October 2006

ZoneAlarm Auto-Update Alarms Users

If you use the ever popular software firewall ZoneAlarm you will have recently seen the first appearance of the new Auto-Update dialogue box indicating that ZA has successfully patched itself. One discussion appears here. Screencaps of the glorious moment are here. If you haven`t spotted the dialogue box it is likely you neglected to download and install the last "full" version which must have included the Auto-Update feature. You are bad, very bad. Update your old ZoneAlarm and bask in the glory of a new Auto-Update tomorrow. (cue triumphant music) Now, why did they not inform its user base of this welcome development before the fact? This is the kind of action that generally prompts me to do a full uninstall as I worry about other processes launching behind my back. Arrgh. I look forward to the full explanation of this behaviour as should you.

Firefox 2.0 Released

All the downloads are here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html.

Internet Explorer 7.0 Released

This version is available here: http://www.microsoft.com/ie/. Best Practise? Download and install for a slight increase in security when your Windows XP just has to use IE.

Hardware Mayhem

First, it was promotional mp3 players from McDonald's Japan that contained a trojan now it's some Apple Video IPods that shipped with a virus. So, the mantra you must repeat is, "Security is a process NOT a product." Best Practices? Be aware of the possibility of viruses, trojans, etc. appearing in all manner of places and have your defences (Anti-Virus, Firewall, Spyware killers, etc.) ready before you are infected.

USB as CD-ROM

Be aware of the old new breed of applications that can be hosted and run from the newer U3 USB storage devices. These drives can automatically run applications by appearing to be a CD-ROM. If you have a public terminal perhaps it's time to at least check if it has a USB port? Having a back door or password stealing trojan implanted on your machine would be bad. You can disable USB ports by way of the good folks at IntelliAdmin.com