hack (Hæk) vb. 1. to write computer programs for enjoyment. 2. to gain access to a computer illegally. ~n 3. one who works hard at boring tasks. 4. a mediocre and disdained writer. 5. an old or worn-out horse.
As my first blog reaches nearly one million views, I've decided to place the old thing into retirement.For the foreseeable future it will stay online as an archive, but I will not be updating it.Since I started my security testing business SE Labs, there hasn't been time to blog privately, which you can see from the massive reduction in postings since 2017.And I don't have time to update
Introducing the Advanced Podcast Platform™ from DE:CODED.Our ingenious, hi-tech mobile podcast platform solves all of your workstation management problems.It's all based on an MDF kitchen shelf, which allows you to clamp the mic wherever you are. But there's more to it than that!🔴 Desk has no overhanging edges to take a clamp?No problem with the Advanced Podcast Platform™. Clamp your mic
ForewordThe following article was written and published in 2008. The first iPhones were less than six months old and Apple's OS X operating system was just seven years old. The previous year Apple launched a version of OS X that could run on Intel systems. The following year OS X could *only* run on Intel systems. This could have made life easier for attackers, as they faced a familiar underlying
Farce time [/fɑːs/ /tʌɪm/] n. 1. a futile, dispiriting experience combining video conferencing systems; young children and/ or elderly relatives; and unreliable WiFi.
These business startup tips are based on my personal experience. I've tried to make them as generic as possible without falling into the same trap that makes most business advice articles useless.The content here is general opinion based on personal experience. It does not constitute professional, legal, financial, or tax advice. Readers should consult a qualified professional before acting
Coming soon [kuhm-ing soon] adj. 1. A false claim used to reassure website visitors that content will appear before the domain expires.
When we chose to make a podcast we knew we would have a lot to learn...This is how we made the DE:CODED podcastAt the end of 2020 we decided to create a podcast.Five months later we have published the final episode of series one. (We're definitely doing a second series.)Some information and advice for those wishing to do the same follows...PeopleThe two presenters, myself (Simon Edwards) and Marc
How much has computer security changed in the last six years?In 2015, six years ago to the day, I published a 12-point security tips list. The goal was to advise on the most effective ways to improve your computer security, starting from the most important and working down.How well does that list stand up today?Do the original tips still stand? Are there any missing?Basically, most of the
I left journalism and started SE Labs, a security testing lab, just over five years ago. But something of the media must have remained in my brain, because this week we launched our podcast. There was an awful lot to learn, both technically and otherwise. Some of the best advice I read and heard came via the BuzzSprout platform, which we decided to use in the end.It feels like there are more
Scenario: Outlook on your Windows 10 PC has stopped working. It continually asks for your username and password, but nothing you type will work.You rarely want to see this, particularly on a busy dayYou've tried Googling it. There is lots of advice about resetting Profiles, deleting Credentials from Windows and so on. Much of this is scary and time-consuming. Most of it doesn't work. And you need
If you have ever migrated a blog from Blogger to WordPress you might be worried that the links to your articles won't work anymore. And you would be right to be concerned. There are lots of complicated things to pay attention to when moving a website from one hosting company or platform to another. In this article I'm going to cover the very specific issues around Blogger's handling of links
Back up your data to an encrypted external disk for free - money-free and hassle-free. Summary: use auto-unlock so you don't need to enter your drive's encryption password every time you use it. Backing up your data has always been important but, with the rise of ransomware, never more so than now... If you are security conscious you'll have BitLocker encryption enabled on your laptop's hard
Excel's VLOOKUP feature lets you turn it into a sort-of database. If you use Excel to manage projects, invoices or other tasks where you enter the same set of contact details you can semi-automate the process using a handy function called VLOOKUP. It's extremely handy but many descriptions I've read have been a little brain-bending so here's my cheat sheet. Take the following breakdown of
[Nearly ten years ago I wrote an article for Computer Shopper magazine about anti-virus (aka anti-malware) certifications. The words, along with my website, have long since shuffled off into archive.org. Here's a copy, which I think stands up pretty well even today, despite the progress that testers (including myself) have made since then.] No-one likes taking exams. Imagine that you are
The attacker who stole Hacking Team's data gained access to an employee's computer while the victim was still logged in. The attacker either had direct physical access to Christian Pozzi's PC or they used malware to achieve a similar level of access. Whichever way it was, we can tell that Christian was logged in at the time simply by looking at a folder name among the files that were leaked onto
The bad guys can try to break in using computers only or they can try to trick you into providing them with access. Or they can use a mixture of tactics. Let's consider two main types of attack: * Technical – breaking in via computers only * Human – tricking people into aiding the attack For the technical attacks you might consider the following, in order of priority/effectiveness: Update
(Part three of Three ways to recover from a forgotten Windows password) You've forgotten your Windows password. What now? You will need to buy a copy of Elcomsoft System Recovery and burn the provided ISO file to a CD. Boot off this CD and choose the hard disk containing the Windows installation from the list supplied. Continue through the Wizard choosing the default options if you are a
(Part two of Three ways to recover from a forgotten Windows password) You've forgotten your Windows password. What now? Windows provides accessibility tools at the login screen when the user pressing the Shift key five times. Behind the scenes at least two programs run when this happens. These are utilman.exe and sethc.exe. If we could replace either of these with the command line then we
(Part one of Three ways to recover from a forgotten Windows password) You've forgotten your Windows password. What now? Smug users will say, "easy, just use the Password Reset Disk," but honestly – how many normal Windows users bother to create one, let alone know that this feature exists? If you did not already know, the Password Reset Disk is a USB (or floppy) disk containing the
You've forgotten your Windows password. What now? I’ll show you three different ways to get back into your system: 1. The ‘right’ way 2. A free but dirty hack 3. An elegant but $50 hack It's worth noting up front that there is potentially a big difference between recovering and resetting a password. Recovering a password means discovering what your old password was. Resetting a
Last week the Superfish debacle became news and PC manufacturer Lenovo was slammed for pre-installing adware on new laptops. Since then I've had people ask me about how dangerous this stuff actually is and whether or not security software that works in similar ways poses similar threats. I think that the main issue here is that there is a balance to be found between providing
Some Android mobile phones are being sold pre-infected with malware. According to a blog post by Lookout's Jeremy Linden, "DeathRing is a Chinese Trojan that is pre-installed on a number of smartphones most popular in Asian and African countries." Some of the most important points from his report include: Detections are moderate in volume. Detections are global. The Trojan pretends to
There is a need to test products that claim to detect and protect against advanced threats. When incredible claims are made by security products so should we make strong efforts to challenge and possibly validate these claims. Over the past year and a half I have discussed testing with a range of vendors, testers and potential customers of such products. These discussions have varied from
Regin, advanced malware that is most likely a government espionage tool, is making headlines. This is because it's a very well-constructed set of tools and also because observers are surprised at how successful it was. It also targeted GSM networks, which is novel. The big question is, how could the major anti-malware firms have missed this threat for so long? Or, one might ask, did they
Discovering who is behind a computer-based attack is hard because you don't know which clues are real and which have been planted as misinformation. When well-resourced entities are thought to be behind an attack campaign the sky is the limit as far as red herrings are concerned. Yesterday security firms started talking about a new attack called Regin. It's not truly new, though, as the