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jdh
June 10th, 2007, 02:57 AM
There's a lot of security news out there on the Internet but a lot of it is aimed at system administrators.

The Department of Homeland Security site http://www.us-cert.gov is not a lot of help for keeping up to date for home or non-technical users, even tho' they do have a number of general and helpful documents oriented to home users. But I'd hardly expect any site to want to take the responsibility to act even as a sort of informal clearing house for news on security vulnerabilities for home (consumer) computer users, too vague a field.

There are too many sources for me to even begin to try to list them let alone evaluate.

So far I've been using http://isc.sans.org [ Internet Storm Center ].

and

http://www.eweek.com seems not too bad either (click topics, then scroll down and click security).

Finding a security news source that has an RSS/XML feed is probably worthwhile, e.g.:

eWeek Ziff Davis http://rssnewsapps.ziffdavis.com/eweeksecurity.xml

ISC feeds
http://isc.sans.org/xml.html

RSS feed readers not requiring install additional software:
Firefox
Thunderbird
MS IE 7 (I assume)
Opera (I assume)
http://my.yahoo.com
http://www.google.com/reader
etc.

There'd be enough alerts coming out every week that many news consumers would not want to have the feeds coming into an email mailbox, so a more 'transient' form of news such as RSS feed is perhaps more appropriate as a medium for consuming such news.

If I had to choose between keeping my Internet apps (e.g. IM) and browser plug ins up to date (either manually or automatically [not always there]) OR having additional layer(s) of protection in the browser (e.g. NoScript and SiteAdvisor) I'd choose the latter as more trustworthy and robust (assuming firewall, anti-virus, and anti-spy already in place and up to date).

DH

Lindsey
June 10th, 2007, 09:08 PM
The Department of Homeland Security site http://www.us-cert.gov is not a lot of help for keeping up to date for home or non-technical users, even tho' they do have a number of general and helpful documents oriented to home users.
I don't know about you, but I wouldn't trust DHS ("Stock up on duct tape!!") with anything concerning my PC!!

--Lindsey

Judy G. Russell
June 10th, 2007, 09:43 PM
I don't know about you, but I wouldn't trust DHS ("Stock up on duct tape!!") with anything concerning my PC!!Or with anything else! ("Gee, sir, you have a medical alert posted that says you absolutely should be quarantined, but you LOOK okay, so drive on through!")

Lindsey
June 11th, 2007, 10:30 PM
Or with anything else! ("Gee, sir, you have a medical alert posted that says you absolutely should be quarantined, but you LOOK okay, so drive on through!")
Good point! (But if he'd tried to board a plane with a 4-oz tube of hair gel, or if he'd failed to but his legal-sized tube into the proper-sized plastic bag, they'd have nabbed him in a heartbeat!!)

God save us.

--Lindsey

Judy G. Russell
June 12th, 2007, 04:27 PM
Good point! (But if he'd tried to board a plane with a 4-oz tube of hair gel, or if he'd failed to but his legal-sized tube into the proper-sized plastic bag, they'd have nabbed him in a heartbeat!!) God save us.It's a sure bet nobody else will, and I ain't sure God cares a whole lot...

Lindsey
June 12th, 2007, 11:30 PM
It's a sure bet nobody else will, and I ain't sure God cares a whole lot...
I understand the guy who waved him across the border, in spite of having received notices that he was to be apprehended, has now retired. Good decision.

--Lindsey

Judy G. Russell
June 13th, 2007, 08:43 AM
I understand the guy who waved him across the border, in spite of having received notices that he was to be apprehended, has now retired. Good decision.Considering that his pension might be in jeopardy if he stuck around and was disciplined, I'd say it was downright brilliant.