Happy Holiday Season Folks!

Well, it's been a long year and I'm now in need of a much needed break. Do hope you have enjoyed following this blog and my sister blogs. I'll be back writing more controversial stories on January 5th. Byz for now!

Stay safe and secure. Look after your family and friends and remember....

Safe surfing folks!
Julian

Firefox rushes out critical zero-day exploit update

Mozilla has rushed out updates to plug a few critical holes in versions 2 and 3 of its popular open source Firefox browser. Firefox 3.0.5 fixes three critical security flaws in the browser, while 2.0.0.19 stitches four critical vulnerabilities.

I'm a big fan of Mozilla Firefox - I trust it 100%! Well as much as you can any application ;) Sadly nothing is 100% secure. I can say one thing though - it's faster and more secure than Internet Explorer. If you are a Firefox user your browser will update automatically - so you can feel assured you have the latest security patch.

AlertMe: If you use Version 2.0 I suggest you upgrade to Version 3.0 right now. Mozilla does not support Version 2.0 any longer.

Download and install Firefox 3.0 from this safe and trusted link: http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/

Safe surfing folks!
Julian

Web browsers password protection doesn't protect you!

Web browser password management features in Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera and Chrome are not safe to use.

Biggest issues the browsers have are:
1. The destination where passwords are sent is not checked.
2. The location where passwords are requested is not checked.
3. Invisible form elements can trigger password management.

ID Theft Protect suggests you visit our Find a solution zone and go to Password Managers on the drop down.

Download from our safe and trusted zone the password manager software of your choice. We use Password Safe - best of all it is FREE and of course it is safe and secure. We suggest you NEVER use a browsers password management feature.

Safe surfing folks!
Julian

Protect Your Profile: go.google.com fix found

Protect Your Profile: go.google.com fix found
www.id-theftprotect.com

Virgin Media to introduce network monitoring

The UK's second largest ISP, Virgin Media, will next year introduce network monitoring technology to specifically target and restrict BitTorrent traffic.

I understand the reasons for monitoring bandwidth, but I suspect this is a "smoke and mirrors" game by Virgin. Why? The ISPs have to find ways to increase revenue. One way to do this is to introduce monitoring solutions which will provide a valuable insight into our internet behaviour. They will then rent or sell this data to other businesses and the government. Network monitoring isn't a new technology nor is it something that people we believe will really care about. However, for me it is yet more evidence of the "big brother" approach to what is becoming an ever increasing move to an Orwellian Society.

Safe surfing folks!
Julian

'Facebook for Kids' is a real threat to your children

A new social network website claiming to be a "Facebook for Kids" is riddled with security shortcomings, security researchers at Cambridge University have warned. The site - School Together Now - said that it took security seriously and promised to review the findings of the Cambridge researchers.

ID Theft Protect says that this is a very dangerous step. No moderation, no validation of a childs age, anyone can publish content (and worse still the content is visible in for say Google) and only four people moderate at any one time are just some of the issues we have highlighted. Outside of the obvious issues parents really need to move away from this type of social networking site.

We know many friends with children and I'm sure they will be very concerned - that said if a trend is set parents will follow and so will the children. Our initial thought is this will probably take off, but that doesn't remove the risks to your children - potential exploitation and grooming by a sexual predator. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Safe surfing folks!
Julian

Firefox browser is still safe... why? I use it!

Mozilla's open-source Firefox browser recorded the highest number of severe vulnerabilities among popular consumer applications this year.

ID Theft Protect says it's difficult to interpret just how bad this might be. We use Mozilla and swear by it - we also know it isn't 100% safe - but what browser is? If a browser was 100% safe you wouldn't need any security software! LOL!

Reports like this, highlight the issues and help us drive the appropriate awareness. We say if you use Mozilla Firefox, continue using it. Safe surfing folks!

Safe surfing folks!
Julian

Google Chrome now out of beta - lovely jubbly!

Google has issued the first official non-beta release of the Chrome web browser.

ID Theft Protect says that as Google Chrome is now out of beta, you can now download and use in the knowledge it has been fully tested. Find any bugs, why not let us know and we will forward to the Google Chrome technical team. Oh! One last thing - if you find a security issues let us know too! (nearly forgot why IDTP is here!! ;))

If you do wish to download Google Chrome please click this link: http://www.google.com/chrome

Safe surfing folks!
Julian

FAKE Vince Cerf Twitter feed used for spamming

Twitter account in the name of internet luminary Vint Cerf has been suspended after miscreants abused it to send link spam.

Cerf, whose role as one of the founding fathers of internet technology will be familiar to Reg readers, is currently chief internet evangelist at Google, selected Twitter co-founder Biz Stone as one of the net visionaries to quiz on the future of the interweb when he guest-edited a Guardian column in December 2007. read more

ID Theft Protect says "online impersonation" is a growing problem... can you verify that the person is who they say? We think probably not! Vint Cerf is a legend at Google - one of the founding fathers... (maybe he'll come out with a great idea on how to stop this from happening in future???) so we are not surprised to read this. Why bother with "online impersonation"? Simple - "discredit someone" or use for "spam". What a sad world this is becoming!

Safe surfing folks!

Julian

Identity Theft Worm Hits Facebook

Koobface, a sinister virus that attacks users with spyware and searches their system for sensitive passwords and credit card numbers, has now been found on Facebook, the super-popular social networking site.

Given that most readers of this column will either use Facebook today or know someone else who may, Koobface poses a daunting threat to the online community.

According to reports, the virus spreads via messages sent between friends on the site.

When one user is infected, his or her account will send messages to friends like, "you just look awesome in this new movie!" or "they said some bad things about you. Click here to see them." Of course, most Facebook users can't help but want to find out exactly what these messages mean. Even those distant, grade nine friend-of-friends will make many users of the site click on to find out more about all the juicy gossip.

If users do click on the link, they'll be led to a site asking them to update to a newer version of Adobe's Flash player. Downloading that bogus software will instead infect the victim's computer with a nasty worm that searches out personal information that can help hackers steal identities. Of course, social security and credit card numbers, along with banking passwords, are gold mines.

No one is yet certain who is behind Koobface, which first hit MySpace users over the course of last summer. Victims are located throughout the globe, making it tough to pinpoint a suspect, or suspects.

ID Theft Protect suggests Facebook users be vigilant when posting personal information. Fat chance in that happening... :) Be careful who you link with - don't think that having a high number of friends on your profile is kudos! It could open you up to even bigger problems... like Koobface!

All Facebook users have been warned!

Safe surfing folks!
Julian