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               Thanks to radiorover for permission to use this Photo.

The following interview with Robert Moore illustrates the apathy that is still amazingly apparent in the IT industry today despite the strong awareness of IT vulnerabilities and the importance of tightening security for all organizations and even home users.  It also shows how easy it is for even computer novices to break into network devices.   

A quick Google search for sites showing the default passwords for just about any computer or network device sold on the market in the past decade can be easily found.  Many of these sites are not developed for malicious purposes.  The fact is that network devices are constantly resold and recycled.  This requires that the device be reset to its default configuration to erase the settings made by the original owner.  In order for the new owner to configure the device, he or she must know the default password credentials in order to access the device.  Because the original device documentation is often missing, these default password sites are vital. 

These sites make it even more important to immediately change the password for any newly purchased network device.  Recently, I heard a high school student inform me that he regularly accesses his neighbor’s wireless router by using the default logon for the device.  By doing this, the student can use his neighbor’s DSL connection for free.

Brad Rudisail
Computer Network Technician-Network Security Instructor
Ashworth University

I just read Computer World’s glowing review of the latest Webkit deveopmental build.  If you’re not familiar with Webkit, it’s an open source web browing engine that’s been “buzzing” around the I.T. industry.  It’s somewhat confusing to understand at first, but Webkit is also serves as the developmental version of the engine used in Safari.  As the review indicates, Webkit runs at a considerably faster rate than Firefox 3, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari’s standard browser.  I highly recommend that you keep a close eye on Safari-Webkit’s every development.  I’ll keep you updated on our blog, so be sure to check in frequently.  Take care.

David T. Ronan
Computer Training Instructor
Ashworth University 

 
                Thanks to J. Parks for permission to use this Photo.

Microsoft recently unveiled their Forefront Security Application Suite that provides antivirus protection as well as Spam and spyware protection.  Forefront provides network protection at client, server and enterprise edge level.  Due to the pricing and licensing structure that Microsoft offers their enterprise customers for their products, Forefront is sure to make a big splash on the marketplace and offer strong competition to industry leaders such as Symantec and Norton.   As a network security specialist, it’s absolutely vital that you stay in tune with soon to be mass-market security applications such as Forefront, so be sure to check into this blog often as I continue providing weekly updates.  Let me know if you have any questions and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.  We’ll talk again soon…

Brad Rudisail
Computer Network Technician-Network Security Instructor
Ashworth University

              Thanks to foundphotos for permission to use this Photo. 

The SANS Institute, an organization dedicated to computer security training, certification and research recently released their Top Ten Cyber Security Threats for 2008.  Below is a summary:
           

1. Attacks via web browser vulnerabilities, particularly plug-incomponents such as QuickTime and Flash.  Many of these plug-ins are rarely updated. 
2. The growing sophistication of Botnets.  The most popular exampleis the Storm Trojan which accounted for one in twelve virus infections only a week after its release.  This new breed of botnets uses peer-to-peer control rather than a centralized controller that can be eliminated. 
3. Cyber espionage, particularly economic espionage conducted bynation states 
4. As Mobile phones are become general purpose computers, worms,viruses, and other malware will increasingly target them 
5. Insider attacks by rogue employees, consultants and contractors.These threats will result in the further limiting of the cyber rights and abilities of employees. 
6. Identity theft performed by persistent bots.  These bots notonly target email addresses, bank accounts information and passwords but even the cyber behavior of users that can be later used forextortion. 
7. Increasingly malicious spyware 
8. Web Application Security Exploits are constantly being targetedas so many applications today are web based and can be targeted by hackers. 
9. Social Engineering continues to be widely utilized.  Phony taxscams are very popular today. 
10. Infected Consumer Devices such as USB drives that can containmalicious code or espionage based applications that can attack acomputer in a matter of seconds when the USB drive is inserted into a computer. 

Brad Rudisail
Computer Network Technician-Network Security Instructor
Ashworth University

 
               Thanks to Lori Tingey for permission to use this Photo.

“The challenge for Microsoft is not the ability to do much of what Google does. Instead, the company faces a business quandary. The Microsoft approach is largely to try to link the Web to its desktop business — “software plus Internet services,” in its formulation. It will embrace the Web, while striving to maintain the revenue and profits from its desktop software businesses, the corporate gold mine.”

I personally enjoy the increased competition in software and technology. After over a decade of Microsoft dominance (and as a result, decreased innovation on the desktop and the experiences of end users), the last few years have been exciting. Innovation after innovation has opened options for software use. (more…)

               Thanks to Duality for permission to use this Photo.

When talking about privacy and security, the one thing that Windows clearly lacks is the facility to hide a folder of your choice from everyone else. The hide attribute is hardly of any use as anyone can use folder options to show the hidden files. In such cases, a third party software- like hide folder can come to your aid. (more…)