ISECOM: Top Ten Feared Illegal Computer Activity of 2007

ISECOM: The Institute of Security and Open Methodologies

ISECOM released a list of the Top Ten Real Computer Crimes of 2007, geared towards the general public...The not-so-nerdy, not-so-technical group of individuals who also use their computer.

Humorous as it is, the funny part about this Top Ten List of Computer Crimes is that it holds a lot of water, and is probably true! I guess all humor brings light to idiotic truths about the human race in some way shape or form, that's what makes it so funny to those who know better.

Of course, I don't want to steal the whole article, the witty author does deserve credit, but no harm in pulling my favorites from the list, in case you don't have time to read them all :)

"2. You will misplace, lose, over-write, and delete documents probably accidentally but you really can't remember if you really had that document saved or not and maybe it's this one here but you don't know because when you try to open it you get a CRC error and you'll realize that nobody warned you that the ever-decreasing life of these huge hard-drives you can now buy have fallen to just under 2 years."

I really enjoyed this excerpt. I think it's so funny when one of those members "general public" tell me they have deleted either:

1. All of their Outlook E-Mail
2. A Folder in their "My Documents"
3. All their pictures
4. Passwords for their Hotmail, Yahoo, (insert other free internet E-Mail Accounts) E-Mail Account...This one is really good, they think they'll NEVER be able to check their mail again!

I always say, and they never believe,

"It's on your computer, it hasn't been deleted into oblivion forever, it's just been misplaced."

In case you were wondering, Outlook E-Mails, deleted or not, are always saved or archived in .pst files. Just browse your hard drive for the extension. But, if your Outlook is Compacting your E-Mails and you close out your computer or the Outlook program before it finishes. Sometimes the files will be damaged, lost or...yes...deleted into oblivion. Just let your E-Mails compact, it won't destroy your E-Mail world, promise.

While we're on the subject, a way to avoid having your E-Mails collapse, or rather placed into non-existent directories, or damaged, etc. is to not have 4 billion E-Mails in any one folder. Separate your Inbox into months, topics whatever. Same with sent mail if it's large. Just a tip if you've had that problem!

Alright, on to more funnies...

"4. You'll get spyware and adware and everything else just from browsing distant Korean servers for torrents, swapping files with "friends" you just met on IM, and accepting SMSes from unknown people. You may also get chlamydia or worse if you troll seedy places and accept sexual invitations with as many unknown people as you do electronically so no surprises there."

Alright, not so funny. I actually did get spyware on my computer while searching for a keygen code for bootlegged CS2. I had it coming, I know. But for all of the copyright Nazis out there, I ended up buying the program and spending 3 weeks trying to fix my computer. :(

"5. If your phone is also a computer or your TV is also a computer or your oven is also a computer and they're running some open networking protocol like Bluetooth all the time which you never read the manual on how to shut it off, expect that bad people are happy to do bad things to them just like if you leave kids running around in public places unattended then bad people may do bad things to them as well with the odds basically being the same for all of it all happening."

This is just cute, funny and true. But, really, I don't think any of the media crazed youth read manuals anymore. We just inherently know how to use everything!

Here's the Link to the original article to read the rest:

ISECOM Top Ten Real Computer Crimes for 2007 and Beyond

Microsoft's Security Infrastructure: an inside look at their fight against 100,000 attacks per month

Last year, Microsoft IT said it was the target of more than 100,000 intrusion attempts per month. They are under constant scrutiny as to how they will protect themselves against hackers and intrusion attempts into their network. Microsoft holds very important information within it's internal network, like source code for it's operating systems and the Microsoft applications. Some security measure that Microsoft takes to defend itself by being behind firewalls and on networks segmented with IPsec. The Microsoft network is also monitored for suspicious activity, scanned for malware and much more.



Microsoft Corp. encourages its employees to "RAS" into the corporate network from home or from the road to access e-mail, shared files and applications. RAS stands for Remote Access Services. RAS is an old Microsoft term, now described and known as a client VPN. Within Microsoft's very vulnerable environment, VPN connections might cause some important security risks to materialize. This article offers an in depth answer to the question:

How does microsoft protect itself against security risks while continuing to offer VPN access to remote employees and contractors?



A simple summation and answer to this question, is that it requires two forms of authentification from it's users: Hardware authentification through access cards, and network access. And, the network connection has many requirements from the computer (external device...VPN Access) attempting to access it. To read the entire in depth analysis of Microsoft's security infrastructure:

How Microsoft Fights off 100,000 attacks per month--How Microsoft Protects itself from Hackers and other Security Threats