Password theft leading to inflated bills is common

There is a lucrative trade prevalent on the Internet these days. People are offering up to 10 Dataone usernames and passwords for a premium Rapidshare account. Rapidshare is a site where users post pirated movies, games, TV shows and software that can be downloaded only if someone shares the exact link with you. Premium users can download up to 25 GB over five days. These links are heavily distributed on forums and blogs all over the world.

The scary thing is that there are so many Dataone passwords up for trade that it is not funny. Where are people getting these usernames and passwords from? To my dismay, I discovered that hacking into a Dataone account is as easy as sending email. There are programs on the Internet that will deliver to your computer unsecured Dataone passwords in just three or four clicks.

No wonder many Dataone subscribers are getting inflated bills and they don’t have a clue as to why this is happening. Even when the PC is shut, the recorded usage is mysteriously mounting. Here is what you have to do to protect your broadband account:

First, put on the firewall on your router/modem. Not all modems supplied by BSNL have this option. Just look around in your modem options if it is there. To get to your modem options, you need to type 192.168.1.1 in the address bar of your browser. Next, you will be asked for a username and password. This is usually ‘admin’ and ‘admin’ (without the quotes). Check your modem manual for the username and password if this does not work.

Second, and the most important, change the password for modem. Remember, this is not the password of your Dataone account. It is your modem’s password which is usually ‘admin’. Most subscribers have not been told to change this password, making it easy for hackers to get into your modem and steal your account details. You can leave the username as ‘admin’. Otherwise, you will have to set up another user and assign it rights which can get quite complicated.

Third, change your Dataone password frequently. This is done by going to http://10.240.43.216 or http://10.240.128.195. Click on Change Password. Check your usage regularly from this site. The moment you find any discrepancy, contact the DE/Internal of your telephone exchange. Don’t wait for your bill.

Fourth, get a proper Internet security suite for your computer. I would suggest Zone Alarm firewall (www.zonelabs.com), AVG anti-virus (free.grisoft.com), and Ad-Aware 2007 (www.lavasoft.de). They are all free. If you have critical data on your PC, it is best to buy the Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite for around Rs 1,600.

Firewall alert

q+a I am always getting a critical error message that says “Due to an unidentified problem Windows cannot display Windows firewall settings”. Please help.

D. Nandy

Go to http://windowsxp.mvps.org/reg/sharedaccess.reg, download the file and save it on your desktop. Double click on it to add the contents to your Windows registry. Restart Windows. Then, go to Start-->Run and type ‘netsh firewall reset’ (without the quotes). This should solve your problem.

IP error

q+a I have Windows XP SP1 installed in my computer with BSNL broadband Internet connection. When I log onto the net, after surfing for a few minutes, no pages are displayed though the net connection is intact. However, I am constantly told there is an IP address error. I have to again restart my computer to get the Internet connection working properly. How do I get rid of this problem?

Samrat Chakraborty

You need to update to Windows XP Service Pack 2. Next, check whether the TCP/IP settings for your LAN card are all right. You will find the correct values by following this hyperlink: http://www.calcuttatelephones.com/dataoneinstall/mu03.html.

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