Application Security and Securing Social Media
For my first posting we will discuss Application Security and securing social media (remember to update all the applications on your systems not just the operation system). Here is an example why; Adobe had a few patches out on 1/14/14 for Acrobat and Reader, at least 1 is considered Priority 1, and the other is an updated FLASH player for all platforms. The vulnerability patched closes a hole in Flash, which if exploited, allows an attacker to remotely access to your system. Yes, that means they could remotely control your system and take anything they want. Compare this to leaving your front door open with a sign saying “Take whatever you want”. Except the victims may never even realize that it is happening.
To follow-up on our last posting on hacked social media accounts, yes, they are targeted and Facebook, Skype and Linked-in have all fallen victim to hackers, but those are just the BIG attacks that took thousands of focused attackers. The difference is that your account could be targeted and it would never get reported.
Security Tip: You don’t have to put your real birthday, age, address etc. in those accounts.
I know somebody just read this and thought; “blasphemy!” how could you lie to Mark Zuckerberg, the poor guy is just using your information to make a buck, or two. I realize you might not get all those great “Happy Birthday” messages that you are found of but you could just get them twice a year, once on your real birthday and once one your Facebook birthday!
Remember, if you think there are unscrupulous people out there trying to get your information, you are not paranoid, you just may be a little more aware of what may be going on behind the scenes.
For Security courses offered by Dynamic Worldwide please visit:
http://www.dwwtc.com/eccouncil/
http://www.dwwtc.com/outline/comptia/security-plus
By Brandon Huckeba, Security Instructor, DWWTC (CEH, Juniper JNCIS-Security, etc)
