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Is this the first case of computer malware causing human deaths? Perhaps. But it certainly won’t be the last.

As noted in a recent MSNBC article:

Authorities free cialis investigating the 2008 crash of Spanair flight 5022 have discovered a central computer system used to monitor technical problems in the aircraft was infected with malware.

An internal report issued by the airline revealed the infected computer failed to detect three technical problems with the aircraft, which if detected, may have prevented the plane from taking off, according to reports in the Spanish newspaper, El Pais.

us bank ach department

Flight 5022 crashed just after takeoff from Madrid-Barajas International Airport two years ago today, killing 154 and leaving only 18 survivors.

As any reader of this blog should be well aware, any significant piece of software has bugs and security holes, which (hopefully) are fixed over time. Keeping your software up-to-date is an important piece of your security.

So, with dozens, or perhaps hundreds, of applications, browser plugins, and so on, not to mention all of the pieces of Windows itself, how can you be sure that everything is up to date? Sure, Windows itself can be set to automatically download and install updates, and many programs have the option to check for updates as well. But, wouldn’t it be easier to have a “one stop shopping” place to check?

Enter Secunia Personal Software Inspector (“Secunia PSI”).

Continue reading ‘Secunia Personal Software Inspector’ »

There was a rather, umm, “interesting” theme in today’s batch of spam that made it through my filters. Here’s a screenshot of the subjects, after deleting the dozens of duplicates.

Of course, the attached  HTML document, supposedly a link to a news report about a plane crash, was instead cialis dosage an obfuscated Javascript program which would attempt to download an infection.

(I didn’t bother investigating what, exactly, that infection was.)

We all have numerous plugins in our web browsers. These are small programs which add functionality to your browser “experience”. For example, the Adobe Shockwave plugin is what most people use to view “Flash” animations, or you may have Apple’s QuickTime plugin to watch videos. These plugins, like any other program, sometimes have bugs and security holes which are fixed over time.

How can you tell what plugins you have? The method varies depending on the browser, but here are a few:

• Internet Explorer. From the menu, select “Tools”, and then “Manage Add-ons”.
• Firefox. In the address bar, type “about:plugins”.  Or, from the menu, select “Tools” and then “Add-ons”, and select the “Plugins” tab.
• Safari. From the menu, select “Help”, and then “Installed Plug-ins”.
• Chrome. sale cialis (Sorry, but I don’t currently have Chrome installed.)

In my Firefox browser, I currently have 25 plugins installed.

So, how do you figure out which plugins are current, and which have updates available

?

Continue reading ‘Keeping your browser plugins up to date’ »

Windows uses what is known as “file extensions” (the letters after the ‘.’ in the filename) to determine how to handle the file. For example, “.exe” files are executable programs, “.doc” are documents (typically MS-Word), and “.qbw” are QuickBooks data files.

Out of the box, Windows defaults to hiding the file extension in folder listings, instead relying on the file’s icon to convey the file type to the user. The “bad guys” have taken advantage of this, by making you think the file is of one type, when it’s really an executable program designed to infect your system.

Is this “report” a document you can view,
or a trojan designed to infect your system?

Fortunately, it’s an easy fix.

Continue reading ‘Don’t hide file extensions’ »

(Note:  If you find this information useful, and it solves your problem, please leave a comment at the bottom of the post, and/or share it via the link below. Thank you.)

Have you run into the Windows Update “infinite loop from hell”?  If you have, you know what I”m talking about. You get a Windows update, it installs and requires that you reboot to finish the install. After rebooting, the second part of the install fails, and it uninstalls itself. The next time you try to install Windows updates,  the same thing happens on the same update. Repeat ad nauseum.

If you check the Windows update status, it will probably tell you that the error code is “80071aa7″, but give no further information. Continue reading ‘Windows update error 80071AA7 *solved* (re-post)’ »

We’ve probably all seen it.  You go to a web page, and it tells you that you need to update your flash player in order to access the site, and gives you a handy link to download it.

Well, “the bad guys” saw those, too, and there has been a buy cialis online recent wave of fake “update” programs on scam sites, as well as “hacked” sites.  Sometimes, it will even come in the form of an “important message” supposedly from your bank, credit card company, or other well-known business.

The bad guys know that many people will simply click the link, and ignore any security warnings that come up, since similar warnings would be expected from a real install program.

The problem is that these e-mails and web pages don’t really have any flash content to display. They exist for the sole purpose of getting you to click on their “get the update” link, which, of course, is really a trojan meant to infect your system.

So, how can you tell if you really need to update your flash player (or other browser plugin)?

Continue reading ‘“Your flash player is out of date.”’ »

There’s a new worm in town, and it’s called “Stuxnet”. Unlike previous worms, which required the user to run a program, have “autorun” enabled, load a document into a spreadsheet or word processor, or at least look at the file in some manner, this worm is triggered by simply viewing the folder. The vulnerability even affects Windows 7, and as of today there is no fix yet from Microsoft.

For example, placing an infected USB stick into the computer on Windows 7 will, by default, ask you what you want to do.  Being a smart person, you know to avoid the “autorun” option, and instead opt for “open folder” choice, to see what sort of files are on it. That act alone will trigger the worm. Same thing with “My computer” and then double-clicking the USB stick, or navigating to any folder with the infection in it.

According to an article from Microsoft: Continue reading ‘The Stuxnet worm’ »

It’s hard to imagine, but people still fall for scams like this all the time.

I just got another “you won the lottery” spam e-mails.

 This one was supposedly from “MICROSOFT CORPORATIONS”(sic), and contained the following message:

You have been awarded the sum of £1,625,000.00GBP in the MICROSOFT EMAIL PROMOTI
ON AWARD 2010.Cont  Mr Mark Anderson with your names,address,phone and Country to
[elided]@w.cn.cn or call +4470-[elided] for moreinformation on t
his award.

With the exception of removing the username part of the e-mail address, and the rest of the phone number, that is the exact contents of the e-mail, spelling and line breaks as-is.

With so many obvious “this isn’t real” warning signs, I find it hard to imagine that people still fall for this. Yet they do.

Continue reading ‘Do people really fall for this?’ »