and Zone Alarm as protection, never had problems - yet - with spam

[Jules]

Good advice again. Glad we already know some of you personally on here as well - peace of mind. Would still like to meet other forumsters as well though.

[tonyco1]

Yes, everyone should take care on the internet!
Funnily enough, I actually was up Ben Nevis last friday afternoon.
I laughed at the sight of two Camels struggling up the slope - who would have thought . . . . . . . . .LOL!

Still, just goes to show that nothing is impossible and there are some clever hackers about!
It's amazing what you can glean from an email address, i.e. Name and Surname,
Google it or maybe follow up with a Phishing Email and you would be surprised what personal information,
some people give out - - or - - what personal info is about on the net!
Identity stolen - possibly - and it all started from an innocent email address.
Bottom line is if you close your windows and lock your doors at home,
don't give out unwanted access on the internet either.
Mind you, who in life is the real predator, the hacker can also get gobbled up as well!!

I had a strange "lets be friends" enquirey a couple of days back on Facebook.
There were no "joint" San Stef friends on his account, so I asked him where he knows me from and refused until I know who it is!

[cannedfool]

Lets bring this down to earth a little.

Email

Dont worry about hiding your email too much, unless you really feel that after years of warnings (some of you with actual paper ones not just emails) your going to answer the "UN High Council Leader of america for tourist information with banking support and anything else he can add to a name" in that email he wrote you. To be honest even without your email i can probably personally find a lot of information about you, the phone book is a good place to start.

The benifit of hiding you email address is simply to stop the large amount of trawling 'BOTS', which will search websites for anything they can get to send spam to. A good junk mail filter will stop that. One thing which is especially important is choose a reliable email provider. This means you know your email is well secured and someone isnt reviewing all your emails and accessing all your accounts.

DO NOT (as stated above) post your emails on websites/forums, this will once again increase your spam levels. If you really have to, use an example such as;

me AT mymail.com
me_@_mymail_.com (remove the _)

This will mean that when the site is searched they either wont pick it up or will email the wrong address.

Passwords

This is were it gets important. please dont use any dictionary word. This is how most brute force attacks occur. A hacker will just run a program to go though a list of known words to try and gain access. the most secure method is to use random capitalization and numbers. Most websites have processes in place to stop this, a maximum of 5 login attempts in 15 minutes.

54N53f4n05 is a simple example. Sanstefanos spelt with letters and numbers. Easy to remember (if you know you number to letter dictionary) and hard to guess.

Do not use the same password for everything. All thought this isnt too much of a problem, it isnt simple to get someones password (most sites will reset them rarther than give someone your password), if they do gain this information every one of your log-ins could be compromised.

Forums
Do not send people personal messages with anything personal. I know for a fact our lovely webmaster can see every personal message ever sent. Be aware just because the public cant see it doesnt mean the person running the site cant.

Downloading files
Do not follow any link to a file to download. MSN Messenger is a prime of this, i get a number of friends who have viruses on thier computer which when they log in sends a request to very their new uploaded pictures. Its not always obvious but make sure that its actually the person sending the message not just a virus.

NEVER open links from people you dont know or trust. If you do trust them. check the URL. A good example is my signiture on here. flickr.cannedfool.org. I know that points to my flickr page but do you?

Always check what your downloading. Why download windows media player from WindowsMediaPlayer.Mysite.com when you can go to microsoft.com and download it straight from the official source. Many sites catch people out by adding in software to simple programs you download. These programs can then sit on your pc and log everything you type. So in one simple move i have every login and password you use to every site while you think your using media player.

A good antivirus software will help here (http://free.avg.com) but not always.

Personal Information

This is the big one, when we were younger we could access most of our friends email accounts, with hotmail all i needed to know is your post code (well you live 2 doors down so thats easy) and your secret question answer.

My secret question answer you say, you wont get that. So i talk to a friend about thier pets. They reply "Ow yes my first dogs name was wolfe". Thanks i now have access to your emails. simple.

It should go without saying addresses, dates of birth and really personal stuff should never be disclosed on the internet. Keep everything personal to yourself, people dont need to know this. One thing to remember, "Ow its my birthday today 4/8/9" "Really how old are you" "24". so your date of birth is 4/8/85. 

So now the most important bit of this essay

People dont hack other people. Random people hack random people. The only real way someone would target you specifically is basically if your a &%$&%$&%$, you upset someone and they want to get there own back.

So

Take everything said above with a pinch of salt. If they really wanted to hack you personally they will do. Its not hard when you know what your doing but dont make it easier. As said above you would lock your house and keep your details safe, dont let that lapse just because your online.

if i give any piece of advice:

IF IT DOESNT NEED TO BE ONLINE, DONT PUT IT ONLINE

ps: sorry for the essay, not really sure why i just wrote all that but enjoy 

[Zimmer]

Thanks canned....those camel's give me the 'ump ..boom boom!

[Jules]

Thanks for all that info. It really does all make sense. If only everyone would take notice as well the hackers etc would get hacked off lol!!!

[tonyco1]

Well done - that was quite a good read!!

[don]

When I started this thread I wasn't thinking of ID theft or Spam. What concerns me is the fact that I got abusive and very disturbing correspondence from someone who I had to take legal action against. I wouldn't wish the worry and sleepless nights on anybody. That all started through my E-mail address being out in the public domain!

[tonyco1]

I now see where you are coming from and it's a seriously valid point!
I would not want that hassle either!

[Zimmer]

When I started this thread I wasn't thinking of ID theft or Spam. What concerns me is the fact that I got abusive and very disturbing correspondence from someone who I had to take legal action against. I wouldn't wish the worry and sleepless nights on anybody. That all started through my E-mail address being out in the public domain!

Ahh right......,no wonder then,perfectly understandable "once bitten" and all that

[tonyco1]

The point made is that it can happen to anyone!
Simple steps taken, to keep yourself out of the firing line - easy really!

[cannedfool]

does anyone not feel sometimes that it would be fun to respond to the "leader of the un ........." and just have some fun.

Just string them along for a while.