Reason to try Firefox

Hot news, about Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7!

Surprise, surprise, another security alert:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7784908.stm

If you've not tried Firefox yet, now is the perfect time. You'll like it - trust me, I'm an IT professional!

You can have a try with any of the other web browsers mentioned, but for me Firefox is the best of the bunch.

Go on, give it a go!

Fake Scares

I'm afraid some people have a warped sense of humour, and seem to delight in scaring people. There are various hoaxes going the rounds, specifically associated with Christmas. They usually involve a warning about opening an email attachment (good - always safe to be cautious about unexpected messages and attachments), and dire predictions of the consequences, sometimes involving completely trashing your hard drive.

Technically, it's virtually impossible to do what the message predicts, but that doesn't stop the email looking scary and sending a shiver down the spine.

Before forwarding the message to your entire addressbook (which is what the perpetrators want you to do!), check it out via Google. And if you discover any hoaxes at this festive season, please contribute to this blog, so that we can all benefit - and sleep easier in our beds!

Social network users are alerted to Koobface worm

Facebook, MySpace and Bebo users are being warned about the resurgence of a virus-like worm called Koobface that will try to infect their PCs and seek credit card details. Koobface spreads by sending messages to users of social networking sites such as "Are you sure this is your first acting experience?", "is it u there?", "impressive. i'm sure it's you on this video" and offering a web link. When users click on the link it says they need to download new software to see the video and clicking on this downloads the worm. Apple and Linux systems are unaffected.
Charles Arthur, in the Guardian, 10 December 2008

Email Scams (Again!)

Courtesy of Sophos, here is one of the latest ways to download a virus to your computer:

Email malware flying high
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Regardless of whether you are planning to go anywhere special this holiday season, cybercriminals are ramping up a new malicious email campaign, posing as an airline ticket from one of several well-known airlines. Would you open the attachment when they tell you that they have already charged your credit card?
http://www.sophos.com/blogs/gc/g/2008/12/04/email-malware-flying-high

Be careful out there!