Security – Anti-Virus CLONES INFECTING your System – You don’t even know it!

The hackers are getting very good at making us look silly by making their hacks look like real software, a real Microsoft Window or software Window – you hit OK and that is when you get infected.  I have had  a few people get infected this way and it’s not easy to fix.  Anyone can fall for this and have!  What makes these so difficult for the typical user is that it stops you from running your REAL anti-virus software or getting on the internet at all except to a specific page asking for money to solve your issue.

HOW-TO GEEK had a great article today that showed a few screen shots of those Hacks as well as a few solutions to solve your issue.  Like I have they have had many articles around this issue and they have included links in the article if you wanted to read more.  On my BLOG if you look at Security FOLDER at the top, I have my posts listed.

TAKE A READ – interesting stuff!

Here’s a Super Simple Trick to Defeating Fake Anti-Virus Malware

Security – FACEBOOK – Secure browsing with HTTPS

Another step in the right direction by adding HTTPS support for Facebook.  This is a feature you have to TURN on in your settings.

This is a must as people are targeting Facebook for more and more attacks, this will not end that, but it will make it more difficult.

HOW

Under Account Settings

Account Security

SECURE BROWSING – CHECK box – Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible.

HIT SAVE/Exit

By putting this in place you will communicate using SSL encryption keeping you safe on Wi-FI Networks.

Securtiy – Password STRENGTH – Can yours be CRACKED?

There are a number of places you can enter in your password and it will give you the level of strength of that password.  Meaning just how quickly can someone crack your password.  The stronger they are, the harder they are to remember, but you really do not have a choice.  There are just too many people out there that want to take advantage of you and anyone else who doesn’t follow certain rules.

I have posted before about idea’s and methods to make your password stronger – I have suggested two applications that manage and create strong passwords for you.  If your interested in reviewing these posts – do a search on Security or passwords.

Like me I have lots of passwords and have not changed them since using LastPass, it would be nice to see just how strong the passwords I am using are!

Microsoft has a WEB page that tells you how strong your password is and methods to increase its security.

Check your password — is it strong?

Security – Passwords – Improve your security & still remember them!

 

I have talked about passwords in the past – suggested some password managers as well. 

Security – Passwords TOO MANY or TOO Little!

Security – Passwords – Can yours be CRACKED

The last few days there has been a few articles around making your important passwords stronger and still remembering them.  These two items don’t normally go together, but I think they do if you use one of the two suggestions below.

You don’t have to use either method for all your passwords, but you might want to consider them for your Windows Login – Password Manager program and your Banking passwords.  These are key to keeping your information and money safe!  The methods add a another level of complexity making it harder to break and easy to remember.

Security – Passwords TOO MANY or TOO Little!

Passwords – you have two camps – for those that are involved in the industry I would say most try to be as secure as possble when creating passwords.  Well I would hope! 

The other side is those that use the same password for everything just because they have forgotten passwords in the past and it’s easy – no thinking involved.

Today no matter what – we have to be more secure in our methods of creating and maintaining passwords.  We have too much of our personal information and there are too many people ready to take advantage of your situation not to do the right thing.

NEVER

–       use the same password more than once

–       Don’t use anything associated with you personally – phone number, Address, family names, birthdays etc – these are the first things people try to use

–       Short passwords are also not good

–       Shouldn’t write your passwords down.

I have over the last few days reviewed and tested a number of Password managers.  I wanted to have a package that would allow me access to the data from three different computers, one being my work systems that doesn’t allow the installation of any software.  I found two packages that matched what I wanted in different ways, both are good and currently I am using both to determine which one I will finally go to.

The two packages are KeePass and LastPass – these both come in a FREE version and do what I need them to.   I find KeePass to be the easier version at this point, everything is just there and I had didn’t have to go looking.  LastPass advantage would be that it does a lot more and is available for Smartphones as well.  I had a 90 plus passwords that I had to import into both packages and in both cases it was not the easiest, but I got it done.

If you don’t have a huge list and you are willing to wait and add your passwords as you load up the web pages, LastPass makes that really easy – Login and it asks you if you would like to add the location and password to your database.  Really nice!  Your database is available to you from anywhere through the WEB as well.

With KeePass I had to save my database on a CLOUD storage sync program in order to have the access from any of my computers.  The program can be loaded up on a USB Key which will allow you to open the program from any computer.  As I said I had to work around things to get KeePass working. 

For people who just want access on a single computer the KeePass product I believe would be the better choice, it’s a little easier to use and very familiar in look to many other programs.  If you’re like me and have several computers that you would like to have access, plus a smartphone then LastPass is the product you should be using.

THE LINKS:

Keypass

LastPass

Security – AVG Update could be Dangerous – Windows Vista & Windows 7 Users

If you pay for or use the FREE version of AVG anti-virus – they have had issues with the current upgrade with systems running Vista and WIN7.   The upgrade deletes a very important file and your systems go into a Blue Screen – re-boot loop.

They (AVG) seems this is not the first time they have had issues with upgrades – A company this size with so many users should not be releasing upgrades which shut down  your systems.  Once burned OK, twice burned – I believe it’s time to move on and find another product.

If you have followed this BLOG you will have noticed that I am a user of Microsoft Security Essentials – this is another FREE anti-virus software that is light and works really well.  This would be great alternative to AVG or any paid service your using.  You can find the LINK to Microsoft product and others utilities @ my DOWNLOAD PAGE.

If you have been one of the unlucky people who did the upgrade and have not been able to fix your system yet, there are methods to do this which you can find in an article that ran this morning in DAILY TECH – AVG Update Cripples Users’ Windows 7, Vista Computers

Facebook – Security – Kids & Parents – What you need to know and DO!

 We all know Facebook can be a great resource, lots of fun and a great method to stay in touch with friends, family and classmates from years ago.  The truth is Facebook can be a very dangerous place for not only kids, but everyone!  This is a social community and there are good and bad in all communities.

Every teacher and parent have to educate our young and make sure they are not on the wrong side of the street or are the one’s being taken advantage of in any way.  There has been many stories of all sorts of negative stuff happening on Facebook concerning the young.

For teachers and Parents to educate kids, they have to understand what it is all about. They need to know how kids are using this tool, how they may be taken advantage of and all the other dangers they are exposed to online.

I will dedicate a page on my BLOG with resources and information around this very important topic – A great start is the following article.

TODAY – a great paper was released called – A Parents Guide to Facebook

What are the risks involved in social networking?

Youth-risk research has recently made five important findings:

1. Young people who behave aggressively online are more than twice as likely to be victimized online, so children’s own behavior in Facebook or any social site is key to their well-being on the social Web.
2. The most common risk young people face online is peer harassment or aggression – in other words hurtful, harassing, or defamatory behavior.
3. A child’s psychosocial makeup and environment (for example, home and school) are better predictors of risk than any technology that the child uses, so…
4. Not all children are equally at risk online, and the children who are most at risk online are those who are most at risk in “real life,” or offline. 
5. Although, for the vast majority of youth, online social networking is largely a reflection of offline life, it can also amplify, perpetuate and widely distribute real-life problems or conflicts – very rapidly. Something posted in anger or on impulse is extremely difficult to take back, so it has never been more important for users (of any age) to think before they “speak,” post, or send a text message.

 Specific social networking risks include…

● Posting information about themselves that: a) could help strangers determine their physical location; b) could be used to manipulate them; or c) whether posted by them or others, could cause psychological harm or jeopardize reputations and future prospects

● Harassment or online bullying (“cyberbullying”) on the part of your children or others’

● Spending too much time online, losing a sense of balance in their activities (“too much” is subjective, which is why parents need to be engaged)

● Exposure to inappropriate content (this too is subjective), although typically worse content can be found out on the Web at large than in Facebook or other responsible social networking sites

● Potential for inappropriate contact with adults (parents need to ensure that social networking does not lead to offline contact unapproved by them and other caring adults in their children’s lives)

● Damage to reputation or future prospects because of young people’s own behavior or that of their peers – unkind or angry posts, compromising photos or videos, or group conflict depicted in text and imagery.

FULL Document – PARENTS GUIDE TO FACEBOOK

Security – Wi-Fi – 28% of Wireless Networks are OPEN!

If this article does not make you take the time to secure your Wireless network at home, then I don’t know what will.  A huge amount of people have wireless networks and a large portion of these people have not turned on any security, some of turned off default settings like passwords because they don’t understand!

Take a read of the article and then go home and make sure your network is secure!

Chances are you don’t leave your front door unlocked. And you shouldn’t leave your Wi-Fi network unsecured either.

Many of you may have heard this before, but many still seem to not be doing anything about it. You should. Here’s why. With a $50 wireless antenna and the right software a criminal hacker located outside your building as far as a mile away can capture passwords, e-mail messages, and any other data being transmitted over your network, and even decrypt data that is supposedly protected

Security Series – Microsoft – Vulnerability in Internet Explorer Could Allow Remote Code Execution

Yet another attack going around….

It’s really simple to stop a lot of these attacks:

1) Don’t open emails from people you don’t know

2) If you do know the person, yet the message doesn’t make sense – DON’T open any links, call the person in question and ask

3) If you do get this type of email from someone you know, tell them about it so they can try to fix it.  If you don’t others in that persons contact list are at risk if they don’t practice the same safe computing as yourself.

 

IE6 and IE7 are both at risk as well as IE8 if you have changed the default security settings.  IE9 Beta is save from this attack.

READ ABOUT THE CURRENT ATTACK

CNET News – Microsoft warns of targeted attacks using new IE hole

Microsoft Announcement – Microsoft Security Advisory (2458511)

Security – Passwords – Can yours be CRACKED

Many years ago you would have a few passwords and be able to remember them, today your Password list can be huge and how do you remember them. 

Most people make it really simple and use the same password for everything, not the best method for sure.  Someone figures it out and they have access to everything!  Others use simple easy to remember passwords – like birthday dates, anniversaries – again not the best method – one of the first things people try to information that can usually be easy to find!

So what do you do – make it easy to remember or create a strong password that is almost impossible to break!  The most secure method is to make a very strong password each time.  I guess you could use a mix, making sure you use strong passwords for online Banking and other important informational locations and your passwords for online contact, news and others simple to remember.  There are methods to creating a strong password and to remember them – Microsoft has an article you should review.

There are many tools available on the WEB and Smart phones that allow you to keep records of your passwords – some say these work well and secure.  I use the Blackberry password manager for many of my passwords.  This is something you will have to determine for yourself!  They are a number of  these that are free, I have tried some and they work well.

Things you want to make sure you don’t do are:

Common password pitfalls to avoid

Cyber criminals use sophisticated tools that can rapidly decipher passwords.

Avoid creating passwords using:

• Dictionary words in any language.
  Words in all languages are vulnerable.
• Words spelled backwards, common misspellings, and abbreviations.
  Words in all languages are vulnerable.
• Sequences or repeated characters.
  Examples: 12345678, 222222, abcdefg, or adjacent letters on your keyboard (qwerty).
• Personal information.
  Your name, birthday, driver’s license, passport number, or similar information.

REVIEW ENTIRE Microsoft DOCUMENT – Create strong passwords

Don’t let your password get cracked!