WyzGuys Tech Talk

A new hacktivist group named “r00tbeersec” cracked some databases at Philips, the huge Dutch electronics company, and published them on the Internet.  As reported on Sophos, this trove included on database of 400 passwords that was stored in plain text.  This is just bad management by the IT folks at Phillips.  The interesting bit is some of the passwords in the list were just so simple to begin with.  What follows are excellent examples of just plain bad ...

A tip of the cap to the blog of Johnson McCann Insurance for this article.  Here are three great ideas for managing the risk of owning a mobile data device such as a smart phone or a tablet.

Physical Damage:  The biggest threat to the safety of your device is accidental damage that occurs when you drop your phone or tablet, or sit on it, or slam it in a car door or trunk lid.  The best idea here ...

Here are some guidelines for creating a bulletproof password.

• Longer is Better – almost all password cracking is done by a group of machines that is simply trying all possible combinations.  A three character password can be cracked in seconds, but a 14 character password takes longer, like 2,000 millennia.
• No More Words – using words that can be found in the dictionary, or the names of you spouse, kids, street, computer monitor, or whatever just makes the cracking process simpler.  ...

A new eBay rule is banning the sale of "advice, spells, curses, hexing, conjuring, magic, prayers, blessing services, magic potions, [and] healing sessions."

Who knew this was even available on eBay?  I am not sure why I find this surprising.  I use eBay primarily to buy and sell computer parts and peripherals, but it has become my go to place for comparison shopping for almost anything.  Lots of new stuff for sale on eBay as well.

Anyway – if you were planning ...

Kudos again to Sophos for this story.  If you use Twitter, and happen to mention your location on Twitter, the new site WeKnowYourHouse.com will post that information on it’s web site.  No, you don’t have to sign up or anything!!  I checked out this web site and found out that some girl name Carrie was moving to her dorm today (Aug 18th).  The information is retained and displayed “only for 30 minutes” according to the WeKnowYourHouse ...

Here is another alert from Sophos about malware laden emails masquerading as emails from legitimate companies.  This time the bad guys are sending out Groupon “dicount” (sic) codes that really just give your PC a nasty rash of the Trojan horse variety. 

Misspelled words and bad grammar should always be a cause for concern.  Keep your shields up!!  Do not fall for this or other fake emails, and never click on a link in an email without knowing ...

Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Computers, has a daughter who was suspended from Twitter for revealing too many family secrets on the platform.  Providing too many personal details, such as current locations and activities, can be an open invitation to criminals and stalkers, cyber and otherwise.  Here are some suggestions for safe online behavior to share with your children, and consider for yourself.

1. Geolocation services – these should be turned off or restricted to immediate family members only.  I know ...

Many devices including smartphones and tablets are shipping now or will be available soon with a feature called NFC or Near Field Communications.  We have seen this already in contactless credit card products such as PayPass and PayWave.  Soon you will be able to use your smartphone to make purchases as well.

Charlie Miller, a researcher at this years Black Hat convention in Las Vegas took a look at exploiting the NFC feature, and although NFC in and of itself is ...