HideIP VPN creates a secure encrypted tunnel between your computer and their servers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Netherlands or Germany. By doing so, any traffic originating from your computer will appear to the receiving server as coming from the HideIP VPN server you choose when creating an account. This means that you will be able to use services such as Spotify, BBC iPlayer, Hulu or any other service that associates IP addresses to geographical location in order to block usage.

There’s no need to worry that your Spotify won’t work when you’re visiting your family overseas. Or that your web traffic will be captured, analyzed and attacked at a unsecured public WiFi access point. You will be able to use websites and forums completely anonymously, as the servers will register information about the VPN server instead of your machine. It even bypasses throttling of VoIP services such as Skype, that your ISP may employ in order to deter its use. No longer will your ISP know everything you do on the internet, as the contents of the data transmission are completely obfuscated by encryption.

The service provides an array of tunneling options, through PPTP, OpenVPN, L2TP/IPsec and Proxy. Personally, I’ve found that OpenVPN provides the optimal balance between speed and security, allowing you for example to watch HD streaming videos, granted you have an appropriate bandwidth plan from your ISP. However, be aware that P2P traffic is not allowed, and as a Terms of Service violation, your account may be suspended. This means that torrent downloads among other peer to peer sharing technologies (such as Limewire, Gnutella) are not available while connected to the VPN server.

HideIP VPN is a very useful tool to have if you want to make the most out of your internet connection. You can learn more about the service on the company website. A comprehensive article on VPN technology is available on Wikipedia. You can even get a free account if you subscribe to the blog and keep an eye out for announcements.

“Linux doesn’t have viruses at all!”

Most of the time this is just a case of over simplification made by ‘Linux people’ in order to convince Windows people to try Linux. The truth is that there are about 30 viruses for Linux. I know this number sounds extremely large, but bear with me.

The trick is that there aren’t any viruses in circulation – that can currently infect systems and are present on USB sticks, malicious servers, etc. In fact, most of those viruses are gathering dust somewhere on a floppy disk. How come there are so few viruses for Linux? Linux is radically different from Windows because:

1. The source code is freely available, which means more eyeballs are staring at the code, ever since the 90’s, continually improving it. On the other hand, it’s a felony to decompile or reverse engineer any component of Windows. Which means only  Microsoft employees and hackers see the code.
2. Linux was built with security in mind. Windows started paying attention to security well after Windows NT. Like putting the money into the bank and installing the safe afterwards: the robbers came and went.
3. And even then, they set the combination on the lock to ‘1234’.
4. On any modern Linux OS, you get updates for the system as well as for the apps, automatically. On Windows, every app has its updater program, which isn’t as robust or reliable.
5. Multiple Linux package managers means that a Debian virus can’t infect a Mandriva system. To cover all the major Linux distributions, a virus programmer needs to write the same virus about 5 times.

Linux can however store the Windows virus executables without getting infected itself. Which is why the bad guys use Linux themselves. Smart, isn’t it?

The structure of Linux makes writing a virus very difficult as it requires root access to do anything of significance. For a virus to run it would have to be granted root access with a password request. If you fail to give it root access then the most a virus could do, if anything, is damage your home directory. It is unlikely it could even run again so it would die there in your home directory. Most smart Linux users grasp the power of root access and would question why an unknown program is suddenly requesting root access. (You don’t enter your password for just ANY prompt do you? Only for programs YOU have called up, right?) –BrunoLinux

There’s a Linux antivirus called Clam AntiVirus. Which is completely useless, because finding a Linux virus in the wild is like finding a unicorn in your backyard.

Windows fanatics, please leave angry thoughts using the comment form below. Yes, make the pain go away.

This is nirvana for every security conscious person using the internet, as the computer is physically separated from the network by the the Gatekeeper. The data flowing in is routed directly from the network adapter through the Gatekeeper, analyzed for suspicious activity, and then passed on to your computer.

My first reaction to Yoggie’s Gatekeeper Pico was of disbelief. Disbelief that a device so small could actually run a comprehensive security suite, similar in functionality to a behemoth like Norton Internet Security. And we all know what installing that does to the computer’s performance. Yet it works, and much better than I thought it would.

Inside that small case, we have a hardened Linux operating system using kernel 2.6 and running on the Freescale iMX31L processor, 128MB of RAM and 128MB of non-volatile storage.

Yoggie claims their solution has less than 1% impact on system performance and I believe them. Even the Management Console, the program which controls the settings of the device, is stored on the Gatekeeper itself and accessible via a web interface.

Yoggie did a stellar job of creating a simple to use product, even though the underlying technology is advanced and quite complicated. Normally, an end-user would not be able to benefit from all these security applications – which are primarily found in corporate environments.

Let’s take a look at the components of this security suite:

• Firewall with *stateful packet inspection, outbound port whitelist and blacklist pre-configured, Active Sync support and creation of new rules or exceptions. *By default, Yoggie allows no inbound traffic that was not initiated on the protected computer. Yoggie’s firewall is based on the Linux Netfilter/IPTables firewall.
• Snort Intrusion Detection & Prevention System with Sourcefire VRT certified rules
• Kaspersky Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, Anti-Malware components, which update every 5 minutes automatically. The Kaspersky (or KAV) engine is well regarded by security analysts.

TOR network client, which enables you to connect to the TOR network with a simple click of a button, guaranteeing online privacy.

• SurfControl Web content filtering with pre-configured categories and rule creation. By enabling the Ads filter you’re going to get rid of almost all advertising on websites, making surfing more pleasant and fast.
• Adaptive Security Policy, a 3 stage method, using Low, Medium and High; the user can choose to manually configure the different components or adjust the security slider according to their needs from the graphical interface.
• Adaptive Security Policy

Yoggie Adaptive Security Policy uses a current risk level calculator to calculate the risk level in the specific environment at any given time. According to the calculation it dynamically increases or decreases the security level. –Yoggie KB ID #1011

• Multi-Layer Security Agent

Yoggie Multilayer security agent (MLA) receives security related events from all layers-from the packet level up to the L 8 engine. This patent-pending technology blocks attacks at the packet level as they begin to constitute a risk at the application level. The MLA monitors scanning results from the different security software and builds a puzzle to identify an attack even if it is not recognized by each of the individual subsystems. –Yoggie KB ID #1010

• VPN client & server (Pro model only) for creating an encrypted tunnel automatically when using Yoggie.
• Layer 8 Security Engine

Yoggie L-8 (Layer 8) security engine (patent pending) is a proprietary technology that defends against unknown attacks, including new viruses, spyware, worms, etc. It sits on top of the application layer and analyzes mobile code, such as JavaScript, VBScript and Java applets in order to detect malicious code based on behaviour rather than an existing signature. –Yoggie KB ID #1009

Yoggie Gatekeeper Pico comes with a color quick start guide, but I’m not sure anyone would need that because its incredibly easy to set up. Insert the supplied CD, or download the driver from the Yoggie website then just plug in the Gatekeeper. After about 15 seconds, Yoggie would have started and connected to the application on your computer. The only thing you have to do is to choose a password. This absolutely redefines ease of use when it comes to security applications.

If there’s one downside to Yoggie, it’s the fact that it can’t scan local files or removable media like USB sticks and CDs. Most of the threats today come from the internet – but if you get an infected file on a USB stick, you won’t be protected. The malware won’t be able to communicate with the outside world because of the firewall and IDS/IPS, but it could do other damage.

If you deal with physical media on a regular basis you’ll need to keep around a small portable antivirus , such as ClamWin, for quick scanning. When you purchase a Yoggie product, you will also receive a 1 year Kaspersky Antivirus license, which they recommend you use to do one final sweep before you use the Gatekeeper. You could leave Kaspersky running and enjoy complete protection from all types of threats. In my tests, Kaspersky Anti-Virus used little over 20MB of RAM and never took more than 2% CPU, so it should represent a problem even for a low powered netbook.

Gatekeeper consumes very little energy, under 2W, so it won’t be a burden when you’re using your laptop. In fact, you’ll probably notice that the battery lasts longer because you don’t have a software security suite running on your computer.

The integrated Kaspersky anti-virus engine can’t scan more than the first 10 MB of any HTTP download. What if you download a file, 60MB, that contains a virus? Would you be protected? I’ve asked this question to Gil Bodov, Director of Technical Support:

Yoggie will scan the first 10MB of each file, where most viruses will already be caught regardless of file size. Beyond that, even for the rest of the file, regardless of its size, everything will be passed through the other engines, IDS/IPS, Layer 8 etc. which also include virus signatures. This means you’re still getting a decent level of security even though the AV engine itself doesn’t actually scan the entire file. Still, if you want to have the most secure setting, you can simply block downloading files bigger than 10MB. In addition, Yoggie recommend using the Bonus Desktop AV software (Kaspersky) we provide in the package for a second line of defense (or any other updated AV software).

It is my conclusion that the Yoggie Gatekeeper Pico coupled with a lightweight antivirus is the best protection you can get at the moment for a Windows based computer.

Yoggie products are also available for ExpressCard, home networks, Macs and small businesses and won several prestigious awards from PCMag, ComputerWorld, RSA and CES.  We thank Avi Dardik , VP Product Management for providing this sample. Visit Yoggie.com.

You know the old saying, that appearances can fool you? Well, if you thought the IronKey is just another USB drive, you’d be very wrong. Jump in for the full review.

From IronKey, Inc., founded in 2005, an elite team of experts from big names such as GeoTrust, PayPal, RSA Security and VISA just to name a few, developed an amazing product that enables end-users to protect their privacy and data with something as small and portable as an USB stick.

Tough on the outside, smart on the inside; that would be a sentence to characterize the IronKey perfectly. The sensitive components of the USB stick, the memory and the cryptographic chip, are protected by the metal alloy shell and by epoxy-based filling. This means you can drop the IronKey without worrying about destroying it, and it also means it is water-proof.

The epoxy has another benefit: once it is hardened, it’s nearly impossible to conduct a physical attack on the IronKey in order to retrieve the memory chips. Which, without adequate computing power, would be completely useless since the IronKey can detect a physical attack and initiate a self-destruction sequence that permanently removes the keys from the cryptographic chip. This auto-distruct sequence is also enabled after 10 consecutive failed password attempts. The IronKey has successfully passed 140-2 tests required by the U.S. and Canadian government:

FIPS 140-2 validation is the benchmark for security within government departments and agencies. Government purchasing agents must purchase products validated for FIPS 140-2 in preference to non-validated products. To achieve validation, the IronKey underwent stringent testing by an accredited independent lab, earning the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 Level 2 certificate number 938 from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Canadian Communication Security Establishment (CSE). –IronKey Press Release

In addition, IronKey also passed FIPS 186-2 – which ensures an correct implementation of “RSA, AES, SHA-1 and SHA-256 standards for digital signature generation and verification” and FIPS 197 – “certifying IronKey’s correct implementation of the AES algorithm and its various modes”.

All the information on the IronKey is safely stored, encrypted with AES 256 keys generated the first time you plug in the IronKey – not even IronKey’s employees know the keys to your data.

After the initial setup, which comprises of picking a password then waiting for the IronKey to generate the encryption keys and install the software, you’ll be welcomed by a password prompt each time you plug the device on. Various options let you choose what the next automated action will be: open the IronKey control panel, an Explorer window with your files or viewing your online IronKey account.

The IronKey comes with a free service called ‘Secure Sessions’, a secure Password Manager and a hardened version of Firefox.

• The Secure Sessions feature encrypts and routes all your web-surfing through the Tor network – ensuring anonymity online as well as protecting you against local password sniffers.
• The Password Manager remembers password you entered for various websites. This way, there’s no need to worry about keyloggers monitoring your keystrokes – the password is entered automatically for you. It also lets you generate strong passwords that are automatically remembered. This may be helful for those not familiar with GRC’s Perfect Password Generator.
• Currently, the IronKey comes with Firefox 2.0. They are currently working on some compatibility issues with Firefox 3.0. I’m not really sure how their version of Firefox is hardened, but I immediately installed NoScript, AdBlock and CustomizeGoogle. These 3 extensions easily allow you to block ads, flash and scripts from running – 90% of online threats.

If you’re thinking like me, you’re probably worried about the stick getting infected with auto-run type malware after the device is unlocked; fortunately the IronKey team has thought about that and apparently figured out a solution:

The patent-pending USB AutoRun anti-worm malware protection is available immediately on newly purchased IronKey Basic, Personal and Enterprise devices. Existing customers of IronKey Personal and Enterprise devices can remotely update their software and firmware to add this critical new security capability to their devices.

I can’t say that this is 100% effective, but I can say that I used the IronKey on a malware infested computer and nothing caught on when I ran a scan at home.

Like any USB stick, you can install portable applications such as: Chrome, Notepad++, Pidgin (Open-Source Multi-Protocol Instant Messenger Program) and VLC. The nice thing about the IronKey is that you don’t have to dig through the file system to find the launchers – you can easily integrate them into the IronKey Control Panel.

You can also automatically update the firmware for the IronKey, configure proxies and preferences for Firefox. An useful feature, Lost and Found, lets you customize a message that is shown every time the device is plugged in. If someone finds your IronKey, chances are that you’ll get it back, especially since they can’t re-use it.

There’s also an online part to the IronKey experience. Here, you can choose whether or not you want to backup your password in case you forget it, remotely disable lost devices or configure the security warnings. There’s also a feed of recent activity which will let you know if someone accessed your data without your knowledge.

The IronKey proved to be very useful to me. I can now securely check my email from potentially malicious computers, on the go; take with me even my password list or PayPal account information without being afraid that someone will recover that information. While this device certainly is more relevant to the business crowd, there are a lot of uses for the average guy and I strongly recommend this product to anyone who who thinks that security matters in this world. Go to ironkey.com.

IronKey works with Windows, Mac and Linux, altough some features may not be available on the latter platforms. For more information visit the IronKey Library.

We thank Katie Mason from Nadel Phelan, Inc. for providing the IronKey review unit.

Before we start, you should get to know the basics about VPN (Virtual Private Network). There is a comprehensive article over at Wikipedia you should consider reading.

What are the main benefits?

• Your ISP can’t see what you’re doing online – downloading via bittorrent, sending emails, watching movies – they can’t tell the difference because your traffic is encrypted.
• Websites you visit see VPN’s IP address instead of yours – they can’t track your real location. This also works for hiding your P2P traffic – as long as the RIAA doesn’t subpoena the VPN service.
• Access blocked websites disabled by your ISP. They can’t see what you’re doing, and you’re using non-standard ports.

What is Witopia?

Founded in 2003 by former UUNET managers, WiTopia was originally known as Full Mesh Networks. As such, we developed a hosted platform to secure and manage Wi-Fi networks, as well as perform Wireless Intrusion Prevention, over the Internet.

One of Witopia’s services, personalVPN, is the subject of our discussion. personalVPN is a cross platform (Windows, Linux, Mac OS) consumer oriented VPN solution based on openVPN.

OpenVPN is a full-featured open source SSL VPN solution that accommodates a wide range of configurations, including remote access, site-to-site VPNs and Wi-Fi security.

How does it work?

I’ll try to explain how WItopia’s VPN works  step-by-step:

• You set up your machine/device either with the pre-packaged installer or the Wiki instructions. This doesn’t take more than 5 minutes.
• You start the openVPN software which automatically connects to Witopia’s gateway; it creates an encrypted ‘tunnel’ between you and VPN service provider. The key is 128bit and the data stream encrypted with the Blowfish cypher.
• This does not slow down the system noticeably, as Blowfish is known to be one of the lightest block cyphers – it even works on the iPhone.

What’s special about Witopia?

• Fast servers – I had no problem downloading podcasts and videos from iTunes or watching movies on YouTube/Hulu.
• Reliability – only one hour scheduled down-time Saturday at 2200-2300 GMT.
• Witopia has its own ‘Secure Certificate Authority’ which means only you and Witopia can read the traffic, and no other third party.
• Access websites intended for US only from other countries. This means Hulu, Fox, Lala, Spiralfrog and many more. This works because Witopia is based in the US.
• Has an incredibly helpful and comprehensive Wiki, with instructions for setting everything up and lots of questions: all in clear language, with the tech speak reduced to minimum.
• Has a very fast support team, get answers back in less than a day.
• Supports both SSL and PPTP protocols.
• Witopia allows port 443 access. It’s rare that VPN is blocked, but if it happens, customers can access special servers which should get through.
• openVPN works on Windows Mobile 5 &6.
• Bandwidth – there is no throttling or caps; as long as you’re not ‘running a phone company’ over it you’ll be fine.

OpenVPN software is cross-platform.

Anchor Free HotSpot Shield

Anchor Free’s VPN solution called Hotspot Shield, was featured recently as a top download on Lifehacker and PCMag.com – and my opinion is that its only advantage is that it’s free. And you get what you pay for: the installer tries to ‘sell’ you on other software you really don’t need, and inserts banner ads on top of all pages you visit.

There are no limitations on bandwidth, it can be used on landlines or wifi networks, and users have the option to click out of the ads if they so choose.

I found the service too slow to be used for any other activity than surfing: Hulu, Fox and YouTube were noticeably crippled; a 10Gb cap on the monthly traffic has been reported by some users, which isn’t nearly enough if you plan to watch movies or download large files. If you want to continue using the service beyond that, you have to pay.

And, of course, there is the privacy policy,  and many bloggers have expressed this concern. If they intercept all your traffic to place ads in it – who’s to say they don’t look for other things, not necessarily evil, but still invading privacy? Anchor Free however denies this:

AnchorFree is unique in it’s ability to meld targeted & contextual relevance with privacy in a way that is consistent with industry regulations, making it particularly unique in being the only online ad platform that respects stringent user-centric privacy, an issue which is highly important of late given the numerous problems with ISPs and ad-tracking (NebuAd, Phorm, and even Google getting caught up in the mix). Most advertisers and websites typically try and gather as much personally identifiable information as possible, including each user’s IP address, in their attempts to serve targeted ads. … targeting ads only based on domains visited. -David Gordoyansky, CEO of Anchor Free

Instead of a simple technical explanation, I received a marketing pitch, which was quite disappointing and only makes Anchor Free look bad.

Conclusion

Witopia’s personalVPN and Anchor Free are definitely worth a try if you’re concerned about your privacy online. Witopia’s website is available here; Anchor Free. I’d like to encourge comments about Anchor Free and Witopia -  how was your experience with the service? Which one do you think is best?

I have dealt with a lot of Linux distros since I first learned the power of my newfound penguin friend. He was free unlike a Microsoft or Apple product, had thousands of available programs (also free), and looked damn classy while he was in control of my computer.

My first forays were using live Linux CDs on an old 1998 Gateway computer, then I experimented with installing Fedora, Ubuntu, and Debian. However, after a while I started to stray from my new friend and I found myself going back to old habits, using XP and eventually embroiling myself in the OSX86 project and experimenting with Tiger and then Leopard. I gave up on Linux for a while and divided my OS use between my hackintosh and Vista boxes.

Choices
I was perfectly content with my two choices up until I started experimenting with network security. Sure, you can get network security tools for both of the major systems, but they are nothing compared to the plethora available when you choose Linux as your auditing operating system. I started with Kubuntu and customized my installation with as many security apps as I could find. This was a bit of a heavy-handed approach to things, and it took up a good size of my laptop hard drive. What I needed was a more portable solution.
Backtrack
I found everything I could ever want and hope for when a friend of mine introduced me to Backtrack. He performed a Man In The Middle (MITM) attack on a sample LAN, replacing every photo URL that I browsed for in Firefox with one of a skull and crossbones. I had never seen such pirate witchcraft done so easily, so I asked him what other things this Linux distribution could do. He basically told me that nearly everything you could ever want for wardriving, penetration testing, vulnerability testing, privilege escalation, and just all-round mayhem could be performed with this distribution. And the best part about the whole deal is that it is a live cd distro. You don’t need to install it to your hard drive in order to perform security tests, for that matter it doesn’t even have to be your computer! Just have the CD with you and you are good to go.
Backtrack is developed by the remote-exploit community over at remote-exploit.org. When I was first introduced to Backtrack the latest iteration was Backtrack 2, and I loved what I saw. Backtrack 3 has since come out and looks spiffier than ever with more tools and updated software.
Is it good?
I’ll sum up my feelings for Backtrack in one simple statement: This is the only Linux I use. It has exactly what you’re looking for. The only thing that it does not have that might be useful to me is Open Office.

Now, I’d love to list in detail all of the lovely tools that Backtrack has, but you would be scrolling for quite a while and and this article probably wouldn’t have gotten done until sometime around 2010. Don’t fear though! Here is the link to the Backtrack wiki page that details the tools that can be found in Backtrack’s arsenal.
Now, you might ask yourself, “What’s better than a live cd Linux that does penetration testing and just about any other testing I’d ever want?”. I will answer that question with: A live USB thumbdrive Linux that does penetration testing and just about any other testing you’d ever want.
Creating the thumbdrive
You only need the following to create a keychain portable Linux OS:
Requirements:
1GB or bigger thumbdriveBacktrack .iso fileNifty little program called UNetbootinIn order to guarantee a clean installation of Backtrack, be sure to format your thumbdrive to clean out any files. I suggest using FAT32 when you are formatting it, simply because I know that it works and I’ve never had any problems. The Backtrack .iso file can be downloaded here.
Because your thumbdrive is 1 GB, it can handle the USB version that has a bit more stuff packed into it. That is the version I suggest downloading.

UNetbootin
UNetbootin will take any .iso file and “burn” it to your thumbdrive painlessly and especially fast. It will do this with ANY Linux distro, not just Backtrack. I love this program and I’ve used it dozens of times. Its interface is pretty much self explanatory:

Click the … next to the ISO text field and select the Backtrack (or any other Linux distro) .iso file, make sure that the correct USB drive is selected in the Drive: drop down menu, and then click OK. UNetbootin will now copy over the operation system from the .iso file and burn it to your thumbdrive. Once its done copying the files, it will install a bootloader to your USB drive, and then prompt you for a restart in order to load Backtrack. This part is obviously optional, but if your a little zoned you you might just click ok and lose whatever you may have been working in in other windows, so try to be careful.

Conclusion
It’s as simple as that, you now have Linux on a thumbdrive that can travel with you wherever you go. Be careful how you use your new found power, a lot of the apps on Backtrack are useful for security testing, but could be twisted for use on the dark side of things. I don’t condone using Backtrack for nefarious deeds, and I suggest that you do not follow that path.

If you would like some tutorials in how to use the features found in Backtrack, IronGeek has a few videos available that can help you along.