- RE: website insecurity

Date: 18 Dec 2008 22:57:49 +0000
From: Alan R Morris <address truncated>
Subject: RE: website insecurity

From: Itamar Engelsman <address truncated>

# Re.: website insecurity - Hi Alan, I think one just has to be # careful what to place in the public domain and what not. Any
# information that is personal of confidential I keep on my
# Psion, phone or Ipod touch behind passwords and will not
# reach the internet. General blabla I don't mind it being
# there. For me it is not a reason to "go off the internet",
# just to be careful and selective.

I would agree with this Itamar, but it's becoming more difficult to "be careful and selective".

This is the only list that I use my first and surname.  Elsewhere I use only my middle name and don't post information that could be useful to others against me.

The younger generation appear to like telling the world all about themselves, which is of course their choice.

The bigger problem, is the general slack attitude of those who provide the internet services.   Years ago, a large number  of folk used their Public & Private Keys, for security.  But this is now generally a thing of the past, like our Psions!

And that is where all my sensitive information is held, under layers of passwords.  I don't even use M$ Word to write letters, it's all done on my Psions.  I jumped from DOS direct to EPOC.  Although I had full copies of all the early Windows OS and Office programs, as a PC dealer, I never used any of them for my own use.

On another list folk were asking about free WiFi areas and others were telling them not to use them as they are insecure.  It turned into a 'bash M$ thread' - anti-IE and pro Firefox.  Every posting advised using Firefox as it did not have the yet un-fixed hole in IE.

But surprise to these 'in-the-know' folk was that their pet, Firefox is actually worse than IE.

I saw it again on clicking on Vlad's posting after yours.

The top ten apps with vulnerabilities:-

<http://www.itchannelplanet.com/security_news/article.php/3790691
In this surprising list:-
1.  Firefox
2.  Adobe Acrobat
4.  Sun Java
5.  Apple Quicktime
6.  Norton

Just outside the top 10 are:-
11.  Yahoo
12.  M$ Messenger.

But they are not a surprise.

Reg.