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LangaList 2001-05-14 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
1) The "Dead Drive" Security LoopholeAny time you return a system or hard drive for repair, resell it, hand it down, discard it, or otherwise place it in someone else's hands, you're potentially giving that person access to everything on the drive, including files that you thought were deleted, reformatted, or overwritten. Reader Andy Nelaimischkies recently encountered this little-discussed but major security problem:
No, that's not paranoia at all. While this case--- a dead motor--- would have presented some unusual challenges to a snoop, in most cases it's amazingly easy to recover data from old hard drives, even if they've been "erased" or completely FDisk'ed and reformatted. (And in Andy's case, he never had the chance to do even that; all his data was intact, exactly as it was when the drive died!) Whenever a hard drive changes hands for any reason, there's absolutely nothing (except the imperfect protection of the honesty and ethics of others) to prevent the new owner of the drive from gaining access to whatever was on it. Your email, tax records, passwords, and any business plans or other private or confidential information may all be up for grabs, even if you've deleted the files or reformatted the disk. Ironically, even persons and organizations who exercise good security practices during the normal life of a system or hard drive may not pay enough attention to security during repair operations or at the end of a system's life. But there are ways--- ranging from the free and simple to more elaborate and hard-core solutions--- that can virtually guarantee that hackers, crackers, dishonest repair technicians, hand-me-down users, or even dumpster-diving snoops won't be able to do much of anything with your old or in-for-repair hard drive. It's the focus of the new "LangaLetter" column due to go live today (May 14) at InformationWeek's ListeningPost: http://www.informationweek.com/LP/columnists/Fred Langa.html (If you arrive early, you'll see the previous column--- Message In A Bottle." Just try again a little later.) Check out today's column to learn ways you can secure your drives from even the most determined snoops, and then join in the week-long, ongoing discussion ( http://www.informationweek.com/forum/Fred Langa ) to share your thoughts. See you there! Click to
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 2) The PEBKAC BluesReader Rodney Shaw ran into a problem that's instructive on two levels: First it will show you a password-related trick you may not be aware of. Second... well, we'll get to that in a moment:
Thanks, Rodney! Some jaded tech support people refer to issues like this as "PEBKAC" matters: "Problem exists between keyboard and chair." <g> But all of us, from greenest newbie to the most grizzled veteran, make mistakes. I freely admit that from time to time, along with the normal sounds of whirring fans and clacking keys, my office will resound with the sharp "thwack" of hand meeting forehead as I realize I've made some bonehead move or other. But, as Rodney re-learned, "To err is human, but to back up is divine." Whether your backup is in the form of a single critical file you're working on, or the contents of your entire hard drive, a good backup is the way out of all manner of PEBKAC problems. Click to
email this item to a friend 3) Spyware-Free Download ManagerReader George Philp found a replacement for Go!Zilla:
Thanks, George! It looks good! Click to
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 4) How Can You Tell If Something's Spyware-free?The previous item--- "Spyware-Free Download Manager" --- might make you wonder: How can you tell, before the fact, if a given app contains spyware? Of course, there are ways to tell *after the fact.* For example, you can install the app and then run Ad-Aware ( http://www.lavasoft.de/ ) or Opt-Out ( http://grc.com/optout.htm ) to identify and root out any spyware after it's on your system. That's good, and better late than never. But wouldn't you prefer to know if something is spyware (or not) *before* you install it? These sites can help--- they maintain lists of all known spyware. Using them, you can search BEFORE you download an install. Cool! http://www.alphalink.com.au/~johnf/dspypdf.html http://www.infoforce.qc.ca/spyware/enknownlistfrm.html http://www.globalnet.cz/spyware/list.html ... and many others: http://www.google.com/search?q=spyware+list Click to
email this item to a friend 5) *Triple* Your Connection Speed?BrowserTune is humming along in its new home, and is helping thousands to identify and resolve all kind of problems with their browsers and internet connections. Take Michael McDonough, who used BrowserTune's speed tests to fine-tune his broadband connection:
Wow! That's a pretty extreme improvement. But BrowserTune can help you make the most out of just about *any* kind of connection, from dial up through high-speed fiber. And along the way, you can identify all the most common problems in your browser or its many subsystems, too. Check it out: http://www.browsertune.com Click to
email this item to a friend 6) Is This Information Useful?If you think the LangaList is a worthwhile read, maybe a friend would find it useful too! Just use the following link to recommend the LangaList---your friend may find a new source of useful information and you just may win $10,000 for your trouble (full details also available via this link): http://www.recommend-it.com/l.z.e?s=143182 Or, win a no-strings $30 Gift Certificate for any item at Amazon.Com--- books, software, hardware, kitchenware, toys... and more. (Full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm Either way, thank you, and good luck! Click to
email this item to a friend 7) Collaborate To Improve Security OnlineReader Robert Stephens wrote:
Thanks, Robert. The idea of collecting and collating stats to identify the worst malicious hackers is a good one. Although hackers/crackers move around, anything that makes their lives harder is good for the rest of us. 8-) Click to
email this item to a friend 8) They Just Keep Coming And Coming and Coming...Well over a thousand of your fellow
readers have "Loaded the code." Please click over to http://www.langa.com/code.htm
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 9) "Script Sentry" UpdatedJason Levine has updated his free and popular "Script Sentry" tool that helps protect you against malicious scripts embedded in email.
Thanks, Jason. Script Sentry is available at http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/ Click to
email this item to a friend 10) Just For GrinsRon Colverson sent in this bit of wisdom from the prolific mind of Scott Adams:
By the way, you can find a whole world of wonderful Dilbert humor at http://www.dilbert.com . Highly recommended! Click to
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OR banner ad! See http://www.langa.com/ratecard.htm <a href="http://www.langa.com/ratecard.htm">AOL Users: Click here!</a> --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 11) Easy, Do-It-Yourself Auto-Run CDs; A Comprehensive Computer Spec Checklist...Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including: detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to make your own auto-run CDs; and two formats of comprehensive computer spec checklists you can use for easy comparison shopping and record keeping.... Plus! Edition info: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm Click to
email this item to a friend See you next issue!
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