Most internet users have serious troubles with passwords: they either choose to use the same password on all sites, use passwords that can be easily guessed by looking at the persons background or write all their passwords down to be able to look them up if they forget them. Only a few users use high quality passwords that they are able to remember.

One solution would be to use password safes that store all your passwords securely and can only be opened with a master password. Another method would be to use Password Grids, let me explain the concept. You use an 8×8, 10×10 or bigger grid and create one easy to remember pattern on it.

continue reading "Use Password Grids to Remember Passwords"

Well what do we have here ? FBI director Robert Mueller wants that service providers record their customers online activities with the same lame excuses that men like him come always up with: Protecting minors and terrorism. Let me get something straight here. Terrorists are not uneducated, they know how to build explosives, they know how to work with computers. They especially now about encryption.

This of course leads to the question what Mr. Mueller wants to achieve by storing every single IP connection of every single individual that uses an ISP from the United States ? Is not the whole thing a complete waste of resources and time compared to the minimal gain ? What about the protection of minors then, this should be a valid point, don’t you think ?

continue reading "Data Retention laws on the uprise"

Freeculture.org held a drm video contest earlier this year and announced the winners of this contest today. All videos had to be uploaded to a public video site to make sure they would spread pretty fast around the global community. I decided to post all videos from youtube right away here at deny but you could also visit freeculture to see them at their website or bookmark their site. (do it)

Most of the videos are animated but you are also able to see two with actors, my personal favorite is Legally Bound by Ami Goff and Trusted Computing by Benjamin Stephan and Lutz Vogel, what are yours ?

continue reading "Down with DRM Video Contest Winners"

I’m going to show you how to create a secure usb data safe that can be used to store sensitive data. Secure means it is encrypted and will only be encrypted if you need the data that is saved on the stick. This method is also working with other removable media such as zip drives and hard disks.

There are some prerequisites that have to be met: You need of course the software that makes all of this possible - True Crypt. You also need a mobile device and administrators privileges on the computer you intend to run true crypt to decrypt the data on the device - which means that this setup won’t work if you intend to use it on e.g. public computers or computers with no administrators privileges.

continue reading "Create a secure USB Data Safe"

System Safety Monitor 2 is available in a free version from the developers website. The tool basically works as a firewall preventing malicious software to be started automatically. The free version runs in paranoid mode which means you have to allow or disallow every process and get nagged quite a bit at the beginning. Once the majority of rules are established the software runs a lot smoother and seems to come forth only when you tend to install a new program or change existing ones.

Once installed you need to reboot your system to be able to run the software, you notice a green icon with an S inside in your system tray once you’ve restarted the system. Double-clicking that icon opens the program in process viewer mode. It displays all running processes on your system and you will have to define some rules here. Right-clicking an entry makes it possible to block, allow or terminate a process as well as to take a look at the processes properties and modules.

continue reading "System Safety Monitor 2"