I decided four weeks ago to uninstall both Adobe Flash and pdf readers from a work computer. The motivation for this move stemmed from the increase in Flash and pdf specific exploits and attacks that put a computer system at risk. There was a downside to it as it became quite complicated to view Flash [...]

Categories: Tutorials Basic

The trash (or “Recycle bin”) is a sane concept of our operating systems. A file sent to the trash can be recovered if the user realizes the file was still needed after all. Now, the problem is: when should you empty the trash? If you never empty it, it grows and wastes valuable disk space [...]

Categories: Advice, Linux, Open Source, Tools, Tutorials Advanced

A standard Windows operating system has a number of ports open after installation. Some of these ports are needed for the system to function properly while others might not. These ports can pose a security risk as every open port on a system might be an entry point for a malicious user. A port basically [...]

Categories: Security, Software, Windows

A recent security software trend seems to be to offer multiple editions of a program that differ in functionality in price. If you look at companies like Microsoft, Symantec or Kaspersky you notice that they all offer different editions of their programs. Security software in particular is offering two, three or sometimes even more different [...]

Categories: Software, Windows

If there is one thing that you do not want to read as a web browser user or browser manufacturer it is that your browser has been exploited at a security conference while others have not. The Pwn2Own security conference is a competitive gathering of security experts who try to successfully compromise computer systems using [...]

Categories: Browsing, Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Security

You’ve heard that Linux is a very secure operating system. You’ve heard it’s practically immune to viruses (practically being the key word). You’ve heard it’s tough to crack. These are all true…and with good reason. Linux is such a strong operating system for two primary reasons – by design and with the help of security [...]

Categories: Linux, Open Source, Security, Tutorials Basic

Twitter has been targeted by users with malicious intents ever since it started to become increasingly popular. One of the biggest problems up to yesterday were direct messages which one Twitter user could send to another. Links posted in those direct messages were not scanned by Twitter before they were send out, only after they [...]

Categories: Security, The Web

A recently released technical paper entitled “Chip and pin is broken” by security researchers Steven Murdoch, Saar Drimer, Mike Bond and Ross Anderson demonstrates a man in the middle attack that lets criminals use stolen payment cards without knowing the pin. This is obviously a serious security problem as banks have always claimed that the [...]

Categories: Security

Mozilla performs antivirus scans on add-ons that are added by developers to the add-on repository. These add-ons are then offered as experimental add-ons until they pass a human review which adds them fully to the add-on directory. It came to light today that two add-ons that have been offered at the add-on repository had been [...]

Categories: Browsing, Firefox, Security