Author: Nick

Faculty/Staff, Help Desk, Security, Software, Students, Tips

McAfee SiteAdvisor Makes Safe Surfing Easier

Nick

McAfee SiteAdvisor is now bundled with Swarthmore McAfee Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware Version 8.5 for Windows PCs. You’ll know that SiteAdvisor is running on your PC if you notice an icon like the following on your Internet Explorer (shown) and/or Firefox browser: SiteAdvisor visually indicates whether a web site you’re visiting has been determined to be safe or otherwise. The SiteAdvisor icon will be one of the following colors: green – the site has been judged by McAfee to be safe yellow – the site has user feedback indicating it may not be safe red – the site contains malicious software, downloads or … Continue reading McAfee SiteAdvisor Makes Safe Surfing Easier

Email, Security

Happy Valentine’s Day?! Join a Botnet!!

Nick

Malware writers are hoping that you’ll open that Valentine’s Day card they sent you. Unfortunately, in addition to a greeting, the seemingly innocent “card” will be downloading malicious software to your PC. Once downloaded, your PC will become a bot, or drone, and will then join a “botnet“. The good news is that these trojan Valentine’s Day cards require you to click on a URL link within the email. That link will then show you festive images (below) while it downloads malicious software such as ‘valentine.exe’. The downloads are constantly changing (morphing) so as to avoid detection by anti-virus software. … Continue reading Happy Valentine’s Day?! Join a Botnet!!

Help Desk, Security, Software, Tips

Patches, patches, and more patches!!

Nick

Whether you’re a Windows or Mac user, major software vendors have released multiple patches in the past several days to close existing security holes within your system. There are also important security fixes available for popular applications like Adobe Acrobat, Mozilla Firefox and QuickTime. Beginning with Apple, there is a security patch for Mac OS X 10.4 (Security Update 2008-001). This single patch fixes five security vulnerabilities. Additionally, an upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5.2 has become available. This upgrade fixes eight security holes and also updates functionality over 10.4. Apple’s software update feature should detect the availability of these … Continue reading Patches, patches, and more patches!!

Accounts and Passwords, Email, Security

Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union Phishing Emails

Nick

On occasion, Swarthmore College email users are subjected to focused phishing attacks appearing to originate from the Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union. Phishing involves sending a bogus email, appearing to originate from a legitimate source, which attempts to get the recipient to click on a malicious URL. Phishing emails typically try to steal a user’s logon credentials, or other private information, by getting them to enter information into a malicious site that can look exactly like the authentic site. These emails rely on social engineering to mislead, cause panic, and/or coerce the user into thinking the email is legitimate. According … Continue reading Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union Phishing Emails

Security, Software

Security Issue with Apple QuickTime (and iTunes) — Update

Nick

UPDATE 12/14/07 A fixed version of Apple QuickTime is now available, 7.3.1, that resolves the RTSP vulnerability described below. The update can be downloaded from: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/ The new version supports Mac OS X v10.3.9, Mac OS X v10.4.9 or later, Mac OS X v10.5 or later, Windows Vista, and Windows XP SP2. QuickTime and iTune users should upgrade at their earliest convenience. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Users of QuickTime are advised to only access QuickTime files from known, trusted sources until a fix is available from Apple. Apple QuickTime currently has a significant security issue within its Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) capability. … Continue reading Security Issue with Apple QuickTime (and iTunes) — Update