Steve Riley on Security

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If you know the Conficker dude, we've got a prize for you: Yesterday (12 February 2009) Microsoft announced a partnership with technology industry leaders and academia to implement a coordinated, global response to the Conficker (aka Downadup) worm. Together with security researchers, Internet Corporation for Read More...
Posted 13 February 09 09:39 by Steve Riley | 5 Comments
Filed under protection, patch management, malware, home and family security
Poll: do you use scheduled scans for malware?: An interesting comment recently appeared on my older post about whether or not to use antimalware software. Peter van Dam wondered whether scheduled scans are really necessary, given that anti-malware products scan files as they enter (and sometimes Read More...
Posted 05 January 09 12:03 by Steve Riley | 18 Comments
Filed under risk mitigation, protection, malware
Throw away your digital picture frames: Surely time itself has warped and it's suddenly April 1st. Come on, if you read the following, wouldn't you first think it was a hoax, as did I? Virus from China, the gift that keeps on giving An insidious computer virus recently discovered on digital Read More...
Posted 18 February 08 07:36 by Steve Riley | 4 Comments
Filed under threats, protection, things that make me laugh, things that make me worried, malware, home and family security
More on Autorun: Last month, in my post " Autorun: good for you? " I described why I believe you should disable Autorun on all computers in your organization. I also explained how you can do this for XP and Vista computers. Well, it turns out that Windows will override Read More...
Posted 30 October 07 03:12 by Steve Riley | 24 Comments
Filed under risk mitigation, threats, protection, malware
More on the necessity of antivirus software: A few days ago, I wrote a brief post about my non-use of antivirus software on my own computers. A number of people have asked me privately if I am recommending such a stance to other individuals or to organizations. Let me be perfectly clear: absolutely Read More...
Posted 25 September 07 10:53 by Steve Riley | 14 Comments
Filed under security policies, risk mitigation, protection, malware
Autorun: good for you?: Yes, if you're a five-year-old and you're tired of always asking mom or dad how to start the game on the CD. No need to know how! Just pick up the disc (a little peanut butter on your fingers helps with the grip), slide it in the drive, and wait for the Read More...
Posted 22 September 07 10:29 by Steve Riley | 11 Comments
Filed under risk mitigation, threats, protection, malware
Antivirus software -- who needs it?: In the newsgroups a few weeks ago, someone asked about which anti-virus software is best for experts. This is a really curious question. I've been involved in computer security -- as a practitioner, a consultant, and an instructor/speaker -- for several Read More...
Posted 22 September 07 09:14 by Steve Riley | 22 Comments
Filed under security policies, risk mitigation, protection, malware
Tell us about the junk email you receive: Another gem in the download center: an Outlook (2003/2007) add-in with which you can report junk email to FrontBridge. Junk E-mail Reporting Tool 1.0 for Outlook The Junk E-mail Reporting Tool submits e-mail to Microsoft when you explicitly choose to Read More...
Posted 20 December 06 03:53 by Steve Riley | 5 Comments
Filed under spam, email, malware
iPods spread disease?: Well well. Looks like a few new iPod owners are getting infected when they attach their players to their computers. I'll quote the first paragraph from Apple's web site: We recently discovered that a small number - less than 1% - of the Video iPods available Read More...
Posted 17 October 06 02:57 by Steve Riley | 9 Comments
Filed under false claims, protection, things that make me angry, things that make me laugh, malware