Mac users if you are worried that your mac isnt secure enough, here are 10 simple steps where you can learn and implement on your mac to keep it nice and secure.
The tips covered are pretty simple administrative procedures, but most commonly ignored by users and even admins 
Check the list out on CNet here
Skype on Thursday became the latest U.S. firm embroiled in controversy over its operations in China, acknowledging that its Chinese partner had been archiving politically sensitive text messages.
Skype, the online text message and voice service owned by auction giant eBay, said it had been unaware that the Internet chat of users in China was being stored on computer servers by Chinese mobile firm TOM Online.
Read more here – Skype Admits China Privacy Breach – Japan Today
Computer security company McAfee has agreed to buy out Secure Computing for 413 million dollars in a merger that is expected to create one of the largest network security vendors offering a complete network security solution to businesses both big and small…
Read more about it – SDA Asia – McAfee to Acquire Secure Computing
Well it seems with preloaded software, the time it needs to hack into Mac OS X would be 2 minutes. A team of security researchers participating in the CanSecWest security conference had managed to hack into the Mac OS X using a zero-day vulnerability in Apple’s Safari 3.1 Web browser.
The team of researchers are from Independent Security Evaluators (ISE), and they were presented with 10,000 prize money. It was reported that Apple has been informed of the venerability and no information would be release until Apple manages to issue a fix for the hack.
Wonder would Apple release the patch first or would others be able to find the venerability first.
With wireless lan adoption increasing, many of these networks have become targets for hackers and free loaders. If you suspect your network is being hijacked or have yet to set any protection, here’s an article on how you could protect yourself from such activities.
Why Bother?
For some people, setting up a secure wireless network is so daunting, they give up and run it wide open, ie. unsecured. I also hear people say, “I just surf the web and have nothing valuable on my computer. Why should I bother with security?” Good question, but here are some equally good answers.
If you are interested in how people can break into your wireles network, here are some writeups – How to crack WEP Part 1 and Part 2
Remember to always protect your wireless network, as would you leave your door unlock?
If you are aiming to be a great network administrator, here’s some tips that you should avoid doing. Found this article on www.businessintelligencelowdown.com talking about “How to be a Terrible Network Admin: 25 Fail-safe Tips” Take a read at this article and just do the opposite and you are 25 steps closer to becoming a good network administrator
Ever heard of news that a disgruntled ex employee (mainly programmers) of a certain company, caused their core application to break down or do crazy malicious stuff? If the answer is yes, well that is a work of a logic bomb. The logic bomb is a section of computer code that lays hidden in the vendors application and activated normally by time or an event to do something bad like format data.
“ A logic bomb, also called slag code because all that’s left after it detonates is computer slag, is not the same thing as a virus, although it often behaves in a similar manner. It is a piece of computer code that executes a malicious task, such as clearing a hard drive or deleting specific files, when it is triggered by a specific event. It’s secretly inserted into the code of a computer’s existing software, where it lies dormant until that event occurs.” Source: Howstuffworks.com
I was at HowStuffworks.com and found this article about a UBS ex employee who was pissed with his employer and decided to place a logic bomb in to UBS’s accounting software programs. What happened was he decided to purchase put options as he was banking that the stocks for UBS will dip when the malicious code is ran. But to his surprise, the stocks didn’t dip and he was catch and now needs to face punishment. So the morale of the story? Don’t things that is not right,?Ǭ† like what my mum always says.
“December 15, 2006
This week, an ex-employee of the financial company UBS PaineWebber was sentenced to eight years in prison and more than $3 million in restitution for planting a logic bomb in UBS’s computer network in 2002.”
Source: Howstuffworks.com
Connecting your home and office computers with a wireless network sure makes things convenient …BUT the very feature that makes them so popular is also their biggest weakness! Anyone with the knowledge can intercept your signal and gain access to your network if it is not secure. The technicians at computerguyslive.com offer the following six easy steps to wireless security for your home or office.
1. Change the System ID: Devices come with a default system ID called the SSID (Service Set Identifier) or ESSID (Extended Service Set Identifier). It is easy for a hacker to find out what the default identifier is for each manufacturer of wireless equipment so you need to change this to something else. Use something unique- not your name or something easily guessed.
2. Disable Identifier Broadcasting: Announcing that you have a wireless connection to the world is an invitation for hackers. You already know you have one so you don’t need to broadcast it. Check the manual for your hardware and figure out how to disable broadcasting.
3. Enable WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy): WEP encrypts your data so that only the intended recipient is supposed to be able to read it. As with all security measures there are ways around it, but by using encryption you will keep the novice hackers out of your systems. It is best to use 128bit rather than 40bit encryption (it is exponentially harder to crack).
4. Restrict Unnecessary Traffic: Many wired and wireless routers have built-in firewalls. They are not the most technically advanced firewalls, but they help create one more line of defense. Read the manual for your hardware and learn how to configure your router to only allow incoming or outgoing traffic that you have approved.
5. Change the Default Administrator Password: This is just good practice for ALL hardware and software. The default passwords are easily obtained and because so many people don’t bother to take the simple step of changing them they are usually what hackers try first. Make sure you change the default password on your wireless router / access point to something that is not easily guessed like your last name.
6. Patch and Protect Your PC’s: As a last line of defense you should have personal firewall software such as Zone Alarm Pro and anti-virus software installed on your computer. As important as installing the anti-virus software, you must keep it up to date. New viruses are discovered daily and anti-virus software vendors generally release updates at least once a week. You also must keep up to date with patches for known security vulnerabilities. For Microsoft operating systems you can use Windows Update to try and help keep your computer current with patches.
Following?Ǭ† these steps will insure that hackers and hitchhikers don’t surf on your wireless network, or more importantly, these steps help block unwanted access into your computer network, and your valuable data.
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Chris Kaminski has worked in computer repair and web development for the last 20 years. Kaminski is currently the Head Technician and CEO of Computer Guys Live Inc., an online computer repair company based in Asheville, NC. For more tech tips and step-by-step wireless guides visit http://computerguyslive.com or write to custserv@computerguyslive.com.
Hackers have found to exploit a hole in the open-source Firefox browser that enables them to monitor people’s activity on the Internet.The Infostealer.Snifula uses works as an extension to Firefox but installs malicious Trojans that are loaded at start-up. The Trojan captures contents of form submission events including passwords and forwards them to its main process where it is sent to the remote attacker.Source: TechWorld.com
Harden your Intel Mac with a security update.
Security Update 2006-004 is recommended for all users and improves the security of the following components.
AFP Server
Bluetooth
Bom
DHCP
dyld
fetchmail
gnuzip
ImageIO
LaunchServices
OpenSSH
telnet
WebKit
[via Apple Support]