Why You Should Upgrade Your Web Browser




Why Should You Upgrade




Why Should You Not Upgrade

“Compatibility Issues.”





Best Of All…

…it’s free.

Go ahead. Upgrade. Your computer will thank you.

Venom Security Vulnerability

There is a new security vulnerability in the wild: Venom. For those of you that remember Heartbleed, this one is even more frightening:

“Heartbleed lets an adversary look through the window of a house and gather information based on what they see,” said Geffner, using an analogy. “Venom allows a person to break in to a house, but also every other house in the neighborhood as well.”

A full description of the vulnerability can be found on ZDNet.

I have verified that 10T Web Design’s server has already been patched and is no longer vulnerable to Venom, however, this is a wide-spread issue. If you are concerned that your server is vulnerable, just contact me with the name of your hosting company, and I’ll be happy to find out for you at no cost, even if you are not currently a client.

Many Password Strength Meters Weak

Happy Security Sunday! I found this article the other day on Network World, pointing out studies on the dreaded ‘password strength indicators’ that many websites use to nudge folks into using stronger passwords (and generally annoy most everyone).

“Overall, password strength gateways are inconsistent, with some allowing all letters and others requiring different character sets to gain approval, the researchers found. That sends a mixed message to online users accessing many different websites.”

Read the entire article.

I agree with the article that the overall intention of the strength indicators are good, but for some the execution falls short, and there are significantly easier ways to keep your passwords secure.

I’ve long been a supporter of password managers such as KeePassX (available for Windows, Mac, and Linux; Free) as one of the best ways to keep your online accounts secure. A 20-character long string of random letters, numbers and symbols is incredibly difficult to break, and password managers allow you generate and keep track of them. In addition:

  • you don’t need to have little pieces of paper laying around with all your passwords on them;
  • they keep you protected from key-loggers;
  • every account you have can a different secure password;
  • and you don’t have to remember them;
  • honestly, you never have to see them: just copy and paste.

Easy to install, free, and super secure. If you haven’t, give it a try.