by Administrator on August 20, 2010
Sorry. This isn’t the original post. I moved the original post to my Business Action Steps blog because it doesn’t belong here, on a security blog. Go ahead and click on the link if you really want to read what I wrote, but it really has nothing to do with security. OK, maybe it does… my future financial security. I hope.
I posted it on the wrong site (but didn’t want to leave a big, gaping, angry gap in my blog, RSS feed, and the fabric of the universe). And of course I didn’t notice it until after I hit the “Publish” button. Geesh!
The original post was about Search Engine Optimization, something I do on the side… At least for now… It’s kind of like all those superheroes putting on a costume at night after they get done flipping hamburgers all day and keeping the world safe for democracy or Whatever. Except I’m in it for the money. And to help people.
Oh, well, so much for a blog dedicated to security and paying attention to little details, eh? Oops…
P.S. — I’m pretty sure that John Rhodes would say that security is a good thing, just like I say that John Rhodes and SEO is a good thing…!
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by Administrator on August 13, 2010
I just got done reading an article about 3,000 online banking customers whose credentials were stolen and money siphoned off their accounts. In total, over $1,000,000 was stolen.
How did this happen? Criminals compromised web sites, which in turn were visited by banking customers who hadn’t, for whatever reason, bothered to download and install security patches for their computers. In the end, the Zeus trojan ended up on their computer, which stole the banking credentials.
You can read more about this story here.
This past Tuesday (August 10, 2010), Microsoft released 14 security bulletins that announced 34 vulnerabilities. It only takes one vulnerability to compromise your computer. My colleague Bill Hely has written an excellent blog post that spells out the details of what you need to do to ensure that Windows gets its security updates.
Another reminder: If you are still running Windows XP with Service Pack 2 installed, you MUST upgrade to Service Pack 3 to continue to receive support. There’s a good chance that at least one of those 34 vulnerabilities affects XP with Service Pack 2, but since it’s no longer supported, you’ll most likely never know. And while there are articles floating about that tell you how to hack your system’s registry to trick XP into thinking that it’s running Service Pack 3 (so that it will install patches), I strongly recommend that you NOT do it. Why? Because those patches weren’t tested on Service Pack 2, there’s a good chance that a patch will turn your computer into a doorstop, etc.
How many known vulnerabilities exist on your computer RIGHT NOW? Even one also puts your business at risk. Take the time NOW to ensure that your system — and business — is protected.
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