Jesper Johansson's Blog

Do No Evil; Google Chrome Style

2011-04-24T21:51:00Z

Have you seen this warning when you try to click a link in Outlook or Word? "This operation has been canceled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator." Here is a screen shot: There are many reason this warning can happen. Typically, the cause is that some setting in the registry (the database of configuration data on a Windows computer) has become corrupted. How exactly it became corrupted is an open question. One completely, 100% foolproof...(read more)

Security Awareness Post 3: Recognizing Your Surroundings (Virtual)

2010-10-02T16:38:00Z

If you have ever taken a survival course you have probably heard the instructor talk about how you need to be aware of your surroundings. Much of survival is about recognizing where you are, what is safe, and what is not. The Internet is no different. By far the most important factor in safe use of the web is recognizing where you are, and making appropriate decisions about what is safe and what is not; what is to be expected, and what is extraordinary. Unfortunately, most people either do not know...(read more)

Security Awareness Post 2

2010-10-02T15:43:00Z

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, and as I stated in the last post, I decided to celebrate by writing some Security Awareness posts. Almost as if they knew what I was going to write about, I received this spam comment on my last post this morning: "such a very informative and valued article, regards" The poster's name, which is undoubtedly fake, was hotlinked to: hxxp://www.antivirus-finder.blogspot.com. That, in turn, turns out to be a blog that links to various unknown...(read more)

Security Awareness Post 2: Beware of malicious software

2010-10-02T15:43:00Z

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month

2010-09-28T03:52:00Z

The U.S. President has declared October 2010 to be " National Cyber Security Awareness Month ." While the term "cyber" may not be particularly clear to most people, what this really is about is How To Stay Safe Online ; and not just in America. Staying safe online is crucial everywhere. To celebrate, I thought I'd try and jam in as many little advise posts as possible between now and, well, when everyone knows how to stay safe online. Thus, without further ado: Advise #1:...(read more)

Apple to iPhone Users: Please Install This Untrusted Configuration Profile

2010-06-30T20:59:00Z

It appears Apple is the only company around that doesn't use Microsoft Exchange. Apple's recently released iOS (not to be confused with Cisco's IOS) 4 apparently wasn't tested with Exchange at all. Many users are reporting slow e-mail sync, and apparently Exchange server admins are none too happy with the load these devices are putting on the Exchange server - much more than the old OS did. Of course, you cannot downgrade a device that has been upgraded to iOS 4. iPhone Operating...(read more)

How to fix the "Unable to install Apple Mobile Device USB Driver" problem

2010-06-26T16:26:00Z

If you have upgraded your iTunes to version 9.2 you may have run into the problem that your computer no longer recognizes your iPhone/iPad/iPod. I had the problem on one computer, but not the other. When you connect the device it starts installing the driver, then it fails and iTunes never sees your device. After a fruitless 45 minutes on the phone with and Apple support technician that seemed to be new to Windows and who eventually hung up on me, and a web search that turned up nothing I decided...(read more)

Don't fire people until after you wipe their phones

2010-04-09T03:31:00Z

A very commonly required feature for mobile access to email is remote wipe - the ability to reach out and wipe all corporate data off a mobile device. Exchange ActiveSync supports this feature and has for several versions now. You, as the Exchange or Security administrator can issue a remote wipe command to a compliant device, or the user can do it themselves through Exchange, and the next time the user connects the device will be wiped. There are two major flaws in that design. One is the well understood...(read more)

Fake Anti-Malware is Apparently Microsoft's Fault

2009-10-24T17:20:00Z

Munir Kotadia, an IT Journalist in Australia, has finally managed to figure out how to blame Microsoft for the fake anti-malware epidemic. Apparently, the reason is that "Microsoft could save the world from fake security applications by introducing a whitelist for apps from legitimate security firms" and, presumably, has neglected to do so out of sheer malice. I'm clearly not a thinker at the same level as Munir; maybe that is why I don't fully get this white list he proposes. Does...(read more)

How Delegation Privileges Are Represented In Active Directory

2009-10-21T04:21:00Z

One of the last areas where more tool support is needed is in monitoring the various attributes in Active Directory (AD). Recently I got curious about the delegation flags, and, more to the point, how to tell which accounts have been trusted for delegation. This could be of great import if, for instance, you have to produce reports of privileged accounts. KB 305144 gives a certain amount of detail about how delegation rights are presented in Active Directory. However, it is unclear from that article...(read more)

Web Of Trust: RIP

2009-10-14T05:16:00Z

It's official. I just received an e-mail from Thawte notifying me that, as of November 16, 2009, the most innovative and useful idea in PKI since its inception, the Web of Trust , will die. Thawte was founded 14 years ago by Mark Shuttleworth. The primary purpose was to get around the then-current U.S. export restrictions on cryptography. Shuttleworth also had an idea that drew from PGP: rather than force everyone who wanted an e-mail certificate to get verified by some central entity - and pay...(read more)

Passwords are here to stay

2009-10-11T05:54:00Z

At least for the short to medium term. That is the, quite obvious, conclusion drawn in a Newsweek article entitled "Building a Better Password." The article goes inside the CyLab at Carnegie-Mellon University to understand how passwords may one day be replaced. It is interesting reading all around. The article is not without some "really?" moments though, such as this quote: The idea of passphrases isn't new. But no one has ever told you about it, because over the years, complexity—mandating...(read more)

And finally, standard user malware

2009-09-01T06:21:00Z

Today I finally got wind of my first piece of true standard user malware. MS Antispyware 2008 has turned standard user. The version in question installs the binaries in c:\documents and settings\all users\application data\<something>, and makes itself resident by infecting HKCU\...\Run. Curiously, the legitimate anti-malware program (one of the top 3) failed to detect the infector. Obviously, this version is much easier to remove than the ones that require admin privileges. However, MS Antispyware...(read more)

Microsoft Poland Empowers White People

2009-08-26T05:53:00Z

In an absolutely astonishing move Microsoft's Polish subsidiary decided to do some photoshopping on its Business Productivity Infrastructure page to tailor it to the Polish market. Here you can see the U.S. original . In one of the least sensitive moves this year, the Polish subsidiary decided that black people in Poland do not need to be empowered, so here you can see what its version of that page looked like for a few hours today. As you can see from the current version on the Polish site ...(read more)

Is it ActiveX that is the problem?

2009-08-09T20:04:00Z

Last week, an expert from Verizon, nee Cybertrust, posted a note about the Active Template Library (ATL) security vulnerability over on the Verizon Business Security Blog . For home users, the phone company now advises you to use a different browser, ostensibly because IE and ActiveX are inherently insecure. I felt that quite missed the point that (a) browsers are software, and (b) all software has vulnerabilities, and (c) extension technologies in browsers add functionality, which (d) is implemented...(read more)

Warning: The software you are installing does not match your mental model

2009-07-21T05:10:00Z

This morning I talked to my dad. After a few minutes of polite small talk, I heard the 10 little words I have come to dread: “I had some problems with my computer the other day.” The video card on his laptop had died. The screen was just black. He has a Dell Vostro, so he called Dell Technical Support. They sent a contractor technician out; with a motherboard. The technician, having no real qualifications other than the need for a job; and no real training other than how to fill out the...(read more)

Steve Riley Lands On His Feet

2009-07-10T23:13:00Z

In May, in one of the more inexplicable moves this year, Microsoft laid off my good friend Steve Riley, four days before he was to deliver half a dozen presentations at TechEd. Fortunately, it did not take Steve long to find a new gig. This Monday, he starts as the latest Evangelist & Strategist for Amazon Web Services ! I'm very very happy for Steve, and very excited about what he can do in that role. Web Services are where the future is, and Steve is extremely well suited to the role. Please...(read more)

A better, more reliable, work-around for the Microsoft Video Control Vulnerability

2009-07-10T06:09:00Z

For the past few days I've been following the Microsoft Video Control Vulnerability with interest. Basically, it's another vulnerable ActiveX control that needs killbitted. Last night, Microsoft posted a work-around which involves using a Group Policy ADM template (ADM is the template format that was deprecated in Vista and Windows Server 2008). Unfortunately, the template tattoos the registry, which is not really recommended. I contemplated for a while writing a work-around for this issue...(read more)

Are Identity Theft Services Worth The Cost?

2009-03-24T04:01:00Z

The Consumer Federation of America just published a report on identity theft services entitled " Are Identity Theft Services Worth The Cost? " The conclusion is that many are not, and that regulation is needed in that industry. It is a very interesting read....(read more)

Please do not e-mail my social security number

2009-01-28T05:38:00Z

Recently I had a very interesting incident. I wrote an article some time in 2008 and the publisher paid me a little bit of money for it. That means the publisher must send a report to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS - the U.S. tax department) reporting that they paid me, as well as send me a form called a 1099 form that I can use to report this money on my tax return. A few days ago the comptroller for the publisher sent me an e-mail asking for my social security number (my national ID number for...(read more)