Bypassing Passwords Using FireWire

If someone has physical access to a computer they have a pretty good chance of bypassing its security. This new attack uses the FireWire port found on some computers and notebooks to access its memory and change the system’s password. It’s been demonstrated to work on  Windows XP and on Macs, and could possibly affect … Continue reading Bypassing Passwords Using FireWire

Whole Disk Encryption

If you carry a notebook outside of your home or office then Whole Disk Encryption is a technology you should be interested in. It’s also called Full Disk Encryption. First let’s identify the problem. Most people who carry notebook computers (laptops) keep sensitive files on the machine’s drive. Business documents, business databases, contact lists, emails, … Continue reading Whole Disk Encryption

New Vulnerability in Adobe Reader

It’s not news that PDF files can contain viruses. As useful as PDF files are the flaw is with the reader program, called Adobe Reader (previously called Adobe Acrobat Reader). It’s possible to embed code in PDF files and it’s been shown that this code can download malicious programs from the internet and install them … Continue reading New Vulnerability in Adobe Reader

Another fake anti spyware site

All these fake sites and applications are becoming a bigger problem. The latest is called removal-tool . com (warning, do not try going to this site). It appears to be a collection of spyware removal tools except that it actually tries to install quite a few different bits of malware on your computer. It’s a … Continue reading Another fake anti spyware site

False Malware Cleaners

There are some programs that claim to test your computer for malware, then it will always tell you it found something bad. After that it either asks you for money to clean it or does some other misleading action. Based on some security company’s research there are now 500 of these programs, including some for … Continue reading False Malware Cleaners

Only 5% of Windows PCs are fully patched

A recent survey by a security company called Secunia shows that only 5% of computers are fully patched. The other 95% are running insecure software. It’s important to patch all of your software. This includes the operating system itself (e.g. Windows, Mac OS, Linux), your web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox), and all your applications. … Continue reading Only 5% of Windows PCs are fully patched