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Vol. 2, No. 46
11-21-02
We’ve often talked about the importance of security settings and programs in this newsletter but I’ve been remiss in some of the basics, mainly the importance of secure passwords.
Since most ISPs have webmail
capability (convenient for folks who are traveling) anyone with knowledge of
your email address can go to the webmail site and attempt to log in as you. Your user name is your email address so
the first part is easy. The second
part of the login, the password, should be extremely difficult. Unfortunately in many cases it’s not,
mainly due to weak passwords. If
you use a spouse’s name, a pet’s name, your birth date or your children’s
initials any person with personal knowledge about your family could easily hack
into your account and read your email.
Other bad passwords include things like your username, a favorite hobby
or your phone number.
Even if the malicious email
hacker doesn’t know you at all, he’ll try several common passwords like none,
abc123 or the most popular password… password.
The most effective password
is one comprised of a random combination of upper and lower case letters and
numbers. Something like
Ll4r4RaO. Only a dedicated hacker
could guess that one, and even then he’d need a powerful computer with a random
character attack tool and lots of time.
Time is the biggest factor here because many webmail sites monitor for
this sort of brute force cracking attempt and block them when
detected.
Other than the obvious
problem of persons unknown reading your email, once the hacker has access to
your account’s password they can then hijack your dial-up Internet account and
everything they do while online will appear to have been done by you. If they hack into websites to steal
credit card information or launch Denial of Service attacks your account will be
identified as the point of origin.
Not a pretty thought.
To help you pick a random
password you can download the free Random Password Generator from http://www.svenart.com/index.php?l=e&p=software,
among many others you can find online.
You can program this one to generate any length for your password and
what types of characters to use (caps, lower case and
numericals).
While many sources will tell
you that you need to memorize this password and change it monthly, in the real
world of home personal computing it’s pretty safe to write the password down and
tape it somewhere like the bottom of your keyboard or fold it up and tuck it
into your wallet or purse. Joe
Six-pack isn’t James Bond, after all.
You need to worry more about external cracking attempts than home
invasions. You can even keep the
same password for 6 months or a year without too much
worry.
I do suggest changing the
password from time to time though.
You can pick the frequency of the changes. You’ll need to contact your ISP for help
in changing your password, although most ISPs allow access to a Shell account
using Telnet to allow you to change it yourself. If that sounds like Greek to you, just
call tech support.
In late breaking security
news, Kyle passes along yet another problem with Internet Explorer. http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/ms02-065.asp
details the vulnerability, which affects every Windows version except XP. The problem could allow an attacker to
do everything from changing your home page to formatting your hard drive. You can (and definitely should if you
use any Windows version other than XP) download the patch from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/Release.asp?ReleaseID=44733.
Since next Thursday is
Thanksgiving there will not be a regular issue of the newsletter. I may throw out a mini version early
next week dealing with surge protectors, but I may save it for the first issue
in December. We’ll have to see what
develops.
In the meantime, have a
happy holiday, eat lots of turkey and immediately fall asleep on the couch while
watching football ;)
Kevin Mefford,
Editor
This week’s offerings will
be a bit different.
First, this is not a
download; rather it is a nice site to use as your homepage. Most of the Internet portal sites are
rife with pop-ups and banner ads, but this one, www.myway.com, is ad-free and can be customized
to your choosing. You can watch
your stock portfolio plummet, get sports scores and check your horoscope. Check it
out.
Now for a download or
two. “Convert” is a neat tool that
can convert anything to anything.
Need to know what 32 degrees F is in Celsius without using that C = F- 32
(9/5) formula? Need to do some
pressure calculations and you can’t find Boyle’s Law? This tool will do all of the above and
then some. Get it here: http://www.joshmadison.com/software/convert/.
Kevin and I have recommended
“Ad-Aware”, the spyware removal tool, for quite some time. Now there is another tool to add to your
arsenal. “SpyBot-Search and
Destroy” is a bit more aggressive than “Ad-Aware” from what I can see. The help file contained in the program
gives some detailed info on programs that you are deleting. The program also is capable of restoring
deleted files. Give it a try here:
http://beam.to/spybotsd. Keep in mind, removing spyware can cause
some of your free software to quit working.
Subscribers’
Bonus: Some Thanksgiving cards
(caution! A bit off-color): http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0011/thanks1/
Art
Maley
http://www.saveinternetradio.org
Email
Question of the Week
Q: I have
had McAfee Virus Scan for years and have had nothing but problems with it.
No need for me to go there.
I am in the process of
trying to find another Virus Scan Program to purchase. What I need from you is
the name of a Scan program that you feel is a good program.
Would you be so kind as to give me the name of a good one, PLEASE? I am now trying the Pc-Cillin on the 30-day trail but I'm not sure that is the best.
A: The two virus protection
programs that are talked about most on the show are Norton's and Panda.
The advantage that Panda has over Norton's is that it updates its virus
definitions daily, as opposed to Norton's, which updates weekly. What I
mean by this is that Panda is more vigilant about learning about and protecting
your computer from new viruses than Norton's is. That said, many people
that I know are perfectly happy with Norton's.
If you do decide to go with
Norton's, buy the Anti-virus only, not Norton's System Works. System Works
is a program that will hog your computer's resources, thereby slowing it down
significantly. It contains several utilities, but these are honestly not
worth the trouble they cause by slowing the system down. If you decide to
go with Panda, the website is www.pandasoftware.com.
And as for PC-Cillin, I've
heard differing opinions about it. I've never used it, so I can't
recommend the product or steer you away from it on that basis. However, I
know that the above-mentioned anti-virus software is safe to use, and will
protect you well, so I would recommend Norton's or
Panda.
I hope that helps you.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. Thanks for
listening!
Tony
Harper
If you have
tech support questions or ideas and/or submissions for our newsletter please
email them to bob@iglou.com.
Copyright 2002,
The 84 Online Team. All rights
reserved. Publication, rebroadcast
or storage is prohibited without prior consent, however you may freely forward
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Information
provided in this publication is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied.
Although the information provided is known to work on most systems, it
may not work on ALL systems. Make
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The 84 Online
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