Security

Police stations in Massachusetts have turned to modern technology to crack down on known stalkers. Those convicted as dangerous individuals are now being attached to satellite monitoring devices that electronically notify the authorities when a ... stalker is too close to their victim. The messages are sent automatically, meaning that the police could potentially stop an attack before the opportunity presents itself. (Source: topix.com ) For many people, it's their worst nightmare come to life: knowing the name, face (and sometimes) location of someone hoping to cause you physical harm. Realizing ... (view more)

Online payment processing giant PayPal has recently announced security measures that it will implement to protect customers from falling victim to phishing attacks. PayPal is particularly affected by these attacks, because the core of its business ... encompasses the transfer of funds, which presents a tempting target to criminals. Michael Barrett, PayPal's chief security officer, explained the company's plans to delegates meeting at the RSA security conference in San Francisco. (Source: zdnet.co.uk ) Barrett emphasized the need for cooperative action between individuals as well as companies ... (view more)

Microsoft released to manufacturers (RTM) the final code for Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3). The public version will be available for download from Microsoft on April 29, 2008. CNET reported that the upgrade will be effortless for most Windows XP ... users. Windows XP SP3 includes functionality previously released as updates. Other Windows XP SP3 updates relevant to home users include: Support for WPA2, the latest standards-based wireless security solution derived from the IEEE 802.11i standard. Improvements to black-hole router detection (detecting routers that are silently discarding packets ... (view more)

A program originally designed to block pirated videos on YouTube will now assist tracking child predators on the web. The technology, developed by Google, will help the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in reviewing 13 ... million images of abuse. (Source: reuters.com ) A key component of the new program has been described as "finger-printing technology". Google has been advocating the measure as a standard to combat web-based video piracy. "The program uses pattern recognition and will work even if the pattern has been modified," technology analyst Larry Magid told the ... (view more)

It's bad enough when consumers opt for your last operating system over the new one. Worse still when an update to that new and not-so-hot OS is bricking USB devices. Microsoft recently admitted to the media that reports that a Windows Vista security ... update is disrupting USB devices are indeed accurate. Released last week, the Windows Defender update was intended to patch a critical hole in its spyware blocking program. While that may have been successful, Vista owners haven't been so pleased to find their mice and keyboards no longer function. In a statement, Microsoft admitted, "We are aware ... (view more)

Two influential analysts have caused a media storm by claiming Microsoft Windows is in danger of collapsing. The claim came from Michael Silver and Neil McDonald, both vice presidents at Gartner, a prominent and profitable consulting firm. The VPs ... cited the increasing complexity of the Windows system, including Vista's 50 million lines of code. Such complexity has made release dates unpredictable and leaves many potential buyers sticking with older versions longer than Microsoft had budgeted. (Source: macdailynews.com ) This causes other problems; it takes too long for technical support ... (view more)

Think the web is getting any safer? According to some numbers, it just might be. Unfortunately, though the number of cyber fraud cases in the United States appears to have dropped since last year, the total dollar loss has actually increased, to a ... frightening $239 million. The numbers have been made available thanks to a recent Federal Bureau of Investigation annual report, which revealed that although the number of complains went down (to 207,000 from 207,500 in 2006 and 231,000 in 2005) the total hit to our wallets went up over $40 million from 2006. FBI special agent John Hambrick ... (view more)

The Washington Post reports that at least 8.3 million personal and financial records of consumers were potentially compromised by data spills or breaches at businesses, universities and government agencies in the first quarter of 2008, according to ... a report released from the Identity Theft Resource Center. The Identity Theft Resource Center ( ITRC ), based in San Diego tracked public reports of 167 data breaches in the first three months of 2008. 448 data breaches were recorded in 2007 by the ITRC. Detailed breakdowns from the first quarter of 2008 are available from the ITRC here (PDF) and ... (view more)

There's a time and place for malware. Well, ideally there's never a time and place for it, but there certainly are places we'd expect it to strike over others. For one, few of us would link the average supermarket with the latest in technology, let ... alone its breach. Surprisingly enough, malware is being blamed for a remarkable security hack of the Massachusetts-based Hannaford supermarket chain in early March. The Boston Globe recently cited a letter sent from the grocery chain to state regulators, announcing that the breach was the direct result of malicious software meant to intercept ... (view more)

With all of the hysteria surrounding viral and spyware attacks or the hacking of government agencies, sometimes we lose sight of those truly vulnerable on the Internet: our kids. A Saskatchewan mother recently felt the sting when her 14-year-old ... daughter fled with a 41-year-old man who she met online. Last Tuesday, the girl snuck out of her parents' home to meet a man old enough to be her father. However, she didn't expect it to be that way; up until their meeting, the girl was under the impression her new friend would be much younger. When they finally did meet, Daniel George Nickolson ... (view more)