ComputerSecure Blog

photo credit: gruntzooki

by Paul McIndoe

More Details at: http://www.barclays.co.uk/online-saving.html

April 2008 saw the arrival of the Infosec Show in London, where top IT security companies came together to discuss the hot topics in the information security industry. One of the hottest of the hot topics discussed at the 2008 show was the increase in phishing (or Internet fraud) and related fraud attacks over the previous year. Mark Bowerman, spokesperson for card payment agency Apacs, said that the Internet provided an extra area for fraud scams and warned that if people weren’t careful, they could potentially become victims of credit card and other types of fraud and identity theft.

Bowerman also reflected, however, that despite warnings over the security risks inherent in Internet shopping and Internet banking in particular, the number of people banking online was increasing - proving that, for many people, the benefits of managing your finances through the Internet were clearly outweighing the risks.
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photo credit: Spigoo

(and Parents, Employers, and Managers!)

by Etienne A. Gibbs, MSW

Nowadays, staying safe online has become a never-ending battle – for children as well as adults. Because cybercriminals are becoming smarter and more sophisticated in their operations, they are real threats to your personal security and privacy. Your money, your computer, your family, and your business are all at risk.

However, with a little common sense and some knowledge about what to do and not do, one can surf the ‘net unscathed. Here is a great set of rules for kids while they are online. I found these rules at safekids.com. Parents, Employers, and Managers, you can take some notes from these rules, too:

1. I will not give out personal information such as my address, telephone number, parents’ work address/telephone number, or the name and location of my school without my parents’ permission.

2. I will tell my parents right away if I come across any information that makes me feel uncomfortable.

3. I will never agree to get together with someone I “meet” online without first checking with my parents. If my parents agree to the meeting, I will be sure that it is in a public place and bring my mother or father along.

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Just a note to explain…

If you are reading this site this week…

I am working on the design and layout at present. It’s possible that the appearance of the site may change suddenly before your very eyes.

It’s just because I am trying out different WordPress themes and settings.

At present I am quite keen on the Simplicity theme made by Lai Zit Seng.

Why? Well, for one thing, it’s simple.

And for another: a couple of us WordPress theme users/browsers pointed out some problems with the layout (about cross-browser compatibility), and Zit Seng had them fixed overnight.

What is Simplicity good for?

(These notes are for WordPress theme users…)

Simplicity is good for users who need a quick way to get a fluid or fixed-width layout with simple css.

The css is not cluttered with unwanted stuff: this is a tremendous advantage if you are not good at second-guessing a comprehensive style sheet made by another person.

I have been there: it’s not nice.

Some of us bloggers just want a basic theme with the layout we need. We can enhance it - with borders, fonts, colors etc. - later.

photo credit: -fumtu

by Phil Smulian
More Details at: http://www.datadetect.com.au

Data Recovery is essentially a specialized service supplied by qualified technical companies to recover lost data that is stored on media. Data loss can occur in a number of different environments, the most common being human error. Human error is simply accidental deletion of important files or documents. Other factors such as software/hardware problems or virus attacks are also common causes of data loss. However, with the expertise and experience of Data Recovery Companies, this lost data can, very often, be recovered.

Data is stored on storage devices such as hard drives, CD’s, DVD’s, memory cards, memory sticks and more. Unfortunately, not all these are infallible; this means that sometimes, unforeseen data loss can happen, through damaged data, corrupt files or hardware/software failures. A data recovery company employs a team of skilled technicians who can use a number of techniques, software and tools to recover your lost data. In some cases, the operator or system user can retrieve lost data by performing a number of tasks or using software, however they run the risk of permanently erasing and overwriting your important lost data.

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photo credit: nodelaysoftwaresolutions

by Dalvin Rumsey

If you compare the hard drive of a desktop with the hard drive of a laptop, the only difference you will notice is the size. Their technologies are the same, but this size variation makes the laptop hard drive more difficult. Still, there are companies that have the required equipment for such fine data recovery procedures.

Because laptops provide the ability to work anywhere they are now preferred over the usual desktop work stations. This leads to a lot of important data being stored on their hard drives. While their hard drives are no weaker than the drives the old work stations had, they are however highly susceptible to damage. That’s when you will need to call in a laptop data recovery specialist.

The best way to choose a data recovery specialist is to allow the required time frame to make the research and correct choice. To do this, you will need to recognize the symptoms of probable hard drive problems.
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photo credit: avlxyz

I suppose I should have known: it was only a matter of (a short) time before hackers would find the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) computers to be the most interesting, famous target of the month.

See the story at the Telegraph.

Last week the more geeky part of the family gathered - like a squillion other families - around the warm glow of the YouTube-pumped-over-to-the-TV. We wanted to watch the flickering lights as the first particles were accellerated into the system.

One of the childs brought up the question: is CERN’s huge battery of computers secure?

It seemed to me that whoever assembled the thing I saw in the videos would probably know how to keep it private and secure.

What did I see in the CERN videos?

It looked like a gigantic server-farm - and people talk about it being part of The Grid.

The Grid is all about very fast network connections. When people think about it they are prone to write enthusiastic articles about the entire internet or world wide web working hundreds of times faster than it does at present. Of course that is possible. But only if and when the technology is actually implemented everywhere.

So my first thought was that I had been too optimistic. I.e. I had assured the childs that whoever put that huge network tegether must know what they are doing.

But now look: a week later it has been hacked!

But my second thought was…

This is probably not even any kind of news. I read further in the Telegraph article. The hackers were the more ‘polite’ kind: they just wanted to show that the system was hackable - and maybe get some fame. Also CERN said that there were a number of layers to their security. So maybe somebody was able to get their foot in the door: that doesn’t mean they had access to the whole network.

The Telegraph article reports that CERN staff were woried and said it ‘was scary’. So what? It is very difficult for non-experts reading the news to determine whether anything interesting or important actually occurred.

Exactly how much danger was the CERN network facing? I say it is just about impossible for us to evaluate that - unless we understand networks very well, or work at CERN, or are hackers.

So was this really news? Was it newsworthy only because CERN was very famous in September 2008?

I started this blog in order to post interesting bits and pieces of news relating to comuter security. So this is the first piece of news I decided to mention - and it just makes me ask questions like “What exactly is newsworthy anyway?”

This would be the first blog post here at ComputerSecure.net.

I just installed WordPress 2.6 tonight.

I’m tempted to stay up for the rest of the night working on the WordPress templates - to make this blog fit in and look nice with the rest of the site. But we have to stop somewhere.

Playing with WordPress templates is just too diverting.