Sometimes, my job takes me to some very strange places on the Internet. I read all sorts of stories, some true, some bogus. I visit many websites, some safe, some dangerous. Tonight, while researching the "hackability" of a popular program used in many public schools,...

I spent part of today reading and watching YouTube videos about a security guard who was busted last week for hacking into the computer systems of the Dallas hospital where he was employed. As smart as he may have been with computers, he was no mental giant at getting...

Electricity is a wonderful thing that we depend upon every day. Electricity can also be a dangerous enemy if not given proper respect. Around 1,000 people are killed in the U.S. every year from accidental electrocution. Countless more computers are shocked to death,...

I remember, years ago when I saw my first phishing website; I was impressed. It looked exactly like the website of a popular credit card company, right down to the logo, buttons and graphics. The only way that I could tell it was fake was that the address in the...

Like it or not, the Internet is a dangerous place. Scams abound and it's often difficult to tell the bad guys from the good. Common sense can only carry you so far in making the all-important decision: do I trust this website, or not? It's a bit like using the Yellow...

It seems that, all too often, government agencies excel at telling regular citizens how to live their lives, while at the same time being unable to keep their own houses in order. There is no greater example of this type of abuse than in the area of computer security....

The best way to protect computerized information from the bad guys is to use encryption. Whether it's financial and medical information stored on your computer or private data sent across the Internet in an email, encryption transforms your personal information into a...

I was in merry old London, England a few weeks ago, attending the InfoSecurity Europe conference. About 12,000 people from all around the globe showed up for the 3-day affair and, as you might suspect, the overall concern of those at the conference was information...

Video on the Internet used to be a real drag. Poor quality, herky-jerky playback and lousy audio made online video occasionally interesting, but not anything that I ever felt like devoting much time to. Plus, I’ve never been a big fan of watching TV or DVDs on my...

Would you deliberately, as the saying goes, “run your car into the ground?” Would you drive it for 150,000 miles without changing the oil, let the tires go totally bald, never change the engine coolant, never change the transmission fluid, never fix the brakes, or...

The Bible tells us that “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished (Proverbs 27:12, KJV).” Put another way, a wise person sees the trouble coming and prepares for it. Those that ignore the coming trouble will reap...

For some people, buying a new computer is the same as buying a new car. They figure that if a new model of car or computer is released, then the old model must be obsolete, especially if something breaks and needs to be repaired. If it’s not the newest, the coolest...

It seems like every time I turn around, here comes another “critical security update” for my computer. The Internet bad guys keep poking holes in the programs that are important to us, and the software companies keep patching up the holes, hoping that the whole...

I never cease to be amazed at the couldn’t-care-less attitude that some computer users have. Week after week I pull countless viruses and spyware programs out of computers that have been abused by careless users. Thinking that they are somehow immune to the Internet’s...

Viruses that infect computers via removable storage devices, such as flash drives, continue to make computer security headlines. Leading the gang of Internet hoodlums is a nasty worm/virus called Conficker. To date, Conficker, AKA Downadup, has infected upwards of 15...

In last week’s article, I described a wave of viruses appearing last November that targeted removable storage devices, such as flash drives (“Look out for thumb infections,” 2-8-09). Viruses travelling on flash drives were infecting computers around the world,...

Thumb drive, jump drive, pen drive, flash drive, USB stick, USB drive (I prefer flash drive), whatever you want to call them, we love them; those handy little keychain-mountable storage devices that you plug into your computer’s USB port that have all but replaced...

Laptop (AKA, “notebook”) computers are great. The small size and portability of laptop computers has turned them into the machine of choice for many people, me included. However, laptops have special needs that must be tended to if they are to remain trouble free....

We’ve all seen the news coverage of recent battles in the Middle East between Israel and Palestinian forces in the Gaza Strip. The weeks-long offensive by Israel into Palestinian-controlled territory has made headlines around the world, diverting attention from a...

I love technology. As long as I can remember, I’ve always been attracted to things that have buttons, dials, switches, lights, antennas and circuit boards. It is an inescapable fact that modern society is dominated by technology. One down side of this situation is...