FarSec is your destination for information about security in the digital world. We have news, advices, product reviews, and comments from experts about online safety, cell phone hacking, securing your computer, and even real world stuff like door locks and safes.
With all the recent news about hacking and security vulnerabilities in the media, it's understandable that people get worried, and aren't sure if they are safe when they browse the web. Yet, while it's impossible to be completely safe, by using 4 simple steps, you can be 99% secure when you're online.
A lot of people change their cell phones on a regular basis, either every year or two years, when their contract expires. With all the new Android phones and iPhones coming out every single year, it's no wonder. It seems like each phone has new features, and many want to make use of it. But how do you get rid of your old phone? There's always classified ads, or eBay, but that can be a pain, especially in a field as contested as the phone market. That's why Sell my Phone is a great alternative.
Today Square Enix released their latest Deus Ex: Human Revolutiontrailer. It's a very well done video, showing us a possible future, taking a lot of clues from real life to integrate into the story. One interesting tidbit near the end however is a link to a web site, http://www.sarifindustries.com, and a mention that it had been hacked.
Reinstalling an operating system has always been a pain. Part of that pain is finding the DVD containing your Windows or OS X software, getting it installed, then trying to find the serial number that goes with it. In fact, quite often the only reason many computers still have a DVD drive is for recovery, everything else is installed through the Internet or USB drives. But Lion Recovery puts the final nail in the DVD drive coffin, and removes the pain that surrounds it.
Typically, your DNS servers, the addresses your computer contacts to find out the IP address of any web site you want to contact, are given to you by your Internet Service Provider. They are the DNS servers that they host, and that the vast majority of their customers use. But there's many other options out there, and it's possible for you to change those addresses. It can sometimes be beneficial to do so.
As some news media reported recently, ICANN, the organization behind top-level domains (TLDs) like .com, .gov and .net has announced last June that they will now allow rich individuals and companies the ability to register any word as a top level domain, so you'll be able to see .apple or .cokacola. The problem is that this will also bring in a new type of online crime.
Fri, Jul 15 2011 22:24:17 PDT filed under finances
Identity theft, it's on everyone's mind, a crime that's risen a lot in the past few years. But how exactly does it happen? What makes it possible for someone to open a bank account, buy a house in your name? And more importantly, how can you protect yourself from that?
There's a little tool out there, produced by Microsoft, which most people don't even know about, but can prove to be extremely useful in certain circumstances. That tool is the Microsoft Safety Scanner and is available for free.
Firesheep is a name that gathered a lot of media attention a few months ago, as a new tool that allows people to hijack your Facebook, Twitter, Gmail or other accounts. It caused many services to change the way they operate, but now that this name isn't in people's mind anymore doesn't mean the threat is gone. Here's what Firesheep actually does, and how to protect yourself from it.
With all the recent news about hacking and security vulnerabilities in the media, it's understandable that people get worried, and aren't sure if they are safe when they browse the web. Yet, while it's impossible to be completely safe, by using 4 simple steps, you can be 99% secure when you're online.
From reading the news media, it seems like it's a scene out of James Bond. Celebrities, politicians, everyone is a target for phone hacking in the UK, with hundreds of victims falling prey to the News of the World and other publications.
In reality though, it's much simpler than that. It's often not about hacking the phones themselves. In fact, in many cases, it involves no sophisticated software program, no network intrusion, and not a single line of code. Just clever people.
This afternoon it appears that Google has started to detect a specific type of malware that may be infecting their users computers. Apparently, some malwares will redirect Internet connections through proxies before sending the data off to its final destination, including Google searches. Google is able to see when the traffic has been rerouted through these proxies. If your computer is infected by such malware, it will show a large warning when you go to a Google web site. There's no word yet what percentage of users are infected, or if they will expand this capabilities to other types of malware in the future.
In the news today the FBI, along with local Police in San Francisco, Florida, New Jersey, and others, did 30 to 40 searches and arrested over a dozen people suspected to be linked to the group Anonymous. This was a follow up to the Denial of Service attack against sites that the hacking group did earlier this year.
Troy Hunt published an interesting article on in depth password analysis. It goes over how people pick passwords, how weak they typically are and how many reuse these passwords elsewhere. It's filled with data points for those who like that kind of thing.
The hacking group Lulzsec hacked The Sun web site, at first posting a bogus story saying Rupert Murdoch was dead. Then, the site was modified to redirect visitors to their Twitter feed.
According to a recent report from NSS Labs, it would appear that Internet Explorer 9 managed to get the right tools when it comes to blocking malware sites. Apparently, by using both SmartScreen Filter to block bad URLs and Application Reputation to detect untrustworthy binaries, it manages a 92% rate of detection. This is compared with Safari, Chrome and Firefox blocking just 13%.
According to an AP report Rebekah Brooks was arrested today in London. That makes 10 people to be detained by Police in relation to the phone hacking scandal.
Over the past weeks you may have started to notice a new feature, assuming you use Microsoft Hotmail. It's called Hey my friend has been hacked! and it's available in the options menu. The Windows Live blog posted about it yesterday and described the feature.
Speaking today at a press conference, General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the US cyber approach was ''too predictable''. Later, the Defense Secretary revealed that 24,000 files related to weapon system development had been stolen by foreign intelligence.
Right now, the strategy involves deploying sensor and monitoring systems, but that's just the first step. Cartwright says ''We are supposed to be offshore convincing people if they attack, it won't be free.''
The UK phone hacking scandal hit the US full force today as sources confirmed to Reuters that the FBI is investigating allegations of hacking into phones of 9/11 victims.
Authentication on the web is still at its earliest form, usually consisting of nothing but a username and password. There are password managers, but it can be a pain to setup, and it basically means trusting all your passwords to one single entity. Mozilla has tried to solve this with BrowserID.
So what is this site.. Well, first let me introduce myself. My name is Patrick Lambert and I created FarSec as a place to aggregate the best information to secure yourself with technology. I've been working in the technology industry for over 15 years.
Whether it's online scams, phishing, viruses, or even treats that are only now surfacing in the media such as phone hacking, my goal is to cover all of it and keep you up to date with the news, and the information you need to keep yourself safe.
Typically, your DNS servers, the addresses your computer contacts to find out the IP address of any web site you want to contact, are given to you by your Internet Service Provider. They are the DNS servers that they host, and that the vast majority of their customers use. But there's many other options out there, and it's possible for you to change those addresses. It can sometimes be beneficial to do so.
As some news media reported recently, ICANN, the organization behind top-level domains (TLDs) like .com, .gov and .net has 
From reading the news media, it seems like it's a scene out of James Bond. Celebrities, politicians, everyone is a target for phone hacking in the UK, with hundreds of victims falling prey to the News of the World and other publications.
Welcome to FarSec.net!