Essential Computer Security

How Far We’ve Come
I doubt that the creators of the Internet Protocol (IP) envisioned the entire world running on it. But, that seems to be the way things are heading. Do you remember when people used to commit words to physical pieces of paper and have them manually delivered by humans in order to communicate a written message? Maybe you recall the days when a telephone was a telephone, or when your TV signal was an analog signal broadcast through the air? IP is taking over as the medium of delivery for virtually every form of communication.

The entire world of communication and entertainment is continuing on a collision course of convergence. I used to carry a cell phone, a handheld PDA (personal digital assistant), and an MP3player. If I wanted to get my email or access the Web, I had to carry my laptop computer. Now, I have one device that does all of the above and fits in my pocket. [Read more →]

Tags: Blog by Tony Bradley
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Most users are aware enough of the various computer security risks that they at least install some sort of firewall and antivirus software to protect their systems. But, when you purchase a brand new hard drive from a retailer, it probably does not occur to you that you should scan it for malware before you use it. Well, apparently you should. It has been found that some of the Maxtor 3200 external hard drives available from Seagate [Read more →]

Tags: Blog by Tony Bradley
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There are a number of areas where an enterprise, or an individual household, can fall short when it comes to network security. However, insecure wireless access points seem to be one of the largest, if not *the* largest network security achilles heel these days. The root cause of the TJX data breach earlier this year, the largest data security breach to date, has been traced to a retail store using the easily cracked WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) [Read more →]

Tags: Blog by Tony Bradley
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Information security generally focuses on electronic or digital security measures. IT security professionals evaluate, implement and administer a vast array of security technologies to ensure that data is protected and computer systems are not compromised. The security measures will ostensibly either block the attacks, or at least warn IT security personnel so that steps can be taken to stop the attacks and protect the data. But, what if an attacker simply takes your computer? Given unlimited time and physical access [Read more →]

Tags: Blog by Tony Bradley
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To view a summary of the November bulletins, visit Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for November, 2007. Click the links below to view the individual Microsoft Security Bulletins and to download any patches that might be required for your system. You can also visit Windows Update to automatically determine what patches or updates your system needs.

• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-061
  Vulnerability in Windows URI Handling Could Allow Remote Code Execution
  Microsoft Criticality: Critical
  • http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-061.mspx
• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-062
  Vulnerability in DNS Could Allow Spoofing
  Microsoft Criticality: Important
  • http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms07-062.mspx

Tags: 2007 by Tony Bradley
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