internet - Tag Archive

Are Antivirus and Firewall Sufficient for Good Security?

19 Replies Alan

Whenever people talk about computer and internet security, they talk about malware which consists of virus, trojan, worms, spyware and many more. When they come to talk about the solution for those threats, the solution is to get an antivirus and firewall to do the work.

The question now is, are they sufficient for a good computer and internet security? I would say ‘No’. It is very irresponsible to put the blame into that awesome software when you become a victim of malware infection. I believe that software like antivirus and firewall are there to help you in achieving good security, but not creating some sort of plasma shield to you.

The reasons why you have a poor security

As I said, you can’t blame the software for being too poor as the reason that you to get infected. Part of the reason why you are infected can be several below.

You are too careless when handling incoming links from email

Incoming links from emails especially from an unknown sender are usually malicious. They don’t lead to valuable site but either phishing site or malicious site. If you happen to land on a malicious site, your computer will most probably infected with virus, trojan, or worm the next minute.

If you don’t update and patch your operating system, the wounded area is the target for hackers

Sad to say, there is no such thing such as perfect software. Software is always 95% complete where 5% is the section for bugs and vulnerabilities to exist. It is the matter of time whether those vulnerabilities are found.

If the creator happened to find those vulnerabilities before the bad guys, they will still able to patch the wounded area. So if you don’t update and apply the patch, you will the one targeted by hackers to exploit your vulnerabilities.

You are the owner of your computer, not the administrator

Many of us think that being the owner of the computer means being the administrator as well. But do you know that Microsoft did not design it this way for us? There is an option to create a Standard User and there is User Account Control (UAC) so that we will use our computer in the way that we don’t have full privileges to do everything, same goes to the hacker.

A set of keysBy having a strict UAC, you will realize that every single time you run an application that might affect your System files, you will be asked for permission. The benefit here is, if a hacker tries to run an application to harm your system files, I bet you will know it as well when your UAC pops up.

My verdict to poor security

Having a bad security does not mean your antivirus is not efficient enough or your firewall is not solid enough. At times, it is the user who lacks of experience in handling computer threats. As a result, it is important to always stay alert whenever you are browsing the internet.

If you want to learn more about security, you can grab my copy of eBook for free on how to Build Your Own Security.

The internet and your job

15 Replies Alvina

In today’s social-media-centric culture, there is more to your identity than how your conduct yourself in public or what a piece of paper reports about your financial and criminal records. Social media pages in some cases are actually viewed as more honest representations of a person because many people don’t use censorship or discretion when updating them, often posting content that would embarrass or discredit them if seen by the wrong eyes.

Responsible employers now will probably look into a potential employee’s online presence, and use social media sites like Facebook or personal blogs to make final decisions. The good news is that you can use this fact to your advantage.

Be Responsible

While it’s understandable to want to post everything that is important, funny, or remarkable to you on a Facebook page, know that what you upload to Facebook might be seen by someone you wouldn’t necessarily want to see it, so conduct your Facebook activity with the same caution and restraint that you would in person.

Your Facebook page can also be blocked to people outside your friends list, so if you just can’t help yourself from posting unprofessional things, make sure to restrict access to your page.

Facebook's LogoBecome an Authority

Facebook is one way that a potential employer can try to learn more about you, but Facebook is only one way. Blogging can be a very powerful tool in looking for a job and can speak great volumes about you and your personal life, for better or for worse.

If you maintain a blog, again, be professional. Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want your potential boss to see – but don’t stop there. Try to establish yourself as an expert and an authority in your field. Connect with people on LinkedIn to build a following, and then write about your passion in an insightful, professional manner that would catch your employer’s attention.

Make sure to blog consistently, and more importantly, to interact with your peers and other enthusiasts. If you don’t have a blog, now would be a great time to start one. Just make sure you follow these guidelines, as well.

All of this will inform your potential employer that you have a great passion for your field, are knowledgeable enough within it to be helpful to others, and that you are a part of a network of professionals with similar interests, which will great increase your chance of getting hired. Remember, who you are online is almost as important as who you are in person, so create an online presence that will dazzle and impress.

See Anyone You Know? Face Recognition Comes Of Age

12 Replies Jonny Hankins

The National Academy of Sciences are about to publish an article in their proceedings entitled ‘Privacy In The Age Of Augmented Reality’, co-authored by Alessandro Acquisiti, Ralph Gross and Fred Stuzman. It is about developments in face recognition software.
How 2D facial scanners record identitiesTo use the authors’ words the document

“investigate(s) the feasibility of combining publicly available Web 2.0 data with off-the-shelf face recognition software for the purpose of large-scale, automated individual re-identification.”

They are also working on an app that can do it all from your phone! See the FAQ section here for more information. The article reports a series of experiments conducted over the last year or so during which the researchers try to identify a person from their photo using an over the counter face recognition software using information that is freely available over the internet.

The results are interesting. The experiments are as follows:
Students walking through the university campus were asked if their photo could be taken and to complete a questionnaire. As they were answering the questions the computation task was carried out, looking for a picture match on Facebook and requiring only seconds. In this case more than 30% of the students were immediately traced.

Because the faces were the same but the photos taken from different angles, humans had to decide which of the possible matches were the most appropriate, but that is not always the case. Some photos are replicated and therefore the computer can give a 100% guarantee that the match is correct.

For example in another experiment the researchers used an online dating agency that provided anonymous photos. In this case they could match names to the photos in about 10% of cases. In several cases the same photo had been used on different sites.

In a third experiment the knowledge gained was used to search for further private information, all freely available on the web, such as details of sexual preference, date and place of birth and this information even allowed them to generate the first five figures of the individual’s US social security number.

So it seems that we can draw a simple conclusion here, either now or in the very near future, as these technologies are improved and made freely available, anybody will be able to recognize anybody they see on the street, identify them through an app in their telephone, and find out about their interests and other personal information, if they have ever posted (or had posted for them) a photo of themselves on the internet.

For more information, please read my face recognition article on the Bassetti Foundation website.