Security

Is your iPhone overheating? Are you vunerable to an Apple SMS security issue? In IT Blogwatch, bloggers debate problems with their shiny, precious, hot things.

By Richi Jennings: your humble blogwatcher, who independently selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention more Error'd...

Michael Jackson wasn’t dead six hours when I already heard the first of several (bad) jokes about the superstar.  In the same vein, fraudsters were already taking advantage of the public’s curiosity within minutes of his death. These miscreants know that information seekers are more readily lured to bogus sites so that they’ll be on top of the latest dirt.

Usenet.com has lost its copyright lawsuit vs. the RIAA over MP3 filesharing. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers debate the latest battle in the copyright war and the legal nicities of the Betamax Defense.

By Richi Jennings: your humble blogwatcher, who selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention how we used to play games on phones...

In this special IT Blogwatch, we look back at what bloggers were saying about IT news in June. From iPhones to aviation and from H-1B workers to Windows 7, bloggers blogged it and your humble blogwatcher watched it.

By Richi Jennings: your humble blogwatcher, who selects bloggy morsels for your enjoyment every day. Not to mention how we used to play games on phones...

Someone commandeered the social networking site's mail server to spam 2,000 journalists. Was it hackers having fun - or was it a reputation attack?

Linux users like to snicker at Windows users because, while they constantly need to reboot, we may need to reboot every few months. Thanks to a rapidly maturing new project, Ksplice, Linux fans may soon never need to reboot again.

Redmond has released the beta of Morro, or Microsoft Security Essentials. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers and Slashdotters download and dissect the free malware protection program. It raises questions of trust and anti-trust; plus analogies with cars and, yes, Nazis.

By Richi Jennings, your humble blogwatcher, who has selected these bloggy tidbits for your enjoyment. Not to mention a futuristic movie timeline...

This company's patch committee has been meeting every month on the day after Patch Tuesday for years. So why do the committee members find themselves suddenly bumped from their meeting room one Wednesday?

Alan Ralsky and four other conspirators plead guilty to CAN-SPAM offenses. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers watch them face total federal sentencing guidelines of 24 years in jail and a $2,135,000 fine. This some 18 months after the grand jury indictment.

By Richi Jennings, your humble blogwatcher, who has selected these bloggy tidbits for your enjoyment. Not to mention error'd...

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My eldest brother was never one to let anyone push him around. Many years ago as a teen, he got into a serious scuffle with another teenaged boy in a dimly lit parking lot. The fight allegedly ended in a draw and as my brother was walking away, the guy came up from behind him and punched him hard enough to knock him nearly unconscious and leaving him with a black eye.  

The massive protests in Iran are powered by access to Facebook, Twitter and other Internet services even though the Iranian government has blocked access to them from inside Iran. How are the Iranians managing to get to the sites? Here are four tools and techniques Iranians are using to evade Internet censorship.

As the unfolding events in Iran show, the most important tool for those who want to fight for their freedom is access to the Internet. Facebook, Twitter, email and other Internet services help people organize protests, and give them access to a weapon even more powerful than bullets: information. If President Obama and Congress want to spread freedom throughout the world, the best thing they can do is support the so-called Internet freedom initiative, which would give $50 million for censor-busting technologies like proxy servers.

After my niece badly corrupted her PC a few years ago after using Kazaa, I’ve been left with a bad taste in my mouth for that file-sharing site. I’m a huge music fan, and sharing music online is pretty much Kazaa’s raison d’etre. But I don’t go there because I know it’s rife with spyware and adware. I hadn’t heard much about it recently.

Just surf the net and you’ll be offered plenty of opportunity to buy into some bogus antivirus promotions. Even legitimate web sites are teeming with these scareware pitches. If you click on one of the links to learn more about “protecting” your hard drive, you’ll get bombarded with continued sales pitches – even if you decline purchase. If you do make the purchase then all you’ll end up with is some cyber snake oil for your PC – no real antivirus protection. You will have added to the coffers of the scareware purveyors though.

The WHO will shortly declare swine H1 a true pandemic. Fortunately, the disease is still mild enough to allow for preparation, planning and a LOT of serious thinking.