I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through the game yesterday. My heart can’t take much more of that. Well congratulations to my Kansas Jayhawks for making the Final Four and now we focus on the UNC Tarheels. Please UNC, listen to all the hype. You are the greatest team ever and KU should not even show up. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!! I’m very excited about Saturday’s games. Can’t wait and be ready for all that crappy Tarheel hype.
Be careful out there when it comes to spam and even those Google searches. You may want to go to Finjan.com and click on the Secure Browsing icon at the bottom of the page. Doesn’t matter if you use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Firefox browser, you can install this little addon and when you do searches, you can feel a little safer that a site is not malicious. Criminal attackers will take advantage of all the interest in the Final Four with their spamming attacks. Read about what this Finjan addon can do for you.
Now a special message to all those UNC Tarheel fans. Patching your PC is overrated. Use an older version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Spam e-mail is safe. Click on unsolicited e-mail links and attachments. You guys rock! LOL.
I love this time of year. Stay safe and ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!!!!
Apple has a lot of Windows users who use their Quicktime and iTunes software and Apple pushes out security updates through their Apple Software Updater application. It is a scheduled task that runs periodically to see if there are updates to these applications. Something was different this month. I noticed that there was a new application in the updater window. It was Apple’s Safari web browser. All applications were checked so if you didn’t go up and uncheck the Safari download, you got it installed now.
My advice to you from a computer security standpoint is to NOT use the Safari browser. It has security issues associated with it. Now if you do choose to use it, you may get away with it since there is such a small percentage of folks out there who actually use it. Attackers are looking for the higher numbers. Apple does have security issues with their software. They sort of opened up their mouths in their commercials that they don’t get those viruses like Microsoft does. Here is my statement. All software written probably has security vulnerabilities. You can’t escape it.
My advice is to uninstall the Safari web browser if you installed it unintentionally. I just checked and the Apple updater still has the Safari browser for Windows as a choice. Make sure you uncheck it when you update your other Apple software. Apple is being ridiculed about their choice to spread their web browser through what has been used to update their software. But if Jobs wants to continue this, then just be aware you will have to uncheck it.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk Go KU.
Happy Thursday! It’s really Wednesday night but many won’t read this until tomorrow. If you are like me, you have your favorite sites you go to. Sometimes you have them marked as a favorite and sometimes you just type it in the address bar of your favorite browser. Now for me, I use the Firefox browser and I have NoScript addon installed. I’ve written about that addon before. I HIGHLY recommend to add it if you already use Firefox.
Sometimes if you want to go to Google.com to search for some topic you are researching, be careful how you type it in. There are times that want to type google.com but you type in gooogle.com. Or gogle.com. When you mis-type it, you actually go to site and it may not be a friendly site. This practice is known as cyber squatting. People register websites close to a high traffic website and when people type in the wrong address, they are taken to a site they really don’t want to go. Sometimes cyber squatting is done to make money. For example, if you can predict a candidate who will run for office then you can register a site at GoDaddy.com and then let them pay you for your website. Like Hillaryforpresident.com. Not sure that is actually a real site but it probably is. That is just an example. You have to be quick though.
The reason I say to be careful is that there are those cyber criminals who have set up sites that will run exploits against any visitor to their sites. So when typing in your favorite sites, be very careful what you type in. Where you are taken may not be a nice place. Stay safe and take care. Go Jayhawks!!!
So did anyone else notice that a Microsoft patch was downloaded if you had Excel? A calculation-error bug in Microsoft Office Excel 2003 was acknowledged bt MS last Friday. They have resolved this issue with an out of cycle patch.
Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) blogger Tim Rains pointed to an updated security bulletin, MS080-014, dated March 19. The bulletin had originally been issued on March 11 during the regular Patch Tuesday update cycle, that was addressing four “critical” fixes in Microsoft products, including a remote code execution flaw in Excel 2003. Anytime you see “remote code execution”, that is a serious problem that could allow an attacker control of your PC remotely.
It’s always nice to see problems get closed with patches but just know there will always be more not only with Microsoft, but other software vendors like Adobe, WinZip, etc..
That is it for now. Stay safe and Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!!
I want to wish all a happy Easter!! I love the Easter Season what it represents. This year Easter is falling early this year. I’m really ready for the weather to warm up here in the middle of the United States. What ever happened to Global Warming. I don’t believe it at all.
I have to say my Jayhawks went to Omaha and represented! It is on to the Sweet Sixteen for the Kansas Jayhawks. ROCK CHALK!!! Just wanted to remind you all of what the biggest thing you can do to keep away from all the cyber nasties out there. Patch Patch Patch. There will always be those zero day vulnerabilities that you can’t do anything about.
Also, this past week there was yet another attack on legitimate sites that was able to redirect you to a site that tried to exploit several older vulnerabilities. Patching would protect you from these attacks. It does seem that it is becoming more risky to surf casually with all these attacks that started late last year. That won’t stop me. I will be diligent and stay up on the patches. Patch all your software. I’ve written some suggestions on how to keep up with patching and you can check out my blogroll. I love that Shavlik Google Gadget.
Everybody have a great Sunday and hope all the PAC 10 and ACC teams get beat soon. Don’t like all that attention they get in the national media. Stay safe and ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!
Well leave it to Internet Storm Center to help me out. There were actually two different attacks this past week. Click here to get all the details.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!!
This week, another cyber attack against legitimate sites is going on. Some of the security companies have been writing some articles about it. Not a whole lot of details are known at this time but some of the sites include several .edu’s, .gov’s, and of course there is always the big names. In this instance, it was Trend Micro. A computer security company. They’ve taken care of the pages that were hacked. Similar to the other attacks earlier this year, the web applications themselves have been attacked then serve up exploits to any visitor to that site.
In an Internet Storm Center Diary post lists what vulnerabilities that are being used in this latest attack. What do you to defend against these types of attacks? Well, regular readers have heard it from me before but the answer is the same. PATCH!!!!! Pretty simple. The weaknesses listed in this current post are all Microsoft patches from 2006 and 2007. Not listed but are used more often are some of the third party applications like Adobe Reader, RealPlayer, WinZip, WinAmp, and on and on and on. These applications need patches too so don’t forget those.
It’s Big 12 tournament has started so I’m pumped up. Rock Chalk Jayhawk. GO KU! That is it for now. Have a great weekend and may your favorite team win unless they are playing the Kansas Jayhawks!!
Happy Patch Tuesday! This is just a reminder that we make sure we update our applications. So look for your Microsoft updates and apply them.
Now to today’s topic. If you use instant messaging like AOL’s Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, or any other messenger, you have probably received unsolicited messages from strangers. Most appear to be sent to guys. They promise the same thing that we’ve discussed in previous posts. It is just a different way of getting some tempting message out to the masses. So consider this another way attackers try to get you to click a link to take you to a site that probably you don’t want to visit. So spam comes in many flavors. We’ve talked about spam e-mail, and spam SMS text messaging on our mobile phones, and now we discuss Instant Message spam.
The outcome is the same in all these cases. They want you to go somewhere to look at naked pictures of your favorite movie or TV star, or some other tantalizing temptation. Guys, come on! Most of these are aimed at you. Don’t fall for it!!
Remember that spam comes in many flavors, but the outcome is the same. Don’t click on any unsolicited links.
Off topic, I have sometimes been forced to watch Jon and Kate plus 8 and I just want to make an observation. They get to go and do so many things but they don’t ever have to pay for it. Business folks offer up their services for the advertising they get when the show airs. Do they pay for anything? Just a thought. I have a feeling they are given a lot of things and they take advantage of it all.
It is that time of year. It’s tax time. Yep, and many of us file electronically either from home or a tax preparation service. You can file them yourselves from your home PC which you have some control over. You can take steps to protect yourself. We talk about steps here in my Computer Security Blog. We go over the steps of patching, using AV and Spyware Removal Software, keeping your signatures up to date, using a firewall, etc., etc.. So if you are filing your taxes at home, take time to protect your identity. Jeepers, you have your SSN, Name, Address, and if you have the IRS deposit your refund directly into your bank, you have your bank account information. If you haven’t thought about what steps to take, maybe realizing all this information packaged up for some hacker to steal from you if you aren’t careful.
So what if you have your taxes prepared by an accounting firm, or other tax preparation service, shouldn’t we ask what types of policy’s they have in place to protect their customers private information? Do they have some things in place to protect their customers? Ask a few questions. I know I do. I’m not going to let some Joe Schmo transmit all of my private information across the electronic wire for any hacker to steal. You do the same.
Well my Kansas Jayhawks have smashed the Kansas State Wildcats. Beasley scored something like 39, but there wasn’t anything KSU could do tonight. Rock Chalk Jayhawk GO KU!!!!!!
