How to Reveal Hidden Passwords (Asterisks) in Web Browsers

Remember the situation, signing into your account with just a single click because browser is saving all your passwords for you. We know this is convenient but since you’re not typing your passwords any-more, eventually you’ll forget your password in a few days.  For security reasons, the password field in all browsers is masked with “asterisks” which won’t allow any third person (even you) to read the origi-nal typed password. But, what if you want to reveal the string behind the asterisks? There is actually few workaround for revealing the original passwords behind the asterisk and over the entire course of this article we’ll be discussing some known ways to reveal the characters behind the asterisks in different browsers.

Reveal Passwords Behind Asterisks or Dots in Different Web Browsers:

Google Chrome:

Starting off with Google chrome, the easiest way to reveal the original passwords behind the asterisk is using inbuilt Inspect element feature in the browser.

• You just need to right click on the password field in the browser where you will get an option "Inspect Element". 
• After clicking on it, "Web Inspector" will open out and there you can see some code which is basically Html code and you just need to replace the "password" word with "text" word and it will reveal the words behind the asterisks.

There’s another way using JavaScript which is quite quick and easy as compared to above method. Just open a site that allows users to login and after typing the password, just enter the following JavaScript code in the address bar.

Javascript: alert(document.getElementById('Passwd').value);

After entering the above code in the address bar, press enter and it will pop up a window with your password written on it.

Mozilla Firefox:

The Next most common browser is "Mozilla Firefox".

• The chrome's "Web Inspector" trick is also applicable in Firefox.
•  Open a site that asks for login (like Facebook), right click on the password field in the browser where you will get an option "Inspect Element". After clicking on it, "Web Inspector" will open out and there you can see some code which is basically Html code and you just need to replace the "password" word with "text" word and it will reveal the words behind the asterisks as shown in screenshot below.

Apart from this, there’s another way which is quite quick and easy as compared to above method. For that you’ve to create a bookmark with the following JavaScript code as URL in it.

javascript:(function(){var s,F,j,f,i;s="";F=document.forms;for(j=0;j<F.length;++j){f=F[j];for(i=0;i<f.length;++i){if(f[i].type.toLowerCase()=="password")s+=f[i].value+"\n";}}if(s)alert("Password is:\n\n"+s);else alert("No passwords");})();

After saving this as a bookmark, open a site that allows users to login and after typing the password, open the saved bookmark by clicking on it and it will pop up a window with your password written on it.

Opera:

Next comes the "Opera" in that you can use "Dragonfly", which is an in built tool, to reveal the words behind the asterisks just like chrome's "Web Inspector". Open a site that asks for login (like
Facebook), right click on the password field in the browser and select "Inspect Element" option. After clicking on it, "Dragon Fly" will open out and you’ll see some code which is basically Html code and you just need to replace the "password" word with "text" word and it will reveal the words behind the asterisks as shown in screen shot below.

Internet Explorer:

In the same manner you can apply this trick on Internet explorer. First of all open any site (Gmail in our case) that allows user login. Now for bringing out “developer tools” press thef12 key. A new window will be opened and press Ctrl+B to enable selection of elements. After that go to login page and select the password field, doing this will take you to the password field’s code in developer window (highlighted by yellow). Now, you just need to replace the "password" word with "text" word and it will remove the asterisk mask in the password field, see screenshot below.

Apart from this, there’s another way which is quite quick and easy as compared to above method. Just open a site that allows users to login and after typing the password, just enter the following JavaScript code in the address bar.

alert(document.getElementById('Passwd').value);

After entering the above code in the address bar, press enter and it will pop up a window with your password written on it. (See pic below)

Wrap Up:

Although there are so many tools out there to help you in revealing the words behind the asterisks and to get the saved passwords with in a browser, you still need to keep your system safe and protected by using "Antivirus" plus "Firewall" to avoid stealing of these passwords by someone who have access to your system. If you can use these tools to reveal your saved passwords then others can also use the same ways to get information of yours

courtesy  : alltechnet.buzz 

How to Install and Run Android in PC [Windows and Linux]

The mobile smartphone and tablet industry seems to have a very prominent divide, with a lot of consumers having their favorite operating system and choosing to stick to hardware which is powered by their chosen OS. Obviously fans of Apple’s iOS use the iPhone and iPad devices, whereas Android lovers have a wide range of hardware to choose from due to the fact that the OS is available to multiple manufacturers.

Here are Some Steps Given to Install Android On Your PC.

Step 1: Install official Oracle VM VirtualBox Go Here & download the relevant VirtualBox binary for your computers operating system (Windows/Mac OS X/Linux/Solaris)

Download VirtualBox

Step 2: Find the saved location of the downloaded VirtualBox and install on your PC by following all screen prompts and instructions.

Must Read : Send and Receive WhatsApp Messages on Windows PC

Step 3: Now Download a copy of Android v4 Ice Cream Sandwich it is of size 88MB so the download may take some time depending on your connection.

Download v4 Ice Cream Sandwich

Step 4: Locate the downloaded ‘Android-v4.7z‘ file and extract the contents of it.

Step 5: Once the Android-v4.7z file has been opened, locate a file called ‘Android-v4.vbox‘ which can be directly opened in Virtualbox

Step 6: Double click on the Android-v4.vbox file which will load the VirtualBox application and boot up the ICS file.

Step 7: When the boot menu is presented in VirtualBox, press ‘start‘ on the top toolbar and then if required select the ‘Android Startup from /dev/sda‘ option.

Step 8: All steps are complete. Android 4.0 ICS should now be booting up allowing you to enjoy that Android in your PC, It just look like a TABLET

Top 12 Android Apps to Turn Your Smartphone into a Hacking Device

 Mobile devices is now very common now a days and mobile devices has changed the way of bi-directional communication. There are many operating system for mobile devices available but the most common and the best operating system for mobile is Android, it is an OS means you can install other applications (software's) on it. InAndroid application usually called apps or android apps.

The risk of hacking by using mobile devices is very common and people are developing and using different apps (application) for their hacking attack. Android has faced different challenges from hacking application and below is the list of application for android hacking.

1. SpoofApp

Here is an app that spies at heart could use – SpoofApp. It allows you to use a fake Caller ID – a number that you are free to specify yourself, in order to protect your privacy or to pull a prank on someone. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Well, Apple didn’t think so, which is why it never allowed the app to enter its App Store. Google, however, didn’t mind, which is why SpoofApp was available on the Android Market for about two and a half years. However, it was banned from there last year as it allegedly was in conflict with The Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009.This can be useful in social engineering. 

Download it from here

2. FaceNiff

Requirements: Android 2.1+ (rooted)

Overview: FaceNiff is an Android app that allows you to sniff and intercept web session profiles over the WiFi that your mobile is connected to.

It is possible to hijack sessions only when WiFi is not using EAP, but it should work over any private networks (Open/WEP/WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK). It’s kind of like Firesheep for android. Maybe a bit easier to use (and it works on WPA2!). Please note that if webuser uses SSL this application won’t work.

Legal notice: This application is for educational purposes only. Do not try to use it if it’s not legal in your country. I do not take any responsibility for anything you do using this application. Use at your own risk

Learn More: http://goh4x.blogspot.in/2012/09/how-to-hack-friends-facebook-account.html

  

3. Penetrate Pro

Requirements: Android 2.1+ (rooted)

Overview: The most of the times you scan the Wi-Fi networks available around, they’re protected with key. Penetrate is an app that help you out with that. If the routers of that Wi-Fi networks are encrypted with WEP/WPA it will bring you the keys to access them. This seems a sort of cracking, but the developers says it isn’t, because it’s supposed to get the keys for penetration testing and you should use it only with permission from network owners. Well, apart from those regardings, it does what it says. Check the developer description to know which routers are supported.

Take in account that if you have an antivirus installed in your device, it will warn you about this app. The developer says it’s normal because it’s a security-related tool. Penetrate isn’t a danger for your phone.

This is the paid version (€1.99) that contains no ads, some more features and sponsors further development. What’s more, it allows you to use 3G to get the password instead of using dictionaries that you will have to download in the free version.

Penetrate works properly with the range of routers supported. We’re missing more though. Despite the apparent use for which it was developed this application, we all know the “regular” use. And if you’re looking for it, give it a chance. It’s a great app.

Download it from here

4. Anti-Android Network Toolkit

Requirements: Android 2.1+ (rooted)

Anti-Android Network Toolkit is an app that uses WiFi scanning tools to scan networks. You can scan a network you have the phone connected to or you can scan any other nearby open networks. Security admins can use Anti to test network host vulnerabilities to DoS attacks and other threats.

Download it from here

5. Andosid

AnDOSid is the application which is used for DOS attacks from Android mobile phones.

Download it from here

6. Nmap For Android

Nmap is a network scanner tool which gives the entire information of the ip address and website. There is a version of nmap for Android users too, with the help of this app hackers can scan the ip's through mobiles.
 
Download it from here

7. The Android Network Toolkit

The Android Network Toolkit is an complete tool kit for the pentesters , where hackers can find expolots using the mobile and penetrate or attacks the ip's according to their vunerabilities.

Download it from here

  

8. SSHDroid- Android Secure Shell

Secure shell or SSH is the best protocol that provides an extra layer of security while you are connecting with your remote machine.SSHDroid is a SSH server implementation for Android.
This application will let you to connect to your device from a PC and execute commands (like "terminal" and "adb shell").

Download it from here

10. WiFi Analyzer

WiFi Analyzer is one of the most popular applications in the Android Marketplace, which is really a testament to how wildly useful this tool is for both the average user and the more technically inclined. In the most basic of terms, WiFi Analyzer is a tool to scan the area for WiFi networks and determine which channel is the least populated so you can adjust your own hardware to a less congested part of the spectrum.

Download it from here 

11. ConnectBot

ConnectBot is an exceptionally well done SSH/Telnet client, which also acts as a terminal emulator for the local Linux sub-system. While there are better terminal emulators (though not for free), there is no question that ConnectBot is the absolute best SSH client available for Android. 

Download it from here 

12. Network Discovery

Network Discovery is a handy tool for finding and enumerating devices on public WiFi networks. Network Discovery uses a simple ping scan to find hosts on the network, and then allows the user to select one of the found hosts to target for a TCP connect() scan. 

Download it from here
 
Bonus : dSploit
dSploit is an Android network analysis and penetration suite which aims to offer to IT securityexperts/geeks the most complete and advanced professional toolkit to perform network security assesments on a mobile device. Once dSploit is started, you will be able to easily map your network, fingerprint alive hosts operating systems and running services, search for known vulnerabilities, crack logon procedures of many tcp protocols, perform man in the middle attacks such as password sniffing ( with common protocols dissection ), real time traffic manipulation, etc, etc . 

tagged: How to Spy on Cell Phones

Want to learn to spy on cell phones ? Today,I’ll write about software that allows you to spy on cell phone . There are hundreds of cell phone spy software applications on the market, where many of them are nothing more than a crap. Some are good and only a few of them are the best. Also, each spy software has a different set of features and operating format which makes it hard for the novice users (perhaps like you) to make the right choice so as to fit your spying needs.

So, in order to help our readers find the best spy software, I have decided to give a thorough review of the Top 2 Best Selling spy phone software on the market.

1. SpyBubble – (TESTED)
2. SpyPhone GOLD – (TESTED)

SpyPhone GOLD and SpyBubble are the current leaders in the market which are used by thousands across the globe to spy on a cheating spouse, monitor employees and keep an eye on their teens. Here is a complete review of these two products:

1. SpyBubble Review:

Although SpyBubble is not as feature rich as SpyPhone GOLD, it offers a good bunch of features that every spy software should have. It is a very good choice for those who are looking for a mid-range spy software at an affordable price.

How it Works?

After your purchase, you can directly download the installation module onto the target cell phone. Installation takes only a few minutes (2-3 min approx). After the installation, each activity on the target phone is recorded and uploaded onto the SpyBubble servers. You can login to your online account from your PC (or any computer) to view the logs at any time. The logs contain Text messages, Contacts List, Call History, GPS Locations and many such information.

Call Interception: When the target cell phone is on the conversation, you will receive a secret SMSnotification on your phone. At this time you can call the target phone to listen to the live conversation going on. All this process takes place in complete stealth mode and is 100% undetectable!

SpyBubble Features:

SpyBubble offers every common feature such as recording Call Logs, SMS, GPS Locations, IM Conversations, Web Activities, Emails etc. It is very similar to Spy Phone Gold but lacks the vital features like call recording and call interception. Thus with SpyBubble you cannot listen to live calls on the target cell phone.

Compatible Cell phones:

SpyBubble is compatible with Nokia (Symbian), Samsung (Android), Apple iPhones, Blackberry and Windows Mobile Phones.
You can download SpyBubble from the following link:

Download SpyBubble

2. SpyPhone GOLD Review

Spy Phone GOLD is is the No.1 spy software on the market which turns any compatible cell phone into a spy phone within minutes. It offers every feature that a true cell phone spy software should have. Hence most people choose Spy Phone GOLD for their cell phone spying needs.

How SpyPhone GOLD Works?

The working of SpyPhone GOLD is exactly same as that of SpyBubble.

SpyPhone Gold Top Features:

• Call Interception – Listen to the actual calls LIVE on the target cell phone
• Environment Listening – Make a spy call to the target cell phone running SPY PHONE and listen in to the phone’s surroundings.
• SMS Logging – Records both incoming & outgoing SMS
• SIM Change Notification – Get instant notification via SMS when the target cell phonechanges it’s SIM
• Remote Control – Send secret SMS to the target phone to control all functions
• Spy from any location across the world
• 100% Undetectable

Compatible Cell Phones:

1.Nokia, LG, Samsung and Sony Ericsson Phones (Symbian & Android)
2.BlackBerry Phones
3.Apple iPhones
4.Windows Mobile Phones

Download SpyPhone GOLD

SpyPhone GOLD vs SpyBubble:

Which Cell Phone Spy Software to Choose?

If you ask me, SpyBubble is my choice! This is because, this feature rich software at a very low price of $49.95 is nothing more than a steal. If you’re looking for a mid-range spy software at an affordable price then this should be your choice.

However, if you want a high-end spy software with top features like call interception and call recording then you may go for SpyPhone GOLD. You may end-up paying a bit high, but it is worth the features it offers.

So, what are you waiting for? Go grab one of them from the following links now:

1. Click Here to Download SpyBubble

2. Click Here to Download SpyPhone GOLD

Become Secure on online

Become Secure on online

Privacy has become something very important to people using Internet these days. The more we do online, the more trails we leave behind. There are lots of private companies tracking every movement, keystrokes, websites you visit and the people you communicate with online. These companies often sell this information to law enforcement agencies or the government for legal affairs. Day by day more sophisticated tools and methods are being discovered to track your activities and the entire scenario has become very sophisticated. So it is very important for one to keep his privacy and stop third-parties from intruding into their activities. In this article, we will learn about various methods by which you can become secure online and mask your activities that you do not want the world to know.

The three types of methods we will use to make ourselves secure online are:

• TOR
• Proxies
• VPN

TOR

Tor, short form of The Onion Router is a system that offers you anonymity online. TOR clients  redirects all your internet traffic through a network of computers concealing your actual location and preventing any tracking. The TOR bundle comes with a firefox that’s integrated to the TOR network and a GUI named Vidalia is used to use the TOR network. Here is how Vidalia looks like:

So before we start, let’s see how the TOR network works. Here are some pictures from the official website which will help you get started.

So whenever you try to contact to Dave, instead of directly contacting him, TOR first sends your transaction through a number of networks so no single point can track back to your location. So packets from your network take a random route through the network and reach the destination.

So once a route has been established, all kinds of data can be sent and received over the TOR network. And after a fixed amount of time, TOR changes the route through which you connect randomly which makes it very hard to trace back to you.

Tor is good, but it can’t completely secure you and your activity. While it protects the transported data, experts can use statistical analysis and get your circuit route and find out your location.             Official Website: http://www.torproject.org

Download TOR Bundle: http://www.torproject.org.in/download/download-easy.html.en

PROXIES

A proxy or a proxy server is a computer system or application that acts as an intermediary between you and your client server or application. So you want to access a target, you connect to the proxy, the proxy connects to the target, then it gets back the relevant information to you.

So a proxy can be used to keep you anonymous, or to bypass IP restrictions, security/parental controls, or to get around regional restrictions. A proxy server appears as an IP address which you have to configure on your web browser to use it. When you do that, your original IP will be masked by the proxy and you will be anonymous.

190.96.64.234 – This is how a proxy looks like. All proxies are from a particular location or country so using a proxy near to your target server might help faster browsing too! If you’re on Firefox, you can set a proxy by going to Firefox Options > Advanced > Network > Connection Settings >Manual Proxy Settings.

VPN (Virtual Private Network)

A VPN or Virtual Private Network is a remote server in an offsite location that tunnels all your data and information through their secured servers by encrypting them thereby making your connection secure. Most of the VPN’s use 128 bit SSL encryption or 256 bit SSL encryption. More the bit count, better the encryption. VPN helps you hide your real IP and spoofs your location to any programs or clients trying to track you. So suppose you’re from USA and needs to access a website that’s for Russia only, I could use a VPN located in Russia that masks my IP as a Russian one and thereby access the website.

Another matter of concern while using a VPN is logs. Almost all of the VPN providers keep logs as a security measure. This is done so that if they ever want to check up a user’s activity, they could refer to the logs. So federal agents or the government could contact the VPN providers and get your activity. Hence if you are really concerned about your security, you should purchase a VPNthat do not keep logs. When you purchase a VPN, make sure you choose one which is closer to you since it will make your Internet experience smooth and won’t cause any lag or slowness.

There are lots of free VPN’s available but they’re not recommended since most of them come with lots of ads, adwares and slow connection. Most of them keep logs which mean you’re not really secure and the connection won’t be having a good encryption rate. So it is always recommended you get a paid VPN. But I’ll include some good free and paid VPN’s to help you out.

Free VPN

• HotSpotShield – http://www.hotspotshield.com
• VPNBook – http://www.vpnbook.com
• ProXPN – http://www.proxpn.com
• AnchorFree – http://www.anchorfree.com

Paid VPN

• nVPN – http://www.nvpn.net
• MicroVPN – http://www.microvpn.com
• InterVPN – http://www.intervpn.com
• VPNTraffic – http://www.vpntraffic.om

CONCLUSION

So that’s it. I’ve discussed some main methods by which you can be secure online. But always remember, you’re never 100% safe. If the federals or others want to track you, they can still do it no matter what measures you’re using to prevent it. These methods will work, but only up to a limit. The rest is up to you to use your intuition to keep yourself safe

How To Surf Anonymously – For Free

How To Surf Anonymously – For Free

Whenever you surf the Web, you leave yourself open to being snooped upon by web sites. They can track your online travels, know what operating system and browser you’re running, find out your machine name, uncover the last sites you’ve visited, examine your history list, delve into your cache, examine your IP address and use that to learn basic information about you such as your geographic location, and more. To a great extent, your Internet life is an open book when you visit.

Sites use a variety of techniques to gather and collate this information, but the two most basic are examining your IP address and placing cookies on your PC. Matching your IP address with your cookies makes it easier for them to create personal profiles.

If you’d like to see what kind of information sites can gather about you, head to two sites that peer into your browser and report what they find. The Privacy.net Analyzer gathers and displays basic information, such as your operating system, screen resolution, what site brought you to Privacy.net’s Analyzer, general system setup, and so on.

BrowserSpy delves even deeper into your system, and even reports on whether you have certain software on your system, such as RealPlayer and Adobe Acrobat, including version information.

Protect Yourself: Surf Anonymously

The best way to make sure web sites can’t gather personal information about you and your computer is to surf anonymously using an anonymous proxy server that sits between you and the web sites you visit. When you use an anonymous proxy server, your browser doesn’t contact a web site directly. Instead, it tells a proxy server which web site you want to visit. The proxy server then contacts the web site, and when you get the web site’s page, you don’t get it directly from the site. Instead, it’s delivered to you by the proxy server. In that way, your browser never directly contacts the web server whose site you want to view. The web site sees the IP address of the proxy server, not your PC’s IP address. It can’t read your cookies, see the referring page, or examine your clipboard because your PC is never in direct contact with it. You’re able to surf anonymously, without a trace.

There are three primary ways to use anonymous proxy servers. You can configure your browser to use an anonymous proxy server (or else get software to configure it for you); you can visit a web site, which does the work of contacting the server; or you can download software which ensures your anonymity when you use the Internet. We’ll look at how to do each.

Keep Yourself Anonymous with Tor

Tor is the best free software you can find for being anonymous when you use the Web. When you use Tor, all your communications, (not just Web surfing, but also instant messaging and other applications) is in essence bounced around a giant network of Tor servers called “onion routers,” until it’s impossible for sites or people to be able to track your activities.

Setting up Tor is straightforward. Download a package that includes not just Tor, but other software you need to work in concert with it, such as Privoxy, a proxy program. All the software is self-configuring, so you won’t need to muck around with port settings or the like. Tor runs as a small icon in your system tray. To start Tor, right-click it, and choose Start from the menu that appears; to stop it, right-click, it and choose Stop.

Once it starts, simply use the Internet as you normally would. If you’re super-paranoid, you can regularly change your Tor “identity,” to make it even harder for anyone to track your travels. Right-click the Tor icon, and select “New Identity”; that’s all it takes.

Firefox users will want to download the Torbutton, which lets them turn Tor on and off from directly within Firefox.

I’ve found only one drawback to Tor; at times, I’ve noticed a slowdown in surfing when using it. But that comes and goes, and slowdowns aren’t that extreme. So if you’re worried about your privacy when you surf, it’s a great bet.

Web Sites That Let You Surf Anonymously for Free

A number of free web sites offer free anonymous surfing via proxy servers. The benefits of these sites are obvious: when you surf, you’re anonymous. But there are some drawbacks as well. Surfing tends to be slower, and in some cases very slow. And when you use these web sites, some sites you visit from them don’t display properly.

The sites all work pretty much the same. Head to them, and in a box, type the web site you want to visit. From that point on, you’ll be surfing anonymously; the site does the work of using an anonymous proxy server for you.

The Cloak is one such service. It lets you customize exactly how anonymous you want to be and what surfing technologies you want to leave on or off. It goes beyond providing anonymity and can also protect you in other ways, for example, by turning off Java and Javascript, or even blocking banner ads. You can configure all that yourself, before you even start to surf.

Once you do that, you type in the address you want to visit, and you’re off. As you browse in your browser’s address bar, you’ll notice an odd URL that contains The Cloak’s URL as well as the site you’re visiting. For example, if you visit CNN, you’ll see something like this:

“http://www.the-cloak.com/Cloaked/+cfg=31/http%3A//www.cnn.com/”

Note that if you want to remain anonymous during your surfing session after you visit the first web site from The Cloak, you’ll have to only click links. If you type a URL directly into the address bar, The Cloak will no longer work.

The Cloak is free but has some limitations. You’ll surf more slowly than normally, and the slowdown may become noticeable. One reason is that the site also offers a for-pay service, and so it throttles down free users, while letting those who pay surf without a throttle. And the site may also limit the amount of time you surf anonymously as well, depending on whether many users are logged in simultaneously.

Use Your Browser with an Anonymous Proxy

If you don’t like the limitations imposed on you by sites like The Cloak, or would simply prefer to configure anonymous surfing yourself, you can easily set up your browser to use an anonymous proxy server that sits between you and the sites you visit.

To use an anonymous proxy server in concert with your browser, first find an anonymous proxy server. Hundreds of free, public proxy servers are available, but many frequently go offline or are very slow. Many sites compile lists of these proxy servers, including Public Proxy Servers andAtom InterSoft proxy server list. To find others, do a Google search.

I prefer the Atom InterSoft proxy server list because it provides more information about each server. It lists server uptime percentage and the last time the server was checked to see if it was online.

Find the server with the highest percentage of uptime. Write down the server’s IP address and the port it uses. For example, if you see 24.236.148.15:80, the IP address is 24.236.148.15, and the port number is 80.

In Internet Explorer, select Tools > ¨Internet Options, click the Connections tab, and click the LAN Settings button (see the picture below). Check the box next to “Use a proxy server for your LAN”. In the Address field, type in the IP address of the proxy server. In the Port field, type in its port number. Check the box next to “Bypass proxy server for local addresses”; you don’t need to remain anonymous on your local network (and if your local network is a private network, the proxy server won’t be able to connect to any of your internal web servers anyhow). Click OK and then OK again to close the dialog boxes. Now when you surf the Web, the proxy server will protect your privacy. Keep in mind that proxy servers can make surfing the Web slower, depending on the proxy you’re using.



In Firefox, select Tools > ¨Options¨ > Advanced, click the Network tab, and click the Settings button. Choose “Manual proxy configuration”, enter the proxy information (IP address and port number), and click OK and then OK again.

Problems with Anonymous Proxy Servers

If you set up your browser to use anonymous proxies, as I just outlined, you need to keep in mind that there’s one potential danger: theoretically, a hacker could set up a proxy server and then use it to capture information about the Web sites you visit. And if you type in usernames and passwords, he could steal those as well.

I haven’t heard of this actually happening in the real world, but you should be aware that it’s a possibility. Using software such as Tor or a free proxy server such as The Cloak won’t expose you to this danger; only the use of public proxy servers does.

How can you protect yourself against this? Before using a proxy server, do a Google search on its name and address, to see if there are any reports about hackers using it. And it’s also a good idea to only use a server that has been on the lists a long time because hackers are not likely to keep a server running a long time without being caught or shutting it down. The other option is to use the proxy only for casual surfing and not use a proxy when you connect to a service that requires a username and password.

Do you have questions, comments, or suggestions? Feel free to post a comment