Security

Thu
17
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

Vista Security Update Bricks USB Devices

It's bad enough when consumers opt for your last operating system over the new one. Worse still when an update to that new and not-so-hot OS is bricking USB devices. Microsoft recently admitted to the media that reports that a Windows Vista security ... update is disrupting USB devices are indeed accurate. Released last week, the Windows Defender update was intended to patch a critical hole in its spyware blocking program. While that may have been successful, Vista owners haven't been so pleased to find their mice and keyboards no longer function. In a statement, Microsoft admitted, "We are aware ... (view more)

Wed
16
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

'Windows Breaking' Claim Garners Gartner Controversy

Two influential analysts have caused a media storm by claiming Microsoft Windows is in danger of collapsing. The claim came from Michael Silver and Neil McDonald, both vice presidents at Gartner, a prominent and profitable consulting firm. The VPs ... cited the increasing complexity of the Windows system, including Vista's 50 million lines of code. Such complexity has made release dates unpredictable and leaves many potential buyers sticking with older versions longer than Microsoft had budgeted. (Source: macdailynews.com ) This causes other problems; it takes too long for technical support ... (view more)

Tue
08
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

Web Fraudsters Getting More Buck for the Bang

Think the web is getting any safer? According to some numbers, it just might be. Unfortunately, though the number of cyber fraud cases in the United States appears to have dropped since last year, the total dollar loss has actually increased, to a ... frightening $239 million. The numbers have been made available thanks to a recent Federal Bureau of Investigation annual report, which revealed that although the number of complains went down (to 207,000 from 207,500 in 2006 and 231,000 in 2005) the total hit to our wallets went up over $40 million from 2006. FBI special agent John Hambrick ... (view more)

Fri
04
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

8.3 Million Personal Records Compromised?

The Washington Post reports that at least 8.3 million personal and financial records of consumers were potentially compromised by data spills or breaches at businesses, universities and government agencies in the first quarter of 2008, according to ... a report released from the Identity Theft Resource Center. The Identity Theft Resource Center ( ITRC ), based in San Diego tracked public reports of 167 data breaches in the first three months of 2008. 448 data breaches were recorded in 2007 by the ITRC. Detailed breakdowns from the first quarter of 2008 are available from the ITRC here (PDF) and ... (view more)

Tue
01
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

New, Scary Malware Attack Blamed for Supermarket Fiasco

There's a time and place for malware. Well, ideally there's never a time and place for it, but there certainly are places we'd expect it to strike over others. For one, few of us would link the average supermarket with the latest in technology, let ... alone its breach. Surprisingly enough, malware is being blamed for a remarkable security hack of the Massachusetts-based Hannaford supermarket chain in early March. The Boston Globe recently cited a letter sent from the grocery chain to state regulators, announcing that the breach was the direct result of malicious software meant to intercept ... (view more)

Thu
27
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

Girl Lured to Life in Taxicab by Online Stalker

With all of the hysteria surrounding viral and spyware attacks or the hacking of government agencies, sometimes we lose sight of those truly vulnerable on the Internet: our kids. A Saskatchewan mother recently felt the sting when her 14-year-old ... daughter fled with a 41-year-old man who she met online. Last Tuesday, the girl snuck out of her parents' home to meet a man old enough to be her father. However, she didn't expect it to be that way; up until their meeting, the girl was under the impression her new friend would be much younger. When they finally did meet, Daniel George Nickolson ... (view more)

Mon
24
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

Windows Vista SP1 Causing More Problems

Not that it should come as any surprise, but Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), Microsoft's first update to (the never ending nightmare known as) Windows Vista, has reportedly been causing more problems for users. When Windows Vista was ... released to the public over a year ago, a plethora of users found out that it was riddled with speed and compatibility issues. So much so that even Microsoft executives complained, as revealed by a pending class action lawsuit. As reported by our own John Lister, Microsoft recently released Windows Vista SP1 as a means to improve performance and ... (view more)

Fri
21
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

MSNBC Sports Hacked

Gotta get your Milwaukee Bucks score every morning? Apparently, so do hackers. MSNBC Sports' web page was recently the victim of a major hack attack, compromising more than 26,000 pages. It's set off alarm bells for legitimate web sites, and ... highlights a new trend being forged by the web's most elite hackers. The MSNBC attack was reported this past Tuesday by San Diego-based Websense Inc. The security company has been tracking the exploit for about a month, stumbling upon the MSNBC invasion while performing one of their many web scans. Other major sites that appear to be hit include TV.com, ... (view more)

Thu
20
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

Vista Service Pack 1 Released

The first major update for Windows Vista is now available for download. Service Pack 1 can be manually downloaded from Microsoft's web site, or through Vista's built-in update facility. The download is between 434MB and 726MB depending on the type ... of computer, so many users will prefer to download it overnight. Those who choose not to install Service Pack 1 now will likely receive it through an automatic update in mid-April. Amazon will be stocking boxed copies of Vista with Service Pack 1 already installed after this week, though it's not clear when retail stores will do the same. Microsoft ... (view more)

Tue
18
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

Vista SP1 Shipping This Week

Reports are now suggesting that Microsoft's highly-anticipated series of updates for Windows Vista, called Service Pack 1 (SP1), will be available for download and shipping, today and tomorrow, respectively. The news keeps with previous estimates ... that the company would be releasing a series of fixes by the middle of March. First word of the release comes to us via Amazon.com, whose web site recently revealed that users can begin downloading the free SP1 upgrade Tuesday. By Wednesday, Amazon will begin shipping boxed copies of Windows SP1. Preorders can be made now. In a statement sent to the ... (view more)

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