Newsletter Archives

• Who controls our tech?

  Posted on March 27, 2023 at 02:41 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  The other day I spotted a USA Today article by Kim Komando about how to ensure Chinese tech wasn’t spying on you.

  She wrote: “Know that there are plenty of allegations that the companies below have government ties, but it’s up for debate how much the Chinese government is genuinely involved in operations. I’m sharing this to help you make more informed decisions on what you purchase and use daily.”

  I think her view is far too simplistic.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.13.0, 2023-03-27).

  On Security China, Foxconn, Lenovo, Microsoft Telemetry, Newsletters, Packet sniffers, Patch Lady Posts, Windows 10, Windows 11

• When you are flagged as malicious

  Posted on March 6, 2023 at 02:42 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  We rely too much on automated reporting in our security solutions.

  Most of the time, such automation works pretty well. When it doesn’t, the consequences can be quite damaging. We can think back to many times when antivirus updates accidentally flagged a file as malicious, and all sorts of fun ensued.

  Just recently, an update to Microsoft Defender interacted with Attack Surface Reduction rules and removed shortcuts on the desktop. If you were on Defender and had the “Block Win32 API calls from Office macro” Attack Surface Reduction rule in place, then updated to security intelligence builds between 1.381.2134.0 and 1.381.2163.0, you would find your icons missing. IT admins were scrambling for days to fix the resulting mess.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.10.0, 2023-03-06).

  On Security Abuse Reporting, false positive, Flagged websites, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, security

• Being legal, supported, and secure

  Posted on February 27, 2023 at 02:43 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Who regulates your software decisions?

  As an operating system comes to the end of its life span, we users have to decide what to do with our technology. Do we continue using it as is, with no consideration of risks? Do we stop using the technology and look for alternatives? Or do some of us do a combination of both?

  With proprietary software, our decisions are often driven by what type of customer we are.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.09.0, 2023-02-27).

  On Security Licensing, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Risk, Software, updates

• Which antivirus solution is the best?

  Posted on February 13, 2023 at 02:42 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Once upon a time, antivirus was the only thing that kept the attackers on the outside and protected your data on the inside.

  Even though antivirus is still an important item in your security toolkit, it is by no means the only means of protection. These days, I look to security programs that provide a balance between protection, information, minimal or no performance impact, and rare false positives. In the days when Microsoft still released major Windows service packs, your antivirus solution often meant the difference between a successful upgrade and one that was painful.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.07.0, 2023-02-13).

  On Security antivirus, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, security, Software

• Passwords don’t work — until they do

  Posted on January 30, 2023 at 02:42 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Let’s get real. We all would love it if every website requiring credentials would just launch to our desired page without our having to enter in a password or do any sort of authentication.

  The process of entering a password or passphrase that is unique to every website is essential for security, but untenable. We usually counter our inability to remember more than a few passwords by using a Password Manager program (hopefully your display is not surrounded by Post-It™ notes). Password managers work great, until they are no longer safe.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.05.0, 2023-01-30).

  On Security Hardware Keys, Newsletters, passwords, Patch Lady Posts, security, Security Tokens

• Finding good security information

  Posted on December 26, 2022 at 02:42 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  I do this so you don’t have to.

  And I’ve been doing it for a long time, learning and cultivating sources of knowledge to allow me to make informed decisions about the stability and security of my computing environments, both at home and for my business. The latter has been extremely important to me; as a CPA, I am entrusted with the private financial information from the firm’s clients, which must be dealt with carefully.

  Thus, I have been on a decades-long journey through the landscape of NNTP newsgroups, Listservs, email groups, chat rooms — you name it. Today the available resources are much broader, including all the social networks including YouTube; specialty websites dealing with security, privacy, and operating environments; governmental websites regarding regulation, especially with regard to privacy; and the many personal acquaintances I’ve developed over the years.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.52.0, 2022-12-26).

  On Security Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, security, Sources

• Brute force vs. local admins

  Posted on October 24, 2022 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Microsoft recently added new protections to ensure that ransomware operators can’t use a brute-force attack to discover the Local Administrator account’s password.

  The company introduced a new policy that provides “account lockouts for Administrator accounts.” Beginning with the October 11, 2022, or later Windows cumulative updates, a local policy will be available to enable Local Administrator account lockouts. As described in “Account lockout available for Local Administrators” (KB5020282), the capability is available for almost all versions of Windows dating back to Windows 7 and Server 2008.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.43.0, 2022-10-24).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security Administrator account, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Brute-force cracking, local account, On Security, Patch Lady Posts

• When newer isn’t more secure, or better

  Posted on October 10, 2022 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  It’s a dirty little secret in software — when new code is added to existing code, it doesn’t always result in a more secure system.

  Let me give you a specific example. Recently, Microsoft announced that there had been targeted attacks against ten organizations using fully patched Exchange servers. To gain access, the attackers needed rights on the server.

  That meant they had already employed a successful phishing attack.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.41.0, 2022-10-10).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Exchange, Patch Lady Posts, System upgrades

• Securing Windows 11 with 22H2

  Posted on October 3, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.40 • 2022-10-03

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  The recent Windows 11 update brings more security features, but with a big caveat — only users with specific license levels benefit.

  In addition, hardware requirements are tighter; I’ll discuss those shortly.

  I’ve received some key questions about Windows 11 from our readers, and I’m going to take the opportunity to answer some of those in this column.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.40.0, 2022-10-03).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Patch Lady Posts, security, Windows 11

• Keeping out the bad applications

  Posted on September 26, 2022 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Both Microsoft and Apple are trying to tackle an ongoing problem that plagues us — keeping our systems secure and protected.

  But the vendors are not tackling the problem in the same ways.

  Apple has a huge user base of small devices, especially the iPhone, which provide the user with instantaneous access to real-time human interaction. Microsoft, on the other hand, has a huge user base of “traditional devices” (e.g., PCs) that certainly connect to the Internet but don’t involve phone calls, text messages, or anything else — such as FaceTime, the built-in visual medium.

  Although the companies share the overall security challenge, their approaches are different.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.39.0, 2022-09-26).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, iOS, iOS 16, Patch Lady Posts

• Do you need to encrypt your data?

  Posted on September 12, 2022 at 02:41 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Encryption can protect your data, but sometimes it can block you from it.

  Let’s get some facts. Encryption, when done right, protects your data at rest. If an attacker breaks into my house but does not know the username and password of the laptop I keep there, access attempts will fail.

  But if that computer is running, it’s a different story. If I’m doing any sort of data transmission, such as interacting with a website or handling email, data is vulnerable unless I’ve taken separate steps to encrypt those processes.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.36.0, 2022-09-05).

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

• Check the health of your systems

  Posted on September 5, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.36 • 2022-09-05

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  It’s time to ensure your computer is sound, the operating system is healthy, and your system is backed up.

  Why? Because a feature release is right around the corner: 22H2 for both Windows 10 and Windows 11 is due shortly. It’s not that I recommend that you move to those versions, at least not right away. But if you do decide to move ahead, it’s critical to be sure to do so safely, with your ability to retreat secured.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.36.0, 2022-09-05).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security antivirus, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Backup, browsers, drivers, Operating Systems, Patch Lady Posts, security, SSDs
• « Older Entries

  Newer Entries »