Celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Spam

An article in The Register reminds us that the very first spam e-mail was sent on May 3, 1978, or thirty years ago. Somehow, this anniversary is not much to celebrate. As most Internet users can attest to, spam is rampant; it’s the true scourge of the Internet. Many users get as many as hundreds of spam messages a day; all you need is to have one e-mail address on a web site, in forums, or on mailing lists, for spammers to harvest it, package it, and sell it along with millions of others.

While spam filters are increasingly efficient (and Intego’s Personal Antispam is recognized as the most effective spam filter for Mac), spam is constantly evolving. (This Wikipedia page explains some of the techniques used in spam, and how they change to try and fool spam filters. It’s a never-ending battle, unless the powers that be come up with a system that will authenticate messages, allowing ISPs to filter out spam.

The Register article cited above suggests that 95% of all e-mail is spam; other sources posit figures of 80-90%. But spam works; as the Register says, “a recent survey … revealed that 11 per cent of people admit to having bought goods in response to spam messages.”

Website Certification Fraught with Difficulties

An article on The Register discusses problems with a security vendor’s certification of hacker-free web sites not being totally safe. The problem with such certification is that, even with daily checks of sites, it’s very hard to guarantee that any web site remains safe. In this case, the security vendor in question is understating the danger of cross-site scripting attacks (vulnerabilities that can occur when web applications inject malicious code into web pages). (To learn about cross-site scripting, see this Wikipedia page.)

The real problem lies less with such certification than with the fact that web sites can never be certified 100%. The web is too fluid, and vulnerabilities can arise and be exploited very quickly. For this reason, you cannot trust this kind of certification, and must always have client-side protection (ie, protection on your computer) and keep your Mac up to date with the latest security updates. Also, make sure you have software such as VirusBarrier and NetBarrier, to protect you from malware and security risks.

Laptop Magazine Loves Internet Security Barrier

In a review of several Mac OS X security products, Laptop Magazine picked its favorite: Internet Security Barrier. As they say in the review, “Hands down, the most comprehensive security suite for Macs is Intego’s Internet Security Barrier X5.” The only negative point they found was “No Windows protection”, but that’s because they must have missed Intego’s Internet Security Barrier Dual Protection suite. So it’s not only the “most comprehensive security suite for Macs”, as the review says, but the DP version’s Windows protection gives the same protection for both platforms.

How Secure is your Mac OS X User Account?

When you work on your Mac, you think you are protected by your user account’s password. Well, savvy users know this is not the case; it’s easy to boot any Mac from a Mac OS X installation DVD and reset the password of any account. But not everyone worries about hackers carrying around Mac OS X discs with them.

That’s not the only way to reset a password, though. A hint was published on the Mac OS X Hints web site explaining how to do this without an installation disc, but simply from booting into “safe mode” and issuing a few commands. This means that any hacker can access all the files on your Mac, regardless of your password.

We at Intego have long been aware of this kind of problem. We know that Apple’s password protection is not very secure, and, while you can apply an Open Firmware password, there are other ways to protect your sensitive documents. Intego created FileGuard for just this reason. With FileGuard, you can create virtual safes that provide unbreakable protection for all your sensitive files. The passwords you use with FileGuard’s safes cannot be reset by a hack or trick; only you can open the safes you create. And with 256-bit encryption, even the NSA can’t get at your files.

If you have sensitive files on your Mac, don’t entrust them to Apple’s password protection; you really need serious security that will prevent anyone from accessing your files. Use Intego FileGuard for those files that merit such protection.

Using NetBarrier to Find AirPort Networks

In addition to protecting your Mac from hackers, vandals and all kinds of network attacks, NetBarrier X5 has a set of tools for monitoring your network and checking network status. One of these tools is especially useful if you use AirPort to connect your Macs to a network.

NetBarrier’s Network section shows you a great deal of information about your network interfaces (AirPort, Ethernet, Bluetooth, etc.), and also shows you a list of all available AirPort networks, together with their signal strength and what channel they use. This last bit of information - the channel - can be especially useful when setting up a network at your home or office. If you are surrounded with WiFi networks, you want yours to be on a channel that is relatively unencumbered. You can check which channels are used by neighboring networks, and find out which is the best channel to use for your network.

You can also find which networks are open, when on the road, to know which you can connect to. Since you can see the signal strength in NetBarrier, you can see right away which network is best to try connecting to first. (Naturally, signal strength is not the only criterion for good network access; a lot also depends on how many other people are using that network.)

NetBarrier X5 has other useful network monitoring tools; check them out if you want to keep tabs on what’s happening on your network.

Macworld UK Likes FileGuard X5

Macworld UK has just posted a review of Intego FileGuard X5, giving it four stars. They like the program, and mention that, “FileGuard X5 provides a quick, secure and safe way to lock up your data.” We couldn’t have said it better.

Find out more about FileGuard X5.