Security

Tue
29
Jul
Dennis Faas's picture

Most Bank Sites Insecure, Says Recent Study

Online banking makes life easier, at least for those of us comfortable with the idea of transacting money from the home or office. Like most people, I assume that my bank's website is an extremely secure site, rigorously monitored to protect my ... money. Along with many other people, I may have been wrong. A University of Michigan study released last week suggests that, of 214 financial institutions' websites, every one had design flaws and over three-quarters contained at least one flaw that could potentially put customers at risk. (Source: cnet.com ) One of the larger problems seems to be the ... (view more)

Mon
21
Jul
Dennis Faas's picture

Your Printer May Be Spying On You

In yet another case where government appears to be above the law, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has issued a report warning that your printer may be spying on you. Some color laser manufacturers are encoding each page with identifying ... information -- secret code that could be used to identify the printer and, potentially, the person who used it. Without your knowledge or consent, an act you assume is private could become public. What's worse is that there are no laws to prevent abuse. There's little to stop the Secret Service from using printer codes to secretly trace the origin of ... (view more)

Fri
11
Jul
Dennis Faas's picture

Microsoft Security Update Goes Badly

Users of some firewall software, including the popular Zone Alarm, have found Microsoft's latest security update works a little too well: it effectively blocks their Internet access completely. The offending update fixes a pretty serious flaw in ... Windows which would have allowed hackers to redirect network traffic. However, it's proved incompatible with the entire ZoneAlarm series of software, leaving its users unable to access websites, instant messaging, email or any other Internet services. (Source: channelregister.co.uk ) ZoneAlarm has published three possible solutions. The first is to ... (view more)

Thu
10
Jul
Dennis Faas's picture

DNS Security Hole Threatens Internet

Security experts are warning that a major Domain Name Service (DNS) hole could have catastrophic results for the web in the near future. DNS, which is responsible for converting readable names into IP addresses for individuals and major firms alike, ... is nothing less than the Internet's phonebook. Without it, imagine the Information Superhighway littered with the overturned, flaming vehicles of visitors. What's wrong? So that names indexed by DNS are not repeated with every network connection, systems store the results in a cache for a temporary period. If a hacker could slip false addresses ... (view more)

Thu
12
Jun
Dennis Faas's picture

Microsoft Unleashes Host of 'Critical' Updates

Microsoft recently released another whack of updates to its software, and many will want to take notice. Of the ten listed vulnerabilities within this June offering are three deemed "critical", another three considered "important" and one ... "moderate". The patch released Tuesday includes three major fixes, including: A vulnerability in Bluetooth Stack that could allow a hacker to make a remote code execution A Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer Like the Bluetooth issue, there's also a fix that patches holes in DirectX which could allow someone to make a remote code execution A ... (view more)

Tue
10
Jun
Dennis Faas's picture

McAfee Survey Reveals Dodgiest Domains

A security firm claims Hong Kong is home to the Internet's biggest security holes, with 19% of sites using the .hk domain posing a security risk. The country has rocketed up (or down, depending on your perspective) the charts, having been ranked ... just 28th-most-risky last year. Second place in this year's study, which looks at 74 domains, went to China, which was 12th last year. Other countries which performed poorly included Romania, Russia, and the Philippines. Finland was ranked the safest, followed by Japan and Norway. The survey also looked at the generic domains (such as .com) which aren ... (view more)

Thu
05
Jun
Dennis Faas's picture

Leopard Update Masks Security Threat

When Vista experienced problems on takeoff, it resulted in a huge media debate that continues to this day. However, when Apple launches an update that experiences growing pains of its own, the media jabber is at an all time low. What gives? ... Proponents of the infallibility of Macs might be surprised to know that the new Mac OS X 10.5.3 Leopard update has a host of problems to combat. From simple issues like USB devises not showing up in the finder (Mac's version of My Computer) to ensuring that the airport wireless detector is reliable, the upgrade has a long list of small to large problems to ... (view more)

Tue
03
Jun
Dennis Faas's picture

Hackers Target Comcast.net

Unknown hackers recently targeted the website of the second largest Internet Service Provider (ISP) in the US, which resulted in the temporary shutdown of Comcast.net. The attack took place around 11pm on May 28, and prevented customers from ... accessing their Comcast web mail as well as other services provided on the website. Instead of the website, visitors were greeted by a message reading "KRYOGENIKS EBK and DEFIANT RoXed COMCAST sHouTz To VIRUS Warlock elul21 coll1er seven." (Source: cnet.com ) A spokesperson from the company has confirmed that an unauthorized change was made in Comcast's ... (view more)

Fri
30
May
Dennis Faas's picture

New Study Reveals Developers Prefer XP

In a market where software developers are always looking for the cutting edge, a recent survey revealed that newer is not always better. It turns out that developers prefer writing programs for older Windows operating systems, such as XP, to the ... newer Vista. (Source: zdnet.com ) U.S. research group Evans Data Corp recently released the results of a poll of 380 North American software developers. The study asked which integrated development environment (IDE) they preferred, as well as which operating system they wrote programs for. In the first section, respondents were asked to evaluate IDEs ... (view more)

Fri
23
May
Dennis Faas's picture

Phishing a High Stakes Game

More than three dozen people around the world have been charged with stealing personal information from Internet users through a 'phishing' scam. That's where criminals trick people into revealing information by posing as staff from online banks or ... other organisations, usually sending emails asking customers to confirm details for 'security reasons'. The arrests come following a Justice Department investigation that wound up in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. Of the 38 people busted, more than half were Romanian, with the rest hailing from the United States, Canada, Portugal and Pakistan. ... (view more)

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