WyzGuys Tech Talk

Microsoft has issued a security warning to users of the Gadget sidebar in Windows Vista and Gadgets in Windows 7.  Gadgets are the little applets like a clock, news headline feed, or weather feed that can be added to the desktop area.  Apparently a method has been developed to allow for the creation of custom gadgets, that when added to their computer system by users, would allow the providers of the gadget remote access and control of the computer, and ...

The bad guys just keep getting better and better, which is why I am going back to school to upgrade my security expertise.  A recent outbreak was discovered by F-Secure and  reported by Sophos, that uses a Java archive file to determine which operating system you are using, and then downloads the appropriate version to malware to install.  The lesson here is that any imagined security invulnerability you thought you had as an Apple or Linux user is ...

The bad guys just keep getting better and better, which is why I am going back to school to upgrade my security expertise.  A recent outbreak was discovered by F-Secure and  reported by Sophos, that uses a Java archive file to determine which operating system you are using, and then downloads the appropriate version to malware to install.  The lesson here is that any imagined security invulnerability you thought you had as a Windows or Linux user is ...

Be on guard against email messages that look like a meeting announcement.  The attachment, Report.zip,  is a Trojan horse.  In many cases there are what appear to be intentional typos in the body text, partly to defeat spam filters and partly to appear as a hastily written email.  You will want to treat these kinds of email with suspicion.  When in doubt, suspicious attachment and links can be sent to Virus Total for analysis.  Thanks again to Continue Reading →

When I teach my computer security classes, I am often asked “why do they do it?”  My answer is always “It’s the money.”  Most of the computer and network malware exploits are making money for the perpetrators one way or another, and as more traditional criminal organizations move into cybercrime, we see more traditional criminal elements.  In this case, spam email messages are sent out with a subject line of “You pig!” and a threatening note that the attached photograph ...

Yahoo Voices, which is a sharing site on Yahoo “where your expertise and perspectives take center stage!” and users can post their own articles, videos and slideshows was hacked recently by the “D33Ds Company” and they posted 453,491 email addresses and passwords online.  If you have an account on this website, you will want to change the password.  And try going with something harder than “123456, password, welcome, ninja, or abc123” which were the top 5 most used ...