Security

Hallelujah! Shell RunAs for Windows Vista

Chris Haaker — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:34:31 GMT

One of the missing things from Windows Vista that most perplexed me (or frustrated the monkey cr*p out of me) was the lack of the RunAs shell extension. Following proper administrative best practices, I don't log in to my laptop with domain administrative privileges, I have a separate account for that. Running something like ADUC was never easy, and UAC in Vista often got in the way. If you turned it off, you could not get prompted to run an application under a different set of credentials. You could set it under the local security policy to always prompt for credentials, and then enter your other set of credentials. of course, then you get prompted to enter your credentials for everything under the sun. Its a good security practice, but boy does it get old quick. Very quick. This utility returns the traditional right-click RunAs functionality to the explorer shell. Enjoy. Rejoice.

Technorati Tags: Windows Vista,RunAs,UAC

Spread the "Love"

Chris Haaker — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:45:00 GMT

Phishing attacks are nothing new and you can usually spot them in your email with half of your brain tied behind your back. You've seen them - bad grammar, syntax and spelling. The obvious links to knock-off URLs. The pleas from Nigerian-Kings-in-hiding. Today in my GMail I received a note from Hallmark that I was the recipient of a e-card. Now, Valentines Day was a week ago so this seemed suspicious, but my mother is not above sending these cute little e-cards every once in a while so I took a look. "Click here" it tells you, but prior to clicking, I always hover on the link to see the source URL. Where do you think it went? Not to Hallmark I can tell you!

This is a simple, but effective step in determining if the email or link you receive in an email is legitimate. While not foolproof, it goes a long-way to determining what might happen when you click on a link. Running Windows Vista with User Account Control turned on to prompt for a user name and password with administrative privileges is also huge in controlling the effect something like this would have on your system should you decide to click on the link and accept the download of "love.zip." Its no news that people across the intertubes have endlessly complained about UAC (even the Mac commercials pan it) but it is a small price to pay to what happens when on your computer. Like it or not, the Windows platform is the most highly targeted OS for attacks. Practice the digital equivalent of "safe sex" when you are online.

Technorati Tags: love.zip,Hallmark,phishing,GMail,Virus,Vista,UAC,User Account Control

Microsoft Says WM6 TCO Better Than With RIM

Chris Haaker — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 04:32:04 GMT

Microsoft published a white paper detailing the TCO on Windows Mobile 6 devices vs. RIM's Blackberry. Surprisingly they find a 28% savings in the Wm6 devices over Blackberries. And when studying the 160 enterprise customers they found 85% of them already had the incoming ports open needed for direct push since they are the same ones used for OWA. Nice.

User Guide for Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server

Chris Haaker — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 02:53:00 GMT

This new paper from Microsoft details the Forefront Security for Exchange beta.

From the site:

Forefront Security for Exchange protects organizations against the latest threats by managing multiple antivirus scan engines at multiple layers throughout the e-mail infrastructure. This approach allows Forefront for Exchange to minimize the average window of exposure for emerging e-mail threats by providing continual signature updates from multiple antivirus labs around the world. Forefront also protects by scanning at multiple layers in the Exchange 2007 infrastructure, including the Edge, Hub Transport, and Mailbox server roles, while using scanning intelligence to avoid needless repeat scanning.
The Forefront Security for Exchange beta now includes support for SSC (Single Copy Cluster) multi-node active/passive Exchange clusters. It also includes support for 32-bit installations for evaluation with the Exchange 2007 32-bit beta. While not supported in production, the 32-bit environment provides full product functionality for evaluation purposes.

Technorati tags: Exchange, Exchange 2007, Messaging Security, Forefront, Forefront Security

Windows Defender is Finally Released

Chris Haaker — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 00:40:00 GMT

Windows Defender is finally out of (what seemed like a perpetual Google-like) beta. You can download the relased version here.

From the website:

Windows Defender is a free program that helps protect your computer against pop-ups, slow performance, and security threats caused by spyware and other unwanted software. It features Real-Time Protection, a monitoring system that recommends actions against spyware when it's detected and minimizes interruptions and helps you stay productive. Now with 2 free support incidents for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

Microsoft Forefront Client Security Beta

Chris Haaker — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 22:10:00 GMT

Get information on Microsoft's new anti-virus and anti-malware client for the enterprise. You can watch an informative demo and sign up for the public beta. This is, IMO, one area where a Microsoft produced product offering seems like a natural due to the tight operating system integration needed for optimal performance and effectiveness.

Link to Microsoft Forefront Client Security: Home

tags: antivirus, antimalware, forefront, forefrontclientsecurity