Archive for January, 2008
Friday, January 18th, 2008
Ikea Had a Big Security Gap
A giant hole has been found in furniture giant Ikea’s international mail server in Sweden. Using some simple code, anyone could have sent out millions of spam emails, masquerading as official email from Ikea.
Hackers could even have added graphics and popups. The vulnerability could allow the spammers to upload various malware to a [...]
No Comments » - Posted in News by Syd Tash
Thursday, January 17th, 2008
Yet Another Worrisome Data Theft
Just before Christmas, thieves stole two laptops from the county office down in Nashville, Tennessee. The machines contained the names and Social Security Numbers of each and every one of the 337,000 voters in the area. The data was not encrypted.
Now county officials are scurrying to notify residents of the theft, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Alerts by Syd Tash
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Do You Do Your Banking Online? Read This
A very sophisticated and powerful banking Trojan is on the prowl on the Internet. It is downloaded and installed from malicious or compromised Web sites. Once installed on your PC, it will record your keystrokes, login information including passwords, and will even capture screenshots of the Web pages you visit.
Worst of all, perhaps, [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Alerts by Syd Tash
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Update Windows, But Not From MySpace
As a conscientious computer user, you know you have to update Windows regularly. Holes and flaws are continuously found in XP and Vista. But it must be done properly, and carefully. Here is how NOT to do it.
Users of MySpace may see a popup window telling them to download the [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Updates by Syd Tash
Monday, January 14th, 2008
The Storm Worm is Still Around
I have been writing about the clever, resilient Storm worm for about a year now. As expected, the hackers behind this malware were very active during the recent holiday season, doubling the size of their botnet with a targeted seasonal campaign of spam. A botnet is a network of infected computers that do [...]
No Comments » - Posted in News by Syd Tash
Saturday, January 12th, 2008
Safe Mode, Revisited
Today we will talk about a little trick you may desperately need one day, so you might want to print this post and keep it … er, safe, so to speak!
I have mentioned safe mode before, because it is very useful for dealing with viruses and spyware, as well as other problems that may plague [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Featured by Syd Tash
Thursday, January 10th, 2008
New Rootkit, Old Methods, More Problems
A new rootkit has emerged, and has been floating around the Internet since December. What is a rootkit? Glad you asked. It is a very stealthy form of malware that hides in the Windows kernel, or root, hence the name. It is very difficult for normal antivirus software to find them.
Rootkits [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Alerts by Syd Tash
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008
Here is An Easy Way to Avoid Phishing Scams
Amazon, AOL and other phishing scams are making the rounds again on the Internet. They are similar in that, as usual, they claim there is a problem with your account or credit card number, and your account will be suspended unless you click here to go to the company site and fix the problem. [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Security by Syd Tash
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008
Another Firefox Flaw
An Israeli researcher says he has found a serious vulnerability in the way the Firefox browser handles log-on information. The problem is in Firefox 2.0.0.11, the latest version. It apparently could work like this: Using the Firefox browser, you go to your bank site and sign in.
But in the background, [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Security by Syd Tash
Monday, January 7th, 2008
Clean Up That Email in a Flash
Don’t you just hate it when you get an email that has been forwarded several times, and it has all those angle brackets down the left hand side? You would like to forward it to your friends also, am I right? But you know that will only add to those messy brackets. [...]
