Yesterday, I blogged about how FireSheep made it quite easy for the average person to impersonate other users on social networking websites that were using the same insecure wireless network. The simplest thing a user can do is to force secure HTTP (or HTTPS – HyperText Transport Protocol Secure) but this can be a chore …
Tag: security
Nov 05 2010
FireSheep – Why You Should Be Worried About Unsecured Wi-Fi Networks
You may have caught glimpses in the news about a Firefox add-on called FireSheep but you may or may not know of its capabilities and the implications it will have upon your interactions online. In a nuthsell, this add-on allows a user to see the social network activities that are taking place on an unsecured …
Oct 14 2010
Biometrics and Multi-Factor Authentication
As computing power increases and bad guys are looking for ways to steal things like usernames and passwords, it’s natural that the technology industry has been looking for new ways to make it more difficult for unwanted parties to gain access to information and resources (such as personal finances). Today, Citibank made an announcement that …
Sep 21 2010
Beware of Cold Calls Regarding Computer Security
These days, it can be hard to tell who are the good guys and who are the bad guys and all it takes is one time to let your guard down and it’s game over. Unknown to a lot of people, there has been a scam going on for a while regarding people posing as …
Aug 24 2010
Jailbreaking Made Easy with JailbreakMe
If you have an iPhone or know someone that does have one, you may have heard of the term “jailbreak” brought up in discussion every now and then. For the uninformed, a jailbreak provides the ability to run applications unapproved by Apple on your device and make other modifications otherwise impossible with a factory default …
Jul 13 2010
News.Com.Au – Get Your Facts Straight on iPad Security
Today, I saw an article on news.com.au entitled “Business not ready to embrace ‘open’ iPad”. In a nuthsell, the article attempted to relate the comments from an Ovum analyst (specifically around the use of the iPad including the freedom to install applications) with an event in the US that saw details of 114,000 customers exposed by …
Jun 23 2010
Should ISPs Disconnect Infected Computers?
In a new parliamentary report, Hackers, Fraudsters and Botnets: Tackling the Problem of Cyber Crime, it has been recommended that it become mandatory that computers have firewall and antivirus software installed prior to an Internet connection being activated. There have also been other measures suggested to assist in containing infected machines such as the “walled garden” approach …
Feb 13 2010
Full Body Scanners – Are You Concerned About Your Health & Privacy?
A recurring topic that has appeared in the news the last few weeks has been about the use of full body scanners at Australian airports. In particular, this ZDNet article echoes previous concerns about privacy and how the naked images of those who are scanned could be redistributed. A good example highlighting such a misuse …
Feb 10 2010
Google Chrome Bug Bounty – Cheap or Considerate?
I came across a news article today on ZDNet Australia about Google starting a reward scheme for people who find and report bugs in its Chrome browser. There are some questions and answers about what constitutes an eligible bug at the Chromium blog but in a nutshell, the base reward starts at US$500 (similar to …
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