ComputerWorld – Page 91 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: Sharky| Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2018 03:00:00 -0800

Flashback a few decades to the glory days of online service CompuServe, when anyone could get an account — but not everyone could use their real names, according to a pilot fish in the know.

“You logged in with your account number, but to join a forum — a chatroom focused on a specific topic — you had to give a real name,” fish says. “The name on your billing record was the default.

“Of course there were fraudsters who used an official-sounding name to phish people for personal info and credit card data. So users were not allowed to have words like ‘billing’ as any part of their in-forum real name. This could only be overridden by the forum sysop. I was one.

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ComputerWorld Independent

December 6, 2018 admin

5 handy Google Fi features you shouldn't forget

Credit to Author: JR Raphael| Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2018 09:21:00 -0800

Got Fi? Google’s unusual wireless service may have shifted its name from Project Fi to Google Fi this fall, but its core proposition remains the same: Pay only for the data you use, and avoid all the traditional carrier gotchas and nonsense.

For the right kind of person, especially among those of us on Android, Fi can be a real cost- and hassle-saver. And aside from its most prominently promoted perks — the seamless network-switching, the public Wi-Fi use, the fee-free roaming and hotspot capabilities, and so on — Fi has some pretty interesting out-of-the-way options that can really elevate your experience.

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ComputerWorld Independent

December 6, 2018 admin

Will Apple’s iPhone replace your password?

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2018 07:00:00 -0800

Imagine using Face ID on your iPhone alongside a password and Touch ID on your computer in order to access highly secure websites, such as online banks, enterprise intranets and confidential online data services.

That’s a possibility as Apple begins testing a new security standard called WebAuthn.

What is WebAuthn?

Apple has begun beta-testing support for the standard in Safari Technology Preview Release 71, thought it does warn this support is an “experimental feature”, so it may go no further than that.

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ComputerWorld Independent

November 29, 2018 admin

Microsoft Patch Alert: After months of bad news, November’s patching seems positively serene

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2018 08:30:00 -0800

By far the most important reason for this month’s relative patching calm: Microsoft decided to wait and get the Windows 10 (version 1809) patch right instead of throwing offal against a wall and seeing what sticks.

What remains is a hodge-podge of Windows patches, some mis-identified .NET patches, a new Servicing Stack Update slowly taking form, a bunch of Office fixes – including two buggy patches that have been pulled and one that’s been fixed – the usual array of Flash excuses and Preview patches.

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ComputerWorld Independent

November 27, 2018 admin

Microsoft's multi-factor authentication service flakes out – again

Credit to Author: Gregg Keizer| Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2018 14:02:00 -0800

Just one day after Microsoft came clean with an explanation of a Nov. 19 outage that blocked users of Office 365 from logging into their accounts using Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), today the service again went on the fritz.

“Starting at 14:25 UTC on 27 Nov 2018, customers using Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) may experience intermittent issues signing into Azure resources, such as Azure Active Directory, when MFA is required by policy,” read the Azure status dashboard. Two and a half hours later, the dashboard reported that after resolving a problem with an earlier DNS (Domain Name Service) issue, engineers rebooted the services. “They observed a decrease in the failure rate after the reboot cycles,” the dashboard concluded.

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ComputerWorld Independent

November 22, 2018 admin

Gmail encryption: Everything you need to know

Credit to Author: JR Raphael| Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2018 04:00:00 -0800

Encryption may sound like a subject best left to hackers and tinfoil hat wearers, but don’t be fooled: It’s a critical part of contemporary life and something that’s important for everyone, especially business users, to understand. And one of the places where encryption is most relevant and misunderstood is in the realm of email.

If you’re using Gmail for electronic communication — be it for business, for personal use, or a combination of the two — it’s well worth your while to know how the service does and doesn’t secure your information and what steps you can take to make sure you’re getting the level of privacy you need.

Ready to dive in?

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