Security through Insecurity

EDIT: This method will no longer work soon due to the kwiry service closing down. More information here. This will go into affect on On April 23, 2009.

You heard the forecast this morning, but totally forgot to turnoff your computer this morning; You’re on vacation, and need to get your computer running a backup, just in case. But in both scenarios, you don’t have access to your computer. In this video, I show you how to setup a solution, that will allow you to run any predetermined command, with a simple Text message.

You’ll need Microsoft Office, or just Microsoft Outlook (any version will do), and a working internet connection. In this tutorial, we will be using gmail.com for a free email account, and although you can use your own, I like to keep my texts and emails seperate. And we will be using a free service, at kwiry.com that allows you to send text messages to them, and they send it to you as an email.

1. Goto gmail.com to sign up for a free email account, and copy down the new email you have.
2. Goto kwiry.com and sign up with your new e-mail address.
3. Open up Microsoft Outlook and create a new account.
   1. If this isn’t your first time to setup an account, you can click on “Tools” and then “Accounts” to set up a new account.
4. On the First page, fill in “Your Name:”, “E-mail Address:”, “Password:”, and “Retype Password”, and then click the box at the bottom that says “Manually configure serer settings or additional server types”
5. Click “Next”
   1. Leave the “Account Type” unchanged. It should be POP3. If not, change it to that.
   2. Set “Incoming mail server:” to “pop.gmail.com”
   3. Set “Outgoing mail server (SMTP):” to “smtp.gmail.com”
   4. Set “User Name:” to your user name that you chose for your e-mail account.
   5. Click “More Settings”
      1. Click “Advanced”
      2. Change the Port on “Incoming server (POP3):” from “110″ to “995″ and click the check box that says “This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL)”
      3. Click “Outgoing Server”
      4. Check the box that says  “My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication” and choose “Use same settings as my incoming mail server” if it is not already checked.
      5. Click “OK” and test the settings by clicking on “Test Account Settings …”
      6. If all is well, click “Next” followed by “Finish”
6. Return to your Desktop
7. Open up My Computer
8. Open up “Local Disk (C:)” — may be different for you.
9. Create a folder called “commands” and open it.
10. Right-Click and create a new text document called “shutdown.bat” and click Yes when it asks about the extension change. Now open the document.
11. Right Click on the newly created shutdown.bat and click “Edit”
12. Type in “shutdown.exe -s -t 5″ and Press Ctrl + S to automatically save the file.
13. Open Outlook back up and click on Tools followed by Rules and Alerts…
14. Click “New Rule…”
15. Near the bottom, under “Start from a blank rule”, click “Check messages when they arrive”
16. Check the box that says “with specific words in the subject” followed by clicking on “Specific Words“ in the bottom of the window.
17. Add the subject title, which was “your kwiry – Shutdown” and click “Add”, followed by “OK”
18. Click “Next”
19. Check the box that says “start application“ followed by clicking on “application“ in the bottom of the window.
20. Browse to your shutdown.bat, it should be in this order: My Computer, Local Disk (C:), commands. You may have to Click “Files of type:“ near the bottom and choose “All Files (*.*)“
21. Click Finished, followed by Apply

Send yourself a message to kwiry that says shutdown

Now watch the magic!

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Admit it. Even you, a savvy veteran e-mail user, have fallen for one or more of these Internet rumors. Or, even if you weren’t quite sure of the veracity of a particular story or photograph, you e-mailed it to your friends to amuse/warn them, or to see what they thought.

Don’t be embarrassed, you’re not alone. Despite our increasing technological sophistication, we seem to be as susceptible as ever to people determined to make suckers of us. After all, Internet hoaxes play on our human, not technical, vulnerabilities.

via 7 Fantastic Internet Hoaxes — E-mail — InformationWeek.