eBay – Change your passwords

Yep, this announcement was published by eBay and retracted and then put back out again. So yes, this is real.

EBay customers must reset passwords after major hack  CNN Money

Not just a rumor…as a precaution, in case the hackers are really good … time to change your ebay passwords. 

Hackers quietly broke into eBay two months ago and stole a database full of user information, the online auction site revealed Wednesday.

Criminals now have possession of eBay customer names, account passwords, email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers and birth dates.

The company said the passwords were encrypted and are virtually impossible to be deciphered. Still, as a precaution, eBay is asking everyone to reset their passwords late Wednesday.

The company isn’t saying how many of its 148 million active accounts were affected — or even how many customers had information stored in that database. But an eBay spokeswoman said the hack impacted “a large number of accounts.”

eBay Suffers Massive Security Breach, All Users Must Change Their Passwords – May 21, 2014 – Forbes:

eBay is taking the breach extremely seriously stating that users employing the same password across eBay and other sites should also change those passwords. It stresses your eBay password should be unique.

eBay Inc. To Ask eBay Users To Change Passwords – eBay Announcements page (Posted May 21st, 2014 at 8:50 AM):

eBay Inc. To Ask eBay Users To Change Passwords

Earlier today eBay Inc. announced it is aware of unauthorized access to eBay systems that may have exposed some customer information. There is no evidence that financial data was compromised and there is no evidence that PayPal or our customers have been affected by the unauthorized access to eBay systems. We are working with law enforcement and leading security experts to aggressively investigate the matter.

As a precaution, we will be asking all eBay users (both buyers and sellers) to change their passwords later today. As a global marketplace, nothing is more important to eBay than the security and trust of our customers. We regret any inconvenience or concern that this situation may cause you.  We know our customers and partners have high expectations of us, and we are committed to ensuring a safe and secure online experience for you on any connected device.

Click here for updates and additional information.

– See more at: http://announcements…h.V13eaJ1m.dpuf

That Click here link above: Frequently Asked Questions on eBay Password Change – ebayinc.com:

What happened?

Our company recently discovered a cyberattack that comprised a small number of employee log in credentials, allowing unauthorized access to eBay’s corporate network.  As a result, a database containing encrypted password and other non-financial data was compromised.  There is no evidence of the compromise affecting accounts for Paypal users, and no evidence of any unauthorized access to personal, financial or credit card information, which is stored separately in encrypted formats.  The company is asking all eBay users to change their passwords.

What customer information was accessed?

The attack resulted in unauthorized access to a database of eBay users that included:

Customer name
Encrypted password
Email address
Physical address
Phone number
Date of birth

Was my financial information accessed?

The file did not contain financial information, and after conducting extensive testing and analysis of our systems, we have no evidence that any customer financial or credit card information was involved. Likewise, the file did not contain social security, taxpayer identification or national identification information.

Has the issue been resolved?

We believe we have shut down unauthorized access to our site and have put additional measures in place to enhance our security. We have seen no spike in fraudulent activity on the site.

BOLD RED emphasis mine.

More in the article.

I think there is some truth to this too:

eBay’s handling of cyber attack ‘slipshod’ – The Telegraph:

A British security expert has branded eBay’s reaction to a huge cyber attack “slipshod” as emails warning customers that their personal details were stolen have still not been sent out, almost 24 hours after news of the security breach was inadvertently leaked

I certainly would have appreciated an email (not with a link it it necessarily) but message within my eBay would have been good. I don’t click links in email but I would have gone to eBay announcements link at the bottom of every eBay page.

However, as a user, I really appreciate that eBay was forthcoming in the ebayinc.com FAQ.

I changed my eBay password as soon as I heard about it the first time. If you haven’t, please, go take care of that and make sure it is a unique password.

Support Ends today for Windows XP and Office 2003

RIP Windows XP and Office 2003!

Well, like it or not, Windows XP Home and Professional, as well as Microsoft Office 2003 support ends today, April 8, 2014.

Windows XP Home and Professional Support Ends today, April 8, 2014!

 

Windows XP support end: 10 steps to cut security risks – ZDNet

“While doing nothing is an option, we do not believe that most organisations — or their auditors — will find this level of risk acceptable,” vice president and Gartner fellow Neil MacDonald said in a report, Best practices for secure use of XP after support ends.

Between 20 percent and 25 percent of enterprise systems are still running XP, and one-third of organisations continue to use it on more than 10 percent of their machines, Gartner estimates.

For those still using the venerable OS after the end of routine Microsoft updates and security patches, MacDonald has come up with 10 best practices to minimise the risks.

Rest in Peace, Windows XP – PCMag SecurityWatch

Rest in Peace Windows XP 2001-2014 You will be missed! Image links to PCMag article.

This is the end. Your Windows XP computer will get its last update today. Oh, it’s not going to roll over and kick the bucket, but continuing to use it will be more and more dangerous, since any new vulnerabilities that arise won’t be patched. We checked in with a number of security experts to discuss just how risky life will be for those who continue to run XP.

It’s the end of the line for Windows XP – USAToday

The software — introduced in an era before texting, Facebook, Snapchat, the iPhone and iPad — has lingered thanks to the reluctance of many consumers and small businesses to change. Despite its age, XP is the No. 2 computer operating system, and many folks are in store for a rude wake-up call.

Microsoft on Tuesday ceases official support for XP. The company will no longer issue patches or system updates to protect against viruses and other malware. If you run into any snags at all, you won’t be able to call Microsoft for technical assistance.

Microsoft Ends Support for Windows XP – Mashable

“Microsoft has provided support for Windows XP for the past 12 years. But now the time has come for us, along with our hardware and software partners, to invest our resources toward supporting more recent technologies so that we can continue to deliver great new experiences,” wrote Microsoft in an announcement.

…

Launched on October 25, 2001, Windows XP is one of the most successful Microsoft products ever; its successor, Windows Vista, was quickly replaced with Windows 7, and it took as long as September 2012 for Windows 7 to overtake XP as the most popular desktop operating system.

Microsoft ends support for Windows XP and Office 2003 – TheNextWeb

If you’re wondering why April 8, 2014 is the date support for both of these products ends, it’s really quite simple. Microsoft releases regular patches on Patch Tuesday, the second Tuesday of every month.

Microsoft supports its products for many years, and depending on when service packs as well as successors are released, the company eventually announces, in advance, when it will cut off support. April 8 happens to be the last Patch Tuesday for both products, meaning if security holes are found after today’s date, they won’t be plugged.

Excellent point!

Netmarketshare.com for Operating Systems pulled today showed March 2014 tallies:

Networkmarketshare, as of March 2014, pulled today, still shows Windows XP as 27.69% of the MarketShare. Link goes to metmarketshare.com

I personally still find it unbelievable that Microsoft, or any company really, would retire/pull support an OS that still garners nearly 30% of Windows users around the world.

Of course if you are an Enterprise company that can afford $200 PER PC for the first year, and increasing amounts each year THEREAFTER for Windows XP updates (security updates only by the way)…

Windows XP support will be available after April 8—just not for you – PCMag

Meet Microsoft’s Custom Support for Windows XP, described as a last-ditch effort for big businesses to quite literally buy some more time to migrate from Windows XP to a more modern operating system. The U.K. paid 5.548 million pounds to Microsoft for an additional year of support to maintain critical and important security updates for Windows XP, Office 2003, and Exchange 2003. Otherwise, Microsoft plans to end support for Windows XP by April 8.

Microsoft has been warning about the demise of Windows XP support since September, 2007, and Custom Support will extract a heavy toll from businesses that were too slow to act: up to $5 million per year (according to a report from Gartner), negotiated on a custom, per-company basis. Last year, Gartner issued a report claiming that the prices could go as high as $200 per PC, per year. The firm called such prices “punitive”.

…

Should consumers get the same break?

To date, Microsoft has given no indication that it will extend consumer support for Windows XP after the April 8 deadline, even though it has extended anti-malware support through July, 2015. After that date, any and all vulnerabilities found for Windows XP will live on forever, even though there are some avenues to keep your PC safe and protected after the deadline expires.

BTW: Apple‘s Mac OS X Mavericks holds 3.75% of the market (putting it between Windows 8.1 and Vista), however, if you include all Mac OS X operating systems listed: Mac OS X 10.6 1.29% (support ended), Mac OS X 10.8 1.18%, Mac OS X 10.7 1.05% Mac OS X 10.5 .24% (support ended), Mac OX X 10.4 0.06% (supported ended), and Mac OS X no version reported 0.01%, then the total is 7.58% of the operating system total market share (which puts it on the low end between Windows XP and Windows 8).

But, that does mean that only 1.59% of all Mac OS X users are running expired versions with no support.

Compare that with 27.69% of Windows users running  Windows XP.

NOTE: That doesn’t count the expired/no support users running Windows NT at 0.15%, Windows 2000 at 0.03%. Apparently Windows 98 users have finally fallen off at 0.00%.

Windows XP end of support: why it concerns you – OnWindows.com

Reto Haeni explores the risks of running Windows XP after its end of service and the benefits of migrating to newer operating systems

This article was first published in the Spring 2014 issue of Touch

…

Designed in a different era

Computers running Windows XP routinely experience a significantly higher malware infection rate than computers running any other supported version of Windows. Much of the elevated infection rate on Windows XP can be attributed to the fact that some of the key built-in security features included with more recent versions of Windows are not present in Windows XP. Windows XP, designed in a different era, simply can’t mitigate threats as effectively as newer operating systems, like Windows 7 and Windows 8. As the threat landscape has evolved over the past twelve years since the release of Windows XP, so has software security.

It’s time folks! If you haven’t done it yet, and if you are still running Windows XP on the Internet, it is high time to correct this by upgrading to a modern OS that is still supported, or disconnect from the Internet.

Please, unless you are a technical person who truly understands the risks and has taken steps to mitigate the overwhelming risks, then please be responsible and disconnect your Windows XP computer now!

Or move to new computer running a current version of Windows, or a Mac from Apple, or the Open Source ‘UNIX like’ Linux operating system and run Windows XP programs with Crossover as suggested here, or you could use Windows XP offline, and use a Linux LiveCD for Internet surfing and email, etc as suggested here and not mess up your offline Windows XP system. No matter how you do it, PULL THE PLUG on Windows XP – Disconnect the Ethernet or Wireless connection to the Internet! Just as soon as you get any April 8th Windows Updates on Patch Tuesday.

Unless you know what you are doing, you will be playing Russian Roulette with your Windows XP computer if you allow it to be online once Microsoft ends support after April 8, 2014. And that has been only Life Line extended support since 2009.

 

Microsoft Office 2003 support ends today, April 8, 2014!

We also mentioned Microsoft Office 2003. Oh, yes, Microsoft Office 2003 has also expired today. No more security updates will be provided for Office 2003 either, just like Windows XP.

If you are still using Office 2003, it’s high time to remove it and move to a current version of Microsoft Office, or move to one of the Open Source alternatives such as;  Apache Foundation‘s OpenOffice.org or Document Foundation‘s LibreOffice, or move to using online versions of MS Office software like MS Office Web Apps or move over to Google’s online document handling programs; Google Docs.

 

A few security lessons from the Target breach

A few security lessons from the Target Breach by Susan Bradley, WindowsSecrets.com

The Target breach points out some facts of life on the Web: We’re all targets (pun intended) of cyber thieves.

Fortunately, there are steps we can take to protect ourselves. Here’s how to protect yourself from the next big breach.

I am a target. I shop online, I shop in large department stores, and I regularly use credit and debit cards. Shopping at large stores that process thousands of sales daily makes me even more of a target, because my transaction information (name, account number, etc.) gets combined with that of all other shoppers. And I became a potential victim when I shopped at Target this past Christmas shopping season.

These days, every time I swipe my credit card on a point-of-sale system, I think to myself: “Is this vendor doing all they can to keep me safe?” Retail companies believe they are; claiming that by following the Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards, they’re doing all they can to keep customer credit-card information safe. But I’m not convinced — especially in the U.S. European credit cards are considered more difficult to hack because they use an onboard security chip rather than the magnetic stripe common on U.S. cards.

This is so true! The article covers some great topics regarding malware designed to attack retail point-of-sale systems, When fishing, go for the biggest catch, and Ways to help protect yourself from POS attacks. 

Must read article.

There is also another excellent article from Wired.com that is also a must read:

Target Got Hacked Hard in 2005. Here’s Why They Let It Happen Again by Kim Zetter – Wired Threat Level

A gang of shadowy hackers tears through the systems of big-box retailers, making off with millions of credit and debit card numbers in a matter of weeks and generating headlines around the country.

Target and Neiman Marcus last week? Nope. This oh-so-familiar attack occurred in 2005.

That’s when Albert Gonzalez and cohorts – including two Russian accomplices — launched a three-year digital rampage through the networks of Target, TJ Maxx, and about half a dozen other companies, absconding with data for more than 120 million credit and debit card accounts. Gonzalez and other members of his team eventually were caught; he’s serving two concurrent sentences for his role, amounting to 20 years and a day in prison, but the big-box breaches go on.

The latest string of hacks attacking Target, Neiman Marcus, and others raise an obvious question: How is it that nearly a decade after the Gonzalez gang pulled off its heists, little has changed in the protection of bank card data?

Oh, and just in case you have forgotten them all, here is a list of all the others:

Target got off easy in the first breach: A spokeswoman told Reuters an “extremely limited” number of payment card numbers were stolen from the company by Gonzalez and his gang. The other companies weren’t as lucky: TJX, Hannaford Brothers grocery chain, the Dave & Busters restaurant chain, Office Max, 7-Eleven, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Barnes & Noble, JC Penney, and, most severely, Heartland Payment Systems, were hit hard.

BOLD emphasis mine.

Again, much more in the must read article including sections; What the Target Thieves Got. Inherent Flaws In the System, and the most telling section, Retailers Oppose Tougher Standards.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, just yesterday on January 25th, Michael‘s too:

Sources: Card Breach at Michaels Stores by Brian Krebs – KrebsOnSecurity.com

Multiple sources in the banking industry say they are tracking a pattern of fraud on cards that were all recently used at Michaels Stores Inc., an Irving, Texas-based arts-and-crafts retailer that maintains more than 1,250 stores across the United States.

…

Update 1:34 p.m. ET: The U.S. Secret Service confirmed that it is investigating a potential data breach at Michaels. Also, Michaels has just issued a statement stating that it “recently learned of possible fraudulent activity on some U.S. payment cards that had been used at Michaels, suggesting that the Company may have experienced a data security attack.”

I think Gartner’s analyst Avivah Litan’s quote in the January 17 2014 Wired Threat Level article was spot on:

“It’s a big failure of the whole industry,” says Gartner analyst Avivah Litan. “This is going to keep getting worse, and this was totally predictable a few years ago and no one did anything. Everyone got worked up, and no one did anything.”

Often these days, I will get cash from the bank and use that instead of the card if I plan on visiting any retailers that have been a part of a security breach, which sadly leaves few you can actually feel comfortable using your credit/debit cards online and off.

I wonder how many others will do the same rather than chance the annoyance, the fear of loss of your hard earned money, the frustration of being without a card while it’s replaced when they disable the current one that’s compromised in a security breach or is used in a fraudulent transaction after a breach (even if it’s limited to $50 or whatever, that’s really not much help for the anxiety it puts people through), and finally of course dealing with the aftermath of your information being at large and the potential of someone using that information to impersonate you…believe me, a 6 month or 12 month credit monitoring does not help that much, or help you sleep at night knowing all that information being out there could be used to do as more and more of your information is made available through these breaches.

If retailers and credit/debit card companies want our ‘faith’ in them, and have us get the warm fuzzies regarding them being responsible enough to be trusted with other people’s money, they need to do what’s needed to get that faith back. Period.

And skimping on it like they did in 2005 won’t cut it, nor will the PCI compliance standards and the blame game. Something really needs to be done about this. People need to feel comfortable using credit/debit cards or they will go the way of the dodo.

Fix the problem, not the blame.*

* Thanks to the movie, Rising Sun for the quote.

BTW: Might want to check out the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and their page on data breaches since 2005. There have been quite a few more than just those noted in this posting!

EDIT 1-26-2014 8:508PM: @SecurityGarden posted the following and linked to this article; Exclusive: FBI warns retailers to expect more credit card breaches – Reuters:

@SecurityGarden Status regarding expanding on this posting on the security breaches

Disable Java – Windows, Mac, Linux

US Department of Homeland Security advises disabling Java following fresh zero-day vulnerability – The Verge

A new Trojan horse has been discovered that exploits a flaw found in Java, leaving computers running Windows, Mac OS, and Linux vulnerable to attack. Mal/JavaJar-B allows attackers to remotely trigger code once it infects a system, potentially leading to the installation of malware, or even ransomware. Oracle hasn’t yet patched the vulnerability, which targets even the latest version of Java.

US-CERT RECOMMENDS THAT USERS DISABLE JAVA IN WEB BROWSERS

Apple has already taken care of this on the Mac by updating to disallow all Java except including the new one that hasn’t even been released yet. Excellent move from Apple.

Firefox and Google Chrome has had you click to even use Java for awhile now. From my experience, I believe that includes the current version of Java as well. As noted above, Firefox now includes the current version of Java in their blacklist. You have to personally choose to actually use Java using their Click to Play feature. Thank you Mozilla!

Google Chrome has instituted on December 21, 2012, noted in their blog posting, a feature that disallows silent extension addon installations. I believe this is something that Mozilla did some time ago when they experienced problems with it. Or maybe not.

So you will definitely want to disable Java in all browsers in Windows, Linux and on the Mac just to be safe for now.

Internet Explorer now allows you to disallow plugins by default and only allow those you specifically allow. But if you have allowed Java in the past, you will want to disable it:

How to Disable Java – PCMag

The PCMag article gives instructions for all the main browsers. Check it out and please for your sake don’t use a browser for general use that allows Java at least for now.

Disable it in at least one browser that you can use for general purpose use.

Whichever method you choose, visit the Java test page at http://java.com/en/download/testjava.jsp to confirm that Java is disabled. Yes, you’ll occasionally run across a website that relies on Java. If necessary, you can temporarily enable Java for those sites. But you may be surprised at how little you miss it.

More here at Security Garden, Dottech.org (How to/tutorial with images) and Venture Beat as well.

I have Java totally disallowed in my main browser, and enabled in one of my other browsers so I can still go to Secunia.com to use their OSI (Online Security Inspector) to check plugins and Internet facing programs. I also compare that with Firefox’s plugin checker. This in Windows. On my Mac, I have Java disabled in all but one browser and turn Java on and off as needed overall. In Linux Java is also disabled in my main browser.

This is very important until Oracle gets this updated and is quick to fix these vulnerabilities.

Oracle really needs to get on the stick before they and all the programs that make use of them are made obsolete! And there are millions of them!!!

EDIT: As of 1/11/2013 – Added Mozilla’s and Apple’s change to include blacklisting of the current version of Java due to the Trojan affecting even the current version of Java. See the info earlier in the posting.

Oracle to stop patching Java 6 in February 2013

Oracle to stop patching Java 6 in February 2013 – Computerworld

The article notes that of course this will be a hardship for Mac OS X Snow Leopard users and for users of earlier versions of OS X, but that is not as far as this rabbit hole goes. Very good article. Well worth a read.

That will leave a significant portion of Mac users without the means to run an up-to-date Java next year. According to Web metrics company Net Applications, approximately 41% of all Macs still run versions of OS X older than Lion.

Apple will presumably issue the final OS X patches for Java 6 in February alongside Oracle’s update.

It will also be hard on businesses, and even government agencies and departments, that will now be forced to work over their Java based programs to make sure they will still work with the current versions of Java 7.

That also means that Oracle themselves will have to update their Forms and Reports (or maybe these are things built by the companies using them too), to work with Java 7 so companies and some government agencies and departments can allow vendors that provide service and products to them. Currently, many of them must make use of Oracle Forms and Reports built on Java 6 from a special site like the MyInvoice subdomain that the government military still uses. That site requires a later version of Java 6 even now. This puts them and their vendors at risk by requiring an old Java on their systems in order to even work with them.

And what about the medical community. I have seen them falling down on the job as well on keeping up with the version of Java that physicians must use on their computers in order to read X-Rays remotely from home or on the road.

The article further is concerned about even upgrading to Java 7:

On Tuesday, Polish researcher Adam Gowdiak, who reported scores of Java vulnerabilities to Oracle this year, told the IDG News Service, “Our research proved that Java 7 was far more insecure than its predecessor version. We are not surprised that corporations are resistant when it comes to the upgrade to Java 7.”

Now that is sad news indeed. There are many sites that make use of Java and with good reason! Even Android is based on Linux — C,C++ and Java. As are many embedded systems, phones, and many electronic devices around the home.

Oracle needs to fix this problem and their Java. If they are going to be the owner of Java, they need to do better with the Java programming language that companies are not concerned about moving to their Java 7! So many programming eco systems out there depend on Java.

They inherited Java and the huge eco systems that depend on them, and base of users when they bought out Sun Microsystems. They can’t make swiss cheese with a door and think people will be be fine with this. Even things like OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice depend on Java — thankfully the current Java, but even that is according to this article, problematic. And what about all the embedded devices that depend on Java? When you install Java and are waiting for it to install, Oracle proudly talks about the billions of devices, that run Java. Oracle’s Java.com About page proudly states:

To date, the Java platform has attracted more than 9 million software developers. It’s used in every major industry segment and has a presence in a wide range of devices, computers, and networks.

Java technology’s versatility, efficiency, platform portability, and security make it the ideal technology for network computing. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!

• 1.1 billion desktops run Java
• 930 million Java Runtime Environment downloads each year
• 3 billion mobile phones run Java
• 31 times more Java phones ship every year than Apple and Android combined
• 100% of all Blu-ray players run Java
• 1.4 billion Java Cards are manufactured each year
• Java powers set-top boxes, printers, Web cams, games, car navigation systems, lottery terminals, medical devices, parking payment stations, and more.

To see places of Java in Action in your daily life, explore java.com.

The bold on the bullet list above is mine.

Oracle really needs to wake up now before they totally destroy the great reputation that Sun Microsystems had when they conceived and built so much with Java. And all for nothing!

Trust is a terrible thing to waste.

 

 

Religious websites riskier than porn for online viruses: study

Religious websites riskier than porn for online viruses: study – Raw Story

Web wanderers are more likely to get a computer virus by visiting a religious website than by peering at porn, according to a study released on Tuesday.

“Drive-by attacks” in which hackers booby-trap legitimate websites with malicious code continue to be a bane, the US-based anti-virus vendor Symantec said in its Internet Security Threat Report.

The same article, or variations on the theme have been have been run by many news/technology venues such as InformationWeek, NYDailyNews, WallStreetJournal Blogs, CSO Online, PCWorld, etc. Many created their own stories from the report, so well worth a read.

Where did all this information come from:
Symantec Internet Security Threat Report – 2011

Malware in 2011
By analyzing malicious code we can determine which threats types and attack vectors are being employed. The endpoint is often the last line of defense, but it can often be the first-line of defense against attacks that spread using USB storage devices, insecure network connections and compromised, infected websites. Symantec’s cloud-based technology and reputation systems can also help to identify and block new and emerging attacks that haven’t been seen before, such as new targeted attacks employing previously unknown zero-day exploits. Analysis of malware activity trends both in the cloud and at the endpoint can help to shed light on the wider nature of threats confronting businesses, especially from blended attacks and threats facing mobile workers.

Corresponding to their large internet populations, the United States, China and India remained the top sources for overall malicious activity. …

The reference about religious sites?

Moreover, religious and ideological sites were found to have triple the average number of threats per infected site than adult/pornographic sites. We hypothesize that this is because pornographic website owners already make money from the internet and, as a result, have a vested interest in keeping their sites malware-free – it’s not good for repeat business.

And here’s just one more small area of the report:

Exploiting the Web: Attack toolkits, rootkits and social networking threats

Attack toolkits, which allow criminals to create new malware and assemble an entire attack without having to write the software from scratch, account for nearly two-thirds (61%) of all threat activity on malicious websites. As these kits become more widespread, robust and easier to use, this number is expected to climb. New exploits are quickly incorporated into attack kits. Each new toolkit version released during the year is accompanied with increased malicious Web attack activity. As a new version emerges that incorporates new exploit functionality, we see an increased use of it in the wild, making as much use of the new exploits until potential victims have patched their systems. For example, the number of attacks using the Blackhole toolkit, which was very active in 2010, dropped to a few hundred attacks per day in the middle of 2011, but re-emerged with newer versions generating hundreds of thousands of infection attempts per day towards the end of the year.

On average, attack toolkits contain around 10 different exploits, mostly focusing on browser independent plug-in vulnerabilities like Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Reader and Java. Popular kits can be updated every few days and each update may trigger a wave of new attacks.

They are relatively easy to find and sold on the underground black market and web forums. Prices range from $40 to $4,000. …

The whole report is well worth a read! There is only so much you can put into an article.

Much more in the report!

Strong Passwords not needed you think? Think again.

[tweetmeme source=”franscomputerservices” only_single=false]To see why strong or secure passwords are really important, check out the following 3 page article at arstechnica.com:

Anonymous speaks: the inside story of the HBGary hack

Most frustrating for HBGary must be the knowledge that they know what they did wrong, and they were perfectly aware of best practices; they just didn’t actually use them. Everybody knows you don’t use easy-to-crack passwords, but some employees did. Everybody knows you don’t re-use passwords, but some of them did. Everybody knows that you should patch servers to keep them free of known security flaws, but they didn’t.

Just a word to the wise, use secure/strong passwords, and don’t reuse passwords for anything.

It may be a little frustrating, but being hacked would be much more frustrating…

Must read article especially since these were supposedly security experts and they were taken down by simply not using security best practices.