Doing Financial Transactions Online READ THIS!

[jediagh]

First a small lesson on what is occurring. Cookies is a term used for the small files that your internet browser (Internet Explore, FireFox, Google Chrome, etc.) use to "better your internet experience". For example it can keep track of your site preference, remember the contents of your shopping cart or track you. More info here:

Your internet browsers have an option to delete your history which in turns deletes all your internet cookies, sites you have visited, temporary files stored by your browser, etc.

Cookies however can not do not "phone home". Meaning if you have a cookie from Yahoo.com unless you visit Yahoo.com again in the future Yahoo.com can not see/get the information in your cookie on your computer.

However all these behavior goes out the window when we are talking but supper cookies which are formally called Local Shared Objects (Local Shared Object - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). The reason they are called supper cookies is because your internet browser can NOT delete them when you use the delete history command. In fact your internet browser (all of them) can NOT delete them period! In addition even after you delete the super cookies they can reappear without you knowing when you get online.

Super Cookies were not created to be "bad". They were created for the same purpose as regular cookies. To better your internet experience by remembering your settings. Unlike regular cookies which are small files, supper cookies can contain 100 times the data of a regular cookie. With 98% of computers having FLASH installed and many website using it (YouTube, Yahoo, Amazon, Facebook, etc..) super cookies are everywhere.

So what's the problem? A company by the name of iovation has used the super cookie technology to create a series of cookies called ieSnare. The ieSnare cookies are designed to track your every move on the internet, collect this data, and then sell it. More here: Intel, Online Gambling, and Your (Lack Of) Privacy: ieSnare - Coding the Wheel


The problem of tracking is one issue but the bigger issue is that of security. You see the ieSnare cookies (actually any super cookie can do this) collects all your PC data (what files you have on your PC, the hardware you are using, the websites you visit, your login/password to websites, etc.) It sends this information back to a database at iovation. Now while iovation only sells your "browsing habits (aka what you are viewing)" the security risk is that your data (username/password) is being sent to iovation which can be easily intercepted online if your computer is infected with viruses. This in essences gives away your username/password to those that have infected your machine and thus giving them access to any of your accounts (email, banking, facebook, etc.).

So how do you stop this?
The first method is to not get infected but alas many of us are probably already infected. Remember just deleting the super cookies is not enough as they just coma back when you get online again when you visit a site that uses them (aka facebook, etc..)

So we have a 3 step process to do.
1) Delete all the current super cookies you may have
2) Edit your computer files so the super cookies can not come back
3) Change the "phone number" number on the super cookies


Step 1
1. Go to
Adobe - Flash Player : Settings Manager - Website Storage Settings panel
You will see something called "Settings Manager" with 7 tabs on the web page.

2. Click on the 2nd tab (from left to right) and a blue title called "Global Storage Settings" will appear.

3. Move the slide bar to the far left until it says NONE
4. Uncheck the 3 questions, especially "Allow third-party Flash content..."
5. Click on the 5th tab (from left to right) and a blue title called "Website Privacy Settings" will appear.
6. Click on "Delete all sites" (these are all the sites that have info on you)
7. Click on the 7th tab (from left to right) and a blue title called "Website Storage Settings" will appear.
8. Move the slider to the far left until it says NONE
9. Click on "Delete all sites" (these are all the sites that have info on you)

Step 2
Run the BAT file found here:
https://nodpi.org/forum/index.php/topic,1969.0.html

When you run it a DOS box will appear asking
A. Choose a to Block Flash and Silverlight cookies, MuaHaHaHA!
B. Choose b to un-block ( if you really want to undo this )
H. Choose h for Help ( Where am I, what am I doing here? )
Q. Oopsy, ran by mistake, bad hair day, whatever, please Quit

Type "A" and the file will block all flash super cookies now.

The file came from here:
https://nodpi.org/forum/index.php/topic,1969.0.html
There is a slew of details on what the file does at that link but the summary is this.
1) The file deletes all super cookies
2) The file then makes the folder where super cookies are store as READ ONLY

What this mean is when a super cookie tries to install itself on your computer it can't because the folder where they should go to is READ ONLY now so the super cookies "die" since they have nowhere to go.

NOTE that by you blocking super cookies you DO NOT affect how your internet browser shows your webpages. Meaning you have view YouTube, Yahoo, Facebook, etc. with no problem. Some of the websites may not remember your preferences however. In the rare case that a website does not work (typically a PORN or some illegal file sharing website) you can run the file again and choose B to un-block.

Step 3
Lastly in the rare case that a super cookie manages to get into your computer in even after you deleted them and don't allow them back in we need to change the "phone number" per say that they are using to call home. Every website has a "phone number" called an IP address. For example Yahoo.com's phone number is 69.147.76.15. If you were to open your internet browser and type those number you would be shown the yahoo.com webpage. Off course trying to remember a bunch of numbers for every website is impossible for humans and thus why we have "words" to remember instead.

Your computer's phone number is 127.0.0.1. This is the phone number for EVERY computer in the world. It's a fake phone number for your computer. This phone number is stored in a file called "hosts" on your computer. Think of "hosts" as a phone directory. Your computer looks in there first to see if it has the "phone number" for the address you are trying to get to. If it is not in there then your computer asks the internet for the address.

1 - Log into Windows as Administrator.
2 - Open the 'Run' dialog box (press 'Windows+R' or click 'Start', 'Run').
3 - #Type in (or copy): 'notepad.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts' (note replace 'C:' with whatever drive your windows folder is on, :4 - most machines it should be just c: ). Hit 'enter' to open up the file in notepad.
At the end of the file, add the following line:

127.0.0.1 iesnare.com www.iesnare.com mpsnare.iesnare.com ci-mpsnare.iovation.com
5 - Save the file (press 'ctrl-s' or go 'File > Save').
To test whether your changes worked:

Open the 'Run' dialog box (press 'Windows+R' or click 'Start', 'Run'). Type in 'cmd' and hit enter, this brings up the commandline. Type in: 'ping iesnare.com' - this will try to send a ping packet to the address that your machine thinks is 'iesnare.com'. Type 'exit' to close the command line window.

If your modifications were successful, you should see 'Pinging iesnare.com [127.0.0.1]' when you run the ping command above. Don't worry if it says 'ping failed' or similar, just the fact that iesnare.com resolves to 127.0.0.1 is enough to know your modifications were successful - this means the iesnare software will think your machine is the iesnare.com website.
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What this does is when the super cookies of ieSnare calls home your computer will call YOUR PC since that is the phone number is has for ieSnare's phone numbers! So even if you are infected ieSnare will not be sending any data anywhere.

More info on how this works here:
Iesnare - Mafia Wars Wiki

I advise all of you to take these steps to ensure your privacy and security. If you do any type of financial applications (home banking, credit card paying, etc..) online then YOU need to do this!

[mettle]

You know, this stuff, like companies who obtain my credit and personal information, who sell my information and the credit bureaus who 'hold' and 'change' my personal information, make me MAD! This is MY information, MY privacy....

it makes me want burn the facilities and structure to the ground....

[MACHINEGUN]

I'm with Mettle.. that is BS.. total BS!

[mrjarrell]

Don't forget this oldie but goodie.
http://ingunowners.com/forums/break_...nal%20nofollow

And do not forget, deleting your history doesn't delete cookies.

[K_Watson]

Download Better Privacy for firefox. Then you can block or remove all LSO's regularly.

[jediagh]

Originally Posted by K_Watson

Download Better Privacy for firefox. Then you can block or remove all LSO's regularly.

But Better Privacy only works in FireFox. The .BAT file in the OP makes it so your system can't get the flash cookies no matter what browser you use (IE, FireFox, Chrome, Opera, etc..)

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added
Flash cookies (aka super cookies) are NOT "bad" in them of themseleves. They were developed to help give you a better net experience. IE. remeber your settings, play back videos faster, keep high scores in your flash gmaes, etc.. The problem is a company called iovation (funded by intel) which is doing a MASSIVE data collecting and digital fingerprinting on all PCs. Since there are no laws/regulations in the USA for this it's all good (from a legal stad point). The problem is while it's legal it is not a good idea!

Plus there are white papers showing how this is a security vulnerabiulty but it seemed that the massives are not informed and the software companies are not willing to "correct it" since these data is GOLD in terms of ads generated.

[mrjarrell]

That's why you should be using Flush and CCleaner.

[jediagh]

Originally Posted by mrjarrell

That's why you should be using Flush and CCleaner.

Great finds I won't comment on FLUSH since it's for MACs and I do not deal with MACs and NEVER WILL!!!!!

CCleaner is a good app & one that I would recommend as well but the .BATfile IMO is a little better.

You see the .BAT file stops the super cookies from being added to your system while CCleaner is an "after the fact" action meaning you already have the super cookies. Now just becuase you hae the super cookie does not mean it's a bad cookie but why risk it. Heck STOP them from coming onto your system in the first place.

Both methods work and doing all of them methods in the OP + CCLean will make sure no super cookie lives period on your computer. It sort of like cleaning your gun twice just to be sure it's really clean and there is nothing wrong with that.

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EDIT

Off course CCLean will have some problems when the FLASH PLAYER gets an update.
Flash Player cleaning option gone - Piriform Community Forums

But that is no CCLEANs fault since it's programed based on the current flash player whereas the .BAT file could care less what the version of the FLASH player is.

The only weak link in both CCLEAN and the .BAT file is they both assume that **ALL*** the super cookies are in the same folder which is the folder where all FLASH cookies should be in. However company XYZ can place the cookiesin any folder on your mahine and then we are back @ square 1 since the cleaners are not looking at the right place.

Always a ct & mouse game,.... gggrrrr

[femurphy77]

My employer recently announced that our mail order pharmacy provider is changing to CVS Caremark. Remember a couple of months ago when CVS Caremark was featured in an article in the Star about the fact that they sell private user info? Of course our HR department said they have spoken to CVS Caremark about this and they have promised they won't do that with OUR personal info. . . . .

[evansvillethompsongunner]

Originally Posted by jediagh

[....]

There's no way I'm doing that.

Disable scripting from all sites but those of your banking institution, make sure your bank has a secure socket-layer encryption (https://) connection, and clear and close your browser after each banking session. That will do the trick nicely.