February 2007 - Posts

Why Symantec Cannot Always be Trusted
Tue, Feb 27 2007 21:49
Ok, this issue started with an article by Symantec titled “An Example of Why UAC Prompts in Vista Can’t Always Be Trusted.” After that, Thor (Hammer of God) posted his opinion on Bugtraq, which prompted a few other responses. So I decided...
by MBs Windows Security
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Really, Vista Security Isn’t Lame
Sun, Feb 25 2007 16:25
Recently a friend was complaining to me about the “screen flickering” that occurs whenever a User Account Control (UAC) prompt comes up in Vista and he wanted to know how to turn it off—not UAC, just the dimming and flickering effects. He...
by MBs Windows Security
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Is UAC a Fence That Falls Short?
Mon, Feb 19 2007 13:50
When I was a teenager in California there was private oil pier near Rincon that we liked to jump off. It was great—you’d throw your surf board off first so there was no backing out, because it was scary looking down at the dark green ocean so far below...
by MBs Windows Security
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More on Program.exe
Sat, Feb 17 2007 18:57
I thought I would add a bit more to my original post to clarify the problem. Half of the problem is the way Windows searches paths, and the other half is software developers who don’t quote their paths in the Registry or when calling CreateProcess...
by MBs Windows Security
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The Program.exe Problem
Sat, Feb 17 2007 13:30
A couple years ago I mentioned in a SecurityFocus column that Windows has a problem when you put a file named “program.exe” in the system root directory. The problem is basically in how it deals with spaces in paths that don’t have quotes...
by MBs Windows Security
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Be Smarter with Account Names
Thu, Feb 15 2007 19:28
One thing that bothers me about many web sites out there is how I get to (or don’t get to) choose my account name. Sure, many web sites let you have any account name you want, but some web sites just want to use your e-mail address. While this is...
by MBs Windows Security
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Patterns & Practices Security Wiki
Thu, Feb 15 2007 17:36
If you do any kind of .NET web development, it would be well worth your time to dig through Microsoft’s Patterns & Practices Security Wiki The Wiki is a good index of old articles and a launching point for new articles on secure web development...
by MBs Windows Security
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Why my password’s better than Y0ur P@$$word
Thu, Feb 15 2007 13:00
http://www.nurs.co.uk/news/specials/cms/1171535504212694732419_1.htm Read More...
by MBs Windows Security
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Creating Free 3rd Party Certificates
Tue, Feb 13 2007 20:45
There are many ways you can use digital certificates in Windows. The only problem is that it often involves either having your own CA, paying for certificates from a trusted CA or, the worst option, using self-signed certificates. Fortunately, there is...
by MBs Windows Security
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Time for a Windows Cleanup
Mon, Feb 12 2007 16:28
I have always been annoyed with the huge number of files under the Windows directory, but I was very surprised when I looked at my Windows directory under Vista: 39,609 files and 7,411 folders! Read More...
by MBs Windows Security
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New Passwords Feed
Fri, Feb 9 2007 14:17
I was playing around with the cool new Yahoo! Pipes site and built myself a feed on password topics. I’m sure I will be tweaking it some as I learn how to use pipes, but I thought I’d pass my pipe around to others who are interested in passwords...
by MBs Windows Security
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Now it’s Vista’s Firewall’s Fault?
Wed, Feb 7 2007 1:02
The release of Windows Vista seems to have brought on a tremendous amount of criticism. Of course, CNET has yet another article with an apparent anti-microsoft agenda. The article criticizes the fact that Vista’s firewall does not block outgoing...
by MBs Windows Security
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My SSN is showing?
Tue, Feb 6 2007 18:34
I got an e-mail earlier this week from a financial web site. The e-mail displayed the last 4 digits of my U.S. social security number. Presumably, they didn’t show the entire number for security reasons, but I wondered how secure that really is...
by MBs Windows Security
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Don’t buy Vista for the security?!
Mon, Feb 5 2007 14:13
This absurd article at cnet claims that security experts don’t recommend buying Windows Vista for the security features. The article tries to cast doubt on the effectiveness of new security features in Vista. But I disagree. I think security experts...
by MBs Windows Security
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The Application Experience Lookup Service
Mon, Feb 5 2007 13:03
If you have ever locked down a Windows 2003 or Vista machine you have probably run across the Application Experience Lookup Service, also known as Application Experience or AeLookupSvc. The documentation on this service is pretty vague and sometimes contradictory...
by MBs Windows Security
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Yet another failed CAPTCHA?
Fri, Feb 2 2007 18:02
Today I ran across a Firefox add-on that automatically fills out the CAPTCHA form when you log in: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/4381/ Although some might think this is convenient, it obviously shows that eBay’s CAPTCHA, like so many others...
by MBs Windows Security
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Using Filescreens for Server Lockdowns
Thu, Feb 1 2007 18:42
I recently got a chance to play around with file screens feature in Windows Server 2003 R2 and found it to be very interesting. Although it appears to be designed to provide general content control on a file server, it has some features that allow you...
by MBs Windows Security
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