Last night, as I was about to log off the computer, the Windows Update logo pinged on the XP status bar to inform me that there was an urgent update to be downloaded. My heart sank because a) it was close to 3.00am and I wanted to get to bed and secondly I knew what the update was. Sure enough, when I checked, it was Windows Service Pack 3, the Romper Stomper Patch from Redmond.

Lifehacker did a nice summary of the technical advantages of SP3 (which I can barely get my head around). But on the surface, you’ll notice no changes whatsoever really. I don’t understand why people are having multiple orgasms over it, I really don’t. Especially when this morning, when I switched the computer on, Windows tried to revert all my settings back to Windows again. “We notice you’re using Winamp instead of Windows Media Player! Would you like to change back?!”

NO I F**KING DON’T!!!!!

Technorati Tags Microsoft, service pack 3, Windows

Posted in Microsoft, Patches, Security, Windows No Comments »

photo credit: Libby

It seems that six bots are responsible for 85% of all spam and one of them is accountable for 39% of all spam in the world.  God-damn!    Just imagine - if we knocked out that one bot, 39% of all the spam would go with it.   Makes you think doesn’t it?

read more | digg story

Technorati Tags bots, Digg, spam

Posted in Digg stories, Security, bots, spam No Comments »

Technorati Tags credit card, hacker, RFID, technology

Posted in Security, technology No Comments »

Phil Wolff over at Skype Journal has an excellent piece on SPIM (spam over instant messaging) which seems to be rearing its ugly head on Skype. It’s a stark wake-up call to anyone who openly advertises their Skype ID on the internet for the spammers ID harvesters to find.

It looks to be a pretty sophisticated operation and it makes you realise that no matter how secure a system is, unscrupulous and unethical people will always find a way around it.

This is something which was an everyday occurrence on Yahoo Messenger until I terminated it in its tracks with Bot Sentry. Since I have now hooked up Skype to my Pidgin app, in theory, Bot Sentry should protect my Skype too so it will be interesting to see if SPIM manages to eventually break through that.

(more…)

Technorati Tags chat, hitman, IM, Skype, spam, spim

Posted in Instant Messaging, Security, spam No Comments »

For a long time we have come to rely on mechanisms such as CAPTCHA to hold spammers at bay. Should spammers ever succeed in breaking thorugh CAPTCHA a lot of social media web sites and blogs are going to have a big, big problem. Now, Virtual Blight reports that this is on the verge of happening.

read more | digg story

Technorati Tags CAPTCHA, Digg, Security, spam

Posted in Digg stories, Security, spam No Comments »

A fantastic tool that I blogged about on Make Use Of. Bot Sentry stops instant messaging spam by making the messenger answer a simple question first.

read more | digg story

Posted in Instant Messaging, Security, pidgin, spam No Comments »

A post I wrote for Make Use Of. If someone has cracked your email password, it may not be apparent to you. A snooper can easily read an email then mark it as unread again. So the best thing to do would be to set up an “electronic tripwire” so if someone breaks into your account, you’ll know about it.

read more | digg story

Technorati Tags Digg, email, hacker, hit, internet, online, Security, snooper, tripwire

Posted in Digg stories, E-Mail, Published Work, Security 3 Comments »

Although I am trying to use some of the smaller search engines instead of using Google all the time, somehow I have never “clicked” (no pun intended) with Ask.com . Maybe it was their former Jeeves figure that put me off but Ask.com never seemed to me to be a very serious kind of search engine.

So although I applaud their latest feature, I am unlikely to use it.

The search engine has introduced anonymous searches. In the wake of the furor over the US Government trying to bully search engines to hand over search information, such a feature is bound to be popular among heavy searchers.   Basically, the service, called “AskEraser”, will not collect personally identifiable information such as the IP address and the search query itself.    So you can surf away for Britney Spears pics to your heart’s content and no-one will ever know about it.

The cynical side of me wonders how long it will be before Google and Yahoo slap themselves, mutter “why didn’t WE think of that?!” and copy Ask.com.     Then again, what does Yahoo care about user privacy?    They’re too busy giving in to the US government and handing over search records.    When they’re not doing that, they’re incriminating journalists in China, getting them thrown into jail.     So when it comes to user privacy and protection, Yahoo doesn’t really have a stellar record.

Technorati Tags anonymous, ask.com, askeraser, china, Google, government, search, Yahoo

Posted in Security, search No Comments »

Britons’ stolen bank details can be downloaded over the internet without paying a single penny, according to a paper’s investigation. The newspaper claims that it downloaded banking details belonging to 32 people - including a High Court deputy judge and a managing director - for free.

read more | digg story

Technorati Tags Britain, download, internet, online, phishing, scam, Security, UK

Posted in Digg stories, Security No Comments »

I am way behind with my blogging due to my recent trips and my other writing obligations so this story may be a little dated. But I read with some amusement that the German police are complaining that they can’t seem to intercept Skype calls due to the strong encryption involved. I was amused because it is like the police’s professional ego is getting a little dented and they have to vent off their frustration.

The president of the Bundeskriminalamt said :

“German police are unable to decipher the encryption used in the Internet telephone software Skype to monitor calls by suspected criminals and terrorists”.

This both scares me and concerns me. It concerns me in that it really makes me realise that my emails and phone calls are probably already being monitored by the government in the name of national security and law enforcement. Anyone who thinks that Patriot Act-style laws only exist in the US are deluding themselves. It’s in full force here in Europe too. In fact the German Interior Minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, recently proposed that the German security services be given government permission to covertly install trojan horse devices in peoples computers to monitor their communications. Whether or not these trojan horse devices would be able to crack Skype I don’t know.

A suspicious part of me is wondering if this is a deliberate disinformation tactic on the part of the German police to pretend that Skype is uncrackable. Then all the criminals and terrorists would flock onto Skype to discuss their next job thinking that their conversations are secure. But in actual fact the BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst - the security services) would actually be listening in. Mashable theorizes that the US National Security Agency has already planted covert back-doors in Skype’s encryption algorithims.

But it also scares me in that Skype could inadvertantly be providing a safe haven for terrorists to congregate and talk without the police and security services listening in. Strong encryption is all well and good but if I had to choose between an uncrackable telephone system and getting killed in the next terrorist attack, I’ll readily open up a conference call for the BND to listen in.

Technorati Tags Encryption, German, germany, Patriot Act, Security, Skype, trojan

Posted in Encryption, Security, Skype 2 Comments »

I just read an interesting post on Download Squad which showed how to disable the search suggestion feature on Firefox search plug-ins. I am kicking myself because I have been trying to work out for ages if it is possible. Now I’ve discovered that all I had to do was right-click on the search box! Doh!

But when I right-click on the Firefox search box to take a look, I also discover something else - a one-click way to delete your entire search history within Firefox. It’s right above enabling / disabling search suggestions. I know you can easily delete your search history by deleting your cache and personal info from Firefox but that involves several clicks. Right-clicking on the search engine box and choosing “delete search history” is two clicks. Useful for when you want to delete those embarrassing search queries in a hurry.

Technorati Tags Firefox, search, Security

Posted in Firefox, Security, search No Comments »

Just a quick heads up for those of you who use Office 2003 and who haven’t checked for Microsoft security patches recently.    Mr Gates is now providing Service Pack 3 for Microsoft Office 2003 which is a huge security patch.    You can download it from the Microsoft Update page.

As usual, you have to re-start your computer afterwards so make sure you’re not doing anything really important at the time that can’t be saved first!

Technorati Tags 2003, Microsoft, microsoft office, patch, service pack 3, update

Posted in Microsoft, Patches, Security No Comments »