Archive for the ‘Web Security’ Category

Mozilla Firefox updated to version 3.6

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

The second most used internet browser, the Mozilla Firefox experienced an update to version 3.6 on 14th of January. A lot of changes could be seen on the browser as it moves forward to secure its position further against its archrival, Google Chrome that is slowly gaining in terms of market share.

One notable feature of Firefox version 3.6 is its visual tweaks making it look a lot more elegant as compared with the previous versions. In addition to that, users experiencing this newest version of Firefox will also experience an improvement in its overall performance. However, this increase in performance is still lacking behind Google Chrome which is a lot speedier as compared with Firefox.

There has also been a change in the TraceMonkey JavaScript program encrypted in the software which increases the overall performance of the rendering engine by more than 20% as compared with Mozilla Firefox version 3.5.

The Mozilla Firefox 3.6 is one of the few internet browsers capable of reading HTML 5 pages. This however, isn’t new as the support was already done in its previous version.

As usual, the Persona themes add-on still makes Firefox customizable in terms of design. There are a lot of themes available at the Persona site and many of these themes have great designs as well.

Updating to the latest version of Firefox is a must as it covers a lot of interesting improvements. Those wanting to do so can either download Firefox 3.6 at http://www.getfirefox.com or click on Check for Updates under the Help tab.

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Virtual Bodyguards: Choosing the Best Internet Security Suite

Monday, September 28th, 2009

The list of the number of threats to your computer is increasing everyday which is why an Internet security suite is a must to use. During the early 80’s you could actually use a computer without any antivirus protection by carefully browsing safe websites. Today, this does not hold true. The developers of this malicious software are finding ways to exploit your system. Every computer today is at risk of these threats if no protection is installed in them. These threats comes in different forms right now and are even packaged to deceived you that is why we need a comprehensive suite to better protect our computers. Below is a list of some of the best Internet security suites we could get for our computer.

Symantec Norton Internet Security 2009

This is one of the most comprehensive protections you can get for your computer. Although a bit pricey, coming in at $70 with a 3 user license, it is a solid choice. It can effectively detect malware and can in fact eliminate most of them. Adware and rootkit detection is also one of the strengths of this suite. Out of the ten rootkits randomly installed in the computer it eliminated 9 of them. The new feature called Norton Insight determines trusted applications in your computer. This in effect speeds up the scanning process making your computer run faster. Antispam features are being integrated into your Outlook Express and Outlook to easily get rid of those unwanted emails.

BitDefender Internet Security 2009

Coming at second place is BitDefender. It offers you a strong protection system and only costs $40 for a single user license. One of its best features is detecting plugged in portable devices. As we all know, lots of malicious software are spread through these USB flash drives. A popup message would automatically appear once you plug in a portable storage device asking you to scan it.

Panda Internet Security 2009

This is a good security suite to have costing only $50 for a single license. Its lab results for detection of malware and spyware were just average. It has a hard time in stopping password stealing spywares; during tests it only stopped 70 percent of the spywares. One of its strengths is its Collective Intelligence feature. What it does is it sends the signature of scanned files to the Panda servers which are then compared on its database to determine if it is a malware.

McAfee Internet Security Suite 2009

At $60 for a 3 user license this security suite offers you a decent protection. First let’s look at its strengths. It has a new Internet based scan feature called Artemis. What it does is it compares the signatures of scanned files in your computer to the McAfee servers to see if they are potential threats. It also has a user friendly interface making it the easiest to use and understand. The downside to this suite is that its malware detection is just average. While other security suites give you a warning on a particular malware, this one doesn’t. The on-access scan is slow, making your computer slow down in speed as well.

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Top 4 Common Online Security Threats

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

These days a lot of people are doing important transactions over the Internet.  The convenience of doing most of your tasks online like shopping and bank transactions has provided us with the luxury of time. Instead of going to the bank to transfer funds to your other account you could now do it at the convenience of your home. Doing our business online has its disadvantages though which comes in many different forms from malwares, trojans or viruses.  If you are not careful, all of your important details can be accessed by other people. Here are some of the most common threats that you may encounter and how to defend yourself against it.

Browser Cache

To be able to speed up your browsing experience a browser saves information of your regularly visited sites. The information could be text, images or codes of the webpage and is used the next time you visit the page.  How is this then a security threat? Well for starters you can learn a lot about a person from the webpage visited. Let’s say you just came from your doctor who diagnosed you with a serious ailment that you would like to keep secret. You go home and try to do research on this ailment and then forgot to clear up your browser cache. Chances are someone would know what particular ailment you have just by checking on the browser history.

To make sure that you do not leave traces of any website you visited always make it a point to clear the cache and cookies of your browser after you have used it. Internet Explorer 8 has a feature called InPrivate which eliminates your online history when you close your IE8.

Public Computers

There are lots of cybercafés now offering cheap PC rentals. Because lots of people use these computers, chances are they are infected with trojans whose main function is to steal your passwords. Almost all of these public PCs are not closely monitored by their owners making them susceptible to infection. Once you try to access your email on any of these infected PCs your password would then be known and the ones responsible for the infection can then sell your email information to spammers.

If you need to use a public computer try to bring a portable flash drive with a portable scanner like ClamWin installed and scan the computer you will be using for malicious programs. If the public PC you are using allows you to boot to USB then try to have bootable operating system in your USB flash drive like Knoppix or Ubuntu so that you can use your own operating system.

Social Networking

A lot of people are signing up to social networking sites nowadays. Services like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter let’s you get connected with your friends. Sharing of information such as photos and videos has never been easier. Some people are also taking advantage of these social networking sites by spreading their malicious software. Have you ever received a message in your Facebook inbox which provides a link to a particular website promising you a funny video or picture only to find out later that you are redirected to an infected website? A lot of people have already fallen victim to this creative way of spreading malicious software.
To protect yourself avoid clicking on these links even if they come from your trusted friends.  Make it a habit to constantly change your password as well so as to prevent your account from being used by someone else.

Fake Internet Security Suite Offers

Have you ever gotten one of those pop-up windows from your browser telling you that your computer is infected? Or maybe it’s telling you to scan your computer? It then provides a solution by selling you an anti malware software probably named AntiVirus X, AntiVirus 2009, DriveCleaner for $50. These supposedly security software is in fact the malwares itself.

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A small insight into the world of WEB SECURITY:

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

A small introduction:

Internet is almost regarded as the backbone of any technology or any corporation in the world, and there are millions of users who connect with each other for various reasons. With such a high exposure, the possibility of any sort of attack or loss of data due to any security issue is very high. Whenever a user connects to any network a risk is involved, which could be overcome by proper protection of the computer and by monitoring the traffic in the network. Some of the very common modes of creating a secure network are by setting passwords or by changing the file sharing permissions.

Classification:

Web security is broadly classified as internet security and email security and a person who is in charge of the process of securing a computer over a network is called a network security or web security professional. The major work of a secure network is to filter out unwanted traffic and detect the intrusions that may occur.

  • Internet Security:

As the name suggests, internet security usually secures the user’s computer in the internet. There are specifically designed applications for this purpose, and this software makes sure that the user’s computer is secured. With the potential number of computers that connect to an internet increasing day by day, it is of utmost importance that these computers and the software’s are frequently updated on a regular basis. A web browser would also inversely affect the web security of a computer, so always a bit of research is recommended before installing any web browser or any other application that uses the internet.

  • Email Security:

Email is a very integral part of the internet, and is most vulnerable to outside attacks. Usually a lot of viruses, worms and Trojans are spread through emails. The solution is to have software that would scan each mail that is being sent or received from a computer. Setting up of proper email filters ensure that unknown emails are always sent to a junk folder.

Securing the internet sessions are the latest means of securing a computer. When a session is secure it means that, there would be pre-defined amount of time after which the user would be required to log in again. This ensures that there is no misuse of the account concerned.

Frequently used applications for web security:

Some of the frequently used applications for web security include firewalls and anti-spywares. With the use of software’s like these, the user can prevent a lot of security issues.

  • Firewall:

A firewall is a computer application that helps in prevention of unauthorized access. They usually can filter both the incoming as well as the outgoing traffic of a computer when connected to a network.

  • Anti-Spyware:

Spywares are present in very large numbers, and the only to counter them, is by using anti-spyware applications.

The Future:

With the economy as well as day to-day life becoming more dependent on the internet and the World Wide Web, it is always necessary to make sure that the system which is in place is secure. If security fails, it is equivalent to losing out your money as well as precious time.

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