Category Archives: Security

Tumblr is back on my good side

Posted on July 5, 2012 by halberenson

In a piece I wrote a couple of weeks ago I’d brought up the problem of Tumblr hosting phishing/malicious web sites. Well after a few days of my feeding examples to Tumblr’s support team, and they taking down the sites, I haven’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Phishing, Privacy, Security | Tagged malware, Phishing, Privacy, security, SPAM, tumblr | 1 Comment

Four reasons we are losing the fight against Malware

Posted on June 24, 2012 by halberenson

It’s one step forward two steps back in the fight against Malware. Every time it seems like we are making progress it becomes apparent that we keep attacking the tip of the iceberg and below the surface Malware is thriving. So … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Security | Tagged Information security, Malicious Content, malware, website security | 4 Comments

Protecting yourself from malicious websites

Posted on June 12, 2012 by halberenson

With all the press about the Flame malware the last couple of weeks I took yet another look at my own security precautions. This involved a bunch of ad-hoc testing on my part, and I’ve come up with a couple … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Security | Tagged Anti-Malware, Anti-Virus, botnet, DNS, Domain Name Service, Flame, malware, Norton Connectsafe, OpenDNS, URL Filtering | 5 Comments

Slow Industry Response to Malware Reports is Killing Us

Posted on May 14, 2012 by halberenson

One of the biggest threats to the world of computing is how slow vendors are to respond to malware threats. For example, it took Apple 49 Days after Adobe fixed a vulnerability in Flash to make that fix available to OS X … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Security | Tagged Fake AV, Malware Distribution, Scareware, URL Filtering | Comments Off

Hacktivism: Some things never change

Posted on March 9, 2012 by halberenson

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve seen the FBI and international law enforcement groups arrest members of the LulzSec and Anonymous groups for their computer hacking activities. For the last five years or so these (and other) groups had been … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Security | Tagged Anonymous, Cybercrime, Hacktivism, LulzSec | Comments Off

Why a locked down Metro/WinRT model makes such a big difference to security

Posted on February 15, 2012 by halberenson

Secunia is reporting that 78% of end-point (individual computers for all those not in the security business) vulnerabilities are attributable to third-party software. That’s everything from browser plug-ins like Flash and Java, to Adobe Reader, to Quicken or any other desktop … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft, Security, Windows | Tagged Microsoft, security, Windows, Windows 8, Windows 8 Metro | 3 Comments

Microsoft Trustworthy Computing (TwC)

Posted on January 15, 2012 by halberenson

Today marks the 10th Anniversary of Bill Gates’ Trustworthy Computing email to all of Microsoft. Most consider this a transitional event for Microsoft, in particular being the point at which Security assumed its proper position as the most important of … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft, Security, SQL Server | Tagged Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, SQL Server Security, Trustworthy Computing | 2 Comments

Deepsec 2011: Are Companies “Evil” When it Comes to Privacy?

Posted on December 17, 2011 by halberenson

Last month I attended the In-Depth Security Conference (better known as Deepsec) 2011. This was my first security conference (outside of Microsoft’s Bluehat) so I’m not sure exactly how to characterize it compared to the better known and larger Black … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Privacy, Security | Tagged Chistopher Soghoian, Deepsec, Deepsec 2011, Encryption, InPrivate Filtering, Privacy | 1 Comment

Don’t they claim Linux is secure?

Posted on December 4, 2011 by halberenson

I’ve spent so many years hearing Linux fans claim it is totally secure that I just had to post this one. Duqu, the most sophisticated and mysterious Trojan since Stuxnet (and perhaps related to it) compromised Linux servers to create its … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Linux and Android, Security, Windows | Tagged Duqu, Linux, security myths, Windows | 4 Comments

Good summary of Windows 8 security

Posted on September 23, 2011 by halberenson

Jason Garms, the Group Program Manager at Microsoft responsible for Windows 8’s security features, has written an overview of Windows 8’s added malware protection. If you are on the techie-side then it’s a great read, but otherwise your eyes will probably … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Security, Windows | Tagged Anti-Malware, Malware Protection, Windows 8, Windows 8 malware, Windows 8 Security | Comments Off