Data security for arbers

Nov 02 2012

General 0 1

Dear Arbers!

Today we’re gonna look at certain protective measures every arber should be taking to improve his data security.

1. Premise

First of all, I’m gonna tell you why that’s important. The answer is simple – it’s all about the benajamins 😉

There have been cases of people whose email address and then MB account has been compromised, the money sent over to someone else, with that person cashing out in some African country. Pretty hard to prosecute for sure.

The other risk is an information leak. Upon a successful attack on your machine, everything stored on it can get out. Your GF’s naked photos, plaintext passwords, arbing bookkeeping – info that should be kept private.

I’m not gonna be giving you horror stories on what happens in such cases, as the effects range from mild to wild, and there are multiple sites on the Web which can provide you with such info. Let’s just agree nobody wants to get hacked and leave it at that.

2. How?

Now we’re gonna look into the ways to protect your accounts and computer from unauthorized access.

Use strong passwords

This should be obvious, but often is not. Some of the passwords you’re gonna have to remember so make them moderately good, like “J0hnnyLikezPr0n!321”. You’re gonna need three such passwords.

One is for full disk encrpytion, one for logging in to your user account and one for your password safe.

All the other passwords should be very long and random, such as “:$C|~b-<0%(_+x)E\bc?Y^Sth'Cg/b7nV)p:v)[04w'=ovQk'BAZ-hVlQ[VD{2(".

You’ll use these passwords to control access to your bookkeeping, bookmaker accounts, Skrill account, email and other sites.

These will also have to be distinct, as the shadier bookies can try to use your password at their site at other sites or MB, which should be a failure.
Use full disk encryption

Software such as TrueCrypt is easy to operate and basically protects your data when your PC gets lost or stolen. With strong passwords it’s extremely hard to extract anything meaningful from such a drive. Check this out:

Brazilian banker’s crypto baffles FBI
Update your software often

No reason not to, and greatly reduces the probability of someone hacking into the system by an exploit.
Use a reasonable antivirus

Even free ones, such as Microsoft Security Essentials are way better than nothing and don’t consume enormous amount of system resources.
Consider keeping your arbing in a closed system

Have a separte PC/laptop with only a browser, your bookkeeping software and Surebet Monitor installed. No games, no cracks, no strange software. Greatly improves security.
Don’t share the computer you arb with

If someone has physical access to the machine, they can do anything with it. Even if the person doesn’t have a malicious motive, their relative ignorance of good security practices can be dangerous.
Use a password safe such as KeePass

I know this is tedious, but do it.
Get a Skrill security token

It’s 10E for a non-VIP member and free for a VIP member, and basically hack-proofs your Skrill account.
Arb only using your preconfigured and hardened arbing machine

Don’t use your friend’s PC to arb, as they almost surely don’t apply the guidelines contained in this post.
On a general note, password all data which can be considered sensitive

You can use a TrueCrypt container for data where the format doesn’t allow passwords.
Use a passworded screensaver with short activation time, also, if you’re sitting in front of your computer with someone else, and have to leave, use the switch user mechanism so they can’t do anything unless they know the password.
Apply the principle of least privilege

If someone is not actively working with certain pieces of data, they have no business knowing the passwords for them.