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Online security, trojans, viruses, malware, etc

...on serious topics that don't fit anywhere else at present.
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Dave B
Posts: 17809
Joined: May 17th, 2010, 9:15 pm

Re: Online security, trojans, viruses, malware, etc

#181 Post by Dave B » May 15th, 2017, 11:19 am

Latest post of the previous page:

Alan H wrote:
Dave B wrote:Thanks for that, Alan, will be doing an off-line backup soon!

Wonder if Microsoft will ever develop a truly secure system? Or is thst impossible perhaps? The more vomplex they bevome the more vulnerable it seems, oh, how I remember CP/M . . .
It's essentially impossible. It's like asking for a car that never rusts or that never breaks down or a plane that never crashes. There have been great strides in making systems robust but it's always an ongoing battle.
Hmm, could debate the difference between thise things that fail because of physics and those that fail due to their complexity being beyond the ability of the human mind to truly predict their performance or vulnerability.

Cars are designed to a cost and for a profit - no material added that ensures that they last forever and, occasionaly, the scrimping and saving causes early failures that should have been expected, usually at a cost to the company and, sometimes, to life. Almost intended errors and failures. By now companies like Microsoft should have virtual AI systems that know every error made so far and can spot possible, similar, vulnerabilities - bit like the new ctime analysis system bring developed for the police. That would cover some problems but not all I admit - no real accounting for human fallibility! Maybe MS should have to run their systems online for a few years before releasing them? Maybe they should have to pay compensation for their design errors that cost their customers?

The more complex the system the more error/failure/hack prone it is. Once I knew what every bit under the car bonnet did and could tune, replace or fix them all...

What really worried me was that the NSA knew of the error but witheld that knowledge so they could possibly exploit it themselves.
"Look forward; yesterday was a lesson, if you did not learn from it you wasted it."
Me, 2015

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Alan H
Posts: 24067
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Online security, trojans, viruses, malware, etc

#182 Post by Alan H » May 15th, 2017, 11:44 am

I think my point was simple: they are designed to a price: there is no doubt military vehicles are more reliable and less prone to all sorts of things but that comes at a price. There are 'secure' operating systems out there, but they (I think) have more limited functionality and user convenience and are not cheap - and run on far more expensive hardware. I think it's more difficult to predict possible vulnerabilities that you think: and it's usually a complex scenario of a few serial vulnerabilities that on their own might not amount to much but when put together can cause problems. That, added to social engineering (eg persuading you to click on an email attachment), make them difficult to predict and therefore difficult to design out.
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

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Dave B
Posts: 17809
Joined: May 17th, 2010, 9:15 pm

Re: Online security, trojans, viruses, malware, etc

#183 Post by Dave B » May 15th, 2017, 1:44 pm

I like simple, Windows, Wird etc has a hundred or more features and functions thsn I will ever use. Pity we can't customise these things more, just select the functions we want, adding to them as we develop or need.

My Windows10 tablet/notebook has trouble handling the upgrades, keeps running out of ssd memory and won't let me use the external sd as a RAM or exe store to free up more internal memory. It is only used for devices, like pulse-oximeter, "snake-cam", temperature monitoring etc. Looking fir very basic office suite for it. Thinking of taking it completely off line so upgrades do not get a look in! Can you still insist MS asks for permisdion before dumping on you? Must investigate that.

Wish .i could take a load of the unused Window stuff out completely.
"Look forward; yesterday was a lesson, if you did not learn from it you wasted it."
Me, 2015

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Alan H
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Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Online security, trojans, viruses, malware, etc

#184 Post by Alan H » June 17th, 2017, 5:07 pm

Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

User avatar
Alan H
Posts: 24067
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Online security, trojans, viruses, malware, etc

#185 Post by Alan H » June 30th, 2017, 7:35 pm

Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

User avatar
Alan H
Posts: 24067
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Online security, trojans, viruses, malware, etc

#186 Post by Alan H » July 17th, 2017, 1:07 am

Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

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Tetenterre
Posts: 3244
Joined: March 13th, 2011, 11:36 am

Re: Online security, trojans, viruses, malware, etc

#187 Post by Tetenterre » September 4th, 2017, 9:50 am

Yahoo has become part of the Oath group and is intending, from 18th September, to share personal info across the entire group. I think this probably has online security implications. Unless I am misreading this, it seems that the only possible opt-out is to close your Yahoo account.
https://policies.yahoo.com/ie/en/yahoo/ ... noticefaq/
Steve

Quantum Theory: The branch of science with which people who know absolutely sod all about quantum theory can explain anything.

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Alan H
Posts: 24067
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Online security, trojans, viruses, malware, etc

#188 Post by Alan H » September 4th, 2017, 10:58 am

Tetenterre wrote:Yahoo has become part of the Oath group and is intending, from 18th September, to share personal info across the entire group. I think this probably has online security implications. Unless I am misreading this, it seems that the only possible opt-out is to close your Yahoo account.
https://policies.yahoo.com/ie/en/yahoo/ ... noticefaq/
It's difficult to know what to do, isn't it? Sharing such as this is becoming universal and many will just be completely oblivious to it.
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

User avatar
Tetenterre
Posts: 3244
Joined: March 13th, 2011, 11:36 am

Re: Online security, trojans, viruses, malware, etc

#189 Post by Tetenterre » September 4th, 2017, 12:27 pm

Alan H wrote:It's difficult to know what to do, isn't it? Sharing such as this is becoming universal and many will just be completely oblivious to it.
My main concern is that it has crept in under my radar. I own and/or moderate a few Yahoo groups, and I don't recall receiving any notification about this. It was only by chance that I discovered it. I am currently informing the members of those groups so at least they are aware of it.
Steve

Quantum Theory: The branch of science with which people who know absolutely sod all about quantum theory can explain anything.

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Tetenterre
Posts: 3244
Joined: March 13th, 2011, 11:36 am

Re: Online security, trojans, viruses, malware, etc

#190 Post by Tetenterre » September 12th, 2017, 4:47 pm

Steve

Quantum Theory: The branch of science with which people who know absolutely sod all about quantum theory can explain anything.

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Alan H
Posts: 24067
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Online security, trojans, viruses, malware, etc

#191 Post by Alan H » September 12th, 2017, 7:14 pm

Up to 44 million UK consumers may have had their identity put at risk after Equifax hack
By now, you’ve no doubt read the news stories about the massive data breach at credit-reporting service Equifax which has put 143 million US customers at risk of identity theft.

Hackers stole personally identifiable data including social security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, and driving license information – alongside (in the case of some 209,000 consumers) credit card information.

But you would be wrong to think that it is only consumers in the United States who are at risk because of the breach.

Equifax has admitted that it also “identified unauthorized access to limited personal information for certain UK and Canadian residents.”

What Equifax doesn’t say in its advisory is just how many UK and Canadian citizens might be at risk, but a report from The Telegraph puts the number of potential British victims at 44 million.
Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

User avatar
Alan H
Posts: 24067
Joined: July 3rd, 2007, 10:26 pm

Re: Online security, trojans, viruses, malware, etc

#192 Post by Alan H » September 12th, 2017, 7:40 pm

Alan Henness

There are three fundamental questions for anyone advocating Brexit:

1. What, precisely, are the significant and tangible benefits of leaving the EU?
2. What damage to the UK and its citizens is an acceptable price to pay for those benefits?
3. Which ruling of the ECJ is most persuasive of the need to leave its jurisdiction?

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