I warned a few days ago about Linksys routers being trivially easy to hack; unfortunately many other popular routers have security vulnerabilities too. The experts cited in the article have a few recommendations, which I will repeat and elaborate on.
All posts tagged encryption
Linksys isn’t the only company building insecure routers
Posted by Dave Farquhar on April 18, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/04/linksys-isnt-the-only-company-building-insecure-routers/
Don’t read too much into the PC sales drop just yet
If you’ve been paying any attention at all, you probably know that new PC sales are in the toilet–out of the five biggest vendors, the only one whose sales managed to hold steady in Q1 2013 was Lenovo, while the other four saw a sales decline. So now Slashdot linked to a ZDNet piece stating [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on April 17, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/04/dont-read-too-much-into-the-pc-sales-drop-just-yet/
The 1 TB-ish SSD: The Micron M500
Anandtech has a review of the Micron M500, which is the first 960 GB SSD to retail for less than $600. Micron had to make some decisions to get that combination of capacity and price, so it’s not truly a no-compromises SSD, but like the article states, it’s a not-quite-a-terabyte capacity at the price that [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on April 14, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/04/the-1-tb-ish-ssd-the-micron-m500/
How to set up powerline networking securely
When you live in a neighborhood where everyone has a wireless network, you’ll struggle to get adequate coverage in every room of your home. That’s just the nature of wireless networking; we don’t have enough non-overlapping channels to cover everyone. I’ve heard a number of complaints lately that U-Verse isn’t reliable, but I’ve traced that [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on February 25, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/02/how-to-set-up-powerline-networking-securely/
Ars Technica looks at asymmetric enryption
Ars Technica posted an overview of asymmetric encryption recently.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on February 18, 2013
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2013/02/ars-technica-looks-at-asymmetric-enryption/
How to encrypt PDF files for free
Yesterday I wrote about the importance of encrypting documents before you send them via e-mail. But what if you don’t have a PDF creator, other than Microsoft Office or Open/Libre Office? It turns out you can encrypt PDF documents, including those you create with office software, for free–with caveats.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on October 10, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/10/how-to-encrypt-pdf-files-for-free/
How to send banking documents securely over e-mail
When you’re getting a loan, sometimes you have to send documents like bank statements electronically. If you want the money in those bank accounts to actually stay there, you need to protect those documents before you send them. There are three relatively easy ways to do it, depending on what software you and the person [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on October 9, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/10/how-to-send-banking-documents-securely-over-e-mail/
Office 2010, early impressions
I’ve mentioned several times that I hadn’t seen Office 2010 yet, so I couldn’t comment on it, and would reserve judgment until I’ve seen it. I’ve been working for companies that were a bit behind the times on that. I’ve been working with it for a week now. I won’t be buying it for my [...]
Posted by Dave Farquhar on September 3, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/09/office-2010-early-impressions/
Don’t let what happened to Mat Honan happen to you
Technology journalist Mat Honan infamously had his entire digital life hacked and erased this week. Slate published some advice to keep the same from happening to you, and my former classmate and newspaper staff mate Theo Hahn asked me to comment.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on August 9, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/08/dont-let-what-happened-to-mat-honan-happen-to-you/
The CP/M-DOS forensics don’t prove much
I saw the headline on Slashdot: Forensic evidence trying to prove whether MS-DOS contained code lifted from CP/M. That got my attention, as the connection between MS-DOS and its predecessor, CP/M, is one of the great unsolved mysteries of computing. Unfortunately, the forensic evidence doesn’t prove a lot.
Posted by Dave Farquhar on August 7, 2012
http://dfarq.homeip.net/2012/08/the-cpm-dos-forensics-dont-prove-much/