Security Response

Go on any security Web site and their bestpractices state that you should “never view, open, or execute any emailattachment unless the attachment is expected and the purpose of theattachment is known.” But what if it’s your job to open attachments?

In this day and age, human resources (HR) managers post job openingsonline to get the widest possible distribution. Gone are the days ofnewspaper ads and window postings; managers want to attract as manyqualified applicants as possible and Web postings are inexpensive andeffective. This may be one reason why HR is a weak link in the securityof a company. Many companies prompt applicants to email their resumeand cover letter directly to the HR department or a specific manager. Iwent to a dozen international company sites and found that half of themhad the same application process.

To apply for positions on our team, respond by email tojane.doe@xxxxx-...

I just signed up for a MySpace page. I’vebecome very interested in social networking and it was time to join thefun. Once you create an account the next step is to add some friends toyour network. So the first thing I decided to do was send an invite myfriend Bill Gates. (Now I don’t expect you to believe that Bill Gatesand I are friends. I admit that I’ve never met the man, but I'm tryingto make a bigger point, so bear with me.)

A quick search on MySpace for Bill or William Gates returned 192pages of search results. They couldn’t all be my Bill. I narrowed mysearch. I know what Bill looks like, so I searched just for profilesthat contained a picture. I gave up after finding over a 100 profileswith a picture of Bill Gates and I had only reviewed half the profilepictures. I will say that the number of profiles with Bill in a sweaterwere about even with those of him in a suit. Only a few choose to dragup that old mug shot of him from his teenage years.

The Trojan.Haradong author and hisaccomplices have been arrested, not for creating the so-called "Haradavirus," but for unauthorized use of copyrighted materials.Unfortunately in Japan, there is no law prohibiting people fromcreating malware. There is a bill that was submitted to the NationalDiet several years ago but is still in its deliberation process and hasyet to be passed. Hopefully, this arrest will raise the priority forlegislators to pass a law banning the development and/or use of malwarefor malicious purposes. The law authorities sure can use the lawbecause at the moment they are having to brainstorm ideas on whatcharges to arrest these type of criminals on.

Let me first give you some background on Winny, which has been usedas a vehicle to spread this malware. Due to the characteristic ofmalware such as W32.Antinny, Winny and the malware lurking in thefile-sharing network has been a widely discussed topic in Japan thelast few years. The main...

News of the Silentbanker Trojan seems tohave (rightfully) caused quite a few people to wonder if the computersthey use to access their online banking are secure. I’ve gotten someinteresting questions about the security of online banking since LiamO’Murchu’s blog about Silentbankerwas published last week.

Some people I talked to said that they’llnever use online banking again, but I don’t think that’s the answer(just ask anyone who has ever had their bank card skimmed). Instead, I think people are better off securing their computers andusing a few best practices to ensure that their transactions are safe.

So, here are a few tips for online banking:

• Use a strong password to access your online banking and change itoften. Strong passwords are...