Computer Security Weekly, June 28, 1999


Intuit, despite the failed merger, still seems to be snug in bed with Microsoft. Users of the latest versions of Quicken have found that online banking and program updates now require Internet Explorer, and will not work with other browsers such as Netscape. This must be a trifle upsetting for those who do not want to be subject to the security holes in MSIE.

Reported in the Privacy Forum Digest.

Windows NT's security, and a number of the operations of the system overall, depend on the Local Security Authority, or LSA. Now comes word that the LSA can be crashed remotely and anonymously, essentially rendering the system useless.

Install the LSA3-fix Hotfix from Microsoft to fix this problem.

For more information see the Microsoft bulletin and this article.

I've just finished reviewing an absolutely awful book, the premise of which is that somebody is going to pull a financial fast one with computer fraud, and rely on blaming the Y2K bug to cover it up. Absent the banking aspect, the same thing seems to be happening in real life. Airline customers are being told that flight delays are being caused by Y2K testing. The US FAA completed all Y2K testing months ago.
Web anonymizing services act as a proxy between your computer and the site you are browsing, then preventing the remote site from reading data off your computer. However, software to speed up your browsing is becoming increasingly popular. Some types of this software acts by eliminating middle sites, and connecting directly to the host providing the page you are looking at. Therefore, it may be possible that your accelerator program could expose you when you want to be anonymous.
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mailto:p1@canada.com Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses, 0-387-94663-2, (800-SPRINGER)
The copyright of the article Computer Security Weekly, June 28, 1999 in Computer Security is owned by Robert Slade. Permission to republish Computer Security Weekly, June 28, 1999 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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