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June 2005 - Posts

What are Drive-by-downloads and how to avoid getting Malware in the first place

There's good article here which advocates the best advice when it comes to dealing with Malware - "don't get it in the first place!". I accept that most users need a little more help than simply being told that. Adam and Charles(authors of the post) Read More
posted Thursday, June 30, 2005 3:18 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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Windows Incident Response

H.Carvey has an excellent Blog which is titled "Windows Incident Response" and as such is packed full of interesting content detailing the trials and tribulations associated with effective incident response. There's a nice summary post here which Read More
posted Thursday, June 30, 2005 2:40 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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How to combat Malware spyware and Phishing - find out more at TechEd

There are a couple of sessions at TechEd which will go into detail on practical steps you can take to reduce the risk of Malware in your environment. I'm joining Tony on the Chalk and Talk sessions and hence look forward to discussing how to deal with Read More
posted Wednesday, June 29, 2005 6:00 PM by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
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Don't fall for the email scam titled "I EXPECT YOUR REPLY"

Earlier today I received an email titled "I EXPECT YOUR REPLY ." - the body text suggested that by replying I'd receive a huge sum of money. Clearly this is a scam. Don't reply as doing so would confirm that your email address is valid/live and hence Read More
posted Tuesday, June 28, 2005 8:11 PM by Steve Lamb | 2 Comments
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Thanks to everyone who helped make today's Oracle User Group a success

I spoke today at the Oracle User Group meeting which for the first time was held at Microsoft. It was a very interesting gathering of people - thanks to all involved. The audience comprised members of the user group who run Oracle on Windows - many people Read More
posted Tuesday, June 28, 2005 7:59 PM by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
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Security Configuration Wizard for Oracle anyone?

In case you're not familiar with the Security Configuration Wizard(SCW) it's a great tool that's shipped with Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2003. You can read all about it here. SCW ships with schema definitions for fifty applications - mainly Microsoft. Read More
posted Sunday, June 26, 2005 10:18 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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How to secure the Administrator account access to your environment

The Administrator Accounts Security Planning Guide has recently been posted to TechNet and hence is available for free download. It's a great place to start in reviewing how you manage privileged access. What ever type of user you are it's important Read More
posted Friday, June 24, 2005 7:01 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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How to ensure the privacy of information during an open meeting

The Chatham House Rule is used by convention in many security meetings held in the UK. I blogged about this yesterday but upon reflection I don't think the title I used was very helpful - to read the post click here Read More
posted Thursday, June 23, 2005 6:29 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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Evidence today of how effective the Chatham House Rule is

I enjoyed speaking on a panel today at the TIF conference. - full details of TIF can be found on their website. The audience comprised representatives from many high profile companies together with members of the press. The entire conference took Read More
posted Wednesday, June 22, 2005 10:06 PM by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
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Thanks to everyone who contributed to the "how to deal with Malware" post

There's some great advice in the comments to my recent post about Malware - thanks to everyone who contributed. If you would like to learn from your peers in the community then please take a look at the comments by clicking here. If you'd like to contribute Read More
posted Wednesday, June 22, 2005 10:01 PM by Steve Lamb | 2 Comments
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How does Microsoft secure the infrastructure for events like TechEd

There's a new paper on our website which discusses how the events team use Windows Server System integrated components including ISA Server and MOM to deliver the infrastructure required to provide services to thousands of attendees at the various shows Read More
posted Tuesday, June 21, 2005 11:55 AM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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There's a technical problem with my blog - hence the comment numbers don't show

Thank you to everyone who's added their comments to my posts. Unfortunately there's a technical problem with my blog which means that the comment counter remains at zero next to each post. Your comments have been published as you'll see when clicking Read More
posted Monday, June 20, 2005 10:24 AM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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What is the best way to deal with malware?

Please let me know what techniques you've found useful to tackle the growing menace of malware. Do you find techniques such as using low privilege for day to day operations to be something you can achieve? Running as non-admin should theoretically prevent Read More
posted Sunday, June 19, 2005 10:11 PM by Steve Lamb | 16 Comments
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What is Phishing and Pharming

There's a good definition of both Phishing and Pharming here together with discussion of DNSSEC(in the comments to the post) which comprises a proposed enhancement to DNS which would stop the majority of native attacks including posioning. DNSSEC Read More
posted Friday, June 17, 2005 5:37 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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Why it's important to establish a security culture through security awareness

I was researching for a piece on security culture when I found an excellent post which included a paper given by Harris Miller(president of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA)) on Internet Security to a Senate committee. I like the Read More
posted Friday, June 17, 2005 3:55 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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How to troubleshoot Windows Firewall configuration problems

If you're struggling to get the balance right between the enhanced security gained by enabling the firewall whilst maintaining the productivity of your systems then I recommend reading Michael Howard's recent post - click here to read the details. Read More
posted Wednesday, June 15, 2005 12:46 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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Where can I find out about Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2003 and how can I secure my network?

Tomorrow night(Wednesday 15th June) we'll be presenting at the Cavendish conference centre in London - if you're in the City then it's a good opportunity to see practical demonstrations and to meet your peers. There will be two sessions with a break Read More
posted Tuesday, June 14, 2005 3:20 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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How to encourage your Children to surf the net safely

Children of course think they know best. I know I did. Some would argue I still think I'm right too much of the time! When it comes to the serious matter of teaching Children how to be safe on the Internet the folk who created Nettysworld are certainly Read More
posted Monday, June 13, 2005 9:14 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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The audio from Robert Scoble's talk at the GeekDinner's available for download

I'm finding word of mouth networks / social networks incredibly interesting - the Geek Dinner being a classic case in point. Robert spoke about his experience as a blogger and the impact that such networks have had on him and the world at large. It was Read More
posted Friday, June 10, 2005 7:26 PM by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
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Where can I download video/audio/podcasts of TechEd USA?

To view recordings(podcasts) of all kinds of interesting demos and interviews direct from TechEd USA click here Thanks to Paul Fallon's post for providing the URL of the site listed above. As Mike Hall explains "A podcast is an audio or video file Read More
posted Friday, June 10, 2005 6:54 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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Steve Riley and Jesper dispell security myths @ TechEd USA

Jeffery Palermo has posted a nice summary of the myths Steve and Jesper dispelled @ TechEd USA. Like many of you I was unable to be there in person though I am going to TechEd Europe in July and look forward to hearing the session for myself. Jeffery's Read More
posted Friday, June 10, 2005 6:20 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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I've fixed a config problem with my blog so now you can post comments

Several of you have sent me email complaining that you were unable to post comments to my blog - my apologies but I had a configuration problem in my blog set up - thanks to Eileen for helping me fix the problem. For me the beauty of blogging is Read More
posted Friday, June 10, 2005 5:07 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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What restrictions are placed on Microsoft Bloggers?

Ben Metcalf's post about the London Geek Dinner raised some interesting points which were a topic of conversation during the evening. Let me quote Ben for a moment... "Robert Scoble was interesting to talk to, and we exchanged numerous notes about Channel Read More
posted Thursday, June 09, 2005 7:02 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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Where can I find the presentations from the Technical roadshow?

Thanks to those of you who joined us at the Technical roadshow yesterday in London. I enjoyed meeting members of the community and listening to the challenges many of you face. It's very easy to sit down in a room and pontificate about how to design a Read More
posted Thursday, June 09, 2005 6:36 PM by Steve Lamb | 1 Comments
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Last night's GeekDinner in London was superb

Last night I went to my first GeekDinner (details of future UK events can be found here) which took place in London. This was a real community activity - two hundred people met in a restaurant to talk about "stuff". The only thing we all had in common Read More
posted Wednesday, June 08, 2005 8:42 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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What's the best way to build/design/architect a windows server environment?

Shawn posted an interesting article along these lines which is accessible here Browse to http://www.microsoft.com/msa to download free blueprint guidance for building a wide range of data centre scenarios. MSA stands for Microsoft Systems Architecture, Read More
posted Tuesday, June 07, 2005 3:18 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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How to lock your screen the easy way

The easiest way to lock your screen on Windows XP is to press the Windows key(often known as the "flag key") followed by L - it's exactly the same as Control-Alt-Delete and clicking on the "Lock" button just with fewer steps. Thanks to Jayne from the Read More
posted Monday, June 06, 2005 4:21 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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How to secure wireless networks via PEAP or EAP-TLS

There's a wealth of practical information on this topic at http://www.microsoft.com/wifi including build guides and best practises. Microsoft in the UK have one of the largest secure wireless networks in the country - serving 2000 users. The previous Read More
posted Friday, June 03, 2005 11:10 AM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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How to improve the security awareness of your users

There are some vivid reminders of how important security awareness is to everyone at the Native Intelligence website - a series of posters are available showing cartoons of what not to do. I showed some of the posters at today's technical roadshow Read More
posted Thursday, June 02, 2005 11:05 AM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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How many machines are compromised by zombie / robot/ bot/ trojan software?

According to an article by Ciphertrust in May 2005 there were in excess of 172,000 new zombies identified EACH DAY! And that's only for the systems (owned by 1,500 enterprise companies) they're monitoring - hence no home users so it's only the tip Read More
posted Thursday, June 02, 2005 10:01 AM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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XBox 360 is sooooo cool

Check out http://www.xbox360.com to find out more. I'm sure you've heard noise in the press and online - the website is fun - there's a video and all kinds of fun bits and pieces there.   Read More
posted Wednesday, June 01, 2005 1:59 PM by Steve Lamb | 0 Comments
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