Worry
Watch
Helping normal users deal with
viruses,
spyware, ID theft, security breaches
and other threats
by
David Radin and Jes Scherder
David's
Newspaper Columns (updated
weekly)
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Selected
Worry Watch columns - Q4 2005
With over 300 million users sending over one billion instant messages every day, it's not surprising that malicious attacks against IM programs are on the rise. These threats have increased 15-fold over the last year and have also shown an increase in damage.
A new IM worm, known as IM.GiftCom.All, replicates through buddy lists as usual. This time, however, when you... <more>
An independent security researcher discovered a vulnerability this past week in several products from anti-virus company, Symantec.
The problem lies within the way that Symantec's software... <more>
Despite many software developers, including Microsoft and Mozilla Foundation, offering up reward money for information about newly discovered vulnerabilities in their web-related programs, some hackers would still rather take advantage of the bugs.
eBay recently discovered a listing on its online auction site by an unnamed security researcher. The listing was an attempt to sell information about a real vulnerability in...<more>
Apple last week released thirteen "highly critical" patches to fix security flaws in the current Macintosh operating system, Mac OS X. These patches fix several security vulnerabilities...<more>
Using a vulnerability in a real United States government Web Site to mask its true intentions, a new phishing scam is collecting Internet users' social security and credit card numbers...<more>
Last year, in an attempt to thwart illegal duplication, Sony BMG began protecting some music CDs by including extended copyright protection (XCP) software that downloads when the CD runs on a computer.
Once the software downloads onto your system it prevents you from making more than two copies of the CD. Upon closer inspection of the program, experts have discovered that it buries...<more>
Microsoft plans to package its current anti-Spyware tool with its next operating system, Windows Vista.
The newly renamed Windows Defender will combine the company's current malicious software removal tool with daily anti-Spyware updates, delivered automatically to...<more>
As top researchers collect information on a possible pandemic outbreak of the avian influenza, a new Trojan is exploiting the public's curiosity.
The new threat, Naiva.a, hides within an e-mail claiming to have information about the virus, also known as the bird flu. The e-mail tricks you into... <more>
As colder weather brings some consumers' thoughts to shopping for the holidays, a study shows fewer purchases being made over the Internet for fear of online phishing scams that steal personal information.
According to a recent study conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI) for Consumer Reports Web Watch, about 30 percent of American Internet users say... <more>
For those who choose the faster, Internet approach to banking as opposed to waiting in long lines on payday, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) recently made a few suggestions to increase your security against computer threats... <more>
There is a new member in the Sober family of computer viruses. The new addition, Sober.Y, has infected so many computers in the past week that... <more>
Did you know that Zotob.F and Bozori.B are two names for the exact same worm?
When computer threats surface for the first time, anti-virus companies and security researchers name them as they see them, often using parts of the infectious filename or program as an identifier. This leads to... <more>
Strangely enough, it isn't the level of infections or the particular damage done that makes the latest computer threat noteworthy. It's the manner in which it infects your computer... <more>
Previous Worry Watch Columns
David's
Weekly columns:
- Connected
(addressing the impact of tech & tech news on you)
- Worry
Watch (about viruses, spyware, ID theft, threats...)
- Innovations
(they can change the way you work and live)
Previous
articles on security, virus, spyware, threat related topics
Thursday,
April 15, 2004
Thursday, April 08, 2004
Thursday, March 04, 2004
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Thursday, February 05, 2004
January
2004
Thursday,
January 22, 2004
Monday, January 05, 2004
Columns
from prior Years
Thursday,
Decmber 11, 2003
Plus:
To the point (a unique new mobile pointing
device)
Thursday,
October 02, 2003
Thursday, July
3, 2003
Thursday, June
12, 2003
Popular
Pages From Earlier Columns
The
Interact Archive
Find Other Articles Written by David and others.
(Many of David's recent articles are labeled "Computer
Q&A")
Thanks to The Pittsburgh Post Gazette,
"One of America's Great Newspapers," for letting
me enlighten so many people!
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