Rep. Adam Putnam, (R-Fla.) in conjunction with the House Government Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census, issued a comparison chart, using an A through F grading scheme, to evaluate government agency information security in 2002 and 2003. It should be noted that the governmentwide average rose from an F… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: PC Security
Advocacy Group Issues New Report on Spyware
From the Center on Democracy and Technology (CDT), a new report, Ghosts in Our Machines: Background and Policy Proposals on the “Spyware” Problem” offers a straight-forward review of how spyware programs operate, how to locate and disable them, and federal laws that in some measure address this technology, albeit with less than satisfactory results for… Continue Reading
Variant of Worm Seeks to Steal Credit Card Info
New worm variant targets identity data: A new twist has been applied to an email worm, called Mimail, that appeared this past August, and it has been harnassed specifically to steal credit card data from customers of PayPal, the online payment service, which is owned by eBay. Continue Reading
Hearing on Computer Viruses
The House Energy and Commerce Committee Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee held a hearing on November 6 entitled, Computer Viruses: The Disease, the Detection, and the Prescription for Protection: Prepared testimony from – Richard D. Pethia, Director, CERT Coordination Center; Ken Silva, Vice President, VeriSign Inc.; John W. Thompson, Chairman & CEO, Symantec Corporation. Continue Reading
Microsoft Posts Bounty for Hackers
“Microsoft Corp. today announced the creation of the Anti-Virus Reward Program, initially funded with $5 million (U.S.), to help law enforcement agencies identify and bring to justice those who illegally release damaging worms, viruses and other types of malicious code on the Internet. Microsoft will provide the monetary rewards for information resulting in the arrest… Continue Reading
Microsoft’s New Digital Rights Management System
Microsoft’s new Windows Server 2003 allows users to implement digital rights management applications for Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents as well as Outlook emails. [Link] See my previous posting on this new version here. Microsoft’s press releases is here. See also Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing White Paper, September 12, 2003. Continue Reading
Recommendations to Improve PC Security and Privacy
The Great American Privacy Makeover: “An exclusive PC World survey reveals that even savvy Web users can do more to safeguard their privacy and data.” Continue Reading
Microsoft Updates May Become Automatic
According to PCWorld.com, Microsoft may institute automatic security updates via a default option. Continue Reading
House Approves Bill on Gov’t PC Security and File Sharing
See H.R. 3159 [Report No. 108-305], To require Federal agencies to develop and implement plans to protect the security and privacy of government computer systems from the risks posed by peer-to-peer file sharing. Continue Reading
Report on Trusted Computing
The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s new report, Trusted Computing: Promise and Risk: “…a straightforward change to the plans of trusted computing vendors could leave the security benefits intact while ensuring that a PC owner’s will always trumps the wishes of those who’ve loaded software or data onto the PC. Continue Reading
What is Stealthware and How to Be Rid of It
From PCWorld.com, this article has some useful information about malicious applications that can bypass your firewall and clutter your computer screen with unwanted ads and plug-ins. Suggested solutions include the use of programs, available in free and fee versions, that identify and delete stealthware (including Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-aware 6). Continue Reading
Computer Security Groups Work to Stop Threat of Computer Worms
Sleuths Try to Stay Step Ahead of Online Worms. Computer security and antivirus companies around the world are working to stay one step ahead of viruses that are increasingly impacting corporations, government agencies and home users. These “virus sleuths” are also assisting the FBI to track down and minimize the damage from malicious worms such… Continue Reading
