Author Archives: mike

Windows Server Updates: Use The Proxy

This is a more technical note than usual because I happened to have a Windows 2012 server that was refusing to see any Microsoft updates. And as someone who goes around telling people to patch their servers, it is somewhat … Continue reading

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Why Use The VPN On A Mobile Device?

One of the things that has surprised me during the project to implement a new VPN (more news of which will come shortly), is the number of people who wonder why anyone would want to use the VPN on a … Continue reading

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MS15-034 Information …

This entry is chiefly intended as a collection of links to further information on MS15-034 which was announced this Tuesday. This vulnerability is found within the Microsoft Windows component that allows various packages to listen to HTTP requests – the … Continue reading

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Lock Up Your Computer: It’s A Portal Into Your Life

  As we do more and more on line, it is easy to overlook just how critical security can become. With consequences varying from losing the only photos of your off-spring’s first year of life to having your bank accounts emptied. … Continue reading

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Public PCs Are Risky PCs

In various places you will find hints that security people really don’t like people to use public PCs in places like cyber cafés, etc. It turns out that this is not just a theoretical risk, but a genuine threat that … Continue reading

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The Password Audit

If you have received an email claiming that you have a weak password, or you happen to read this blog posting, then this post explains the process used in the password audit. And yes, IS is sending out emails to those … Continue reading

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Spam via Email

Spam is on the increase. Or it’s on the decrease. To be honest, it’s rather difficult to say which direction spam is going in because it’s continually variable. And because frankly, it is not an interesting topic to worry about … Continue reading

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The New Firewall

As you may be aware, we have a new firewall to replace our existing firewall. This blog posting will go into more detail on what is happening and why than the normal communications. And BTW: In case you’ve seen a … Continue reading

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Living With Google Two-Factor Authentication

If you have not already heard, Google allows two-factor authentication (“Google 2FA”) for access to their services – which includes our own Google domains. This adds greater security to accounts by requiring what is in effect a second password that … Continue reading

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How Effective Is Anti-Virus Detection?

Out of amusement I decided to take one of those strange email spams telling me about an order that I never made (“Order no. 7160668120”), and see if the attachment was detected as a virus. To make things interesting, the … Continue reading

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