Happy Holidays from the GoTrusted Team!

All of us here at GoTrusted just wanted to wish each and everyone of you wonderful and safe holiday season!  It's been a great year.  We hope you all are enjoying this time of year, and if it happens to not be your holiday season, we hope you're enjoying December all the same.

We look forward to continuing to provide the level of service our customers have come to expect from us in the coming New Year!

Happy Holidays to you and yours from the GoTrusted Team!

Staying Safe While Shopping Online This Holiday Season

New Mac Version Available

Version 2.2.6.2 is now live for Mac users! This version has some new updates that should further improve stability, especially in certain regions.

You can find the link to download under your account settings or by going here.

As always, GoTrusted support is available if you run into any issues!

Keeping Your Android Smartphone Secure

Technews has released an article outlining a few steps that Android users can take to prevent malware from affecting their phones.

The majority of users that are using Android devices are unaware of the potential security risks. Jupiter Research has said that it believes about 80% of smartphone users are not protected from possible breaches.

Some of the best steps to be taken include not downloading from untrusted sources. Android's more open ecosystem, while giving greater flexibility to users, also enables malicious websites to more easily load malware onto those devices. This is done through websites or links that look to be legitimate or known websites, but are 'faked'. It's always safer to stick to trusted sources like the Google Play store or Amazon for downloading apps. Even from trusted sites it's a good idea to pay attention to what the app asks to have permission to. Always make sure the request seems relevant to what the app would be for.

Reading app reviews can also alleviate this a bit. Make sure the app you're downloading does what it claims to do. There are a lot of fake apps out there for other well known apps. Make sure to cross check the app to make sure it's the from the right publisher and seems to be correct. 

Installing security software is another big step in securing your phone. There is anti-virus software available from different companies just like on your personal computer. Using a VPN service, like GoTrusted, will also mitigate redirects to malicious websites by so-called 'DNS poisoning' – which is a method that malware and malicious connections use to 'fake' your system into going to websites with similar/same looking names to legitimate websites. VPN services also prevent anyone snooping information off your connection if it were to ever be compromised due to malware or other malicious activity. 

All of these are good steps for users to take and keep in mind. Most people don't realize their phone can be just as vulnerable as their home computers, sometimes even more so because it's used in more places. 

New GoTrusted Version Available for Mac OS X Mavericks (10.9)

We have released a new version for the GoTrusted client (v 2.2.6.0) on the new Mac OS X Mavericks. The new client fixes the known issue with Mavericks not resolving websites properly when connected to the VPN.

Any users running Mavericks should update to our new version to avoid any issues. You can find the new version on our download page here. As always, please contact support if you have any problems or questions!

Microsoft Releases Aggregate of Law Enforcement Requests

Microsoft has released their latest Law Enforcement Requests Report. It gives an aggregate of how many user's and accounts have been released to law enforcement agencies in the last six months. This is the second report Microsoft has released with their first being in March

The total number of customer data requests was 37,196 totaling some 66,539 accounts across all Microsoft services, including Skype. This number reflects requests made officially for the first half of 2013, but does not include requests pertaining to national security. There are many requests from dozens of countries, but the main concentration of requests comes from five countries. The US, Turkey, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. These five countries make up 73% of the requests made. 

You can read more about the report and see future reports on Microsoft's site.

New Version of GoTrusted released for Mac and Windows.

We've completed rolling out the new GoTrusted client versions for our users. The new version 2.3.5.7 for Windows and version 2.2.5.6 for Mac should increase connectivity in regions that have found difficulty in the past due to internet issues in the area and offer more stability for all users. 

We'll continue to implement and improve features with future releases so keep an eye out!

And remember, our GoTrusted support is available if you run into any problems or have any questions.

Vodafone Server Hacked in Germany

A Vodafone server was recently hacked exposing over 2 million users accounts. The attack was detected at the beginning of September.

The hacker gained access to customers account information including names, addresses, birth dates, and bank account information. Vodafone, the world's second biggest mobile carrier, said the hacker did not gain access to cell phone numbers, credit card information, or customer PINs. It is believed that the hacker had insider knowledge on the systems in place.

This is one of the latest in a string of high profile hacking cases that have occurred in the last few months. Companies like Google, Twitter, and The NewYork Times have come under similar attacks.

You can read more on the attack on the Business Week website.

China experiences largest cyberattack in its history

Chinese internet was struck by the largest cyber attack in its history on Sunday, August 25th.

The massive 'denial of service' attack targeted .cn domains, including the popular Sina Weibo microblog site.

With a 'denial of service' attack of this scale usually bot-nets are used. These are comprised of possibly hundreds or thousands of computers. These computers are usually inadvertently infected with malware and other programs that cause them to take commands from the person running the bot-net. In this case the bot-net sent out thousands of request simultaneously to the domain servers which resulted in slow, or completely unreachable sites.

The attack was two-stroke with the first attack happening at 2am and a subsequent attack occurring at 4am. The second wave of attacks was 'long-lasting and large-scale' according to state media. The attack caused websites using the .cn domain to either resolve slowly, or not at all, resulting in many Chinese users not being able to reach the internet at all.

There is no clear motive or suspects currently and no one has taken responsibility for the attack. You can read more on this story on CNN.

New GoTrusted Version Available for Mac and PC

We've released new versions for both our Mac (v2.2.5.4) and PC (v2.3.5.5) clients today.

We've added a new Menu button to the status window of the PC version. This should make the settings menu much easier to navigate to. Clicking the button will bring up the same menu that right clicking the icon tray 'G' brings up in previous versions.

The next big change is that we have updated our regions selection to allow for more specific server selections. This has been added in both the PC and Mac versions. You'll now be able to choose from North American East, West, Central, and Auto. You'll also have Europe East, West, and Auto available as well. The Auto feature will be selected by default and the preferred for most people. Auto will find the fastest server available at that time and connect you to it. For those that would like to connect to somewhere more specifically the East/West/Central option will give you that functionality.

We hope everyone likes the changes that have been made. It's due to direct customer feedback that these new options have been added and they should further add to the ease of use our customers have come to expect using our VPN service.

Tor Network Attacked by Malware

Wired is reporting that the Tor network has recently come under attack this past Sunday.  Malware started popping up on multiple hosting sites over the network in the morning in something known as a 'Drive-by' hack attack.

Code was being delivered through a known Java exploit in Firefox and affects Windows users. The code would gather information on the users machine while they were connected to the Tor network.

The code was designed to grab a user's MAC address (a unique hardware identifier for the computer's network or WiFi card) and the target's Windows host name.

The Tor network uses proxies to try to provide anonymity to users. The concern is that the proxy points are run on a volunteer basis allowing anyone to run as a proxy point. This opens the network to break downs that can result in breaches of user information. This is something that full encryption running on the GoTrusted VPN service is not open to as all our VPN servers are secured, both physically and via encryption.

UK Net Filter to Be Controlled By Chinese Firm Huawei

It was announced that the new internet filter for the United Kingdom, known as HomeSafe, being pushed by Britain's Prime Minister will be run by the Chinese firm Huawei. The system has fallen under some scrutiny by US and UK politicians alike, according to the BBC.

The concern has been raised due to the close ties the company holds to the Chinese government and the lack of ministerial oversight of the rapid expansion of the company throughout UK infrastructure. The company was founded by Ren Zhengfei, a former officer in China's People's Liberation Army, which has also raised concerns that the company may be politically motivated and not just commercially so. Huawei has also been labeled a threat to national security by US intelligence committees.

An additional concern for many people is the fact that, even if you are opted out of the HomeSafe filtering, your searches and browsing are still sent through the Huawei databases causing many people to consider VPN services to ensure their privacy and access. Legitimate sites being blacklisted are also a concern as the system is automated and may blacklist sites that do not meet actual blacklist criteria.


The legislation is set to be passed through by the end of 2013. Making all ISPs within the UK compliant by mid-2014.

Google Glass Vulnerable to Wifi Attack According to Symantec

Symantec has uncovered another vulnerability within the Google Glass platform while testing in its labs.  The article was published on Tech Hive earlier this week.

The initial vulnerability was related to QR codes, the patchwork UPC-like patterns that can transfer information, such as a website, when scanned off a product, poster or periodical. Google Glass would scan a malicious QR code which would redirect the user to a website hosting a known Android 4.04 vulnerability which would give the host complete control over the device. That issue has since been patched.

The new vulnerability that was discovered relates to auto-connecting to known networks that a user has used before. This is something almost all wireless devices do as a convenience to the user. Unfortunately that convenience comes at the price of vulnerability. For as little as $100 a hacker can purchase a device that impersonates the known network and imitates it's SSID. This causes the user's device to automatically connect to the hacker's network without knowing.

A common scenario is your device will search for a WiFi hotspot. It will find the network, which may look to be a known WiFi connection, like Starbucks or AT&T, but it would be a spoofed network in disguise.  Your device would then connect to the malicious hotspot. Once you're connected to the device it will allow you to connect to the internet where it will be between you and the server you are accessing. This allows the device to spy on any and all unencrypted traffic going over the connection and is known as a man-in-the-middle attack (MITM).

This, of course, is not limited to just Google Glass. It can be an issue for any device connecting to a known network such as a coffee shop, library, or even your own network. The best deterrent for this that more and more people are turning to is running a VPN service. This way, even if the device is able to have you connect through it, the information being sent and received is unreadable. Effectively making you safe from possible MITM attacks.

The news highlights that even the latest technologies are vulnerable to such rudimentary attacks and additional steps should be taken to protect yourself. Running security software such as GoTrusted is one way to provide the protection you need from these kinds of MITM attacks, as well as the myriad of other systems hackers are actively using.

New GoTrusted Windows Version Released

    It's been a busy week here at GoTrusted. Following the new servers that have opened in Hong Kong, we're releasing the new 2.3.5.0 version of GoTrusted for Windows.

    Users will notice some obvious changes immediately. We've added a 'Menu' button to the status window to make navigation in the client easier. The settings menu has also been changed. The basic settings for region selection, and user login will be found in the first tab labeled 'General'. We've moved the less used troubleshooting settings to the separate advanced tab.

   Behind the scenes we've ironed out a few bugs that were affecting a very small percentage of users under specific circumstances. We'll also be releasing the updated Mac version shortly.

   If you have any questions or run into any problems using the GoTrusted VPN service remember to contact our support via the support page!

Thank you,

The GoTrusted Team

GoTrusted Expands Bandwidth in Asia

    Good news for our Asia based customers! We've further expanded the bandwidth available in Asia with a new high-speed, secure server location in Hong Kong.

    The new servers will make sure our current level of performance is maintained in the Asian region with the increase in traffic from our new users.

Internet Privacy Concerns in the News

    Given the recent news about government monitoring of Internet communication, we'd like to address our current and future customers.  Stories such as these have concerned millions of Internet users:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22853432

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21743499

    GoTrusted's mission has always been to protect Internet users' privacy and access.  We believe it is paramount that our users' communication not be breached by any government, ISP or malicious individuals.  Customers of the GoTrusted VPN Service can be assured that their communications are fully encrypted over the GoTrusted network to our secure servers, ensuring their anonymity, privacy, security and access to a free Internet.  At GoTrusted, we will continue to work for these principles regardless of the efforts of outside entities to circumvent them.

Thank You, 

The GoTrusted Team

GoTrusted Expands Bandwidth in Europe

     Due to increases in ISP speeds provided to customers in the European area, GoTrusted has now expanded its available bandwidth in Europe with the launch of our new high-speed German secure server location.  These new servers will ensure that fast performance is maintained for GoTrusted's existing European users, in addition to future users of our VPN service.

    As always, support is there to help if you run into any issues so don't hesitate to contact them.

Major Update Coming for Windows 8

     Some good news for our Windows 8 users. Microsoft released a statement earlier this week telling of a new update code named 'Blue' that they'll be releasing June 26th at the Build developers conference held in San Francisco.

     They're has been plenty of feedback from users both critical and positive. Something Microsoft has readily acknowledged.

"We need to work to address a real learning curve with Windows 8," said Tami Reller, chief financial officer for Microsoft's Windows division. "That's a big challenge for us." 

     The update is rumored to address some of the issues that people have been raising most concern about. One of the biggest being a lack of a true 'Start' button that has been present in every Microsoft OS release since '95. 

     There can be a steep learning curve associated with Microsoft's new operating system and can seem daunting to new users. We have our share of support cases involving Windows 8 and that's why our support is there! Don't hesitate to send them an email if you run into any issues using GoTrusted on your Windows 8 devices.

New GoTrusted Review on BestReviews.net

A new review has recently been posted by BestReviews.net about GoTrusted's VPN Service.

In the review, they highlight our company history and the features you'll be seeing when using GoTrusted. It's a good read for those looking for an additional resource before trying our VPN service.

Our customers can also leave their own customer reviews on the site. We hear a lot of great feed back through our support so if you feel the need, please let us know how we're doing on the site!

Information Week 2013 LAN Survey

Information Week has published their  LAN survey with some interesting results.

There were 419 respondents in the survey composed of mostly businesses with more than 5000 employees (34%) and more than 10000 employees. (21%)

Some of the results show the potential direction we're going to see companies moving toward in regards to wireless technology. A couple interesting data points are:

• 45% have plans to deploy 802.11ac gear on production networks, half of those will go to it as soon as it is available.

• 37% see wireless replacing wired infrastructure within five years.

802.11ac is going to be the new wireless standard and is projected to be common place by 2015. It has roughly three times the speed of current 802.11n technology. It also boasts increased range and stability.

The idea of wireless replacing wired infrastructure, while it seems an eventuality, will take time and will likely cause some stir in the security community. Wired connections can be completely closed, only allowing someone physically connected to access systems. Wireless, while still able to be secured, is always going to need to allow at least some level of connectivity from the outside world. Adding a potential gateway for attacks on systems.

VPN services and increased, more innovative wireless security will become more and more necessary as we move toward a wireless future. It's going to become even more important that we protect ourselves from potential threats in an age where information is becoming increasingly valuable and available.

FTC plans mobile security event for June 4th

The Federal Trade Commission will be holding a public event on June 4th in an effort to make the public more aware of the emerging and lingering security threats in the mobile device ecosystem.

The event will be held in the agency's Washington, D.C. conference center and will highlight data collection, advertising, and other topics such as emerging mobile threats, potential infrastructure issues, and authentication strategies for mobile devices.

Of course VPN Services are becoming more of a hot topic, especially in the mobile ecosystem, so we'll no doubt be hearing how they will increasingly come into play as privacy becomes an ever looming issue and people look for ways to protect themselves.

Safer Internet Day

It's that time of year again. Safer Internet Day is today and we have some more tips for protecting you and your loved ones while online.

1. Use different passwords

 It sounds like it could be confusing, but this is one of the best ways to make sure that if only one account is compromised instead of all of them. Saving you a lot of headaches in the end. 

2. Choose strong passwords 

Using password as your password, if you didn't know, is asking for someone to just help themselves to your account. Avoid using your name, birthdate or other similarly obvious password combinations. It's also a good idea to change your passwords every six months.

3. Use a VPN Service

Using a VPN Service is a great way to protect information you are sending and receiving. Services like GoTrusted encrypt your data so it is unreadable to anyone else, but the intended website. Even if someone is somehow able to nab the data they would have no way to look at it. This can keep you safer online whether you're at home or at the coffee shop down the way.

4. Don't reveal to much on social networks 

Be careful what you are sharing and who you are sharing it with. Information you post can easily be used by hackers to figure out security questions and passwords. This also stretches into reality as well. Publicly posting that you're out of town for the week could be an invitation for burglars.

5. Protect your Computer and Browser

This one is an obvious one. You should always be running the latest version of your anti-virus, operating system, and VPN. Making sure your'e up to date keeps you up to speed with current viruses that are circulating and closes known bugs in your operating system that could be exploited.

6. Secure your wireless connection

This means setting a password and changing your network ID from the default. How many times have you seen open networks named 'Linksys' or 'Netgear'? Leaving your connection open like that leaves you vulnerable. It's possible for people to connect to your network and look at any device connected to it. 

7. Shop at safe websites

Always look for the padlock next to the site address and that it has HTTPS in the url. This shows the site is secured. 

8. Think before clicking links

Scammers and phishers are getting smarter and more creative all the time. Anyone can make a complete copy of a website easily. Be careful with the links you click in an email. If they seem suspicious, don't click them! Receive an email from Amazon about your order that you never placed? It's always safer to navigate to the main site and log-in than it is through an email link. These are just some ways scammers are trying to get your login credentials. 

Safer Internet Day is organized by Insafe during February as a way to promote safety online.

Online Tracking and Ways to Prevent it.

A recent article on http://www.abine.com about current online tracking practices highlights just how much information we may be giving out without our knowledge.

They have a nice infographic showing who may be tracking you, as well as some of the most common and simplest ways these companies track consumers.

Reasons for tracking are generally for advertisers to try and target people specifically and to build consumer ‘profiles’, but most people worry that these reasons are not always on the up and up.

In a questionnaire to Wall Street Journal readers, 60% said they worry ‘Tremendously’ about the loss of online privacy.

There are, of course, some simple steps you can sue to combat unwanted tracking and profiling. These include: Making sure your social networking sites privacy settings are set correctly, delete your information from companies that publicly sell it, running a free browser add-ons like DoNotTrackMe, and running a VPN like GoTrusted.

Running a VPN service will make you anonymous and prevent sites from targeting you by your geographic location as well as keeping you safe from sites that may try to view your browsing or buying habits online.

Tips For Protecting Data While Traveling

 

A recent article posted by Information Week from Eset has outlined a few strong tips for keeping your data secure while traveling.

The article was made in response to the FBI/IC3 warning to travelers regarding use of hotel Internet systems.

This is an excerpt from the IC3 warning.

"Recent analysis from the FBI and other government agencies demonstrates that malicious actors are targeting travelers abroad through pop-up windows while establishing an Internet connection in their hotel rooms."

The FBI recommends that all government, private industry, and academic personnel who travel abroad take extra caution before updating software products on their hotel Internet connection. Checking the author or digital certificate of any prompted update to see if it corresponds to the software vendor may reveal an attempted attack. The FBI also recommends that travelers perform software updates on laptops immediately before traveling, and that they download software updates directly from the software vendor’s Web site if updates are necessary while abroad.

Tips include: making sure your software is up to date prior to travel, backing up sensitive data on a encrypted external drive, and making sure you have password protection and inactivity timeouts engaged on all devices.

One of the tips mentioned is to use a VPN service when connecting to the hotel's Internet, something GoTrusted has always emphasized to its customers traveling abroad or simply to the local coffee shop. Using our secure tunnel while going through a connection that may or may not have your best interests in mind or simply lacks up-to-date security, ensures that your data remains private and secure.