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Business Continuity Planning

Keeping your business afloat after a disaster As the owner of a technology consulting firm, I’m occasionally asked to assist with Business Continuity Planning (BCP). As the name implies, BCP is a discipline that attempts to answer the “what if” questions that surround the viability of a business when faced with a disruptive event such […]

Oracle closes critical Java vulnerability

Oracle announced today the release of updates for Java versions 5, 6, and 7 to patch a critical java vulnerability actively being exploiting in the wild. The patches were reportedly slated for release in April but the timetable was pushed up in response to a recent report demonstrating the active exploit. This further prolongs the […]

Anti-virus software alone is not enough

“Anti-virus software alone is not enough”… so says the number one antivirus provider Symantec in this post. A rather stunning admission I would say, and something many in the security industry have known for quite some time. The admission comes on the heels of the successful infiltration of the New York Times by Chinese hackers […]

Apple blocks vulnerable Flash plugins

Kudos to Apple. Last week they decided to start blocking vulnerable versions of Adobe Flash plugins from running in the built-in Safari web browser. This is in direct response to the active exploits in the wild affecting Macs as well as PCs. Users who fail to update when prompted are now receiving an error message […]

Yet Another Java Zero-Day

Researchers at the respected security firm FireEye have discovered yet another Java zero-day attack that leverages previously unknown vulnerabilities with the latest versions of Java (as of this writing Java v1.6 Update 41 and Java v1.7 Update 15) to install malware. This comes on the heels of a discovery of two other holes (as yet […]

Evernote hack results in forced password change

Evernote is a really cool app. I use it heavily in conjunction with David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” system to organize my day and achieve my goals. I also use it for more mundane tasks such as grocery lists. I use it on my PC, my iPad, and my Android phone – it syncs up […]

Apple also a victim of targeted malware attack

Apple revealed today that they were targeted by the same malware attack leveled against Facebook on February 1st. The earlier comments by Facebook hinted at a working group of high-value targets and Apple now appears to be among them. The attack took advantage of a previously unknown Java zero-day exploit to infect the engineers’ computers […]

Adobe has scheduled an update for last week’s Acrobat zero-day

Adobe announced in a blog post that they will issue updates for version XI, X, and 9 to close the zero-day hole revealed last week. The patch will be released for Windows, Linux, and Macintosh operating systems. All users are advised to install the patch as soon as it becomes available. Thom Infotech encourages Adobe […]

Facebook is apparent victim of a Java zero-day attack

Facebook has confirmed that they were a victim of a targeted attack that leveraged a previously unknown Java vulnerability. The zero-day exploit was used to infect the laptops of several engineers with malware that apparently was used to attempt a full-scale infiltration of the inner sanctum of Facebook. Facebook reported that all of the infected […]

New Adobe Acrobat Zero-Day Reported

Researchers from the respected malware research firm FireEye today reported a zero-day flaw that is actively being exploited in the wild. They reportedly observed successful exploitation of the latest Adobe PDF Reader 9.5.3, 10.1.5, and 11.0.1. It is assumed that earlier versions are also vulnerable though this has not been confirmed. In the words of […]