Two simple ways to thwart Web spies

[Peaches]

September 24, 2010 7:41 AM PDT

Two simple ways to thwart Web spies

Flash Player help

Some Web sites just won't take "no" for an answer. You tell them you don't want their tracking cookies, and they continue to figure out new methods for keeping tabs on your Web activities anyway. To scrub your PC of all Flash cookies, try the free Flash Cookie Cleaner, although with this program, you must remove all such cookies rather than being able to save the ones you would like to keep around.

Keep your PC's camera and microphone off limits

The online spies have figured out how to use Adobe's Flash Player to eavesdrop on you by activating your PC's built-in camera and microphone. According to the German site The Local, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute contrived a man-in-the-middle attack that allowed them to activate a PC's camera and microphone remotely.

You can set the Flash Player to deny all attempts to access your system's camera and microphone or to ask for permission beforehand. Unfortunately, you can do so only via the Global Privacy Settings panel on Adobe's Flash Player Help site.

For more details & screenshots - http://news.cnet.com/security/