What You Can Get From a Monitored Home Security System

admin    8615     From, Home, Monitored, Security, System

What You Can Get From a Monitored Home Security System

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You have made the decision to invest in a monitored home alarm system. This is a smart move. When you consider monitored versus unmonitored systems, it is obvious why a monitored system is preferable. With this type of system you know that if your home or personal security is compromised, there will always be someone there to send help to you. With an unmonitored system you don’t have that. It is basically just a loud noise designed to scare burglars away. There are many different kinds of systems and all come with a variety of extra features that you can choose to include or not depending on your home and your needs.

There are several things that you will need for your new home alarm. The home alarm company that you have chosen will provide all the equipment that you need, but it doesn’t hurt to have the knowledge about what you are receiving in your home. First you will have something called a command station, a touchpad, or a keypad. As you might suspect, this is the small box that controls the alarm, turns it off and on, and can send alerts to the monitoring company or other areas in the home. This is generally located on the wall next to the door that is most frequently used. This might be the front or the side door depending on your preference. Some families also choose to install another touchpad in the master bedroom so that it can be armed at night before bed without having to go to the other side of the house to put it on, or so that you can alert the monitoring company immediately if you hear a strange noise in the night. In addition, you can have a small remote control that you carry with you or place in certain locations. It can be a quick and easy way to activate or deactivate the home alarm system. It is also handy if you do have an intruder in your home. You can use the panic button to alert the monitoring company that there is a problem. Chances are the burglars will have their eye on the touchpad, but they wont suspect the remote.

You will also be equipped with door and window sensors. These are items that people often purchase for a non-monitored system as well but they can be pricey when you buy them on your own. Of course they will be included in your system. Motion sensors are another popular feature. These can be used in and outside of the home. Inside they have created special sensors so that if you have a pet they will not set off the motion sensor but it will detect a person that it not supposed to be there. Outside motion detectors can be placed on your property to set off an alarm or alert help when someone comes onto your property. These are the basics of a home alarm system. You can choose to add more features or you can stick to the basics.

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Snow Leopard Downgrades Security And Misses Opportunity To Improve

admin    8615     Downgrades, Improve, LEOPARD, Misses, Opportunity, Security, SNOW

Snow Leopard Downgrades Security And Misses Opportunity To Improve

It seems we are still finding warts in Apple’s newest operating system release, Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

Graham Cluley recently made a video (http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2009/09/02/apple-ships-vulnerable-version-flash-snow-leopard/) about his discovery that Adobe Flash player can be downgraded silently when upgrading from Leopard to Snow Leopard.

This is an unfortunate oversight on Apple’s behalf as it could put OS X users at risk, and it is quite easy to check the version of an application before replacing it.

It appears the version of Flash player included is from approximately the end of calendar Q1 this year, which is likely when Apple needed to enter a code freeze.

On my own MacBook Pro I noticed another peculiarity a while ago, but thought I might have imagined it… Fortunately my colleague Sean Richmond in our Australian office confirmed my suspicions when he upgraded his MacBook.

My screensaver password lock was disabled after upgrading. Another change to my security settings without notification or permission? Some changes are necessary and difficult to migrate, but PLEASE tell me about things that affect my safety when using my computer.

There was a lot of speculation earlier this year that Apple would improve its Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR). According to The Register’s Dan Goodin, the weakness in Apple’s partial implementation of ASLR was not improved to provide complete randomization.

Microsoft faced similar criticism with Vista, but has responded to the community with Internet Explorer 8 including support for ASLR.

The last missed opportunity is that Data Execution Prevention (DEP) still does not protect Safari. It could be argued that this is the most critical application to support DEP, as most attacks today occur over the web. To some degree Apple has acknowledged this with their new anti-malware protection that mostly applies to internet-enabled applications.

It’s not all bad. You can no longer download OSX/RSPlug due to the anti-malware checks. Safari now launches plugins as a separate process and some targeted components now run in a sandbox environment.

If you are upgrading your Macs to Snow Leopard be sure to check the following before considering the task complete:

If you are using Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac ensure you have updated to version 7.0.5 or newer.

After installation go to Adobe’s website and get the latest Flash player. Adobe recommends updating Flash player that shipped with OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

Check your screensaver preferences in the System Preferences tool. Re-enable any password protection and adjust the settings to their intended values.

Related Adobe Apple Articles

Google “Paranoid” About Security (So You Can Trust Them!)

admin    Web Marketing     About, google, Security, Them, trust, “Paranoid”

I don’t know if you heard about this, but apparently late last year there was this small, no-big-deal cyber attack. You probably missed it when Google reported it in January, and started talking about leaving China for the next two months. And it was almost a non-story when they finally did shutter Google.cn. But now that we’re all caught up, Google CEO Eric Schmidt finally lets down his guard about how deeply, emotionally affecting these events were. When asked about security at a Q&A at Google’s Atmosphere 2010, he said, “Google is now particularly paranoid about that.”

Naturally, Google has upped security measures after they discovered the cyber attack, which exploited a flaw in IE6. Although the flaw was quickly patched, Google is moving to more secure Web-based systems—Chrome OS netbooks.

How conveeeeenient. A major security compromise and Google spins it to mean that you can actually trust them more.

Schmidt offered a little explanation of the attack, according to cNET:

He declined to get into the specifics of how the attackers penetrated Google’s security but said the attackers broke into a single system with the outdated browser and were then able to take “a series of steps” to wreak wider havoc. Google tightened its external defenses and moved quickly to update all the software within its walls following the deconstruction of the attack.

Schmidt also advises everyone to run the latest version of your browser (even if it isn’t Chrome) to help keep your system safer.

Of course, the best way to keep your system safe is to trust Google: “Our Web services and Web platforms will be inherently more secure” than alternatives, Schmidt said. “Hold us to this.”

Oh, I’m sure that’ll assuage the privacy watchdogs and federal agencies concerned about all the personally identifiable user information Google’s amassing.

What do you think? Will Google’s systems actually be more secure? Or is trusting them with our data another invitation for trouble?

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Google Cuts CEO’s Security Budget; Leads to Encounter with Random Old Man

admin    Web Marketing     Budget, CEO’s, Cuts, Encounter, google, Leads, Random, Security

What happens when you cut the security budget for the CEO of the world’s largest search engine?

Random old men come up to you at coffee shops and talk your ear off! Just look!

Huh? What? That’s not some random old guy but Apple CEO Steve Jobs?

Ohhhh!

While some might speculate that the entire meeting was just a planned publicity stunt, I put it to you that it was entirely random and happened because Eric Schmidt had his security budget cut last year.

Schmidt’s personal security cost Google just $244,542 last year–down from $402,562 the year before. With this drop in budget it’s highly plausible that ol’ Eric was enjoying a caramel latte, when some stranger accosted him.

Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

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Security Of Ecommerce For Microsoft Retail Management System

admin    Misc     Ecommerce, Management, Microsoft, Retail, Security, System

Security is one of the basic aspects of an ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS. You may be a reputed seller with a big retail store running a retail management system like the one provided with capabilities with ecommerce for Dynamics RMS; there is no guarantee that customers will opt for your web store with ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS even though they have opportunities to purchase products at a discount. To ensure that online shoppers prefer your store with ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS, you will need to provide them with a secured environment to shop freely.

If you are using Microsoft Dynamics RMS to run your physical store, setting up a secured online store with provisions to do ecommerce for Microsoft Retail Management System will be a cakewalk for you. A reputed ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS such as 24Seven Cart can help you to set the online store and connect it with the entire system for ecommerce for Dynamics RMS using a web integrator. In this way, no mission-critical information will be compromised as you are always backed by a complete secured platform supported for ecommerce for Dynamics RMS.

Besides the overall security of your data synchronization, ecommerce for Microsoft Retail Management System providerwill also ensure that the payment processing mechanism is also 100% safe. Unlike a free shopping cart, owning a proprietary-based ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS like 24SevenCart can give you the advantage of utilizing additional resources to reinforce the security. Besides complying with the industry-standards like PCI compliance system and data encryption features, the ecommerce for Microsoft Retail Management System provided through 24SevenCartcan also customize the checkout region to put extra-layers of security.

Your retail management system, especially the one with ecommerce for Dynamics RMS is the nerve center of your business. When you connect it to the ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS, your resources will also be available online. With a secured setup to do ecommerce for Dynamics RMS, you can easily maneuver your resources to bring in more customers to your online store. By enabling the security features provided through the environment for ecommerce for Microsoft Retail Management System and using a payment gateway of repute, you will succeed to gain customers’ trust and gain frequent visitors to ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS.

An ecommerce for Microsoft Retail Management System like 24SevenCart can also ensure that your ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS is not affected by frauds or hackers. The service provider of ecommerce for Dynamics RMS can provide you with options to block IP addresses and prevent fraudulent activities. Usually, the firewall systems and security-layers implemented in these servers are of highest standards and what you will always get is an error-free and safe system in the form of your ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS.

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SNOW LEOPARD EATS YOUR DATA – APPLE OS 10.6 HAS SECURITY ISSUES

admin    Misc     10.6, Apple, Data, EATS, Issues, LEOPARD, Security, SNOW

Snow Leopard is dangerous as it bites new errors that can hurt users of Apple computers.

Several Mac Users all over the world have experiences the largest fear lately. They have lost their personal documents. Their home files have been over written by an empty folder. This is the folder where the users store their documents, downloads, music, photos and so on.

If this was not all, they have gotten several settings defaulted to original factory settings, both on the system and on software installed on their computers.

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Microsoft Security Patch Advance Notification

admin    Misc     Advance, Microsoft, Notification, Patch, Security

Microsoft will be releasing their November round of security patches next Tuesday (14 November), and have advised that there will be six patches to be released. It is already known that one of the patches is for an issue that has been under active attack for several days – the MS XML 0-day vulnerability that was initially disclosed a week ago. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft have identified that this patch is a Critical update, which is their most serious vulnerability rating.
Besides the MS XML patch, there will be five patches for other issues within Microsoft Windows, with at least one patch also rated Critical by Microsoft. Although Microsoft have not identified what elements of Windows will be receiving an update, they have hinted at upcoming patches for Internet Explorer (including the just-released IE 7), and there have been other serious vulnerabilities that have been under active attack for several weeks. This means that Wednesday (dubbed 0-day Wednesday by some) the 15th of November is likely to not see a lot of new exploit code posted / released to the world, as there are plenty of current examples of unpatched critical vulnerabilities.
There are many sources of information out there that can provide end users and administrators with additional guidance and advice on the patches. One of those sources is our own Sûnnet Beskerming Security mailing lists, which will be covering brief details of the patches after they have been released. Readers are recommended to sign up (annual or one-off subcription) to the ‘Security Patch Briefing’ service offered by Sûnnet Beskerming. As an extra incentive, all subscribers who join prior to the middle of November are entitled to the ‘Home User / Microbusiness’ rate, a saving of 50% for most readers, and up to several thousand percent for major clients. The briefing packs released through this service will contain in depth guidance on just what is being patched, what the issues at hand are, and any known issues with installing and managing the patches.

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Using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer – Part 4 of 5 in Troubleshooting for Windows Vista

admin    Misc     Analyzer, Baseline, Microsoft, Part, Security, Troubleshooting, Using, Vista, Windows

Another excellent tool that’s freely available to Windows Vista administrators (or anyone else, for that matter) is the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA). This tool scans a system and quickly identifies security holes such as missing software patches or accounts with a blank or weak password.

Better yet, it recommends corrective action. The only bad news of sorts is that it’s not built into Windows Vista. You have to download this one from the Microsoft web site. The newest version of this tool at the time of this writing was released in May of 2008, Version 2.1. This updated version provides additional features which are detailed at the Microsoft website.

However, legacy Microsoft products are not supported by MBSA 2.1. Because of this, Microsoft has teamed-up with Shavlik Technologies to offer a free companion tool for MBSA 2.1. This will allow users of MBSA 2.01 to still receive security updates.

For the MBSA 2.01, the install steps are straightforward; just follow the steps in the wizard. During installation, the MBSA places a shortcut on the desktop by default. To launch the tool and perform a scan, follow these steps:

As you can see, this provides extremely valuable information to administrators who are interested in doing everything they can to stop problems before they start. For example, the administrator of this machine has been very diligent about installing necessary software updates, it seems, and has gotten passing grades in most areas of computer security. But the MBSA scan generates a failing grade…how is this possible? The MBSA makes it easy to investigate the exact nature of the failing grade by clicking the “Result details” link, revealing the dialog box. In this case it reveales a very significant (yet usually hidden) threat: local user account passwords are weak, thus generating the failing grade.

If you’d like to get my book “Windows Vista Administration: The Definitive Guide” by Brian Culp, (or any of my other books and tutorials), you can pick it up at my website, www.TheAnswerHub.com or at most major book chains. In addition, I’m always happy to provide additional assistance for free (within reason, mind you…don’t go thinking this is some sort of a free ride). Visit me at my website and submit your questions to me. I’ll get back to you with an answer as soon as possible.

Up Next: in the conclusion of this 5-part series, we’ll be discussing the removal of malicious software using the Malicious Software Removal Tool within Windows Vista.

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