ComputerWorld – Page 142 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: Gregg Keizer| Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2017 11:41:00 -0700

Google has finalized a schedule that, over the next 12 months, will send companies scrambling to replace the digital certificates that secure their websites or risk being viewed with suspicion by users running Chrome, the world’s most popular browser.

“Companies are staring down the barrel of a boat load of work,” said David Anthony Mahdi, a research director at Gartner, and the industry research firm’s resident expert on digital certificates and the CAs (certificate authorities) that issue them. “This is massive.”

Beginning with Chrome 66, currently set to show up the third week of April next year, Google will “remove trust in Symantec-issued certificates issued prior to June 1, 2016,” wrote three members of the browser’s security team, in a post to a company blog. “If you are a site operator with a certificate issued by a Symantec CA prior to June 1, 2016, then prior to the release of Chrome 66, you will need to replace the existing certificate with a new certificate from any Certificate Authority trusted by Chrome.”

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ComputerWorld Independent

September 15, 2017 admin

Outlook 2010 Tower of Babel patch KB 4011089 breaks VBScript print

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2017 05:27:00 -0700

If you’ve installed KB 4011089, this month’s Outlook 2010 security patch, and you can no longer print custom forms, you aren’t alone. I’m seeing reports from several sources that installing the patch destroys printing functionality in custom Outlook 2010 forms.

It isn’t clear at this early stage if other versions of Outlook are affected or if other Office programs may have the same kind of problem.

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ComputerWorld Independent

September 14, 2017 admin

If you can’t avoid Word's 'Enable Editing,' patch Windows right now

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2017 06:55:00 -0700

In the normal course of events, it takes a week (or two or three) for the bugs in each month’s Windows and Office security patches to shake out. This month’s patches are no exception. There are lots of reports of problems with IE and Edge, for example, and many more are piling up.

In the normal course of events, the fresh-off-the-press security patches present more of a threat to most people in the short term than do the problems the patches are supposed to fix. You have to patch sooner or later, but by waiting for the screams of pain to die down, you can save yourself some major headaches.

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ComputerWorld Independent

September 14, 2017 admin

Kids! Do NOT try this at work!

Credit to Author: Sharky| Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2017 03:00:00 -0700

This IT consultant pilot fish works at a real estate company once a week, performing SAN management and doing routine updates and security patching on the Windows PCs.

“I was using my Linux-based laptop to peruse the quarantine area of the antivirus application, checking out the many X-rated and infected email attachments that had been caught and sent to the folder,” says fish.

“Several employees were standing around watching and commenting on the files. One of them decided to go back to his own PC to check out the pictures for himself.

“Shortly after opening several of the quarantined items, he suddenly called out, ‘Hey, why is my computer acting weird?’

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ComputerWorld Independent

September 13, 2017 admin

IDG Contributor Network: September Patch Tuesday brings critical updates for Window, Edge and .NET

Credit to Author: Greg Lambert| Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2017 11:00:00 -0700

September brings a relatively large patch profile for Microsoft with 76 reported vulnerabilities, three public disclosures (thank you, Google) and unfortunately one zero day exploit. You used to be worried about browsers and Flash, now we have a publicly exploited vulnerability for augmented reality (AR) with a fix for Microsoft’s HoloLens headset.

For this September Patch Tuesday, Microsoft is only shipping security updates with patches to the following product groups:

Browsers (IE and Edge)
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ComputerWorld Independent

September 13, 2017 admin

iPhone X & Face ID: Everything you need to know

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2017 07:36:00 -0700

The iPhone X replaces the Home button and Touch ID with gesture controls and Face ID, sophisticated facial recognition software that learns to recognize your face and lets you use your device only after it has confirmed it is you. It is a new technology — here’s what we know about it so far:

The hype machine

This is how Apple’s chief marketer, Phil Schiller put it: “With the iPhone X, your iPhone is locked until you look at it and it recognizes you. Nothing has ever been more simple, natural, and effortless. This is the future of how we’ll unlock our smartphones and protect our sensitive information.”

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ComputerWorld Independent

September 13, 2017 admin

Bloated Patch Tuesday brings fix for nasty Word/RTF/Net vulnerability

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2017 04:16:00 -0700

Microsoft on Tuesday released 259 individual security patches, covering 82 security holes (counting by CVE number). You may feel rushed to apply those patches, particularly when you hear about a really bad vulnerability involving Word, RTF, and the .NET Framework. The facts are a little less alarmist.

Here’s a quick overview. The SANS Internet Storm Center has its usual handy list of CVEs and whether there are any known exploits. Martin Brinkmann at Ghacks stacks them up this way:

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ComputerWorld Independent

September 13, 2017 admin

Windows Hello for Business: Next-gen authentication for Windows shops

Credit to Author: Jonathan Hassell| Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2017 04:01:00 -0700

Authentication: the act of proving one’s identity to the satisfaction of some central authority. To most, this process means typing in a username and a password. It’s been this way for years and years.

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(Insider Story)