Category: Computer Security

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Computer Security Internet

new TLD

So over the weekend I watched General Conference.  I saw a commercial for www.lds.travel
Yes that is right the .com is raplaced by a .travel
I had never seen that before.  I knew ICANN was coming out with new top level domains but I didn’t seem to remember .travel being one of them.  So as I did some digging, new.net came up.  I read this article for one of my grad school classes.  Very interesting material.  So these guys are providing new TLD’s.
ICANN is not sanctioning this though.  This company is completely doing this on their own.  The only way it works is if the person installs a browser plugin to actually recognize the TLD or if the ISP has partnered with them to recognize it in their own DNS.
I have not tried this out and I hesitate to do so until I see more exposure about it and I can get confirmation it really works.

Categories
Computer Security Computers Internet

Blogs

This is the first post of a series I will do on blogging to explain my viewpoint.  I did some research on the subject for my undergraduate degree.  Most of this information will come from that with some update info.

Blogs: Healthy Journal Outlet or Potential Danger from Internet Predators

Blogging has become increasingly popular over the past ten years, especially in the Latter-day Saint culture. It is an easy and effective tool to share photos and stories about family members. However, hackers and internet predators are using it as an easy source to “enter” into your personal life in more ways than one. Blogging can still be a very efficient tool of communication; as long as bloggers become educated on how to properly and safely blog. Guard the information that you do include. Make sure the entries you have written will not come back to haunt you. Past information that has already been written, which may be intrusive to your life is very hard to simply erase. Password protected blogs are a much safer method if you chose to divulge personal information. The most important note to remember is: in order to keep you and your family safe and protected it is vital to become educated and take the proper precautions.

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Computer Security Computers Internet

The Deep Web

The internet has changed the way information is handled and it might be scary to find out how much information is really out there about you. I was surprised for sure.
First let clear up what exactly the deep web is. For this discussion we will classify it as data that is publicly availiable but that is not necesarily indexed by google or yahoo or other search engines for one reason or another.
One reason it might not be publicly availiable is because you might have to use input on some websites to come up with data. Google or other bots are not very good at that.
For instance: http://www.pipl.com/
if you go to this website and input your name, this is input that google could not just automate.

Categories
Computer Security Computers Terminal

Family Computer Security

I recently came home for Christmas to visit family. From time to time I will help them out with computer advice. I say advice because it is free and can be subject to interpretation and I can be totally wrong sometimes. So, if in this post, you have suggestions or advice yourself, please don’t hesitate to correct me with comments and such.
We visited relatives and they had several connectivity issues for internet. We hooked up the router to their modem and secured the wireless and then ran powerline plugs to the basement and hooked up the second wireless router for their WII and XBox360 and whatever other Gaming systems had internet connectivity. One thing I found interesting was the different security protocols and compatibility issues. It seems the older wireless cards did not even detect the new WPA2 wireless protocol. When that protocol was active, SSID seemed to disappear for the older 11/B wireless card.
I then proceeded to download updates for the antivirus on the laptop. The connections was very slow. I then noticed some strange behavior with the system. I finally determined there were viruses present on the machine. I ran a scan and no viruses were detected. I figured this was due to the anti-virus being installed after the viruses were already present. I then decided to run a linux live CD with antivirus capabilities to remove them. I chose Trinity Rescue Kit 3.3. It worked like a charm. I loaded the live CD and then mounted the internal hard drive. I updated the virus definitions of ClamAV and ran it on the internal HD removing all infected files. The power of linux and the command line really was super handy and this all ran within an hour on 256 mb of ram is what amazed me.

Categories
Computer Security

Computer Security and Alma?

So my first Assignment in my security class was to read Alma chapters 43, 49, 50 in the Book of Mormon.  Interesting to say the least.  How do these chapters apply to Computer Information Technology Security?  Well, I will tell you.
Alma 43:19 tells us about how Moroni prepared his people for battle.  Let’s say an attack on a computer or information system is like a batte in war.  If you are prepared beforehand, then ye shall not fear.
The beginning of Alma 49 talks about how the Nephite cities were fortified.  I would liken this to a firewall in a computer.  There are only certain points where entry or exits are allowed.
I know the scriptures can apply to all aspects of life, even Technology! 🙂