Dear Action Line: How do I keep track of all the computer software vulnerabilities floating around the Internet? I can’t really trust the sellers to keep me informed of their latest glitches and don’t see it in the newspaper or on TV. — H.E., Tulsa.
Two sources of “cyber security news” are US-CERT and Help Net Security.
US-CERT: The Department of Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team offers its subscribers periodic “cyber security alerts” at tulsaworld.com/CERTalerts. Recent examples: Dec. 9: Adobe Flash vulnerabilities affect flash player and Adobe AIR (“An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by convincing a user to visit a Web site that hosts a specially crafted SWF file,” which is “small Web format” for animations with varying degrees of interactivity and function); Dec. 8: “Microsoft updates for multiple vulnerabilities” (Microsoft releases updates to address vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office (“vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to gain control of your computer or cause it to crash”), etc.
Help Net Security: This daily security news site, a Web portal published by HNS Consulting Ltd., has been covering the latest computer and network security news since 1998 at tulsaworld.com/HelpNetSecurity. It covers computer security news from around the globe and focuses on quality technical articles and papers, vulnerabilities, vendor advisories and malware, and hosts the largest security software download area with software for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
It is recognized as a media sponsor of leading information security conferences around the globe. Current issues on its site:
“Hacking, The Next Generation”: This book report deals with the kinds of attacks emerging from new technologies and ways of using our computers and networks — social media, an increasingly mobile workforce and cloud computing are just a few of the latest trends increasing the possibility of being breached.
Online fraud: Avoiding the seven…