Archive for November, 2007
Friday, November 30th, 2007
November 30th is computer security day. It was started in 1988 to raise awareness of computer related security issues. Perhaps you should celebrate it by changing your password. According to a survey reported on Out-Law.com, nearly two-thirds of people never change their passwords. Some experts suggest that you should only keep a password ...
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Thursday, November 29th, 2007
The FBI announced it has nabbed eight computer crooks in its operation "Bot Roast." Bot Roast is an attempt to control the crimal use of botnets. Botnets are collections of computers under the control of a criminal "botherder." Often these computers belong to innocent and unsuspecting third-parties. A computer user may ...
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Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
It is not just corporate or home computers users that are vulnerable to social engineering or phishing. According to FederalTimes.com government data is at risk from foreign spies due to gullible computer users. A report by the SANS Institute found "gullible, busy, accomodating computer users...who follow false instructions in spear ...
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Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
There is a facinating article entitled The Promise of Electronic Wills in the Michigan Telecommunications and Technlogy Law Review blog urging the states to enact laws to allow electronic wills. The author, Keven DuComb, suggests that there should be a way for citizens to upload the documents onto a secure ...
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Monday, November 26th, 2007
Social engineering is a term popularized by security consultant Kevin Mitnick. Mitnick was once considered a world-famous computer hacker, with several books describing his exploits. Mitnick is now reformed and runs his own security company and points out the dangers of social engineering. Social engineering is a series of techniques ...
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Thursday, November 22nd, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
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Wednesday, November 21st, 2007
Before lawmakers headed home for the Thanksgiving holiday, the United States Senate approved legislation toughening federal computer crime laws. The Senated passed The Identitity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act. The bill would make it a crime punishable by up to five years in prison for threatening to steal or release ...
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Tuesday, November 20th, 2007
Phising is an attempt to fraudulently acquire sensitive information such as user names, passwords and creditcard numbers by posting links to websites which appear to be authentic electronic commerce sites, but are in fact just a method to gather personal data. A user, for example, might receive an email which ...
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Monday, November 19th, 2007
Adi Shamir, one of the world's leading cryptographers and co-developer of the RSA encryption code has warned that if computer microprocessors contain bugs which lead to mathmatical errors, computer security could be at risk. Shamir noted that the increasing complexity of modern microprocessors is almost certain to lead to undetected ...
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Sunday, November 18th, 2007
Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson for back-to-back NASCAR Nextel Cup championships!
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