It hasn’t been a month since the latest Firefox Update was released, but it has already caused a considerable stir. As with a lot of software releases (and usually with Internet browsers), Firefox 3.6 comes with a flaw. This isn’t really all that surprising, is it?
Anyhow, this flaw was discovered by Evgeny Legerov, the founder of Intevydis. This is a company that specializes in providing IT security solutions for various situations. The flaw discovered by Legerov was taken so seriously by the German government that it issued advisories to the effect that users should stop using this version of Firefox until Mozilla gets it fixed. To Mozilla’s credit, they were right on top of things – they went ahead of schedule and fixed the problem. More from eWEEK:
According to Mozilla, the Web Open Font Format (WOFF) decoder contains an integer overflow in a font decompression routine. As a result, too small a memory buffer could be allocated to store a downloaded font, and an attacker could exploit the situation to crash a victim’s browser and execute arbitrary code on the system.
The fix is contained within Firefox 3.6.2, which was initially scheduled to be released March 30. After the German advisory however, Mozilla announced it was moving up the release date. While security researchers are divided on the idea of switching browsers every time a vulnerability appears, it was not the first time a government had made the recommendation.
So is the latest version safe? Only if you download 3.6.2!
Tags: Firefox, Internet browsers, internet-security, Mozilla
Categories: Firefox, Web browsers
Have an iPhone? Or maybe you have another smartphone. Personally, I am setting my eyes on the Google Nexus One. It’s just as pretty and from most accounts, it is even more functional than the Apple iPhone.
In any case, most everyone has a smartphone now and that means that their children are getting exposed to mobile computing as well. If you think that it’s such a headache to ensure that children are protected when they go online on laptops and home computers, then think again. It’s even more of a hassle to make sure they are safe on mobile platforms!
One thing you can do about the iPhone is to use the built-in parental control. More than that, however, you can check out Safe Eyes Mobile, a web browser made specially for the iPhone. It gives you additional control on top of the parental controls that the iPhone has.
Forrest Collier, CEO of InternetSafety.com endorses this mobile web browser:
“Apple has gone a long way toward child-proofing the iPhone with the new parental controls in the iPhone 3.0 software, but those controls apply only to content that Apple itself distributes through iTunes and the App Store. They don’t address the #1 source of objectionable material: the Internet. If you combine Apple’s parental controls with a browser that blocks pornography and other offensive websites, however, you can completely protect your child from harmful content both online and off.”
At the end of the day, these are excellent tools but I believe that your parenting skills will still emerge as the most important factor.
Tags: internet-security, iphone, mobile web browser, Safe Eyes Mobile
Categories: Real-World Issues, Web browsers
While most of the world relies heavily today on computers and the Internet, safeguarding data and intrusion from malicious hackers and technology advanced individuals should be the main cause for concern.
It is no secret that most systems that do not have the proper security programs face the risk of potential loss of information or being a cause for downtime for servers that need to be operational 24/7. Without the security perimeter fences installed, a server or workstation is prey to a lot of attacks stemming from hackers, worms and Trojans that are spread all over the Internet today.
The risk is indeed high considering that a lot of personal and business related programs and files are the bloodstream of most operational works today. Without the proper cyber guards to act as assigned protectors to key data, internal operations and key components in systems will surely be facing threats that may not immediately be recovered by back-up systems alone.
[tags] internet security, cyber security, cyberspace, cyberworld, firewall, intrusion[/tags]
Tags: cyber-security, cyberspace, cyberworld, firewall, internet-security, intrusion
Categories: Backups, IT Security Basics, Malware, Network Security, Operating Systems, Physical Security, Privacy & Anonymity, Programming, Real-World Issues, Security Policies, Spyware, Storage, Tips, Wireless Security
It hasn’t been a month since the latest Firefox Update was released, but it has already caused a considerable stir. As with a lot of software releases (and usually with Internet browsers), Firefox 3.6 comes with a flaw. This isn’t really all that surprising, is it?
