Manually removing spyware is not an easy task. Usually the best course of action to remove spyware from your computer is to download and install a free spyware removal tool that will do this job for you. However, sometimes a problem arises in which the spyware removal program is unable to delete the spyware files and they will have to be manually deleted. Because this involves finding files and deleting them, or making changes to a computer’s registry, manually deleting spyware should only be attempted by advanced to professional computer Read More

DES (Data Encryption Standard) is a symmetric cipher defined in Federal Information Processing (FIPS) Standard Number 46 in 1977 as the federal government approved encryption algorithm for sensitive but non-classified information. DES was developed by IBM and was based upon IBM’s earlier Lucifer cipher. DES utilizes a 56-bit key. This key size is vulnerable to a brute force attack using current technology. Triple DES A variant of DES, Triple DES, provides significantly enhanced security by executing the core DES algorithm three times in a row. The has the effect of Read More

If you use Microsoft Windows or other applications that require passwords to gain access to specific functions, you may have noticed that these passwords are never shown, but represented by an asterisk (*). Asterisks are used quite commonly not only with Window’s passwords, but almost any passwords that you come across online or in applications. For instance, when you sign into a web email program such as Yahoo! Mail, you will be asked to input your username and password. Your username will be represented by the exact characters you originally Read More

A Trojan virus is a piece of software designed to look like a useful file or software program but performs a possibly nefarious function once installed on a client computer. The virus takes its name from the “Trojan Horse” from Greek mythology setup outside of the city of Troy. Trojan horse viruses differ from other computer viruses in that they are not designed to spread themselves. Instead Trojan horse malware is either delivered as the payload of another virus or piece of malware or through manual end-user action by downloading Read More

PKI Authorities consists of three different authorities that essentially make up a PKI system. These are the Registration Authority, Certification Authority and Certificate Directory. Registration Authority The jobs of the Registration Authority are to processes user requests, confirm their identities, and induct them into the user database. Certification Authority The tasks of a Certification Authority are to issue public key certificates and to attest that the public key embedded in it indeed belongs to the particular entity as stated in the certificate. The Certification Authority also has the right to Read More

Digital certificates are the equivalent of a driver’s license, a marriage license, or any other form of identity. The only difference is that a digital certificate is used in conjunction with a public key encryption system. Digital certificates are electronic files that simply work as an online passport. Digital certificates are issued by a third party known as a Certification Authority such as VeriSign or Thawte. These third party certificate authorities have the responsibility to confirm the identity of the certificate holder as well as provide assurance to the website Read More

The Internet is an ever present threat to your computer. Even harmlessly browsing through sites may get your computer affected with a virus or spyware without you even knowing it. As many dangers as there may be out there, you can easily protect yourself by taking a few simple steps. Routers and Firewalls First of all, if you don’t already have a router, it is recommended that you go and get one, even if you only have one computer in your home. A Router acts as the best kind of Read More

Certificate Authority or Certification Authority (CA) is an entity, which is core to many PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) schemes, whose purpose is to issue digital certificates to use by other parties. It exemplifies a trusted third party. Some certification authorities may charge a fee for their service while some other CAs are free. It is also not uncommon for government and institutions to have their own CAs. More about Issuing a Certificate The certification authority issues a Public Key Certificate (PKC), which attests that the public key embedded in it Read More

We hear about new computer viruses all the time. What is the motivation behind developing computer viruses and watching them wreak havoc on the Internet? Fact Gathering Many viruses raid your documents including your email address book for information that can be used to make business contacts. This data is assembled into a database that can then be sold to others as a qualified list of “opportunity seekers.” The result is a mountain of spam emails, and even unsolicited direct mail pieces, if the address books also contain home addresses Read More

If  ‘service password-encryption’ is not configured on the Cisco device, simply read the plain text passwords from the configuration file. If ‘service password-encryption’ is configured on the Cisco device, most of the passwords are encrypted with a weak encryption algorithm (Type 7) that is easy to decrypt. Once there is access to the Cisco configuration file, the passwords can be decrypted fairly easily. ‘service password-encryption’ is enabled using the following command: TopBits-Cisco (config)#service password-encryption Network administrators often store IOS configuration files on TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) servers. One server Read More