The Edge : windows vista

Using Built-in Functions to Achieve Single Sign-on in Windows

tonybradley — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:02:00 GMT

Password resets are more or less the bane of the help desk agent's existence. Carrying that through logically, they also represent a significant expense for the organization to pay for the lost productivity of the employees and the time and effort...(read more)

Understand the Basics of Microsoft BitLocker Encryption

tonybradley — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:21:00 GMT

I recently wrote an article for TechTarget's SearchMidmarketSecurity site. The new Mimarket Security Strategies and Tactics site focuses on practical knowledge and advice for SMB organizations. The article covers the basics of BitLocker- the scope...(read more)

Is Windows 7 a Grand Slam Hit?

tonybradley — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:11:00 GMT

Recent surveys suggest that businesses are ready to embrace and deploy Windows 7 en masse as soon as Redmond makes it available. Traditionally, businesses are slow to adopt new operating systems. Its like waiting for the second model year of a new automobile...(read more)

Why Didn't You Exploit IE?

tonybradley — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:33:00 GMT

At the CanSecWest Security Conference in Vancouver this week, Charlie Miller made headlines by exploiting a Safari vulnerability on a fully patched Mac OS X system with a fully patched Safari web browser in mere seconds to claim the Pwn2Own prize. Ryan...(read more)

SP2 Release Candidate Available for Vista / Windows Server 2008

tonybradley — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:36:00 GMT

The next major Service Pack release for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 is one step closer to its official release. Service Pack 2 (SP2) has moved from Beta to RC (Release Candidate). You can download the SP2 RC from the Microsoft Springboard site...(read more)

Backing Up Data in Vista

Essential Computer Security — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 16:03:26 GMT

Back up your data!!! With more consumers relying solely on digital cameras to capture life’s moments, entire photographic and video histories are stored on computer hard drives. If you don’t back up your data, it could all be gone in the blink...(read more)

Slow Month For Microsoft Security Bulletins

Essential Computer Security — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 02:45:21 GMT

Rarely (if ever- I’ll have to do some research and find out) does Microsoft have 2 back-to-back months of Security Bulletin floods. This month was no exception. In August, Microsoft released 9 Security Bulletins, 6 of which were deemed Critical...(read more)

Keep Your Windows XP Running Steady

Essential Computer Security — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:34:28 GMT

Depending on the activities you engage in and the sites you visit, you can get some questionable, or sometimes outright malicious stuff installed on your computer. When you have a PC for your kids, or if you are sharing a PC with your kids, this can be...(read more)

Internet Explorer Protected Mode

tonybradley — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 13:33:00 GMT

In Vista, Internet Explorer gets the benefit of some added security. Using WIC (Windows Integrity Control), Vista treats files and processes associated with Internet Explorer as Low integrity as long as it is running in Protected Mode. Internet Explorer Protected Mode is enabled by default and ensures that the Low integrity objects associated with Internet Explorer are unable to write to, act on, or otherwise interact with any objects higher than Low integrity- which is most of the system. For more information, you can read this article I posted on my About.com Internet / Network Security site: Internet Explorer Protected Mode

Windows Integrity Control

tonybradley — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 14:56:00 GMT

With Vista, Microsoft introduced a new security concept to help protect your computer. Rather than relying on discretionary controls, like NTFS file and folder permissions which users can assign and change, Vista also has new mandatory controls. WIC, or Windows Integrity Control (also referred to as MIC, or Mandatory Integrity Control in some circles), assigns an integrity, or trustworthiness, level to each object and uses the integrity levels to control interactions between the objects. The integrity levels are assigned by the operating system and supercede, or override, the dicretionary permissions to protect the computer system. WIC is used throughout the system, but is arguably most noticeable in the Internet Explorer Protected Mode which protects the Vista operating system from malicious web content in Internet Explorer. For more details about WIC, check out this article I submitted to SecurityFocus: Introduction to Windows Integrity Control.

Security Options for Windows Vista

tonybradley — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 17:29:00 GMT

With Windows Vista set to be unleashed on the consumer market in about a week, there is going to be a need for security and antivirus products. Although Vista is the most secure version of the Windows operating system yet, that doesn't mean it is impenetrable. Users still need to take basic security precautions. According to a report on Information Week, a number of vendors, including Microsoft, are providing free downloads or trial versions of their Vista-compatible security products. You can check out these products if you need antivirus and desktop security for your Vista PC:

Radio and TV Appearances

tonybradley — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 13:40:00 GMT

In recent months I have been contacted more frequently by the media, mostly as a result of marketing efforts for my latest book, Essential Computer Security. I was invited to guest on the IMI-TechTalk radio show at the end of November, and this past week I was invited to guest on the local Detroit Fox News morning show to discuss computer security with anchorman Alan Lee and promote my book.

Shaken, Not Stirred

tonybradley — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 11:12:00 GMT

If you wanted to test the security of your headquarters housed in a volcanic crater on a remote island, who better to check it out than James Bond? Microsoft apparently used similar logic to validate and test the security measures built in to the new Vista operating system. According to a report at the Washington Post, Microsoft called in the NSA. Tony W. Sager, the NSA's chief of vulnerability analysis and operations group, is quoted as saying "Our intention is to help everyone with security."

Both Microsoft and the NSA are a little hush-hush about the specifics of the help (spy organizations tend to work that way), but the article describes how the NSA used one group to be the 'bad guys' trying to break in and the other group acted as the 'security administrators' to protect the Vista network. The effort seems to be a win-win. Microsoft gets a product that has been run through the gauntlet and should be stronger and more secure as a result. The NSA gets an intimate look at the inner-workings of Vista and its security measures so that they can get a head start on developing ways to covertly penetrate or monitor the 'bad guys' (assuming Bush hasn't already issued an un-Constitutional directive that they go ahead and just plant keystroke logging software on every computer in the United States...just in case).

In the end, everyone (except the bad guys) has a vested interest in ensuring Vista is secure. It will be used by hundreds of millions of home, corporate and government organization users. By virtue of its market share, a weak Windows operating system can adversely impact the economy, as companies and individuals spend time and money to clean up and repair compromised systems, or even national security, as the Windows operating system could provide an attack vector to affect the critical infrastructure of the country. Vista is by no means impervious to attack, but we shall see as time unfolds whether the NSA's involvement has helped to make Vista a more secure operating system.

Data Backup For Home PC Users

tonybradley — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 17:04:00 GMT

Companies understand the importance of data. Hardware and software can be replaced, but lost data can't. Those companies that don't truly understand the value of consistently backing up critical data are probably mandated to do so anyway by one of the various regulatory requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley or HIPAA. Companies also have administrators that are paid to be expert in managing data and they are tasked with performing the backups. That is great for companies. What about home computer users?

Computers crash. Malware attacks. There are a wide variety of potential causes for losing data on a home computer. Years worth of digital photographs, income tax and investment information tracked in personal financial software and other such personal data is irreplaceable if lost in some sort of hard drive or data catastrophe. There are many programs available, including the backup utility built into Microsoft Windows, which you can use to back up your data. The question is- what do you need to back up? If you have 200Gb worth of data on your hard drive, the backup could take forever and be very cumbersome to manage. However, it is probable that only a small fraction of that data is truly critical or irreplaceable and needs to be backed up. The backup will be easier to manage and more efficient to perform if you pare it down to only the data that really needs to be backed up.

Microsoft has created a brief guide for home computer users to help them identify the files, or types of files, that are most likely to contain critical or personal information that needs to be backed up. For more guidance, read How to decide what data to back up

Vista Flaw Discovered

tonybradley — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 17:27:00 GMT

Less than a month from its official release to corporate customers, a vulnerability was already discovered that affects Vista. According to Microsoft and others, the vulnerability can only be exploited if an attacker already has access to the system, meaning they would need to be physically sitting in front of the computer or have already compromised through some other means that would provide remote access.

According to F-Secure's Mikko Hypponen, "The bottom line is you couldn't use a vulnerability like this to write a worm or hack a Vista system remotely. It only has historical significance in that it's the first reported vulnerability that also affects Vista. It's a nonevent in other ways."

The media of course jumps all over the news, stating repeatedly how this is reportedly Microsoft's most secure platform ever. I think most would agree that it is, in fact, the most secure yet. However, "most secure" and "impenetrable" have entirely different meanings. There will still be flaws. Hopefully there will be fewer and hopefully those that are found will not be the type that allow an attacker to gain complete control of vulnerable systems remotely or the type that are easily exploited via a worm or other malware code. But, I am sure that this will by no means be the last Vista vulnerability we hear about.

Microsoft Patches Vista Beta

tonybradley — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 17:43:00 GMT

Microsoft continues to make security a priority and a primary development focus, but being a priority focus is not a guarantee of perfection.

Windows Vista is still in Beta testing, but it was found that two of the patches released with the August Security Bulletins also affect Vista.

Microsoft created patches specifically for Vista for the vulnerabilities addressed in Security Bulletin MS06-042 and MS06-051, which can be downloaded here: Available updates for Microsoft Windows Vista Beta 2