Companies regularly create personalized profiles based on your Internet activities. By tracking and monitoring your IP address (digital footprint) each time you go online, they can form detailed profiles based solely on your past Internet activities. While this may seem little more than an annoyance, the information they compile builds over time and can be used to alter search results, the information available on a Web site, or even the goods and services available for you to view and purchase.

This practice involves redirecting users to fraudulent Web sites where they are asked for personal information such as logins and passwords. Users should always make sure they are on the real Web sites they are visiting. Checking the URL to make sure that you have not been redirected to a fraudulent site is a good practice.

Evil twins are tainted hotspots posing as legitimate Wi-Fi providers. They trick wireless users into connecting a laptop or PDA to a compromised network. Once users are connected, evil twins can watch all online activities and steal confidential information.

Java allows another program to run inside Web pages, thus allowing a more diverse and interactive Web site. Having Java enabled on a browser can allow potentially malicious programs to be automatically downloaded to run on your computer each time you visit a Web site. Java frequently updates to patch security issues, but has been exploited on multiple occasions.

Active X, similar to Java, also allows another program to run inside a Web page, thus creating a more diverse and interactive Web site. Having Active X enabled on a browser can allow potentially malicious programs to be downloaded and run on your computer. Active X depends on the customer to decide whether or not to run an application. This creates the possibility of a user compromising their security by unknowingly allowing malicious parties to gain access to their computer.

Nothing is 100% safe on the Internet, and while there are new online dangers popping up every day, there are many solutions for combating cybercrime. Learn more about fighting cybercrime.

Email attachments can contain malware, viruses, or spyware, and can be disguised as other files to trick the user into opening the attachment.

Scam artists use email to lure users to phony Web sites. They often appear legitimate, and are used to trick the user into visiting a site to gather personal information that the user may divulge.

Emails can contain phony links that, if clicked, can trigger a malware download or lead the user to a malicious Web site.

If you use your email address regularly to sign up for online services or register with Web sites, your email account may end up being overwhelmed with unwanted spam and junk mail.

Email is often used intentionally or through error to distribute personal information. This information can be intercepted by a malicious party or inadvertently sent to one by mistake.

If a malicious party obtains your email account information‚ they have all they need to login to your account to gather personal information from your inbound and outbound email folders.

Just as you have a home address‚ your computer has an identifiable Internet Protocol (IP) address that identifies the origin of any Internet activities that originate from your computer. With this information‚ anyone can identify your geographical location‚ browser type‚ and other information that you want to keep secure.

A VPN is a network that provides secure‚ remote access to the Internet. All traffic queries are encrypted to the users desired Internet destinations‚ thus leaving no identifiable trail of Web activities. Learn More about VPN client

IP Rotator is Anonymizer’s proprietary technology that provides users with a different random‚ rotating IP address every day.

L2TP stands for Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol. L2TP forms the "Virtual" and "Network" parts of the "Virtual Private Network". The "Private" part is handled by another protocol which carries L2TP‚ called IPSec.

IPSec is a protocol to add security to traffic as it travels across the Internet. This security takes two forms: authenticity (proof against tampering) and privacy (security against eavesdroppers). IPSec performs these functions on any protocol used on the Internet. IPSec has better performance than SSL‚ dramatically so in the case of VPNs.

Encryption is the process of transforming information (referred to as plaintext) using an algorithm (called cipher) to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge‚ usually referred to as a key.

Many Web sites routinely block access based solely on a computer’s IP address. For example‚ U.S. IP addresses are often blocked access by China‚ Iran‚ and other foreign countries.

Web sites often use IP addresses to identify information about the people who are visiting their sites. With just this information‚ they can choose to redirect (spoof) certain IP addresses or visitors to misleading or different information.

Companies regularly create personalized profiles based on your Internet activities. By tracking and monitoring your IP address (digital footprint) each time you go online‚ they can form detailed profiles based solely on your past Internet activities. While this may seem little more than an annoyance‚ the information they compile builds over time and can be used to alter search results‚ the information available on a Web site‚ or even the goods and services available for you to view and purchase.

A digital footprint is a trail of information that allows others to see the places you visit when you are online. As each IP address is attributable to a computer‚ each time you visit a Web site‚ chat‚ email‚ or do personal business‚ you leave a “crumb trail” of activity that that be monitored and followed back to the source computer.

PCmag.com offers a great definition of an anonymous proxy: “A server that functions as a relay between the user and a destination Web site. It hides the IP address of the user's machine from the Web site.” Learn more about anonymous proxy surfing.