Driving across campus this evening I heard a story on NPR, Fun with DNA…
Imagine a yellow smiley face. Now imagine 50 billion smiley faces floating in a single drop of water. That’s what scientists have made using a new technique for building super-tiny shapes using the familiar double helix of DNA.
(from NPR’s All Things Considered)
OK, a poor title, I admit. Don’t filet me.
As noted, this week I am posting on some of the different ways Microsoft is working on improving your experience with your computer, with bits dedicated so far to OneCare, Windows Defender, spam and yesterday on Windows Live Safety Center.
Late last year I mentioned phishing and screen scraping, so let’s tale a closer look at…
Phishing: Have you ever gone to your email box and seen a message from a reputable, top company — perhaps a bank, popular web site or government office — and come across a message that asked you to confirm your personal identifying information (PII)? They’re actually emails featuring links to phony web sites that look like the real thing. Welcome to the world of phishing scams. (See “What is a phishing scam?” for more details.)
Phishing scams are a ruse to steal your PII, a valuable commodity that can help someone impersonate you and cause all sorts of problems. I get a few of these a month usually posing as messages from eBay or PayPal, or major banks where I don’t have an account. Once a phisher has your PII — which can be your name, account numbers, passwords, and Social Security numbers — you could easily find yourself with debts you never imagined, or your bank account wiped out.
According to Consumer Reports “State of the Net” survey in 2005, phishing scams cost consumers an average of $395 per incident in the United States. In 2004, CNET reported that these online cons cost US consumers a total of $500 million. Phishers use many tactics including creating and sending e-mail messages or links to fraudulent Web sites or that appear to be valid in an attempt to fool you into submitting personal, financial, and password information. MSN has a helpful page with more info on battling phishing.
The Microsoft Phishing filter add-in for the MSN Search Toolbar provides offers access to a new dynamic online service, updated several times an hour, to warn you and help protect your personal information from these fraudulent Web sites. The add-in dynamically checks the web sites you visit and gives you a warning if the sites are suspicious. It blocks you from sharing personal information if a site is a known phishing web site. The online information in the add-in is regularly updated. (Note that the Phishing Filter is a new feature in Internet Explorer 7.0.)
Screen scraping attacks are becoming more common in scammer’s schemes to subvert sophisticated security systems – I’ll tackle this one in my next post.
More information:
CNET reports today that just in time for your children’s summer vacations, Windows Live parental controls is due this summer…
As reported earlier, Windows Live Family Safety Settings software is designed to help keep Web content that parents deem inappropriate from reaching their children. A preview version of the tool is currently available to testers.
The first version of the new software will let people filter online content and get activity reports on Web sites that were visited by others, Microsoft representatives said.
Tags: Microsoft, children, security, parental control.
This past weekend, I started looking at some of the different ways Microsoft is working on improving your experience with your computer. I featured initial looks at OneCare, Windows Defender, and yesterday on the affects of spam.
For my next trick, a general look at securing your PC through Windows Live Safety Center, a new, free service (in beta) designed to help ensure the health of your PC.
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On the site, you can run a service scan that will check for and remove viruses on your computer, improve your PC’s performance and help to get rid of junk on your hard disk. You can run a full service scan to check everything, or target the services to meet your specific needs (to protect, clean up or tune up your PC).
Reminds me of the old Adam-12 TV series, where the motto “to protect and to serve” was prominently featured. I wonder if Scott Charney or Mike Nash were ever extras in an episode…
Additional, handy links:
Tags: Microsoft, antivirus, antispyware, security, OneCare.
On10.net is now live… should be an interesting site. The site is from the team who brought you Channel 9, with promises to have a new video on the site every weekday at 10:00 am, with all the videos compiled into a single show at the end of the week. On10 “is a place for people who want to use technology to change the world.”
To quote a wise man on what could be next, following On10…
“Where can you go from there? Nowhere. What we do, is if we need that extra push over the cliff…Eleven. One louder.”
As I have a Windows Live home page, I am looking forward to when I can to add on10 to my stuff on my live.com home page. As the average web surfer visit just six or less sites on a regular basis, it’ll be nice when this site can be added as part of my home page.
Until then, enjoy.
