Greetings, Fellow IT Professionals!
I'm a little behind on the information I want to get out to you. The holidays are upon us, and I have been caught up in the moment... That means... SHOPPING! Not the kind where you camp out in front of the Best Buy for 2 days and miss Thanksgiving dinner. No, no, I do my shopping online. There are some very good deals to be had out there, but a word of caution.
KNOW YOUR SOURCE.
Be sure that you buy only from a trusted source. The 52" DPL HDTV you've been drooling over might seem like a steal at $1,000 - maybe becuase it is a steal - literally. Or, perhaps a scam to get you money and you get no product! Just remember...
CAVEAT EMPTOR! BUYER BEWARE!
On to some security news.
You may be excited to get that brand-new computer for your home or office. If it comes preloaded (or you are installing) Windows XP, be aware of the Trojan that had taken over the registration process. You could fall victim to a credit card scam.
We have all heard of a certain powerful sector of Americana, popularized mainly in political circles. Call them what you will - Soccer Moms, Hockey Moms, or whatever - the middle class mom who is trying to make ends meet and care for her kids carries a very powerful voice. Indeed, the past few elections seemed to focus on these hard-working moms as the key to winning elections.
Well, these women have the ability to travel in cyber-social circles on social networking sites, such as this one. Mommy Bloggers have the ability to share information, write product reviews and, perhaps most influentially, COMPLAIN. If there is something that a MommyBlogger doesn't like, in an instant, that complaint can be on the internet.
This is not a bad thing... From the days of Ralph Nader to Consumer Reports, the public has a need to know what products are good, which are bad, and which are harmful. Now, these product reviews can be updated instantaneously and read by literally millions of hockey moms around the world.
That's all for this edition. Until next time, enjoy some time with your family - and stay safe out there in cyberspace!
Dr. G.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
I thought everybody knew about this!
WOW
I though everyone knew about the Nigerian Bank Scam...
Apparently not.
This lady lost $400 LARGE to this email scam.
If anyone asks for money to help get money out of a foreign country... IT'S A SCAM!!!
Nuff said.
Dr. G.
I though everyone knew about the Nigerian Bank Scam...
Apparently not.
This lady lost $400 LARGE to this email scam.
If anyone asks for money to help get money out of a foreign country... IT'S A SCAM!!!
Nuff said.
Dr. G.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Why we take precautions when firing techies...
All
Here is a HR situation for you to consider.
Many companies take precautions when IT professionals resign or are fired - precautions that some may view as extreme or overly heavy handed. I know of companies that, when you submit your two weeks notice, will escort you out of the building at that time and put you on paid vacation for that two weeks. Likewise, if an administrator (or other IT professional with access to the servers) is fired, oftentimes the person doing the firing will have company security present at the firing to escort the individual to their desk so they can collect their personal belongings, then out the door.
Why do this?
It seems there was a sysadmin in New Jersey that decided to try to extort money and a job reference from a former employer in exchange for stopping a cyber attack he had prepositioned on the company servers.
Even if you are best friends with the person resiging or being fired, and you consider that person to be the most trustworthy and reliable person, an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure. It's not personal - it's what is best for the company and can save a lot of heartache (and money) in the long run.
Dr. G.
Here is a HR situation for you to consider.
Many companies take precautions when IT professionals resign or are fired - precautions that some may view as extreme or overly heavy handed. I know of companies that, when you submit your two weeks notice, will escort you out of the building at that time and put you on paid vacation for that two weeks. Likewise, if an administrator (or other IT professional with access to the servers) is fired, oftentimes the person doing the firing will have company security present at the firing to escort the individual to their desk so they can collect their personal belongings, then out the door.
Why do this?
It seems there was a sysadmin in New Jersey that decided to try to extort money and a job reference from a former employer in exchange for stopping a cyber attack he had prepositioned on the company servers.
Even if you are best friends with the person resiging or being fired, and you consider that person to be the most trustworthy and reliable person, an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure. It's not personal - it's what is best for the company and can save a lot of heartache (and money) in the long run.
Dr. G.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Technology, and the President-elect
Greetings, students and IT professionals.
Well, possibly my least favorite and most stressful time of the quadrennia has come and gone - the 2008 elections are in the books and we have a new President-elect.
Regardless of your political leanings, I'm sure many of you have questions regarding President-elect Obama's views on Information Technology. Since the internet is a relatively new technology and the courts are lagging in establishing cyber-laws, the use and governance of Information Systems. Former President Clinton made some headway in developing the DMCA and RIAA acts, and President Bush continued and improved upon those policies.
So, what will President Obama do?
I found an interesting article on ZDNet.com that outlines some of the initiatives and views that the future president holds on Information Technology and the continuing era of the Information age.
There are also some child links out there that you may find interesting...
That's all for this week
Dr. G.
Well, possibly my least favorite and most stressful time of the quadrennia has come and gone - the 2008 elections are in the books and we have a new President-elect.
Regardless of your political leanings, I'm sure many of you have questions regarding President-elect Obama's views on Information Technology. Since the internet is a relatively new technology and the courts are lagging in establishing cyber-laws, the use and governance of Information Systems. Former President Clinton made some headway in developing the DMCA and RIAA acts, and President Bush continued and improved upon those policies.
So, what will President Obama do?
I found an interesting article on ZDNet.com that outlines some of the initiatives and views that the future president holds on Information Technology and the continuing era of the Information age.
There are also some child links out there that you may find interesting...
That's all for this week
Dr. G.
Friday, October 17, 2008
How secure is your computer?
Greetings, fellow IT professionals!
I have found a couple of articles this week that may cause some concern if you are interested in keeping your home/work/office computers and networks secured. It seems that some of the leading security software manufacturers have failed tests by independent companies. Software security suites such as McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro were tested against real-world attacks and failed to provide a proper level of security....READ MORE
In a similar article, Microsoft is releasing 11 security updates today for Windows OS, Office suite, and IE. Microsoft isn't the only one getting ready to update. Adobe is releasing a patch to fix vulnerabilities in Flash - one of which fixes a potential click-jacking vulnerability (see previous blog) Get ready to start updating your software, folks!
That's all for this edition
Dr. G.
I have found a couple of articles this week that may cause some concern if you are interested in keeping your home/work/office computers and networks secured. It seems that some of the leading security software manufacturers have failed tests by independent companies. Software security suites such as McAfee, Symantec, and Trend Micro were tested against real-world attacks and failed to provide a proper level of security....READ MORE
In a similar article, Microsoft is releasing 11 security updates today for Windows OS, Office suite, and IE. Microsoft isn't the only one getting ready to update. Adobe is releasing a patch to fix vulnerabilities in Flash - one of which fixes a potential click-jacking vulnerability (see previous blog) Get ready to start updating your software, folks!
That's all for this edition
Dr. G.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Blog Post - October 2, 2008
Greetings, all...
I'm starting this blog as a way to contact all of my students, current and past, on topics of interest concerning Information Technology. Currently, I am teaching classes in Network Security, Cyber Security, and IT Training and Development. For the time being, this blog will concentrate on those areas.
Why am I doing this?
Often I have come across articles from one of the myriad of websites, RSS feeds, trade mags, etc. and have often thought those articles would be of interest to one class or the other - or previous students, faculty, etc.
So here we are - this is a way for us to communicate as an IT community on topics that interest - well, primarily me - but hopefully you too.
This blog will evolve as time goes on, but I want to start something now, so here is the first article that I found to be relative, especially to the Cyber Security class.
There is a browser vulnerability called "Click Jacking". Basically what happens is that if you go to a "bad" website the site will take control of every link you click in your browser, forcing you to go to their websites. Pretty scary stuff - this emphasizes the thought that you need to really be careful of what you click on and where you go on the web. Here is another link with FAQs on Click Jacking.
That's all for this inaugural post
Dr. G
I'm starting this blog as a way to contact all of my students, current and past, on topics of interest concerning Information Technology. Currently, I am teaching classes in Network Security, Cyber Security, and IT Training and Development. For the time being, this blog will concentrate on those areas.
Why am I doing this?
Often I have come across articles from one of the myriad of websites, RSS feeds, trade mags, etc. and have often thought those articles would be of interest to one class or the other - or previous students, faculty, etc.
So here we are - this is a way for us to communicate as an IT community on topics that interest - well, primarily me - but hopefully you too.
This blog will evolve as time goes on, but I want to start something now, so here is the first article that I found to be relative, especially to the Cyber Security class.
There is a browser vulnerability called "Click Jacking". Basically what happens is that if you go to a "bad" website the site will take control of every link you click in your browser, forcing you to go to their websites. Pretty scary stuff - this emphasizes the thought that you need to really be careful of what you click on and where you go on the web. Here is another link with FAQs on Click Jacking.
That's all for this inaugural post
Dr. G
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