Secure Computing

Shrink Your Attack Surface

I’ve heard this phrase bandied about in Linux forums and in the occasional blog post, but it’s something I never considered relative to the security of Windows boxes.  There’s an awful lot of research on the subject and it boils down to this: The larger the attack surface, the more...

“Of Course, I Never Reply to Spam – Except Sometimes”

Sounds funny, doesn't it?  But that's part of the title of a consumer survey recently completed by the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG): "A...

Panda’s CloudAntivirus Update

When I turned on my laptop this morning, I was greeted with a red X on the Panda icon in my system tray. When I clicked on it, the program informed me that my beta version would expire in 10 days and I should download the latest release. I was ready for a sales pitch; I’m happy to say there...

FAA Gives PKWare’s SecureZip Stamp of Approval

It doesn't surprise me that the inventor of the ZIP file format was recently awarded a large enterprise software license and maintenance agreement from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). What does surprise me is that with my network of security news sources, I hadn't heard about this...

“14 Golden Rules of Computer Security” Nearing Completion

My new eBook, "14 Golden Rules of Computer Security" is almost complete and will be ready for downloading shortly. Written with the non-technical person in mind, the book is packed with proven, practical advice on how to stay safe on the Wild, Wild Web including bonus articles about creating...

Search for Screensavers at Your Own Risk

Enter “screensavers” into any major search engine and there’s better than a fifty percent chance that any result you click on will land you on a malicious website. According to McAfee’s recently released report “

Can Your iEi be Improved?

Last month, I posted "What’s Your Identity Exposure Index?" I've had some interesting feedback. This one stood out:

I was really interested in your...

10 Immutable Laws of Security Administration

My last post on this subject discussed the 10 Immutable Laws of Security. This one takes the next step--also a Microsoft "archived" essay, but still relevant today. These are so self-evident that...

10 Immutable Laws of Security

I search the web constantly for security-related news and content. One day last month, I came across a series of articles on TechNet buried in the archive. Microsoft prefaces the articles with this statement: "Archived content. No warranty is made as to...

NoScript Blocks Latest Firefox Bug

Got NoScript? If not, get it--the latest Firefox bug, an XML tag remote memory corruption vulnerability released on Wednesday, is mitigated by having the NoScript addon installed. The bug can be exploited by a malicious...