Newsletter Archives

• Microsoft says forget your passwords!

  Posted on September 27th, 2021 at 02:40 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  In a major push, Microsoft is advocating moving away from passwords and instead using different authentication methods.

  The headline: “The passwordless future is here for your Microsoft account.” Is it?

  Here’s what Microsoft has to say in its security blog about a move away from passwords.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.37.0 (2021-09-27).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Multi-factor Authentication, passwords, Patch Lady Posts, PINs, security

• Safely retiring a device

  Posted on September 6th, 2021 at 02:41 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  When and how should you get rid of a computer or device?

  Microsoft came out with new news about supportability of Windows 11 on older platforms. The news about Windows 11 hasn’t changed much, so most of us will need to purchase new hardware to run it.

  Microsoft’s updated guidance suggests that those who install an ISO image configured to avoid the stringent hardware requirements will not be supported. It’s not yet clear whether that unsupported state means no security updates. If so, and if your device is not on Microsoft’s approved hardware list, I recommend sticking with Windows 10 and not upgrading to Windows 11. Security trumps modern.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.34.0 (2021-09-06).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, hardware, Patch Lady Posts, Recycling, security

• The basics of security

  Posted on August 30th, 2021 at 02:45 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.33 • 2021-08-30

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  What are the basics you need to secure your computers and devices?

  The needs of consumer and business users are different, but the foundation of security is the same for both. We all need an operating system we can trust, a means to surf the Internet in a trustworthy fashion, and a way to save and store passwords securely. And I’ll add a fourth to this list, increasingly important: we need an application or device to allow us to effectively and efficiently use multi-factor authentication.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.33.0 (2021-08-30).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.33.F (2021-08-30).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, security

• Browsing your way to more security

  Posted on August 23rd, 2021 at 02:41 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  I often come across Windows computer systems that have been severely compromised, and more often than not the entry point for attack is through the Web browser.

  Sometimes I visit Settings, Apps in Windows and find unexpected programs installed. Often, these programs are malicious at worst, annoying at best. But it’s always a matter of concern that these programs are installed in the first place.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.32.0 (2021-08-23).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, browsers, Patch Lady Posts, security

• Gold copies — keep them close

  Posted on August 2nd, 2021 at 02:42 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Recently, I realized that some of the items I needed to download were no longer available from the links I had been using.

  The other day, I was working on an older server, attempting to re-create its software on a different server. As I worked through the needed prerequisites, I couldn’t find what I needed.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.29.0 (2021-08-02).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, Software Security

• Microsoft de-emphasizes backing up

  Posted on July 26th, 2021 at 02:40 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Got backup?

  Many Windows users consider the second Tuesday of every month a bit like Russian roulette. Will their system reboot? Will they have issues and side effects triggered by the update? Will something else go wrong?

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.28.0 (2021-07-26).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, backup, Patch Lady Posts

• Getting rid of local administrators

  Posted on June 21st, 2021 at 02:41 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Administrator rights are easy to set up but hard to remove.

  Once upon a time, we always configured Windows computers with full administrative rights. We thought nothing of it; it was an expected and a normal part of getting a computer system ready to go. We took being an administrator for granted because we needed to install software and run programs that required administrator rights.

  Then people — attackers — began to realize that user accounts with administrative rights were the keys to the kingdom, making it easier for them to gain access to a system and do their dirty deeds.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.23.0 (2021-06-21).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security Administrator account, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, security, Standard account, Windows

• Wi-Fi vulnerabilities affect all

  Posted on May 24th, 2021 at 01:00 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  FragAttacks is a newly discovered set of vulnerabilities that, when exploited, allows an adversary to steal data by intercepting a network.

  For once, a threat may be less dangerous than advertised.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.19.0 (2021-05-24).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, security, Wi-Fi

• Is the cloud unsafe?

  Posted on May 10th, 2021 at 01:00 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Using the cloud isn’t always a bad thing.

  During this year of the pandemic, we’ve pivoted from doing many things in person to many things online. In my industry, one of the key changes is moving from in-person meetings to online meetings via services such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. Another is doing more and more financial transactions online, including accounting for them.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.17.0 (2021-05-10).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Cloud, On Security, passwords, Patch Lady Posts

• You think you’ve been hacked?

  Posted on March 8th, 2021 at 01:02 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PATCH WATCH

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Have you been hacked?

  Attackers these days are of two varieties — those that want you to know you’ve been attacked and those that don’t. The first camp is quite obvious about it. They are the ransomware attackers, the ones that throw up a note to let you know that your system is no longer your own and is instead held hostage. The second type of attacker is silent, lurking inside your computer with the goal of harvesting information or — worse yet — as a means to attack someone or something else.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.9.0 (2021-03-08).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security, Patch Watch AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, security

• Checking on your vote (USA centric)

  Posted on September 14th, 2020 at 22:39 Susan Bradley Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  Patch Lady Susan here with a bit of an off-topic post.  Being in a country that lets all individual states run their own elections means that there’s no set rules across the country to check if your vote has been counted.  Where I live (smoky and a bit orange) Central California, I can use a web site called Ballottrax.com to track that my vote has been counted.  Specifically in the state of California I can go to this web site on the Secretary of State site and sign up to be alerted when my ballot is sent to me and when they receive my ballot back.

  After listening to the Blackhat presentations on election security I am convinced that electronic voting is NOT the way to go.  You want to make sure there is a paper trail and the ability to audit the vote, but with something more direct and confirmable than hanging chads 😉

  Here are some resources to know more information about voting in the upcoming elections:

  Turbovote has a site to help you get to your State’s resources.  From there you can check to see if your state allows you to check to see if you are registered, and if available, you can sign up to get email alerts about the acceptance of your ballot.  Vote411.org is put out by the League of Women Voters so you can check when and where to sign up to vote and the issues on the ballot.

  The bad guys are REALLY trying to get into accounts having to do with the UK and USA elections.  And they are really using social media to sway and influence.  One of the suggestions I’ve heard of recently to get a different view regarding the issues is to go outside of your own country and read the media from another country and see what they say about the elections in your country.  I’m personally a fan of reviewing the actual language of the bills and propositions on the ballots and ignore any radio or television commercial regarding an issue.

  Regardless of your views, I urge you to step away from the dollars being thrown at this election and go back to deciding the issues the old fashioned way:  Read the ballot.  Read the propositions you have to vote on.  Read the words of the candidates rather than listening to them.  Often reading the plain boring words allows you to see through the ….uh…. fluff on both sides and get a clearer picture of the issues and what you need to vote on.  Use resources like the League of Women Voters or other non partisan sites that you trust to give you an unbiased viewpoint.  Get ready to turn off the television and the social media in the next few weeks and do your own research.  A LOT of money is going to be spent in the next few months to sway you.  I challenge all of us to make sure that all of this money is a waste of funds and that you will make up your mind with good old fashioned minds made up with good old fashioned research on the issues.

  To anyone in the way of the fires or dealing with the smoke, stay safe and take care.

   

  On Security Patch Lady Posts

• Living in a time of digital obsolescence

  Posted on August 9th, 2020 at 23:00 Tracey Capen Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ON SECURITY

  By Susan Bradley

  Recently the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation released a document warning about unpatched Windows 7 machines.

  That alert reinforced what we already know: using an unpatched copy of Win7 is risky. According to the FBI, cybercriminals are targeting network infrastructures containing Win7 systems. And the document pointed out past problems with obsolete operating systems. For example, after Windows XP’s end of life, the healthcare industry was slow to upgrade to a supported version, leading to increased exposure of “records.”

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 17.31.0 (2020-08-10).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, FBI alert, IoT threats, Jailbreaking, Two-factor authentication, Win7 vulnerabilities
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