Mkay's Guide To Computer Security

[p4triot7]

Weren't Stuxnet and Flame viruses with Keylogging components that--at least one of the ways it could--spread to computers through servers they connected to?

[Satangel]

I wonder, is there any way to secure my Steam account better? I would really like to maybe secure it with a token or via my Mobile phone, so everytime I login from a new PC, it checks for that token or sends a code to my mobile phone.

A normal mail isn't enough IMHO

[zoinks99]

Originally Posted by Satangel

I wonder, is there any way to secure my Steam account better? I would really like to maybe secure it with a token or via my Mobile phone, so everytime I login from a new PC, it checks for that token or sends a code to my mobile phone.

A normal mail isn't enough IMHO

If your mail account is secured using some form of two-step authentication then that should probably be pretty secure. One thing you can do is have an email exclusively for Steam.

[Tomvdr]

Originally Posted by Satangel

I wonder, is there any way to secure my Steam account better? I would really like to maybe secure it with a token or via my Mobile phone, so everytime I login from a new PC, it checks for that token or sends a code to my mobile phone.

A normal mail isn't enough IMHO

Google has phone verification.

[kombootje]

I wonder, why is a password like "p@s5\/\/0|2D" a weak password as opposed to "MoOoOfIn245679"? I'm reading this guide but it's that little part that I don't really get.

[zoinks99]

Originally Posted by kombootje

I wonder, why is a password like "p@s5\/\/0|2D" a weak password as opposed to "MoOoOfIn245679"? I'm reading this guide but it's that little part that I don't really get.

Because it is the word "password" with common obfuscation characters. In other words, a million other people already thought of it too, and some hacker has it in his rainbow table already.

The 2nd one is not an English word.

[kombootje]

Originally Posted by zoinks99

Because it is the word "password" with common obfuscation characters. In other words, a million other people already thought of it too, and some hacker has it in his rainbow table already.

The 2nd one is not an English word.

So if I just put a random series of letters (capital or otherwise), numbers and symbols in one long password, that will be considered a good password then?

[zoinks99]

Originally Posted by kombootje

So if I just put a random series of letters (capital or otherwise), numbers and symbols in one long password, that will be considered a good password then?

That's ideal as long as you can remember it (or use a keychain tool to remember it for you). Every time you use a real word you make it a little easier to crack. However a very long passphrase password with many words is generally safe as long as it's not a common expression or famous quotation.

[dbowie88]

My account was hacked last Wednesday. I had steamguard enabled, and I'd never given anybody else my login details or been phished. I never received any email telling me that someone was 1) trying to log in or 2) changing my account details.

How do you think my account got hijacked? As best I can understand, they'd have needed to have both my steam login & password AND my gmail login & password, two different passwords and logins. My steam password has been used with other sites, but not with that same (or similar) login name. Otherwise, they'd have never gotten the SteamGuard email - I would have received it instead.

I use Microsoft Security Essentials and I'm not a numbskull, so I don't think I was virused. Do you have a guess as to how I got hijacked so I can avoid it in the future?

[CamelVBA]

Ad-Aware now is a bit sketchy. When you install Ad-Aware it comes with just a bit of their own adware/malware.

[Scorch6679]

I don't know if this should be added, but I've seen people request others to join their Hamachi network. Hamachi is a VPN and as far as I know, that means they instantly have a remote connection tunnel to your computer that might as well be local.

I use Hamachi for my friend who has a router incapable of port-forwarding (firmware breaks, and it's so broken it can't update or be replaced.) and people commonly use it to try to host minecraft servers for a friend. (even though port forwarding would probably be tons easier if your router didn't suck.)

I switch it off when I'm not using it.

[Instant Gamer]

I use avast! antivirus to protect my computer