So why do I receive so much dam-spam?
Obtaining your e-mail address is just too easy!
There are many ways a distributor of 'spam' can obtain your e-mail address
- here we explain just two.
1. One way is for you to have un-knowingly installed Spy-Ware programs
that monitor your computing habits.
- Are there any 'spy-ware' programs on my PC right now?
The answer is a click away, follow this
link and you will be told instantly!
- How can I fully detect & remove these spy-ware programs
from my PC?
Visit our 'Get rid of Spy ware' page for
full details.
2. By Collecting your details as you surf - Unbeknown to you as you
innocently visit web pages.
- Test your information trail
First test - go
here see if this page can obtain your name and IP address
Now take a look at this
page to see just what information can/ have web sites you've just
surfed gathered about you?
- How?
Have you ever completed any kind of form on the net and as soon you
begin to type in your details they miraculously appear? Well this is
how, your details are cleverly collected even though you haven't filled
in any form and there collected instantaneously as you open web pages,
not only is this information easily collectable, it is very easy to
obtain details about your computers make-up, your operating system,
your user programs and the last 'what-ever' web sites you've recently
visited before you arrived there. Some web pages can even obtain passwords,
usernames and credit card details!
- How might a webmaster/ programmer go about this?
The way some would go about obtaining them would be to host an IE control,
populate an HTML document with some text-boxes with names of data they
wanted to retrieve, then send keystrokes to attempt to get the IE control
to auto-complete on them. Obviously items starting with numbers are
the easiest to retrieve and all this can be achieved without your knowledge.
- User information is stored!
Microsoft explains all - Using the Profile Assistant and we
quote "The purpose of the Profile Assistant is to make it easy
for users to share registration and demographic information with sites
that require this information. The goal is to eliminate the need for
users to repeatedly enter information such as their address or e-mail
name for each site's registration page. This is accomplished by giving
users complete control over access to their data, while at the same
time maintaining user privacy. User information is stored securely in
protected storage on the client computer. Web servers can request to
read this information, but it is shared only if users give their consent
in the Profile Assistant confirmation dialog box. This dialog box is
required, and it is not possible to access this data without the user's
permission." Which is defaulted to do just that :) Gee thanks Microsoft!
- Learn what the security experts say
The Auto Complete Store remembers data, including credit card information.
The problem - it is possible to capture and read the contents of "Protected
Storage". A fix for this credit card online security weakness was
introduced that excluded credit card and other sensitive fields from
auto completion. Unfortunately, a large number of online stores are
not prepared to handle the fix properly, so it is not effective in all
cases. If someone accesses your computer (directly or remotely via a
web site) your credit card information can be stolen. Read article Security
Gap in IE 5.0? by Michael
J. Martinez in archives of ABCNews.com to learn what the security
experts say about Internet Explorer auto complete fields security problem.
- Microsoft acts to remedy this! (and updates it's
patch May 09, 2003)
Microsoft finally acts after we point out the possibilities! And a 'fix'
is now available for you to download.
Microsoft says "A flaw exists in how the XMLHTTP control applies
IE security zone settings to a redirected data stream returned in response
to a request for data from a web site. A vulnerability results because
an attacker could seek to exploit this flaw and specify a data source
that is on the user’s local system." They also recommend
that "Customers and system administrators should apply the patch
to all affected machines immediately."
Our advice
- Never visit another web site after you have left a site where a user
name or password where necessary. Always use the sites log-out tool
where possible and exit your browser window. You can always re-launch
internet explorer if you need to visit other web sites.
- Empty the contents of the 'Auto Complete Store' - Open Internet explorer
and select 'Tools', 'Internet Options' - Go to the 'Content' tab, the
lower section of this tab is titled 'Personal Information', click on
the 'Auto Complete' button and remove the ticks from all the 'Use Auto
Complete' boxes. Clear all 'Auto Complete History' too, click on both
buttons the 'Clear Forms' and the Clear Passwords' Now click OK and
check the 'My Profile' button, if you have entered this information
delete it, if not cancel and and come out of the 'Internet Options'
dialogue box by selecting Apply and or OK.
- Remove the consent tick in the 'Enable Profile Assistant' confirmation
dialog box in 'Internet Options' and enable the 'Empty Temporary Internet
Files folder when browser is closed'.
The steps we provide in helping you to protect your information from
others is for the use of Internet Explorer users. If you use any other
browser and can offer others any advice on this please
contact us
Read more about spam and how you can stop it visit 'Stop
Spam Mail - it's time to fight back!'
Remember - We at darlingtontown DO NOT collect, save, store or keep any
information about you or your browsing habits - therefore we can not/
will not - EVER - share any information about you with any third parties.
Nor will we ever send you any spam mail!
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