- Follow this blog:
- RSS
- Email Alert
IT Security
Selena Frye
TechRepublic Staff
Selena Frye
-
Deleting files isn't always enough
As our computers get old, we tend to want to recycle them. Many give their computers to charities or schools. Many pass them on to friends and relatives whose computing requirements are not as...
Posted by Chad Perrin | January 8, 2008, 11:31 AM PST | Latest comment by CharlieSpencer_Palmetto
-
SPAM and SPIT: what are the dangers?
People are concerned about getting SPIT in their ears these days. Deb Shinder just wrote about how UC might present new opportunities for spammers today. People look at the new means of...
Posted by Chad Perrin | January 4, 2008, 2:00 PM PST | Latest comment by Absolutely
-
Does UC present new opportunities for spammers?
Unified communications (UC) makes it easy to get your messages no matter where you are. But is there a dark side to all this convenience? Will UC also make it easier for spammers to find and...
Posted by Deb Shinder | January 4, 2008, 7:52 AM PST | Latest comment by zclayton2
-
The best security essay of 2007 (isn't about security)
Security professionals everywhere, myself included, might want to think long and hard about why the best security essay of 2007 wasn't even about security. It is a late entry to the running for...
Posted by Chad Perrin | December 31, 2007, 8:13 PM PST | Latest comment by mat4twins@...
-
PGP Corp's "The 12 Threats of Christmas"
I'll close out the holiday season for the IT Security weblog here at TechRepublic by presenting one of the most annoying amusing pieces of security culture to come out of 2007. Without further...
Posted by Chad Perrin | December 29, 2007, 6:28 PM PST
-
Security TV: "Tiger Teams" showing this Christmas
At 11 and 11:30 PM this Christmas, a new show called Tiger Team will air on Court TV. It follows the activities of a penetration testing IT security consulting team as they test security policies...
Posted by Chad Perrin | December 18, 2007, 5:15 PM PST | Latest comment by apotheon
-
Security news roundup: December 16
Here's a collection of recent security vulnerabilities and alerts, which covers a backdoor in HP and Compaq laptops, the release of Nmap 4.50, the public release of Windows Vista SP1 release...
Posted by Paul Mah | December 16, 2007, 11:59 PM PST
-
Take this four-phase approach to a network risk assessment
Assessing your network for potential risks is part of the responsibility of providing network services -- if you don't find the problems on your network, you can be sure someone else will. Learn...
Posted by Mike Mullins | December 13, 2007, 12:36 PM PST | Latest comment by Moren. Folkson
-
The value of accidental security through obscurity
Any security professional worth his salt should be familiar with Kerckhoffs' principle, which states that a cryptosystem should be secure even if everything about the design of the system is...
Posted by Chad Perrin | December 13, 2007, 11:02 AM PST | Latest comment by dcolbert@...
-
Security news roundup for the week: December 9
Here’s a collection of recent security vulnerabilities and alerts, which covers two security updates released by Novell, updates for avast! antivirus, Skype and Camino 1.5.4 for the Mac OS X, a...
Posted by Paul Mah | December 9, 2007, 10:45 PM PST
-
Use the Blowfish cipher to improve password security
In addition to its common use for generating hashes used to verify the integrity of a downloaded file, the MD5 algorithm is also used widely for password authentication systems. It became the...
Posted by Chad Perrin | December 9, 2007, 3:46 PM PST
-
Bolted-on security features aren't secure
Jaqui Greenlees, a software developer, consultant, and former highly active member of the TechRepublic community, has been known about these parts for making some provocative statements at times....
Posted by Chad Perrin | December 7, 2007, 1:16 PM PST | Latest comment by visitorsx3@...
-
Keep your router configurations secure
The security you add when managing routers can make the difference between providing a functional and responsive network or an isolated intranet that provides services to no one. Take these steps...
Posted by Mike Mullins | December 6, 2007, 1:23 PM PST | Latest comment by robo_dev
-
Use MD5 hashes to verify software downloads
Professor Ronald Rivest of MIT created the MD5 cryptographic hash function in 1991 to replace the earlier MD4 algorithm. It employs a 128-bit hash value, typically expressed as a 32-character...
Posted by Chad Perrin | December 5, 2007, 11:20 PM PST | Latest comment by apotheon
-
Follow a university course in cryptography for free
Have you ever wanted to learn about cryptography at college, but just never really had the opportunity? The University of Washington has made it possible without having to set foot outside your...
Posted by Chad Perrin | December 3, 2007, 4:21 PM PST | Latest comment by burntfinger1@...
-
Security news roundup: November 30
Here's a collection of recent security vulnerabilities and alerts, which covers a new QuickTime bug that affects both XP and Vista, a new release of FireFox, security updates for FreeBSD, the...
Posted by Paul Mah | November 30, 2007, 11:59 PM PST
-
If you want something done right . . .
Wired Magazine's "blog network" ran a story early this month about encrypted webmail provider Hushmail. The company's marketing is very heavy with the "your emails are safe and nobody can read...
Posted by Chad Perrin | November 30, 2007, 12:24 PM PST | Latest comment by apotheon
-
Why your registry doesn't need cleaning
If you're not too familiar with the registry and how it works, there are a slew of different companies that would like to sell you a registry cleaner. Do you need to clean your registry? Let's...
Posted by Mike Mullins | November 29, 2007, 1:09 PM PST | Latest comment by deepsand
-
Securing from the inside: Whitelisting
In my last post, I talked about the dangers that the humble USB port can pose to the unsuspecting security administrator. I also suggested some possible ways of dealing with this often overlooked...
Posted by Paul Mah | November 28, 2007, 6:01 PM PST | Latest comment by MarioAt@...
-
What my grandmother taught me about IT security
The Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act of 2007 passed the Senate by unanimous consent. As is often the case in our nation's legislature, the two houses of the federal legislature --...
Posted by Chad Perrin | November 28, 2007, 12:24 AM PST | Latest comment by ben@...
-
List open ports and listening services
You should turn off any services you don't actually need so that they will not become avenues of attack for security threats. Different systems will have different services running by default,...
Posted by Chad Perrin | April 15, 2008, 8:47 PM PDT | Latest comment by jackhard
-
Hackers: From innocent curiosity to illegal activity
Researchers asked why talented youth skilled in "computerese" evolve into criminal hackers. Michael P. Kassner explains their unexpected results.
Posted by Michael Kassner | May 6, 2013, 7:59 AM PDT | Latest comment by mattohare@...
-
DropSmack: Using Dropbox to steal files and deliver malware
Michael P. Kassner interviews a digital forensic scientist who uses Dropbox to compromise targeted networks -- something the bad guys probably figured out as well.
Posted by Michael Kassner | April 15, 2013, 7:46 AM PDT | Latest comment by Michael Kassner
-
Cloud-service contracts and data protection: Unintended consequences
There are things your cloud-service (Facebook, Amazon, Google, Dropbox, etc.) contracts aren't telling you. Michael P. Kassner interviews an attorney concerned about what's not being said.
Posted by Michael Kassner | May 13, 2013, 11:52 AM PDT | Latest comment by Michael Kassner
-
Battling the Google Redirect virus
Consultant Bob Eisenhardt recounts his frustrating experience trying to track down and get rid of a client's search-redirect virus. Here's how he finally ditched it.
Posted by Bob Eisenhardt | January 2, 2013, 10:56 AM PST | Latest comment by Jane3344
-
Understanding what motivates Chinese hackers
Michael P. Kassner, with the help of a noted academic and author, looks at what motivates Chinese hackers. It may not be what you think.
Posted by Michael Kassner | April 22, 2013, 10:16 AM PDT | Latest comment by HAL 9000
-
BoxCryptor vs. DropSmack: The battle to secure Dropbox
Can DropSmack malware be stopped? Michael P. Kassner asks the creators of BoxCryptor if it is up to the task of securing the Dropbox file-synchronization service.
Posted by Michael Kassner | April 29, 2013, 10:30 AM PDT | Latest comment by Michael Kassner
-
How to spoof a MAC address
MAC address filtering for wireless networking isn't real "security". Anyone who pays any attention to current trends in wireless security at all should know that MAC filtering is less effective...
Posted by Chad Perrin | January 22, 2008, 1:28 PM PST | Latest comment by Doug Vitale
-
Running the gauntlet: Tips for achieving your CISSP
One of the most highly regarded security certifications is the CISSP. Dominic Vogel offers these nine tips for becoming certified based on his own experience.
Posted by Dominic Vogel | April 23, 2013, 5:30 AM PDT | Latest comment by JCitizen
-
The basics of using a proxy server for privacy and security
Patrick Lambert goes over the basics of how proxy servers work and why they are used to add security and privacy.
Posted by Patrick Lambert | December 5, 2012, 6:30 AM PST | Latest comment by Tony Hopkinson
-
DDoS attack methods and how to prevent or mitigate them
Patrick Lambert covers the various methods attackers use to launch distributed denial of service attacks, and the precautions you can take to prevent or at least, mitigate these types of events.
Posted by Patrick Lambert | October 15, 2012, 11:24 AM PDT
-
Software-Defined Networking: How it affects network security
SDN technology is set to rewrite the book of networking. Michael P. Kassner looks into how SDN will improve security, and where it's vulnerable.
Posted by Michael Kassner | April 8, 2013, 7:13 AM PDT | Latest comment by Michael Kassner
-
Dropbox: Convenient? Absolutely, but is it secure?
A potential security lapse and possibly misleading statements are plaguing Dropbox, a hugely popular file-syncing app. What are the issues and is concern justified?
Posted by Michael Kassner | June 13, 2011, 8:03 AM PDT | Latest comment by kprivigyi@...
-
Use PuTTY as a secure proxy on Windows
Last month, I wrote about using OpenSSH as a secure Web proxy on UNIX and Linux systems. This time, I'll show you how to do the same thing on Microsoft Windows using PuTTY -- probably the single...
Posted by Chad Perrin | March 10, 2008, 4:30 PM PDT | Latest comment by abaabaa
-
Hacker vs. cracker
The word "hacker" gets used in a pejorative sense by journalists an awful lot. Some people think this is perfectly reasonable; others find it offensive, and recommend an alternative term for that...
Posted by Chad Perrin | April 17, 2009, 1:20 PM PDT | Latest comment by wizard57m-cnet
-
The future of IT security compliance: 201 CMR 17.00
Why should you be concerned about a security rule that is part of the State law of Massachusetts -- especially if you aren't in business there? Donovan Colbert explains how compliance regulations...
Posted by Donovan Colbert | April 30, 2013, 6:00 AM PDT | Latest comment by dcolbert@...
-
New McAfee patent hints at a more walled-off online world
A McAfee patent hints at content filtering at the user level in order to block sites that offer pirated content.
Posted by Patrick Lambert | May 3, 2013, 9:00 AM PDT | Latest comment by public_domain
-
10 services to turn off in MS Windows XP
As I pointed out on 19 October, in point number four of the article 10 security tips for all general-purposes OSes, an important step in the process of securing your system is to shut down...
Posted by Chad Perrin | November 7, 2007, 10:02 AM PST | Latest comment by JonB2008
-
The FBI locked your computer? Watch out for new spins on ransomware
The FBI locks your computer. Can they do that? Or is it fake? How does one know? Michael Kassner asks an expert for help with the latest forms of ransomware.
Posted by Michael Kassner | November 15, 2012, 7:18 AM PST | Latest comment by JCitizen
-
The CIA Triad
The CIA Triad is a venerable, well-known model for security policy development, used to identify problem areas and necessary solutions for information security. Read on for an introduction to the...
Posted by Chad Perrin | June 30, 2008, 3:13 PM PDT | Latest comment by white house
