Articles about Security

By far the biggest releases of the past week come from Microsoft. The up-coming Windows 8 is now really not too far away and you can check to see whether your computer is going to be able to run it by downloading yourself a copy of Microsoft Windows 8 Release Preview Setup. This simple little tool can also be used to obtain a product key that can be used to install Microsoft Windows 8 Release Preview (32-bit) or Microsoft Windows 8 Release Preview (64-bit).

Whether you are using the very latest version of Windows or a slightly older one, security is of the utmost importance, and ZoneAlarm Free 10.2.47.0 is a free firewall that helps to protect your internet connection, while IObit Advanced SystemCare 5.3.0.246 is a complete security suite with added optimization options. From the same stables, there is also IObit Advanced SystemCare with Antivirus 2012 (v5.5.2) Beta 2 add virus protection in this preview release.

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A hacker going by the handle ".c0mrade" claims to have hacked the U.S. Navy's site navy.mil, and has published a partial list of the information he obtained in a pastebin dump.

According to security analysis group IdentityFinder, the breach includes the "Data Profiles" of 29 accounts on navy.mil servers, as well as a description of navy.mil subdomains and servers.

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Venture-backed startup Safe Shepherd is a service we can really get behind. Users sign up and enter their personal information (personal names or aliases, email addresses, phone numbers, mailing addresses, etc.) into a profile, and Safe Shepherd locates that information on data broker websites and then erases it.

It helps protect your information against sites like BeenVerified.com, Radaris, Spokeo, and RapLeaf, which scrape whatever data they can find and sell it to marketers, or even worse, to potential identity thieves.

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The news and specualtion around Win32/Flamer is extensive and complex. While it is understandable that what appears to be a sophisticated threat found in several regions, some of them particularly politically sensitive, has excited so much interest. Conflicting conjecture and confusion over the "ownership" of the detection is muddying the waters somewhat.

According to the Iran National CERT, it had detection (but not removal) for the malware in early May, but Kaspersky claims it’s been in the wild since March 2010. This seems to be the same malware theat that the Laboratory of Cryptography and System Security (CrySyS) in Budapest calls sKyWIper (which they believe may have been active for 5-8 years or even longer).  However, it looks as if those assumptions on timing are incorrect: module compilation dates have been manipulated, presumably in order to hamper researchers in some way.

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Security researchers are warning of what they call one of the most sophisticated worms to date, and believe that this time, the worm may be the work of a nation-state rather than hackers. Called "Flame", the Trojan has hit Middle Eastern countries particularly hard, most notably Iran.

According to Kaspersky, Flame is capable of stealing "computer display contents, information about targeted systems, stored files, contact data and even audio conversations". The worm appears to be targeted to specific computers, likely indicating its creators are searching for specific information.

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May is coming to a close, and as June beckons there are still countless software releases to keep track of. If you’ve had trouble keeping up with everything, this handy roundup is here to bring you up to speed.

This past week saw the release of WikidPad 2.1_01, a wiki-style text editor that can be used to capture thoughts and ideas -- stored locally or exported as an HTML file to upload to the web. If you need to store reminders of things you need to do and appointments you need to attend, PNotes 9.0.107 is a great sticky note tool that may be able to help you out. There’s also PNotes Portable 9 for anyone who likes the idea of running the same program from a USB drive. If pictures are more important to you than words, Juicebox 1.0.2 can be used to create a stunning gallery to show off your digital photos -- all in HTML5 glory.

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While there are still Mac users who will proclaim that their systems are immune to viruses and malware, recent high-profile virus infections show that this is simply not the case. Even for anyone still convinced that their computer is immune to viruses, if a Mac is on the same network as a PC, it can easily be used to pass a virus to a Windows-based machine. This is just one of the reasons that Mac virus protection is much more important than many people believe, and Symantec’s newly released iAntivirus is a free tool that could help to bolster security.

If you have used any of Symantec’s security software for Windows, taking a look at the antivirus tool that has been released for OS X is going to come as a little bit of a shock. Minimal is a word that best describes not only the app’s interface, but also its feature set. Rather than on-going background protection against viruses and other forms of malware, all that is on offer here is on-demand scanning -- although you do have the choice of performing a scan of your entire system, your Home folder or other locations.

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ESET has released Rogue Applications Remover, a stand-alone console tool that tries to remove rogue antivirus and similar unwanted malware which regular security tools might miss.

The program is very basic, with minimal options. There’s no real-time protection here, no options beyond a few command line switches, it’s really just about running on-demand scans and watching as your system is checked for threats.

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When you need to carry sensitive data on a USB key then it’s easy to find an encryption tool which will help to keep it safe. But life gets a little more complicated when you need to transfer your files from a PC to a Mac, or maybe a Linux system: now you’ll need a cross-platform solution, and we have the perfect candidate in mind.

Encryption Wizard is an easy-to-use, yet surprisingly powerful Java-based encryption tool. Developed by the US military (a plus point or a problem, depending on your point of view) but available for all, the program provides a straightforward way to protect confidential files on USB keys (or anywhere else, really).

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When you’re manually hunting for malware on a PC then you might start by launching Task Manager, Process Explorer, Process Hacker or a similar tool to see exactly what’s running. But these programs generally won’t directly tell you which processes are safe, and which might be dubious: you’ll have to look at what they’re doing and try to figure this out for yourself.

If this seems a little too much like hard work, though (or you’d just like some pointers to tell you where to look first), then you might be interested in System Security Guard, a very simple tool which can check your running processes for known threats.

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On Monday, hacktivist group Anonymous announced it will be releasing 1.7 gigabytes of private data it has acquired from the United States Department of Justice, in an event it called "Monday Mail Mayhem." The group claimed the act was being done to "spread information, to allow the people to be heard and to know the corruption in their government. We are releasing it to end the corruption that exists, and truly make those who are being oppressed free."

New York-based security company Identity Finder ran an analysis on the data after it was released on Tuesday, and found the file dump actually contained no sensitive personal information, no secret internal documents, and no internal emails.

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The ever-present need for security means that every account that you have online, and probably on your computer as well, needs to be protected with a username and password. If you have taken the wise step of ensuring that all of your passwords are different, this will undoubtedly mean that you have an incredible number of passwords to remember.

Sticky Password is a free tool that can store all of your passwords in a secure database and save you having to remember them by automatically filling in login information for you. Sticky Password 6.0 has just been released and there’s a lot to look forward.

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Halfway through May and the software release schedule shows no sign of abating, and beta releases stand out over the past week. Some of the biggest releases come from security experts Norton, which updated 2013 public betas. Norton AntiVirus 2013 v20.0.0.106 beta, Norton Internet Security 2013 v20.0.0.106 beta and Norton 360 2013 v20.0.0.106 beta provide an early look at what to expect from the upcoming security line, and all of these tools are free during the beta testing period.

But Norton is far from the only name in the security world, and ESET Smart Security 6 Beta (32-bit) includes not only antivirus protection but a firewall and interesting anti-theft features for laptop users; there’s also a 64-bit version of the program available -- ESET Smart Security 6 Beta (64-bit).

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ESET has released NOD32 Antivirus 6 and Smart Security 6 to public beta, and is attempting to lure early adopters by offering a chance to win one of 500 one-year licences for Smart Security.

Top of the new feature list must be Anti-Theft, a web service which aims to help you locate missing devices. If you’ve enabled anything similar on your phone or tablet then you’ll know what to expect – you can log on with a browser, perhaps see the position of your device on a map, view grabs of the laptop’s screen, and so on but it’s still a welcome addition to the packages. (Although it’s in NOD32 solely for the beta: normally Anti-Theft will be in Smart Security only.)

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LastPass.com, developer of the LastPass family of password-storage products, has released a new free app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. LastPass Wallet is designed to give iOS users a taster of the LastPass feature set by providing a tool for viewing, creating and managing secure notes, one of the service’s lesser known features.

The app provides templates for users to quickly create notes for sensitive personal information often found in the user’s wallet or purse, such as credit card details, passport number and wireless passwords.

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