How to recognize untrustworthy computer security companies

A blog post on Bruce Schneier's personal blog brought to my attention a video commercial from someone who is arguably the worst representative of the computer security industry.

See the video here. But be warned, the company who put out the ad wants you to Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid. (The link to the video does not go to the company mentioned.)

So, how to recognize a bad IT guy from a good IT guy? The bad ones are the ones who speak in hip-hop gangsta language, or who respond to email correspondence like this:

"(name of emailer) you are a fucking joke!!!!! You been doing pen test for 6 years I have been doing for 27 years. I have been in business for 20 years doing it. I wrote 8 books on security. I have contracts with goverment agencies. I will challenge you and any one who wants to go up against me. We can put up $1 million each and have the processed go to charity. If you don't have a $1 million lying around then you are not a real hacker. 6 years is a joke. You are still a rookie!!!!!!! Now I am call you and everyone else out!!!!!"

Also, the bad ones are the ones who try to frighten you into buying their product or hiring their services.
I think that's called a protection racket.

New malware threat turns out to be only hype

Researchers at the pay-us-to-fix-a-problem-only-we-know-about website matousec.com have recently been getting alot of press stemming from their conclusion that all anti-virus programs are worthless and helpless in the face of a new threat they have just discovered.

You may have seen screaming headlines declaring "New attack bypasses EVERY Windows security product! "; it turns out that this is mostly hype the matousec.com website has generated in order for them to make some money by selling a solution to this oh-so-scary sounding problem.

There is a very good article explaining why this is not something to worry about on the Sunbelt Security blog here. Some language may be technical.
The article explains that the portion of Windows this problem exploits has been known about for years, and no-one has been able to take advantage of it yet, because there must be pre-conditions met for this attack to even work.
Your computer must already be infected with a certain type of virus (not just any will do), the attacker, whether human or software, must be able to run a program on your computer without your knowledge, and this particular attack is, for malware, a very large program(which would make you wonder why everything got so slow all of a sudden).

So, in the end, dont believe the screaming headlines. If you are unsure of your protection, call your local friendly repairman. I dont suggest calling the Geek Squad, or your city's equivalent, because they will see your question as a money-making opportunity, instead of trying to reassure a nervous client.

An Easier Way to Move to Windows 7

If you are currently using Windows XP (and most people still are), the upgrade to Windows 7 (which is highly recommended) is problematic.

First, you have to back up everything you want to save, including some things which are hard or cumbersome;
Second, you have to make sure you still have copies of all of your programs;
Third, you must format the hard drive;
And then, you can install Windows 7.

Now there is an easier way. Cnet has an article on a new product soon to be released which will make the process much easier. (Click here to read the article.)

Is your browser giving you away?

Short answer, yes. Ars Technica has a good article, here, about how you can be individually tracked across the Internet by way of your browser; even if you turn off cookies.

It turns out that the most privacy conscious people are the easiest to track, because of the methods they use to try and be anonymous. Its hard to get lost in the crowd if you are the only one wearing hot pink.

Because of the way the browser talks to websites, even without cookies, websites (and tracking software) can uniquely identify the computer that your browser is installed on, as well as learning all of your browser plugins and other modifications. If you have Flash installed, Flash will reveal all of the fonts on your computer, too.

If you want to be private on the Internet you have to be so normal, so average, that you put your computers health at risk; OR, you have to cripple your browser to the point at which you can hardly see anything or do anything.

How Your Computer Connects To The Internet (in plain English)

The Remote Help Expert 's Blog has a great post on how your computer connects to the Internet, and explains what that box with the funny antennas is and what it does.

And he does it in Plain English! (Just like I try to do.)

The post is here.

All your Facebook posts are now open to entire Internet

Facebook's newest privacy and marketing changes now allow search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo, to index and make readable all of your posts.

Facebook used to require that you were a 'friend' of any person whose posts and other details you wanted to see. The new default position is that everything in your Facebook profile is open to everyone to see unless you specify that it is private, post by post, and photo by photo.

If you dont specify privacy, Facebook opens you up for searching by the Internet. Including such people as: your boss, your future employer, your wife/husband/mother/father/etc, and last but not least, credit rating agencies and lenders who have started searching Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to see if you are a respectable and credit-worthy person.

So if you dont get that job, or that loan, just remember "next time, I'll remember to set privacy."

Apple and Nokia continue patent fight

Nokia has increased it patent claims against Apple's iPad.

This means, when things eventually shake out, that the iPad will be ~1% more expensive, because Nokia most likely just wants royalty payments.

See the article here: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/05/nokia-applies-patent-thumbscrews-to-apples-ipad.ars