How to protect yourself from phishing attacks

Phishing is an increasingly common type of spam that can lead to theft of your personal details such as credit card numbers or online banking passwords.

Phishing attacks work by the scam artist sending "spoofed" emails that appear to come from a legitimate website that you have online dealings with such as a bank, credit card company or ISP - any site which requires users to have a personal identity or account. The email may ask you to reply with your account details in order to "update security" or for some other reason.
The phishing email may also direct you to a spoofed website or pop-up window which looks exactly like the real site, but has been set up for the sole purpose of stealing personal information. Unsuspecting people are then often fooled into handing over credit card numbers, passwords or other details.

How to protect yourself:

Never respond to emails that request personal financial information
Banks or e-commerce companies generally personalise emails, while phishers do not. Phishers often include false but sensational messages ("urgent - your account details may have been stolen") in order to get an immediate reaction. Reputable companies don't ask their customers for passwords or account details in an email. Even if you think the email may be legitimate, don't respond - contact the company by phone or by visiting their website. Be cautious about opening attachments and downloading files from emails, no matter who they are from.

Visit banks' websites by typing the URL into the address bar
Phishers often use links within emails to direct their victims to a spoofed site, usually to a similar address such as mybankonline.com instead of mybank.com. When clicked on, the URL shown in the address bar may look genuine, but there are several ways it can be faked, taking you to the spoofed site. If you suspect an email from your bank or online company is false, do not follow any links embedded within it.

Keep a regular check on your accounts
Regularly log into your online accounts, and check your statements. If you see any suspicous transactions report them to your bank or credit card provider.

Check the website you are visiting is secure
Before submitting your bank details or other sensitive information there are a couple of checks you can do to help ensure the site uses encryption to protect your personal data:Check the web address in the address bar. If the website you are visiting is on a secure server it should start with "https://" ("s" for security) rather than the usual "http://".
Also look for a lock icon on the browser's status bar. You can check the level of encryption, expressed in bits, by hovering over the icon with your cursor.

Note that the fact that the website is using encryption doesn't necessarily mean that the website is legitimate. It only tells you that data is being sent in encrypted form.

Be cautious with emails and personal data
Most banks have a security page on their website with information on carrying out safe transactions, as well as the usual advice relating to personal data: never let anyone know your PINS or passwords, do not write them down, and do not use the same password for all your online accounts. Avoid opening or replying to spam emails as this will give the sender confirmation they have reached a live address.

Microsoft Nokia Partnership

Nokia and Microsoft announced a “broad strategic partnership” feb 11 2011, as both companies try to claw their way back into the smartphone market. Nokia will now produce a host of new Windows 7 phones that CEO Stephen Elop promises will make the segment a “three horse race” between Google, Apple, and the new Nokia-Microsoft partnership. Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, meanwhile, said the move would “dramatically accelerate” Windows Mobile 7 adoption.

This pioneering partnership has been kindled to soon equip Nokia’s Symbian devices with smarter and more advanced features for working on the move. Heaps of Nokia smartphones are primed to benefit over time, with Eseries on the frontline leading the charge and set to showcase the first breed of business services and apps. Dedicated teams from inside Nokia and Microsoft are now working together to bring this new era of mobile productivity to life on Symbian handsets. This isn’t just conceptual stuff, as both companies are closely collaborating to ensure the software and services are fully co-created, from the design and development of their creations to the marketing to ensure the best possible product ends up proudly in our palms

Microsoft/Nokia Partnership Enough to Challenge Apple?

App Gap

The app gap is oft-cited as a prime reason behind Apple’s success, but it bears repeating. iOS currently has almost 350,000 active apps available to consumers through the App Store. Windows Phone 7 has about 8,000 apps. Even with a growth rate of 125 apps each day, Apple’s advantage at this point may be insurmountable. Each Apple iOS device averages more than 60 downloaded apps, and the App Store remains the top destination by a huge margin in terms of time spent browsing app marketplaces by consumers.
 Apple has the added advantage of offering multiple, non-phone platforms that also use and encourage the sale of apps (iPod touch and iPad), which adds to the perceived value of software purchases for consumers. Try as it might, Windows can’t gain purchase in the personal media player market, and WP7 doesn’t seem poised to make the jump to tablets anytime soon.

The Holistic Approach

Under the new arrangement between the two companies, Nokia builds hardware, and Microsoft builds software. Apple builds both. The advantage of having both hardware and software teams constantly working together to deliver the best possible consumer experience as a total product cannot be overemphasized. Any partnership between two companies, no matter how closely it may resemble an actual merger, isn’t one. Corporate cultures, offices and ultimate goals remain distinct. In this case, that’s especially true, since Microsoft announced this was a non-exclusive deal, and it would still be working with other hardware partners .
Apple’s ability to pair the hardware and software development sides of making a smartphone not only allow it to win the UX game, but also advantageously affects cost and the pace of breakthroughs and advances, and downplays the importance of internal specifications. It’s why an iPhone that’s almost a year old can still compete with just-released hardware from competitors in terms of real-world performance, and it’s a big part of why Apple enjoys the high margins that it does on the sale of each piece of hardware it makes.
Because Nokia and Microsoft aren’t starting from scratch, it’s most likely that the partnership will bear all the earmarks of success, at least from the outset. If they do it right, we’ll see the simultaneous release of a bunch of shiny new handsets sporting WP7, and these will be decently well-received by Nokia’s existing customer base. But without significant changes from either camp in the way they think about how to make phones and software, Apple doesn’t have to worry about being knocked off its rock just yet.

How To Identify Fake E-mail ID

Hello friends, Daily we got almost 100's of face emails ,Like in spam folder. A php script can mail you from any email address...Even from your own email address..So How To Identify the Fake E-mail ID
At present it is difficult to identify the fake ID. With time more and more people are using the fake IDs which creates a bunch of trouble to thousands of people. So here detection of those fake IDs has become almost a necessity. It is also important because hackers are always looking to use the fake email IDs to get the personal information of victims.

There are several techniques to identify the fake e-mail IDs. The common method you can use is to send test mail to those IDs. If you got failure notification then its a fake email IDs. Alternatively there is couple of web service which identify the fake e-mail IDs for the users.
 
Email Address Checker:

Email Address Checker is well known email IDs checker which identify the the validity of any kind of emails IDs. All you need to do is type the email IDs in the box and press ‘Check’ button. Within a moment it displays the validity of email IDs.

IsValidEmail :
You can also try IsValidEmail as alternative web service to check for valid email IDs. If you got the answer is true then it is valid otherwise it is fake. All you need to add email IDs and click on ‘Invoke’.
is email id valid Easy Step To Identify the Fake E mail ID.

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