Security and spyware

Every once in a while, I come across a site that makes me do a double-take. A few weeks ago it was the unfortunate Chef Boyardee marketing site, and this week the clear winner in my book is MoanMyIP, which is a sister site (almost literally) to HearMyIP.com. Both services do just what you'd think--identifying your IP address and reading it back to you. The only difference of course is that HearMyIP uses the classic text-to-speech computer voice whereas MoanMyIP uses a female voice that announces your IP address in about as close to a not-safe-for-work/family manner … Read more

There's nothing more frustrating than an anti-malware program installing its own spyware on your machine. Fortunately, malware remover A-Squared 3 has figured out a way to protect your computer without the doublespeak.

… Read more

I'm a sucker for password tools. Since signing on with Webware late last year, I've since amassed a collection of site log-ins the size of a pulp romance novel, and despite my youthful brain, remembering all of them is clearly impossible. A solution I've been using for some months is Roboform, which is a small piece of software that will let you keep your user names and passwords safely tucked away, combined with a browser plug-in that will automatically log you in to each site. This morning I've been playing around with a new feature from … Read more

There's a reason why SpywareBlaster made last year's list of best free security and spyware programs. The free spyware prevention utility blocks ActiveX controls, tracking cookies, and ads on Internet Explorer and blocks cookies and ads on Firefox. Take a look at the program's features in the video below, and check out other First Look videos on popular software products.

MarkMonitor, a San Francisco-based enterprise brand protection company, on Monday released its latest survey. During June, MarkMonitor tracked more than 100,000 drug-related spam landing sites and found a majority of these practice poor Internet security and may not be selling legitimate brand-name drugs, which could endanger users tempted by the low prices offered.

While that's not earth-shattering news, the report gives concrete statistics surrounding the practice known as "brandjacking," which can encompass a variety of online threats to brand names. In the report, MarkMonitor said sample drugs purchased from these sites tested as either stolen, expired, … Read more

The free spyware-removal software Ad-Aware 2007 helps protect your system from browser hijackers, data miners, and other malware, but it can also wipe your Web surfing tracks for Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera with just one click. Rich DeMuro shows you how it's done.

For a system-savvy Romeo, saving a damsel in malware distress is one way to win her heart. At least that's the sincerest hope of one teenage boy who helps his crush extinguish malware. Who knew that malicious code could be such an aphrodisiac?

It's just the reverse for Charles, who agrees to help a love interest optimize her system, only to discover that her blinding security ignorance--and excessive toolbars--are an instant turn-off.

But what killjoys got the girls in the first place? Discover the identity of the villainous malware bandits, the assistance of our two heros, and what … Read more

There's a new zero-day attack in progress against Yahoo Messenger users. The instant messaging solicitation invites users to open their Webcam. However, the code used in this China-based exploit causes a heap overflow to be triggered when the target accepts a Webcam invitation. That means a remote attacker could execute malicious code on a compromised machine.

The McAfee security blog recommends the following: do not accept Webcam invites from untrusted sources until a patch is released, and block outgoing traffic on TCP port 5100 on your firewall until a patch is released.

Yahoo has been informed and says it … Read more

Microsoft today released its August 2007 security bulletin, which includes nine updates: Six are designated as "critical" by the software giant and three are deemed "important." Two patches affect Microsoft products on the Mac, and one affects Windows Vista. All Microsoft security patches for Windows and Office software are available via Microsoft Update or via the individual bulletins detailed below.

MS07-042: CriticalTitled "Vulnerability in Microsoft XML Core Services Could Allow Remote Code Execution (936227)" this bulletin affects users of Microsoft XML Core Services in Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista; it also affects Microsoft Office 2003, Office 2007 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server; and it addresses the vulnerability detailed in CVE-2007-2223. Successful exploitation could lead to remote code execution.… Read more