Hacking smartphones

In this article on NetworkWorld, the author speaks about the ever growing field of smartphone hacking. The 'Android' is specifically mentioned, but I would assume all smartphones are open to attack. The latest developments were brought to light at this year's DEFCON conference, and mentions how a bad guy can own your phone and basically send all info stored on it anywhere they want.

The fix?

As usual, just be careful what you download. Is it a free wallpaper app, or a free ringtone? Chances are, if it's free, it's gonna cost you in the long run.

Facebook launches security page

According to this article, Facebook has launced a new safety page.The article states that this page is dedicated to staying safe on the Internet, and asks if it "is enough?" Of course it's not enough, but it's a good addition to practicing safe 'Interwebbing.' The Facebook page has links to organizations that can help parents keep their children (and themselves) a little safer online, such as Childnet International, the National PTA, and Wired Safety.

Home routers hackable

In this article a security researcher has been working on hacking home routers, and says millions are succeptible. The researcher will be speaking at the upcoming Black Hat conference. I'll be interested in the details. However, I'm assuming this is only possible if the router is externally accessible, but as I'm a customer of Verizon (specifically mentioned in the article) I'll be interested to see the details.

Secure Passwords

In this article, the author discusses techniques to create more secure passwords. For those of us who have had a Gmail or Facebook account hacked (myself included), it may be time to think about a way of creating more secure passwords. There are even tools available, such as Keepass to store all of your passwords. This way we don't feel the need to use the same password for multiple sites.

The author states that one of the major issues with user passwords is their simplicity. While I agree that this is a major problem, I think the largest problem is that of using the same password for multiple sites. Think of what would happen if you used the same password for gmail, ebay, facebook, and your banking site. If your gmail account is hacked, the bad guy can surf through your email, find out what bank you're a mamber of, (you get email notifications from your bank, right?) and it's all downhill from there.

A Q&A discussion on "secure Browser connection" warnings

Check out this article for s simple explanation on what it means when you get the "There is a problem with this site's security certificate" browser warning.

It's usually just a matter of a site not having "www" in the certificate title, but it could also be a phishing or man-in-the-middle attack. As always, just be wary of who/which companies you trust online.

Yet another phishing technique

In this article the FBI is warning users that bad guys are cracking email (web-based) usernames and passwords and spamming the user's contact list with a sob story about being stuck in a foreign country with no money. This is similar to an attack on an Iowa Senator's email account earlier this week.

I'm sure it goes without saying for most of us that if you get an unsolicited email from anyone requesting money, it's most likely a phishing scheme. But these scammers are obviously on to something because it seems to keep working for them. Otherwise, they would have quit long ago. Warn your friends, warn your parents, who may not be Intarwebs savvy. Do not, under any circumstances, send money to anyone, without knowing who you are sending it to.

Tired of having to remove spam from your Facebook page?

According to this NY Times article, a well-known web-filtering company, Websense is offering a beta-version of a program to help track and quarrantine spam, scams, phishing, and 'questionable' content from your Facebook account. While it is still in Beta, it is free for all to use. Once the beta release is retired, it will be a pay service, but only if you're a corporation or a celeb. I'll defeintely be giving this program a try.

Based on the article, all you have to do is go to Defensio's web site while logged into your Facebook account, click on sign up, then click the big Facebook icon (or you can just do a search for Defensio on Facebook, then click on go to application).

This will take you to Defensio's Facebook page, where you'll enter your email address, then you can configure your settings. I highly recommend this to all you parents out there who's kids are on Facebook. You can block things from simple profanity to porn. Keep Facebook safe for your kids.