IT Security Blog

UK Email Law: Security Breach?

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On-line Communication

Did you know that starting March of this year, every single email that is sent and received in the UK will be monitored? Yep, following the law, all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the UK will be required to store email information for a year. Though this law requires information to be kept, the actual content of the emails are not included in the requirement.

However, the fact that information is being monitored – even private emails – has got a lot of people shifting in discontent. The details of the law were published by BBC:

-To keep details of every e-mail sent in the UK for a year
-Internet Service Providers will have to record who sent the email, to whom and when
-The e-mail’s content will not be stored
-Data can be accessed by more than 600 public bodies, such as the police and councils, if they make a valid request
-Part of a European Commission directive

Although the contents of emails are not part of the law, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that this gives rise to potential security breaches – BIG TIME. It is a given that the idea behind the law was born out of goodwill. After all, we do know that there are a lot of unscrupulous people out there who take advantage of the technology.

However, who is to say that this database of information will be kept secure and that no one will be able to make unauthorized use of it? That, my friends, is the biggest question. Am sure glad I am not in the UK right now.

Hacker Gets $50K from Sandwich Treasury

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Hackers in the modern day can really be a problem. But if you talk about money being involved (which is usually the case) breaching a supposedly secure IT infrastructure is bound to get a lot of attention.

It is in these cases where you have to wonder, do you credit the intelligence of these people or curse them for being able to breach such confidential systems. The $50,000 dollars that they got was no joke and these days, that money can go a long way. A recourse stemming from the hard times perhaps?

Police said a hacker, possibly with international connections, succeeded in planting a keystroke logger onto the computer of Sandwich, Mass., Treasurer Craig Mayen, and was able to watch while he entered his security password, The Boston Globe reported Wednesday.

You have to hand it to these people. In times where money is hard to come by, hitting a town treasury is certainly an accomplishment for them. However, it also means that you are liable for crime and lawsuits especially if you get caught. At the moment, the only lead to it all is a Florida man who said he was wired money to open the accounts reportedly from Russia. A Russian hacker? It can make sense.

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Viruses Prey on Mobile Phones

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It should not really be surprising at how mobile phones would be the target of most viruses today. For one, they are the hot commodities we hear of today and similar to PC computing before, they are the hot target viruses want to wreck havoc on.

It is not really constrained to creating a mess. They are a challenge. Their wireless means of surfing the web and using programs that may be hard to penetrate with the basic security features is the penetration issue that any hacker today would want to conquer.

Spammers are bound to have their teeth in as well. These two juvenile delinquents of the cyber world are bound to be aggressively aching to get their name in the mobile internet issues. The opportunity is simply too tempting to pass up.

According to its annual Emerging Cyber Threats report, cybercriminals will start targeting smartphones as they are being used more frequently by users when it comes to financial matters and therefore are a source of sensitive personal data such as credit card and bank account details.

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MacGuard Posing as Malware for MACS

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The last thing you would hate is being taken for a ride as far as antivirus software is concerned. Antivirus protection is an important need in the world of computing and the last thing you would want to find out is that there are strings attached such as Malware.

MACS are known to be less prone to viruses. But that does not mean that MAC owners are taking viruses lightly. At the rate that viruses are being developed to invade various technology gadgets and software, it is just a matter of time before a virus infects a MAC.

There is software that is being marketed as a MAC antivirus software. However, there is something that more to it. In fact, you may even do harm to your computer by installing it and it goes by the name of MacGuard.

Actually, the MacGuard is just a clone to that fake Windows Security Software called Winiguard. WiniGuard is known for tricking users into buying it by serving up fake spyware alerts, and there’s no real reason to think that MacGuard does anything different or useful.

MacGuard also has the potential to bring other malware on to your system, so I’d recommend taking a pass on it and sticking with some well-known antivirus software (Norton, McAfee) if you’re concerned about the security of your system.

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Symantec Corp far from Being Affected by Economy

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All companies today are becoming wiser, some are practically afraid to invest. But if there is an industry that is far from slowing down in acquiring companies with promise, it has to be the IT security companies.

They are similar companies for sure but the fact remains that their losses are not based on client only. They make use of cyberspace methods, online marketing and transactions that can be done through the use of technology. While they may operate in the same way that the standard company would, it is a fact that they have other means of getting over the financial humps we have today.

While many people are looking for security means as far as finances and revenue is concerned, big name companies such as Symantec are still lucrative investments to behold. For one, Symantec corporation has been on the prowl for potential companies that show promise, needing only some tweaks to provide integrated solutions and as a form of branching as far as business security solutions and others are concerned.

“If you look at the things that are going on in the market today, there’s some things that businesses can’t afford to go too light on given the exposure that they have,” said Scott Crawford, an analyst with Enterprise Management Associates (EMA). “Businesses are already taking a pretty solid hit in terms of mismanaged business risk. They can ill-afford additional exposure to security and related IT risks.”

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Virus Catching is Harder than Actual Hunting

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Viruses may seem to be the tiniest and easiest prey to figure out with the right software but as far as catching them as guinea pigs and advanced study has to be the developer’s nightmare since they are not easy to catch. Further, if they are not properly isolated and understood, one false move may result into something entirely dangerous for the computer and even the network should that certain computer be connected to a local or wide area network.

We tip our hats of to the anti-virus developers. Without a doubt, they work hard and provide updates as often as possible so that these viruses can be easily understood. Also, preventive measures in order to avoid them from creating problems such as becoming gateways for outside hackers or perhaps even becoming a threat towards system resources are just a few of the mischief that they cause.

Apparently such is the story of such people who have long and toiled to help protect us from potential risks by these viruses. But if you could understand in full on how they deal with these things, then perhaps you may find it harder than the standard animal hunting that we all know of.

Anti-virus companies play a losing game. Casting their nets wide, they catch common, malicious viruses and worms (known to the industry as “malware”), but it may take days before their software updates can prepare your computer for the next attack. By then it could be too late. And some insidious programs prove immune to anti-virus software, residing inside your computer for months or even years, collecting personal information and business secrets.

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