So I was poking around on AttackPrevention’s website the other day and I came across this nifty little video segment about how you can build your own firewall for free just using some of the old computer parts you have laying around the house. Of course at this point I am sure you are thinking to yourself, “how can this really be free? Quit saying it is free when we all know it won’t be!” Well this wonderful company called SmoothWall did in fact make their software based firewall completely open source and free. » Read the Rest
These days we can’t really get away with using silly passwords like “love” or your name spelled out because it is all just too simple to guess and even more simple to run a password generator against. If you do anything online such as banking, or paying your credit cards or other bills, chances are when you created your login with their website they required some sort of password requirements such as a minimum length, including at least one capital letter, etc… The question is though, is your password actually strong or just strong enough to pass it off with the website you registered on? It never hurts to get in the habit of having nice secure passwords containing lower and upper case letters, numbers, and symbols. Though I will admit it does get a bit tiring trying to always come up with these passwords off the top of your head, let alone remembering them. The way I see it, the easier they are to remember then the easier they are to crack; everything else can be handled by software. » Read the Rest
Security is probably one of the most important things in an online world. When I talk about security though I am not just speaking of those websites which deal in eCommerce or masses of personal information such as physical addresses or telephone numbers (a telemarketers dream!) but instead for all websites from the small business to the lone blogger with a modest following. We are of the day and age where technology is so advanced and readily shared that those maliciously minded have a whole wash list of tricks just waiting to jump out at you with. Often times they do not troll around looking for only the websites they believe might be the best target, they have software that does it for them, and for them any hacked website is a chance to dig out some sort of information or pass along their master plan. Often times people underestimate the probability that some attempt will be made on their website, and almost gravely underestimate the time it takes to get your site back together after someone messes everything up. Brace yourself, the article may make you a touch paranoid. » Read the Rest
So tonight I was working on a website for a client and the little “new email” ding came echoing out of my computer speakers. There were of course a couple new emails in the inbox, but inside the little junk email folder was this solitary email from Mr. Patrick Chan Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of the Hang Seng Bank Ltd, or supposedly anyways. He of course had an amazing offer that simply no American could ever refuse:
Before the U.S and Iraqi war our client Col. Hosam Hassan who was with the Iraqi forces and also business man made a numbered fixed deposit for 18 calendar months, with a value of Thirty million United State Dollars ($30,000,000.00) only in my branch. Upon maturity several notices was sent to him, even during the war early this year.
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If you haven’t realized it yet, I am a bit of a WordPress fan. I am also a huge fan of open source and the amazing community that comes with it. One of the problems that comes with the open source nature of software though is that it doesn’t take long for someone to figure out how to push the right buttons to possibly exploit that software or at least drain your bandwidth trying. You do however, have the power to enhance your open source installation and harden it appropriately to ensure it is much more difficult for the maliciously minded people to disturb your site. Since there are many schools of thought on best practices and most effective methods, etc… I am simply going to offer up some suggestions that are in my opinion a good place to start. » Read the Rest