Posts Tagged ‘security’

Apple iPhone Security Flaw

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

The iPhone is an amazing device, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have issues. The biggest issue yet (IMO) is a recently discovered flaw that can allow anyone to access pretty much any area of the phone. How you ask?

It’s simple. If the phone is locked, slide to unlock, hit the emergency call button, and then double tap the home button. This will take you to your contacts, from here you could gain access to almost any section of the phone. Have an email address for a contact? That’ll give you access to all of the email. Have any phone number listed for a contact? Of course you do, and that’ll give you access to all of the text messages. Have a person’s blog or company website linked in the contact profile? By now I’m sure you can figure where this is going.

Don’t worry too much. Apple has promised a patch to fix the issue next month. Yes, next month.

Opera 9.51 Released

Friday, July 4th, 2008

Opera 9.51 was released yesterday. According to the Opera Desktop Team Blog, this addresses a few security and stability issues and it is recomended that everyone install this update.

Opera 9.27 Released

Friday, April 4th, 2008

Opera 9.27 was released yesterday to address a few security and stability issues, as well as to address a print issue related to Mac OS. You can download the update here.

Firefox 2.0.0.12 Available

Friday, February 8th, 2008

Firefox 2.0.0.12 is now available for multiple platforms. This is a security and stability update and it’s recomended that all users update to the latest version.

WordPress 2.3.3 Released

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

An urgent update for WordPress has been released. WordPress 2.3.3 addresses a flaw in the XML-RPC implementation that could enable a user to edit posts of other users. You can download the new update here.

Wordpress 2.3.2 Released

Sunday, December 30th, 2007

An update is available for Wordpess. This is an “urgent security release“, that addresses a flaw that could allow your draft posts to be exposed. For more information on what has changed, view the list of fixed bugs and changes. You can download the latest version here.

Opera 9.25 Released

Thursday, December 20th, 2007

Opera Watch and the Opera Desktop Team are reporting that Opera 9.25 was released. This release addresses a few security concerns, and is a recommended update. The changelog has more details.

Ask.com Erases Your Data

Tuesday, December 11th, 2007

Ok, the title sounds like Ask.com is doing something bad. They aren’t, I don’t think. You see, they’ve added a new link to the US website that says “AskEraser“. Enabling this will delete your search activity from the Ask.com servers. On the downside, ths will also prevent you from using some of Ask.com’s other features like site skins (themes) and the “My Stuff”.

Who cares about those silly things, right? After all, your searches are safe, right? That’s what it sounds like, unless you look a bit further and read the FAQs. According to the information here, even with AskEraser enabled, Ask.com may still record your data when required by law, or if Ask.com has a technical error.

Those of you worried about your search data here is a tip for you. Don’t search for any Personally Identifiable Information (PII). That means don’t Google your SSN, don’t Yahoo! your full name, and don’t Ask your bank account number. Be smart, and you’ll be safe.

Gone Phishing

Monday, December 5th, 2005

An unpatched flaw (yes, there are many) in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer may put users of the Google Desktop Search at risk. This flaw has to do with the way IE handles (or mishandles) CSS. A malicious web page can inject code into a page which allows it to execute on a remote machine.

There is currently no fix available from Microsoft. And while no known use of this exploit has been used, there has been a proof of concept posted on the net.

Those of you who (for whatever reason) still use Internet Explorer, it is recommended that you disable JavaScript and/or switch to a better browser. Personally, I’d block IE in the firewall. :P

Google’s GMail Gets Virus Scanning

Monday, December 5th, 2005

Last week Google added antivirus scanning to its popular web based, free email service, GMail.com. Not much was really said about it other than it is here.

This got me wondering. Is Google using a 3rd party virus scanning service? Or could we see a Google Antivirus in the near future?