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This is the 12th issue of the survey; and it is also the first year where the survey is being administered totally by the CSI. In previous years, as some may know, the FBI participated in the generation of this report but it looks like they were too busy this year

These are some of the key findings from the participants in this year’s survey:

Continue reading "Reflections – CSI Computer Crime and Security Survey 2007"

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Posted by Donald Tabone

Whilst everyone is hanging on the edge of the seat waiting for the release of a stable build or RC, it is good to know that this is the ninth developer milestone focused on testing the core functionality provided by many new features and changes to the platform scheduled for Firefox 3.

Continue reading "Mozilla Firefox 3 packed with brand new Security Features"

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So, we came across this post and it brings to mind the saying that "one man's trash is another man's treasure" especially when it comes to old thermo transfer ribbons and Unexpected confidential Data Leaks


The author of the original article mentions a point that we generally take for granted when we trash old fax ribbons. When you buy a fax machine, you are not told to properly dispose of the ribbons and that's where the fault lies. Apart from being kind to the environment in the way we dispose of them, we should also be looking at the implications of what gets left behind on a used fax ribbon.

To my mild surprise, I found negative copies of all the papers that were faxed to us during the time of use. The quality of what's left on the ribbon after the thermo transfer is impressive, very high definition, almost like film.

Rightly said, who knows how many secretaries, legal departments, accounting departments and everyone else with the need for a separate desktop FAX machine actually discard used ribbons without a second though about the content.

Perhaps we should begin to keep them in a safe place, or dispose of them adequately rather than just binning them.

Posted by Donald Tabone

Microsoft thinks the fact that no two people look at an inkblot the same way can be used to help generate more secure computer passwords.


The company has set up a Web site that shows users a series of Rorschach-style inkblots -- of the sort used in psychological profiling -- and then asks them to write down the first and last letters of each word they associate with the pictures.

Ultimately, the users are asked to combine the letters into a password.

Microsoft hopes the approach will help overcome a major flaw inherent in systems that ask users to make up their own passwords: those that are difficult to crack are hard to remember, and those that are easy to remember are also easy for hackers to guess. "A century of psychological literature indicates that inkblot associations are intimately personal, and our own user studies verify that users almost always describe the same inkblots quite differently," Microsoft researchers note on the project's Web site -- inkblotpassword.com.

The image associations are not only unique to the user, they're also "hard to forget," the researchers said. "After typing her password several times, a user develops 'muscle memory' and can log in quickly without referring to the inkblot images," they said.

Given that many Internet users employ the same password to gain access to dozens of Web sites, for everything from banking and shopping to socializing, it's more important than ever that they create passwords that are at once highly secure and easy to remember.

"Nothing prevents a user from learning a strong password on inkblotpassword.com and then reusing it at other sites," Microsoft's researchers said.

Microsoft said it may develop a commercial version of the system, but for now it's free to try online. The company advises would-be users that it's collecting and storing the word associations they come up with for research purposes, but says the data is made anonymous and isn't linked to individuals.

Read on...

Continue reading "Microsoft Turns To Inkblots For Password Generation"

Posted by Donald Tabone