Larry Seltzer

For the past several months a standards group of the Internet Engineering Task Force named MTA Authorization Records in DNS, or MARID, has labored to form a proposed standard for SMTP authentication. That effort will move along one step this week at the 60th IETF meeting in San Diego. Based originally on SPF (Sender Policy […]

It was only a matter of time before the authors of phishing attacks became more clever. Ive always been disappointed, in a perverse way, by the lack of creativity they have shown. But in a way it doesnt matter how clever they are since you can protect yourself with a healthy dose of skepticism and […]

Microsoft Corp., as predicted, issued on Friday an “out of sequence” security update for Internet Explorer that addresses three critical vulnerabilities. The security bulletin accompanying the updates, numbered MS04-025, addresses three vulnerabilities rated “critical” that could result in an attacker executing code in the context of a logged-on user. If the user is logged on […]

Like many of you, I spend many a visit to family and friends attempting to fix their computer problems. The No. 1 problem scenario these days involves spyware and adware, often so much of it that the computer is utterly unusable. An infected system is a sad sight. You cant do anything without windows popping […]

I wont bother asking you whether youve noticed a lot of spam coming into your e-mail account lately. It would be more interesting to ask if you can notice any real mail. MessageLabs, a mail security service, recently reported that 76 percent of all mail they processed in the month of May was spam. That […]

A couple versions ago I looked at Secure IE from Winferno Software and was unkind to it. As I said at the time, it largely just automated settings in Internet Explorer you could make on your own and for free. I met some resistance at the time from colleagues who felt that the product could […]

A British Web developer has revealed a new form of a cross-site scripting, or XSS, attack that facilitates phishing activities. The attack, demonstrated by the developer on his own site, allows an attacker to execute scripts in the context of another Web site. Testing by eWEEK.com indicates that the attack works on both Internet Explorer […]

If youve ever wondered why major software releases such as new operating systems take so long, one of the biggest contributing factors is backward compatibility. Microsoft is especially sensitive to this, and especially with its largest customers. It works very hard not to break old applications. But with Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), expected […]

The first known virus for the Windows CE operating system has been developed and sent to anti-virus companies. The virus, known as WinCE4.Dust, does no direct damage to the system. When its executed, according to descriptions from several anti-virus companies, it asks, “Dear User, am I allowed to spread?” Symantec notes that if the user […]

A new variant on the Bagle worm has elicited increased alert levels from anti-virus companies owing to increased numbers of submissions, from both consumer and corporate clients. Known as W32/Bagle.af@MM to McAfee, WORM_BAGLE.AF to Trend Micro and W32.Beagle.AB@mm to Symantec, the new version is rated “medium on-watch” by McAfee and “category 3 – moderate” by […]

After two ho-hum months we all knew a more significant patch day was coming in July. By the time the next one comes around, Windows XP Service Pack 2 may have gone “gold,” changing the landscape somewhat. But there still may be patches, even in August. I took note of the fact that none of […]

Shared hosting can be a cost-efficient solution for many Web sites, but you may end up paying a different sort of price. As always when sharing with strangers, theres a risk of the unknown. A well-designed and -managed operating system along with other system software may be able to protect applications and users from one […]