Archive for June, 2008
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
Don’t Let This Happen to You
Michael Fiola worked for the Department of Industrial Accidents in Massachusetts. He was issued a Dell laptop about a year and a half ago. Later, he was fired for possessing child pornography on the computer.
After fighting the charges for a year and having his life ruined, the charges were dropped. State investigators [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Security by Syd Tash
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
A Partial Solution for That Encryption Virus
A few days ago, on June 13, I talked about Ransomware, and in particular that Gpcode.ak virus. It encrypts the files on your computer, then you see a note demanding a payment to recover your files. The virus uses 1,024 bit encryption, which so far has proven unbreakable.
Security company Kaspersky first reported this [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Alerts, Updates by Syd Tash
Monday, June 16th, 2008
Flash Drives: Handle With Care
I have written periodically about flash drives, also known as thumb or USB drives. These wonderful little gizmos can easily be used to back up your data, transfer files between computers, or even carry your office in your pocket. But like most things, some care and thought is required when handling these little [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Featured by Syd Tash
Sunday, June 15th, 2008
Firefox 3 is Coming on Tuesday
Tuesday, June 17 is Download Day for the new Firefox 3 browser. Mozilla, publisher of Firefox, is encouraging everyone to download their free copy on that day, to set a new Guinness World Record for the most downloads in a single day.
So what’s new and improved in this latest version? Glad you asked. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in News by Syd Tash
Friday, June 13th, 2008
A Critical Flaw in OpenOffice.org, and Ransomware
Do you use the free OpenOffice suite of office programs? (If not, and you would like to, learn more here: http://www.openoffice.org/ ) OpenOffice is supported in part by Sun Microsystems, and goes head to head with Microsoft in such things as word processors and spreadsheets. Now OpenOffice has patched a vulnerability [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Updates by Syd Tash
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
Time to Update Windows!
Yesterday was Patch Tuesday, as you may know. Microsoft fixed 10 flaws in Windows and Internet Explorer, of which four are critical. It also disabled an ActiveX control that came with some Logitech hardware, such as keyboards and rodents.
ActiveX controls are small Windows programs that provide functionality to Web sites. They have [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Updates by Syd Tash
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
This Email Fraud Just Keeps Going
A new email fraud scheme is going strong on the Internet these days. Actually, it is an old con that keeps popping up, just when you thought it was gone for good. It is known as the fraudulent refund notification. You receive an email saying you are being compensated for your losses [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Alerts by Syd Tash
Monday, June 9th, 2008
How to Save Your Digital Life
You probably have heard this often, but you really should back up all your important files and data. Do it on a regular schedule, such as every Sunday morning, or the first Monday of the month (at least). Bad things happen in this world, and you must be prepared. A common voltage [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Featured by Syd Tash
Friday, June 6th, 2008
Don’t Fall For These Phishing Attacks
Over the past year or so, the criminals have been using a new technique some are calling spear-phishing. In the usual phishing attack, millions of emails are sent out, hoping to lure the unwary to fake Web sites.
But in these new attacks, the email contains some of your personal details to make it look [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Alerts by Syd Tash
Thursday, June 5th, 2008
XP SP3 Has a Bug in Flash Player
Last week I told you about a bug in Adobe’s popular Flash Player, widely used to view animated Web pages. Security company Symantec claimed there was a zero-day bug in the new version, 9.0.124.0, although it later qualified that somewhat, then retracted the claim. A zero-day flaw is a new vulnerability for which [...]
