DotVPN review

Hey Guys,

So I've recently been recommended a chrome plugin called DotVPN by Will Melbourne. It is a blocker for an array of things, such as ads, trackers and firewalls. I use this program for blocking the firewall at my school, as for example I wanted to use a bit of CSS from a page, but I couldn't get to the page as it was blocked. I wouldn't use this program all the time, as I have been told there are few servers, and with few servers dealing with all of the requests, the speed isn't brilliant. One of the features I like is the colourfulness of the icon and main page of it. It is a small touch, but very nice, and as a kid I think this is cool. I also find the movement of the graph in the icon satisfying, as if I'm physically doing something, and it's giving a live feed of my activity.

All in all, I think that DotVPN is a useful tool if you have a use for it, but I wouldn't just use it as an ad blocker. 

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Bitcoin Affiliate Network Potential DDoS

Hey Guys!

Today I received an email from Bitcoin Affiliate Network - the mining pool that I mine for - saying that they have had an email from some hackers, stating that they have been notified by hackers with a DDoS attack threat A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack is where hackers send a volley of computers to connect to their network, taking their network down. The hackers often ask for a ransom to stop their attacks, so that they can get money for their work. here is the E-Mail sent from Bitcoin Affiliate Network:

There's an incoming DDOS attack today. I received an extortion request yesterday.
They're claiming to be able to take down all the servers... The threat is credible as they've already taken down many big pools.


you are receiving this email because you're currently mining in the pool.


If you're in Europe or Asia switch to this private stratum node: (I've left this bit out, maybe i shouldn't tell you - it's not my server to publish the IP of!)

You may also use 3334, or 3335 if you wish.


I'm currently setting up a private server in the USA.

I took steps yesterday to protect the main web site... which I'm confident will work. We're on a new ip network behind cloudflare.com ddos protection. There's just not much I can do about the public stratum nodes.
I don't have full control over most of them.

You can keep mining where your'e at right now... perhaps use the private pool as backup... if it's further from your location.

I will write soon with the US one...

-Gil (s0br)

p.s. This new server isn't public, new, and not known to the attackers. They will keep your mining safe and unaffected.



Email below....


Hello,

To introduce ourselves first:

http://blogs.akamai.com/2014/12/dd4bc-anatomy-of-a-bitcoin-extortion-campaign.html

http://bitcoinbountyhunter.com/bitalo.html

http://cointelegraph.com/news/113499/notorious-hacker-group-involved-in-excoin-theft-owner-accuses-ccedk-of-withholding-info

Or just google “DD4BC† and you will find more info.

Recently, we were DDoS-ing bw.com, bitminter and other pools - you probably know for it if you read cryptocurrency news.



So, it’s your turn.


Unless you pay 10 BTC to 1LHPpEdxWvhQip3KqdRd9jgBuYHSGUB7Zp within 12 hours from now, your pool servers are going under heavy DDoS attack.

Pay, and you will never hear from us again.

Usually, we attack first, then ask BTC to stop, but since your pool is too big, one of the largest Bitcoin pools, we are giving you time to act first, because we are well aware that even 1 hour offline would cause much larger damage then 10 BTC.

12 hours, because we are not in the same time zone and it’s morning in china, so we want to make sure that you had time to act.

AS PROOF that this is not an empty threat, we will run a small attack on on your server now – 188.166.18.30. Don’t worry it’s not going to be hard and will run for just 1 hour, so your server will not get null routed.
But if not paid, all your servers are going down for good.

Please note that it will not be easy to mitigate our attack, because our current UDP flood power is 400-500 Gbps.

IMPORTANT: You don’t even have to reply. Just pay 10 BTC to 1LHPpEdxWvhQip3KqdRd9jgBuYHSGUB7Zp – we will know it’s you and you will never hear from us again.

But if you ignore us, attack will start and price to stop will go to 20 BTC and will keep going up for every day of delay.

ONE MORE TIME: It’s a one-time payment. Pay and you will not hear from us ever again!

Thank you.



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Lenovo Superfish

Hey guys!

You may have heard of the discovery of the use of Superfish, a program that comes with Lenovo laptops. The role of this software has recently been discovered, it being to replace adverts on websites with Lenovo's ones, therefore Lenovo getting paid for these ads, instead of the owner of the website receiving the money. This is a real shame, as Lenovo laptops are actually excellent hardware - wise, but this makes a big difference. Apparently, this was the only way Lenovo were making profit, as the demand of people nowadays is to have the price so low - they couldn't make any money out of the actual hardware, so this was the only way they could make any money. It is unlikely that anyone will buy many more Lenovo laptops - this will be not only a lesson to Lenovo but the whole computer hardware industry, forcing them to see the effects of having this kind of software shipped with the computer.

Make sure to keep checking here to see the latest tech news!