The Most Dangerous Places On The Web
Posted by admin on Dec 14, 2010
Taken from PC World Magazine, November 2010 Edition
The sacriest sites on the Net? They’re not the ones you might suspect. Here’s what to watch for and how to stay safe.
The Place: Websites That Use Flash
The Threat: Malicious Flash files that can infect your PC
If You Have To Go There: Make sure you keep your Flash plug-ins up-to-date, and you can configure the Flash plug-in to ask you before it downloads any Flash cookies.
The Place: Twitter
The Threat: Shortened links that lead you to potentially harmful places
If You Have To Go There: Simply don’t click links.
The Place: Your E-Mail Inbox
The Threat: E-mail scams/attachments that get you to install malware or give up personal info
If You Have To Go There: Don’t trust anything in your inbox. Instead of clicking on links in a retailer’s e-mail, go directly to the retailer’s site.
Read the rest of this entry »
Technology’s Biggest Myths
Posted by admin on Dec 7, 2010
Taken from PC World Magazine, October 2010 Edition
As it turns out, Windows Vista really wasn’t all that slow; and no, your PC probably won’t fry if you open it up without wearing a wrist strap. Thanks in large part to the Internet, the tech world is teeming with lies, half-truths, and misinformation. We’ve dug up some of the Web’s most notorious nuggets of conventional wisdom to see which holds up to scrutiny and which are merely urban legends.
The following is just a synopsis, for the full article, click here.
Security Apps Frequently Miss New Malware
Posted by admin on Dec 3, 2010
Taken from PC World Magazine, September 2010 Edition
New research further confirms that difficulties security vendors are having in keeping up with malware.
Security software can take an average of two days to block an attack Website, says a report from NSS Labs. The firm developed a test that mimics how people browse the Web, and recorded how and when security suites blocked the threats – if they did so at all. The latest test ran for 24 hours a day for nine days.
Some security vendors employ reputation systems, which usually involves checking a database of blacklisted sites. But such systems are not widely used and are immature, according to NSS Labs. Overall, vendors took an average of 45.8 hours to block a site, if the blocked it at all, the report states.
If a suite did not block a bad site the first time, NSS Labs continued to test every 8 hours to see how long the vendor took to add protection; times ranged from 4.62 hours to 92.48 hours. The researchers also had a “sero hour” criterion, in which the test checked whether the software stopped newly found malware sites, and the results weren’t great: The best vendor blocked new sites only 60.6 percent of the time.
IPv6 Is Coming – What you Need to Know
Posted by admin on Nov 26, 2010
Taken from PC World Magazine, September 2010 Edition
The internet promises unlimited connectivity, but the current addressing plan, in place since the late 1970s, is running out of addresses, and a new scheme called IPv6 is being put into place to power the Net’s next stage of growth.
For small businesses that plan ahead, the shift can enhance computing security, reliability, and performance. But waiting now may mean costly equipment upgrades to avoid outages.
Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), created almost 30 years ago, formats internet addresses in a quartet of numbers such as 72.42.185.10 (this 32-bit address space allows around 4 billion possible addresses – a number we are rapidly approaching).
There’s no Better Time to Migrate to Windows 7 and Server 2008
Posted by admin on Oct 6, 2010
Taken from CRN Canada, September 2010 Edition
In the last few months, Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista RTM, Windows 2000 Professional and Windows Server 2000 all reached the end of their support lifecycles – this means there will be no further security updates, patches, or hotfixes for these releases.
Microsoft strongly recommends that customers still running these legacy operating systems migrate to the latest versions or a supported service pack. in order to continue receiving security and hotfix updates and product support. Not doing so leaves PCs and servers at risk.
For most organizations, a desktop OS migration can impact and-users, the applications and hardware they rely on to be productive, and the back-end IT infrastructure supporting operations. This is an important decision for Canadian organizations that need to maintain secure environments, and it is a process in which partners can play a key role.
Organizations have a number of options, and it’s vital that they understand that not choosing to migrate to a supported OS could lead to problems down the road. Businesses that continue to use older, unsupported operating systems may incur unforseen costs related to mounting technical support issues. To avoid this, and ensure their PCs remain secure and operate a peak performance, they need to take action.
Research Says Crooks Target Users, Not OSs
Posted by admin on Sep 29, 2010
Taken from PCWorld Magazine, August 2010
Who has the safest operating system? Apple? Google? Microsoft? According to one security expert, what really matters is who’s using the OS.
“Microsoft doesn’t have a monopoly on all the technical vulnerabilities that are out there,” says Zulfikar Ramzan, technical director of Symantec Security Response. Today’s online criminals are far more likely to target user behaviour. “You don’t need as many technical skills to find one person who might be willing, in a moment of weakness, to open up an attachment that contains malicious content,” says Ramzan.
Currently, only about 3 percent of the malware that Symantec encounters exploits a technical flaw. The other 97 percent is either “piggybacking on that 3 percent” or more likely trying to trick a user through some type of social engineering scheme, according to Ramzan.
No computer or operating system is 100 percent secure, of course. “People have tried to attack Microsoft’s products because of the [huge] market share,” Ramzan says. But if Google’s upcoming Chrome OS takes off in the business and consumer markets, it will have a big target on its back too.
Search Giant Is Heading for Your TV
Posted by admin on Sep 22, 2010
Taken from PCWorld Magazine, August 2010
Google has entered a partnership with Intel and Sony to create Google TV, the company recently announced. As explained at its unveiling, Google TV is an ambitious attempt to bake Google’s Android software into TVs, Blu-ray players and a Google set-top box called Buddy Box.
The plan is clearly a challenge to devices and services like Apple TV, the Boxee Box, and TiVo – and to some extent, to cable itself. The goal is to fuse the Web with TV sets in a way that other Internet-connected televisions have not. That is, Google TV is an open platform free of the restructions on other Internet TV sets and powered by hardware that can handle Flash.
Google TV will be available in set-top boxes and televisions this fall, according to the announcement, with Sony and Logitech as hardware partners.
Used Copiers Can Contain Personal Information
Posted by admin on May 6, 2010
In 2010, the photo copier will celebrate its 50th birthday. That great time-saving machine has come along way since its humble beginnings – not always for the better. I recommend that everyone take a moment and watch this short news broadcast from CBS News regarding information that can be found on used copiers. These machines are shipped all over the world and sold to people that may be able to access this information.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6412572n&tag=mg;mostpopvideo
Bill C-27, the “Anti-Spam Bill”
Posted by admin on Dec 19, 2009
Taken from The Business Blink newsletter of the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce, written by Michael Chong, MP
E-mail is a wonderful technology which, in just over a decade, has completely changed our lives. However, many of the benefits of e-mail have been offset by the problem of spam (unwanted and unsolicited commercial e-mails). According to a MessageLabs report of September 2009, spam accounted for as much as 86% of global e-mail traffic. Unfortunately, Canada is, in part, responsible for this problem. Canada ranks as one of the top originating countries for spam; the Cisco 2008 Annual Security Report ranked Canada fourth on the “Spam by Originating Country” list.
The high volume of spam in recent years has negatively affected the productivity of Internet technologies like e-mail. When a high volume of e-mail is spam, networks slow down, people waste time (at home and work as they delete unwanted e-mails), and companies are forced to spend considerable money on systems to prevent spam from entering their networks.
The high volume of spam in recent years has also impeded the full potential of the Internet as a platform for commercial use. Spam is more than just unwanted e-mail; it is often used as a vehicle to perpetrate fraud on Canadians. It can lead to online fraud by luring individuals to counterfeit websites (phishing), the theft of personal data to rob bank and credit card accounts (identity theft), the collection of personal information through illicit access to computer systems (spyware), and false representations in the online marketplace. Canadian businesses also suffer. Businesses are the victims of the counterfeiting of their websites to defraud individuals and other businesses (spoofing). Spam-borne viruses and other malicious software (malware) are used to operate networks of “zombie” computers (botnets) without their owners’ knowledge. This undermines confidence in the Internet as a platform for personal and business use.
The government is acting to combat spam and related threats by introducing Bill C-27, a piece of anti-spam legislation entitled the Electronic Commerce Protection Act (ECPA). The proposed legislation will deter the most damaging form of spam from occurring in Canada and will help drive spammers out of Canada.
Bill C-27 was in front of the Industry Committee, the Committee I have the privilege of chairing. We have heard from a wide range of witnesses and the legislation passed our Committee at the end of October. Recently the bill has entered third reading and debate in the House.
If adopted by Parliament, Bill C-27 will go a long way to combating spam and spam-related threats. Based on the experience of other countries with similar legislation, a reduction in spam is quickly expected. While the legislation will not eliminate spam entirely, Canadians will see a reduction in the amount of spam received. Equally important, the legislation will decrease the most damaging forms of spam from originating in Canada, and will help drive spammers, along with the associated illegal activity, out of Canada.
The Internet has become the primary platform for online commerce and general communications. Canada has had a long history of global leadership in the communications sector. E-commerce is now a major part of the Canadian economy, with billions of dollars of goods and services being sold over the Internet each year in Canada. This legislation will allow Canada to continue that leadership, ensuring we remain a secure locale for e-commerce and for Canadians. It’s time for Canadian law to catch up to the Internet age.
If you wish to find out more or have any enquiries, please contact me at chongm@parl.gc.ca or at (866) 878 5556. Hon. Michael Chong, M.P. Wellington-Halton Hills
PC Performance Myths
Posted by admin on Dec 15, 2009
Taken from PC World Magazine, January 2010
You have lots of good ways to speed up your PC, but you’ll encounter plenty of bogus tips too. Here are three tactics that don’t do the trick.
Cleaning the Registry… Hard-core Windows users love to tweak via the Registry Editor. This, the thinking goes, improves efficiency, saves the OS energy at bootup, and makes it run faster. But we have never need any significant increase in speed… plus you can do more harm than good, if you don’t know what you are doing. If you want to do a bit of cleanup, but don’t want to use the Registry Editor, you can use CCleaner… read about it here… http://blog.icscomputers.ca/?p=85
Disabling System Restore… Many supposed Windows gurus say that disabling System Restore can speed up your PC by freeing hard-drive space and preventing it from kicking in while you work. But since System Restore activates only when you install apps or when your PC is idle, and since it uses only a small fraction on your drive, turning it off robs you of a valuable safety measure without providing any benefit.
Defragging Your Drive… Back when drives were small and OSs were simpler, doing this was necessary. But Windows XP, Vista and 7 all have automated disk optimization, and it’s rare for a drive to become so fragmented that it hampers performance. While defragmenting isn’t harmful, it’s usually a waste of time. We recommend running Defraggler once or twice a year to fix things that the automated optimization might have missed. You can read about it here… http://blog.icscomputers.ca/?p=85
If your system is running sluggish, there are many possible causes. The obvious culprit is usually a virus or a program running in the background. A simple and inexpensive memory upgrade can also give your system a bit more zip. We recommend a yearly visit to our workbench for a tuneup.
