security

Don’t post Facebook photos of yourself with large sums of money

Dave Farquhar security

If you needed another warning to be careful what you’re posting on Facebook, there’s this: Seven hours after a 17-year-old Australian posted a picture of herself counting a large sum of money belonging to her grandmother, two armed robbers showed up at her house.

In their media release detailing the robbery, the New South Wales police closed with this statement: “The incident has prompted police to remind users of social media to take extreme caution when posting photographs and personal information.”
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Only eleven percent of used hard drives contain recoverable data?

Dave Farquhar Hardware, security , ,

I read the shocking news that 11% of used hard drives in the UK contain recoverable personal data.

The news is shocking, of course, that it isn’t much higher. Read more

How to rent a house without getting your identity stolen

Dave Farquhar scams, security ,

I know a family that’s trying to rent a house. All they really want is something that’s a reasonable commute from work, in a safe area, with a fenced yard for their young son to play in, a basement to take cover in during severe storms, and a little bit of room for storage–in a decent school district.

That’s not as easy to find as it used to be. He’s actually finding more scams than houses that fit his criteria. As a full-time security professional and a part-time landlord, here’s what I want you to know about renting a house.

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There’s no need to apologize for having a Yahoo or Gmail account

Dave Farquhar security , ,

I saw an assertion last week that Yahoo and Gmail accounts are less secure than an account that came straight from your ISP. Perhaps there was a time when this was true, but no longer. Today there are reasons to believe the exact opposite is true.

So, no, you don’t have to apologize for using a Yahoo or a Gmail account.
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Chained-word passwords

Dave Farquhar security

Tom Gatermann asked me about a new password concept. How about, instead of 16 characters of gobbledygook, you chained together three unrelated words and separated them with garbage characters?

It would be easier to remember. But is it strong enough?

I think he’s just trying to get me to do math. But let’s look and see. Read more

The real benefits of having a CISSP

Dave Farquhar security , , , , , ,

Another question from the big box o’ Google search queries: What are the real benefits of having a CISSP?

I don’t want to be flip, but here it is in two words: job security. Read more

Things I wish everyone knew about home Mac security

Dave Farquhar Macintosh, security , , , , , , , , ,

On Wednesday evening, I wrote about basic computer security from a Windows-centric perspective. I knew some people who needed help in a hurry, and given there was a 90% or so chance they were running Windows, I took that route.

Some of my buddies who use Macs passed it along. And much of what I said then does apply, but I’d like to clarify a few of those points.
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Is the Windows firewall safe enough?

Dave Farquhar security , , , , ,

Is the Windows Firewall safe enough? I wish more people would ask that question rather than make assumptions.

I wish I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard an unsubstantiated statement like “Windows firewall is junk.” I went looking, and the best I could find was this, an editorial that said it doesn’t do enough to address outbound connections, particularly on a program-by-program basis.

OK, point taken. But “enough” is a moving target.

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Things I wish everyone knew about home computer security

Dave Farquhar security , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m a security professional by trade, with two certifications. I’m not responsible for defending your computer networks, but I want your networks to be secure. There’s a really simple reason for that. If your computer and your network is secure, then it isn’t attacking mine. Or anyone else’s.

Several fellow subscribers to a train-related interest group that I like got hacked recently, and have been sending out spam messages. They’ve received a lot of advice in the hours since. Some of it has been good, and some not as good. So I tried to think of some things that people could do in about 30 minutes to keep the crooks at bay.

Incidentally, the computer crooks won’t be going away. Computer crime happens because the criminals can make more money doing that than doing something legal. The only way to make it stop is to make it too hard, so that getting a real job becomes more profitable. You won’t solve that problem in 30 minutes, but if we all take that single step down that road, we’ll make the world that much safer. So, with that, let’s roll up our sleeves. Read more

Getting Firefox out of the doldrums

Dave Farquhar security, Software , ,

John C. Dvorak asks what’s wrong with Firefox, and suggests forking as a possible solution.

It sounds to me like one or more plugins he’s running is causing problems. I run Firefox on Vista (unfortunately), with as few plugins as possible, and I don’t have the issues he describes. Memory usage does spiral out of control if I go long enough between restarting the browser, but restarting the browser once a week keeps it tolerable.
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