Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock
Peanuts to Profits With Thor Schrock

So exactly what do you need on your computer to keep you safe on the ever-increasingly dangerous wilds of the Internet?

Today at about 2:30 CST a local Lincoln Internet Service Provider was attacked by a hacker who calls himself the “holocaust Turkish Hacker.”

When the results came up he was surprised that a telecom company in the Czech Republic had his Social Security number posted in an Excel Spreadsheet on a public server.

Computer hackers based in East-Europe, Asia, and Thailand have successfully hacked into thousands of TD-Ameritrade, E-Trade, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab user accounts in what is being called the biggest single identity theft crime in history.

The heist is currently being investigated by the FBI, the SEC, and the National Association of Securities Dealers, and with good reason. New York-based E-Trade spent over $18 Million to compensate its users for losses and Nebraska-based TD-Ameritrade (formerly run by Pete Rickets) also lost an undisclosed amount of money as a result of the intrusion.

After Microsoft released a whole new batch of security patches early this week, a new and previously unknown security vulnerability in Internet Explorer could allow websites to corrupt the memory of computers running the Microsoft web browser. I am recommending that all computer users temporarily switch to the FireFox browser until a patch is released for this latest flaw. You can download Firefox free of charge at http://www.getfirefox.com.

As a rule, Microsoft releases patches once each month on “Patch Tuesday.” In these releases, the company closes security loopholes and repairs newly discovered flaws in their software products. In an increasing trend, it appears that discoveries of new, previously unknown security problems are being posted to the Internet shortly after Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday. The new trend allows the flaws to go unremedied for a longer period of time and increases the likelihood that they will be exploited to attack computer users.

If you own a laptop or a notebook equipped with an Intel Centrino processor, you need to manually install a patch NOW, or your computer could be taken over by anyone with some technical savvy. Oh, by the way, if you have already installed the patch, keep reading. You are not out of the woods yet.

Over the past week, a vulnerability has been exposed in Intel’s PROSet wireless networking software that comes preinstalled on all notebook computers equipped with an Intel Centrino processor. Apparently, there is a security flaw in the PROSet wireless software that can allow an unauthorized user to take complete control of a laptop or notebook computer that is equipped with an Intel Centrino processor. You can download the Schrock Innovatiosn “Detect and Patch” utility here to see if your system is effected.

Microsoft released 12 new security updates on Tuesday, and the Department of Homeland Security is urging Windows users to install them as quickly as possible to plug a new security vulnerability similar to the one that the MS-Blaster virus exploited.

Homeland Security is urging Windows users to install Microsoft’s MS06-040 patch as soon as possible. Viruses that exploit RPC vulnerabilities like MS Blaster did tend to cut through antivirus programs like Swiss cheese, resulting in a potentially hefty repair bill.

I received an alert today from Symantec about a disturbing rise in the number of fake email messages that purport to be from legitimate online retailers. Apparently, these messages are sent via bulk-email to unsuspecting individuals. The emails state that an invoice for a recent purchase at the online retailer is attached, and that you should open it to verify your order.

When the email attachment is opened, the user’s computer is infected with a Trojan horse virus that allows an unknown party to take control of your computer and its Internet connection at a later time for any number of nefarious purposes.

A new security loophole has surfaced in Microsoft Word 2002 and greater that could leave your computer open to any number of attacks. Microsoft acknowledged the threat today and explained a work around that does not immediately fix the problem, but would limit some of the effects if you were hit by a bug that exploited this vulnerability – run Microsoft Word in Safe Mode.

Running Word in safe mode is a little like running Windows in Safe Mode. It will restrict some of its higher-level functions such as integrating with Outlook as your email client.