Next week we will enter a testing phase where ICANN, the main organizing body of the Internet, and Verisign, the registry of .com and .net, start adding DNSSEC to the various DNS root servers on the Internet.
Since the root servers are so critical the rollout will be incremental and is planned to last well into May, with plenty of testing of the results in the meantime to make sure that there are no problems. After all, breaking the root zone would essentially break the entire Internet.
Archive for the ‘Hacking and Security’ category
How DNSSEC Will Make the Internet Safer
January 20th, 2010Spammers Target Free Web Hosting Services
January 20th, 2010If you are hosting you site on a free hosting service, you might have some cause for concern.
In a new report, McAfee says spammers are now targeting free web hosting services in a big way, and are increasingly turning to free-hosting websites to provide spam URLs.
In its “January 2010 Spam Report” (PDF), McAfee states the trend is turning into an “all-out gold rush” as there are many new free hosting services around. According to the report, all of the sites most heavily abused by spammers seem to be related to 0catch.com, which serves up a number of free-hosting sites to anonymous users.
Free hosting services are a prime target for spammers because such sites may have been around for a while and have legitimate traffic associated with them, the report explained.
Although there is nothing to indicate active collusion between the free-hosting websites and the spammers that use them, this should be a lesson to legitimate businesses looking for free hosting. You get what you pay for.
If you have a website or planning to build one, it’s highly recommended that you choose a good, reliable hosting service. These days, the prices of web hosting services are very low, especially if you choose to use shared hosting.
Recommended Web Hosting Services
Avast Anti-Virus Added to Google Pack
January 18th, 2010Avast, a free anti-virus software, was added to Google Pack.
Google Pack added the free version of the Avast anti-virus, but only for the following languages: French, German, Italian, Czech, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese and Polish. Avast is ranked as one of the best free anti-virus software and its scanning speed is one of the fastest. Other great free anti-virus software includes AVG, Avira and BitDefender.
The English version of Google Pack ,however, gives the option to install Spyware Doctor with Anti-Virus, which replaced Norton Security Scan – both not recommended and extremely limited.
Google Pack is a selection of free software, picked by Google, and available for quick and easy installation.
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Read an Anti-Virus Comparison (PDF)
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German Government Warns Against Using IE
January 17th, 2010
The German government has recommended internet users to find an alternative browser (such as FireFox) and use it instead of Internet Explorer to protect security.
The warning from the Federal Office for Information Security comes after Microsoft admitted IE was the weak link in recent attacks on Google’s systems. Curiously enough, Google’s corporate network was hacked because its workers were using IE to browse the internet – and not the company’s browser, Chrome.
StatCounter Global Stats show that FireFox is already the most popular browser in Germany, with about 60% market share. IE is way behind with 27% and still dropping.
