Category Archives: Security

Adobe Reader installing McAfee Security Scan Plus Scareware

Posted on May 17, 2011 by halberenson

When I recently upgraded a couple of computers to the latest version of Adobe Reader I discovered something very disturbing. The download installs software from McAfee (of all people) that amounts to Scareware (a type of Malware that tries to … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Security | Tagged Adobe, Adobe Reader, malware, McAfee, McAfee Security Scan Plus, Rogue AV, Scareware, security, Spyware | 7 Comments

How long does it take to get infected with Malware? About 5 minutes

Posted on May 12, 2011 by halberenson

Having a freshly setup PC, and virtual machine, I went looking for trouble. I did a search for “medical forum” and up popped a link for medhelp.org. I went to the site and created an account and then started navigating … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Security | Tagged IE, IE9, Internet Explorer, malware, Rogue AV | Comments Off

SenderID Followup

Posted on May 12, 2011 by halberenson

I wanted to do a bit of a followup to my earlier SenderID post both to better capture the comments and make another observation. First I wanted to bring John Scarrow’s comment to the front of the discussion. John is … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Phishing, Privacy, Security | Tagged DKIM, email, Hotmail, SenderID, SPAM, SPF | Comments Off

Has Microsoft put the nail in the coffin on SenderID?

Posted on May 2, 2011 by halberenson

A funny thing happened on my way to some research on Anti-SPAM technologies, I found that Microsoft is wiping SenderID information from its website. When you try going to the web page for the SenderID Framework you are now redirected to a … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft, Security | Tagged DKIM, email, Microsoft, Microsoft DKIM, Microsoft Sender ID, Microsoft SenderID, Phishing, Sender ID, Sender ID vs. SPF, SenderID, SPAM, SPF | 9 Comments

Old Operating Systems never die, and it seems they don’t fully fade away either

Posted on April 29, 2011 by halberenson

In Time and Malware I mention that very old malware is still with us. That made me curious about just how many PCs are still running pre-XP versions of Microsoft Windows (e.g., Windows 98). The data from a number of sources … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft, Security, Windows | Tagged Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, operating system marketshare, security, Windows 98 | 1 Comment

Time and Malware

Posted on April 28, 2011 by halberenson

I’m in the process of setting up a PC that I’m going to use exclusively for playing around with malware. In fact, I’m thinking of starting a pool to capture people’s guesses as to how long it takes someone who … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Security | Tagged malware, Phishing, security, SQL Slammer | 1 Comment

When are we going to get serious about computer/network security (Part 3 – WiFi)?

Posted on April 22, 2011 by halberenson

I recently updated my Samsung Focus with the Windows Phone 7 NODO update and received a feature I am not sure I wanted, support for the WISPr protocol. WISPr support, long present on the iPhone, allows your AT&T smartphone to automatically and transparently switch … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Privacy, Security | Tagged AT&T, Brute Force Attack, Dictionary Attack, HTTPS, Privacy, security, SSL, T-Mobile, WiFi, WISPr, WPA, WPA2 | 1 Comment

It’s time for Windows XP to die

Posted on April 10, 2011 by halberenson

In a world where computer security and internet privacy are critical issues, one of the biggest problems we have is the continued use of Windows XP. Fortunately there is progress in replacing Windows XP, with it being used on less … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft, Security, Windows | Tagged Internet, Microsoft, security, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP | 5 Comments

A Data Breach with real damage

Posted on April 8, 2011 by halberenson

Some of you aren’t going to be sympathetic on this one, but have you heard of PornWikiLeaks? I was looking at CNet this morning and at the top of the list of most popular links was the story of how … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Privacy, Security | Tagged Data Breach, Privacy, security | Comments Off

I’m glad I’m running IE9

Posted on April 8, 2011 by halberenson

I’ve installed all three of the latest browsers and will try them side-by-side for a while. Of course, the first thing one notices is that only IE9 has the Tracking Protection List feature. I’m working on a blog post on that … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer and Internet, Microsoft, Privacy, Security | Tagged Chrome, Firefox, IE9, Phishing, Tracking Protection List | 2 Comments