SC Department of Revenue cyber attack exposes 3.6 million social security numbers

A data breech due to a cyber attack on a South Carolina Department of Revenue web server has exposed a potential 3.6 million SC social security numbers and approximately 387,000 debit card numbers, however, the official report indicates that only a small portion of the card numbers were not encrypted. You can read about the attack timeline and response here and …

Relying on Jesus for computer and network security will not protect you

I bet that title got your attention! But according to a list of passwords examined, “Jesus” will not protect you, as it is on SplashData’s list of password’s that are considered unsafe due to the sheer usage of them. Obviously, “password” is the worst, followed by “123456” and “12345678”. I stole the following list of passwords from SplashData from the …

Remotely monitor mountain or beach home with video surveillance

Some people are fortunate enough to own multiple properties, a home they live in, and then a home at the beach or in the mountains. However, one of the problems with owning these remote properties is that you can’t be there to keep up with what is going on. You have no idea who is parking in your driveway, dumping …

Mass murder via computer malware in medical devices #MurderByMalware

Imagine you have a pacemaker installed, and suddenly, the device discharges 830 volts into your body, certainly a fatal incident. Now imagine that it is not accidental, but instead, a computer is used to make a wireless connection and cause this behavior to occur.  Murder by Malware if you will…  Or, due to a “feature” in the pacemaker itself, multiple …

Helpdesk Upgrade Alert – Your Mailbox is almost full scam emails still going around

An email arrives in your inbox with the subject of “Helpdesk Upgrade Alert”, tells you that your mailbox is almost full, and it includes a handy indicator saying that of your 244 MB quota, you have used 241MB. The text reads, “The Helpdesk is upgrading and maintaining database Server from the old Microsoft Server (No420134x) to the new Microsoft Server …

Microsoft Windows 7 Malware Infection Rate on the Rise

Microsoft’s Security Intelligence Report, Volume 13 is full of information that will cause your eyes to bleed, but one tidbit that is important to take note of is that Windows 7 malware infection rates are on the rise. Computer World has a great article on the subject at this link, and a spiffy graph that looks like this: From the …

Hackers can turn your computer into a bomb!

A little humor for your Friday… Thanks to Adrian Lamo for reminding me about this jewel from World Net News… Apparently, hackers can turn your computer into a bomb and blow your family to smithereens. If they can do this to your HOME computer, imagine what they can do with your more powerful work computer!  You better get updates on …

Mozilla Firefox 16 browser released and then pulled due to security concerns

Did you download the new release of the popular Mozilla Firefox 16 browser? Undownload it. If you are like a number of our clients who use Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers because you believe them to be safer than Microsoft Internet Explorer, then you are likely to be disappointed in the version of Mozilla Firefox released recently as it …

Octoberfest? No, it’s just time for a bunch of Microsoft Office Updates! Get ’em installed!

Here we are, another Patch Tuesday, where Microsoft makes updates available to their products. The Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for October 2012 indicates there are seven bulletins that will be addressed today.  They include: Critical – Remote code execution – Affecting Microsoft Office and Microsoft Server Important – Remote code execution – Affecting Microsoft Office Important – Elevation of privilege …

You need a second pair of eyes on your business computer, server & network

If you maintain your own company computer, server & network or do you have someone in-house that does, it might be a good idea to get a second pair of eyes to give your business infrastructure a once-0ver. If you are like most people, when everything is running well, you get comfortable and begin to do the job you were …