If you?re a user of Twitter, that social networking phenomenon that depends upon succinct bursts of information from its community of members, you might be at risk of having your password compromised.
Twitter has begun issuing alerts to certain users, notifying them of the need to change their password. It reads as follows:
“Due to concern that your account may have been compromised in a phishing attack that took place off-Twitter, your password was reset.”
This is in response to phishing attempts that have resulted in users unwittingly surrendering their login information to hackers.
Phishing refers to a process where unscrupulous sorts set up a bogus login screen that dupes unsuspecting users into giving their user name and password away. The phishers then use that compromised account to send messages to other users, using the same scheme.
Aiming to thwart a recent series of phishing scams, Twitter has been informing users that they should change their password if they happen to be following an account by the name of @THCx. It?s suspected that this account may have been created for the purpose of phishing for passwords.
Computer Geeks advises you to be very mindful of who you share information with. When logging into ANY account, always make sure to look at the url located in the address bar. Should there be anything that looks peculiar, it?s possible that it?s not the actual site you wish to log into.
A few blog posts ago, I touched upon Microsoft Security Essentials’ recent accolades from AV-Comparatives, an anti-malware testing group that compares various anti-malware solutions and ranks them accordingly. As reported, Microsoft Security Essentials is one of just two anti-malware packages — the other being F-Secure Anti-Virus 2010 — that were rated “very fast” in every test category included in the company’s comparisons.
Adding to that initial honor, AV-Comparatives has also given Microsoft Security Essentials the award for the best performance of those programs tested.? Subjecting the competing anti-maleware solutions to a variety of tests derived from real-world scenarios — downloading, extracting, copying, encoding files, application launches, etc. — gave a? clear leader in Microsoft Security Essentials.
What became most noticeable was how little Microsoft Security Essentials demanded of a system’s resources, contributing to AV-Comparative’s decision to rank it as the best-performing anti-malware solution that you can get for free. Brisk performance in every major category, while being light on resources, is reason enough to give this highly recommended anti-malware program a look — particularly when you taking into consideration that it’s free, outpacing those solutions that cost money.
Proving its mettle against the competition, Microsoft Security Essentials is a great tool to protect your computer with.
If you use either Symantec Norton Anti-Virus 2010 or McAfee Virus Scan Plus 2010, you might be interested in knowing that a recent report by AV-Comparatives — an Austrian non-profit that assesses differences between anti-virus software, informing the public of their findings — concludes that Microsoft Security Essentials runs faster than the two aforementioned competitors.
Still, Microsoft Security Essentials placed 6th overall amongst 16 products tested by the firm. Coming in at the 8 spot was Symantec Norton Anti-Virus 2010, while McAfee VirusScan Plus 2010 came in 10th place. Microsoft Security Essentials was rated “very fast” in every test category, with just one other anti-virus program — F-Secure Anti-Virus 2010 — qualifiying for the “very fast” honor in every test category.
This is of particular significance for those of you looking to install a security solution that doesn’t hinder the performance of your computer, a problem that persists with many anti-virus programs.
Microsoft Security Essentials has received high marks for its relative lack of bloat and fast performance. More enticing, Microsoft Security Essentials is free, making it the superior alternative to anti-virus solutions that are both costly and less efficient.
Of critical importance to any of you who use social networking sites such as Facebook and the various applications to which you can subscribe while using them (think Mafia Wars, etc.) is the recent news of the RockYou Database being compromised by hackers.
Occurring on December 4th, the RockYou Database was infiltrated by the nefarious types who scour the internet for penetrable networks from which sensitive information can be retrieved and used for criminal purposes. Username and passwords were stolen, along with any other information that the RockYou application retrieves upon your use of it.
If it?s any consolation to those of you who might have fallen prey to this theft, none of the usernames and passwords have been published, but there?s nothing stopping the thieves from making them publically available ? or selling them, even — when they?re so inclined.
The company behind the RockYou app is largely to blame, carelessly storing the information in an insecure text format. In addition to Facebook, other social networking sites that use the application have seen their users? information hijacked, including Myspace and email services such as Gmail.
If you use any of these social networking sites, we strongly suggest that you change your password immediately, particularly if you?re someone who uses the same password for every site on which you?re a member.
Computer Geeks works hard to stay on top of the latest security issues to help keep your computers safe. If you have any questions about the RockYou hack and how it affects you, or if you’re concerned that your web accounts or computer may have been compromised, give us a call at 1-800-GEEK-HELP (433-5435) and our techs can help.
If you?re a user of Avast, the popular anti-virus program developed by ALWIL software, you should know that a recent definition update (those routine downloads that keep the virus definitions of your anti-virus software current) tagged hundreds of valid files as security threats.
The company promptly responded to the error, summarily releasing a fix just hours later. However, users are still burdened with the task of reinstalling those legitimate files.
Aiding in that effort, Avast has an easy to follow guide that walks you through the process of recovering files incorrectly tagged as threats.
In the event you?re using Avast 5 beta ?or Avast 4.8, this solution may not be effective, requiring that you run a fresh reinstall of programs to which the tagged files are linked.
That?s certainly a frustrating solution, one that some users may have no choice but to use. ?To date, there is no single solution that works for every user. So, read the instructions provided by Avast. If that works, great — but you may have to reinstall the program if their solution fails to deliver.
If you?re an Avast user and you suspect this bungled update has affected the performance of your computer, call our office. Computer Geeks is always here to assist you.
