security

Obama administration announces new head Computer Security position

Networking & Internet / By /

In a move hailed by computer security experts across the country, President Obama outlined today a new top ‘cybersecurity czar’ position that would operate out of the White House and have direct access to the president. This speech included reference to a new comprehensive approach to US computer security.

What we say – thank you Mr President. It’s about time a president recognizes how important and potentially fragile our computer systems and networks are. As a sys admin who understands how easily systems can be hacked, I constantly worry that a truly malicious hacker is going to come along and really stick it to us. And I’m not even a pure security expert; they know of 10x as many vulnerabilities as I do!

I love the fact that his speech included terms like ‘malware, spyware, spoofing’ and more. You can see (or read) the president’s speech on the White House website.

Fujitsu Develop Data-Erase USB Memory Sticks

Computers, Gizmo of the Day, Portable, Software / By /

Fujitsu Data-Erase Memory Device

Fujitsu have just announced their latest memory security device; one that erases the data after a certain time period and also has the ability to block users from copying the files from the memory stick to a PC. Perfect if you’ve had your memory stick with confidential files on lost or stolen (something that that would probably be welcomed in the UK).

No word on pricing or availability yet, but hit the link to find out all the gory details: Read more.

Conficker Worm wakes up; Check your AV and patches

Computers, Networking & Internet, Software / By /

AV researchers noticed that the Conficker worm ‘woke up’ and has started replicating a piece of data among infected computers. It is still unknown what this mystery payload is, but it could be something as dangerous as a keylogger.

Bottom line is that you should check your Windows systems again for up to date virus definitions and security patches. You should also make use of a couple of free online checks: the Conficker Eye Chart (makes sense when you see it) and another test at the University of Bonn.

Multi-Accessible Combination & Key-fob Doorlock

1 Comment / Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation, Tools, DIY, Home, Office / By /

iButton Doorlock

Keys have been around a very long time now and so have numerical door locks, but this device takes security to a whole new level. This is essentially a normal door lock handle combined with a numerical door lock, allowing you to open it with either key, a code, an iButton or a combination of these. Multiple people can be given access by giving them different iButtons. You can also restrict access based on certain times of the day and it will even lock the door behind that forgetful person.

The iButton is basically a computer chip in a key-fob sized piece of plastic that allows you to swipe against a sensor in the lock. Finally, if you’re thinking this isn’t quite good enough for you, then consider this – the U.S. Mint actually uses iButtons.

Buy now!

Price: $179.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Trustware’s BufferZone separates files and applications

Computers, Miscellaneous / By /

As a follow-up to our piece on the Conficker C worm, a vendor called Trustware sent us news about their product (BufferZone) which can arguably be classified as an Anti-Virus app, but doesn’t quite work like the typical AV program. BufferZone claims to prevent malicious code from installing on your system by placing it into its own little virtual container and away from data and operating system files.

I wonder somewhat about the performance of a virtualization app as compared to a real-time virus scanner, but you can take BufferZone for a free 30-day test drive and find out for yourself.

Article Recap from the Week of Mar 27, 2009

Computers, Gizmo of the Day, Home Automation, Networking & Internet, Phones, Portable, Software, Tools, DIY, Home, Office / By /

Here’s our weekly summary of featured items from Gizmos For Geeks:

There’s a new feature from Google Labs that allows you to ‘unsend’ an email just after sending. Why oh why is the Sci Fi Channel renaming themselves to SyFy?

For noisy environments, you’ll be able to get a ‘throat microphone’ from Sanwa. Home improvement buffs may like the Ultimate Musical Doorbell and wanna-be musicians should take a look at the illuminated fret guitar.

Perhaps one of the more high-end, expensive items this week was the 3G WiFi router for Cadillacs. tikitag which was an item we featured from CES 2009 was renamed to ‘touchatag’ and got some new features as well.

For all of you who crave for faster broadband speeds, VDSL2 might have the answer with the possiblity of up to 500Mbps speeds through simple copper telephone wiring.

Finally, the most important article was that there’s a new virus making the rounds and you should update your AV definitions and security patches ASAP.

Source: Gizmos for Geeks.

New Gmail feature: sign out your other sessions

Miscellaneous / By /

There’s a new Gmail feature that Google just rolled out that apparently has taken years of testing. It’s the ability to track and sign out other Gmail sessions that you have open in other browsers/computers.

All you need to do is head down to the bottom of your Gmail screen and click the Details link near your “last account activity”. It will show you other Gmail sessions, including their IP addresses and a button to sign out of those sessions.

I tried this today and signed myself out of my session that I left running on my home computer. I love it. It means I can be a little less afraid of using Gmail on strange computers. Not completely though!

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