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- TechRepublic Author Biography
Starting with a 1401, I moved on to a 360-20 and was a supervisor for a 360-65. I'm a member of The National Press Club of Washington and have been a contributing editor/writer to PC Companion, CD-ROM Review, ComputerCraft, Shareware Magazine, ID Systems, Capital Computer Digest, Computer Press (Moscow, U.S.S.R),...- more about John McCormick »
TechRepublic Resources
- Get up to speed on Microsoft's seven critical security bulletins
- For May's Patch Tuesday, Microsoft released seven security bulletins -- and they're all critical updates. John McCormick tells you what you need to know about all seven security bulletins. May's Patch Tuesday didn't just mean seven critical security bulletins for admins to worry about -- it also welcomed...
- Tags: Microsoft Corp., John McCormick, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Word, Word processors, security, vulnerability, IT Locksmith Newsletter, Version, Microsoft BizTalk Server, Service Pack 2, Update, Threat, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Bulletin, Security Bulletin, Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, Office Suites, Software
- Technical articles 2007-05-14
- Microsoft releases six security bulletins for April
- For April's Patch Tuesday, Microsoft released five security bulletins, rating four of them as critical -- and that's in addition to the critical security bulletin it released a week earlier. John McCormick tells you what you need to know about all of April's security bulletins. After canceling March's Patch...
- Tags: Microsoft Corp., John McCormick, Microsoft Windows, security bulletin, vulnerability, security, Privilege Vulnerability, IT Locksmith Newsletter, Version, Workaround, Microsoft Windows Vista, Threat, Exploit, CMS Memory Corruption Vulnerability, Operating Systems, Software
- Technical articles 2007-04-13
- The Pragmatic Professional
- I'm concerned that even among IT professionals (that is, people paid to manage other people's computers) there is often a very narrow view of what is "correct."Some people not only insist that their particular choice of IT tools is the best, they demand that others acknowledge this. That attitude seems...
- Tags: Technology, Security, Risk Management, Leadership, IT Management, Education
- Blog posts 2007-06-04
- Two Apples/Day? Won't Keep Hackers At Bay, Neither Will Firefox
- Quick, what's Apple's biggest vulnerability?Right, QuickTime!QuickTime just happens to run on both Windows and OS X, which makes this the second cross-platform threat I have reported on here in the past week.This is also the second time in a week Apple has released a security patch to block malicious web...
- Tags: Macintosh, Firefox, Apple
- Blog posts 2007-05-30
- OpenOffice Vulnerability - Cross Platform Open Source Weakness Discussion
- Sophos has disclosed the existence of a proof of concept worm StarOfficeBadbunny that attacks thorough a vulnerability in OpenOffice and other programs using StarBasic macros. According to Sophos, this is a multi-platform threat affecting Windows, MacOS and Linux. It is written in several scripting languages, including Pearl. http://www.sophos.com/security/analyses/sbbadbunnya.html While...
- Tags: Security, open source, Office, Microsoft, Macintosh, linux, Hacking
- Blog posts 2007-05-25
- Critical New Opera 9.x Vulnerability and Norton 2004 Threats
- This is a remote system access vulnerability caused by an ActiveX flaw.This is fixed by upgrading Windows Opera versions to Opera 9.21http://www.opera.com/download/.Secunia is reporting a highly critical Secunia rating Active X remote system access threat in Norton Internet Security 2004, Norton IS 2004 Professional, and Norton Personal Firewall 2004.I hope...
- Tags: Security
- Blog posts 2007-05-21
- Get up to speed on Microsoft's February security bulletins
- February was a busy month for Microsoft. The software giant released a dozen security bulletins, half of which it rated critical. Last time, John McCormick reviewed Microsoft's six critical security bulletins for February. This time, he'll bring you to speed on the remaining six bulletins, which address important threats. ...
- Tags: Microsoft Corp., John McCormick, Microsoft Windows, security, Microsoft Security, Interactive Training Vulnerability, Microsoft Security Bulletin, important threat, security bulletin, exploit, IT Locksmith Newsletter, Version, Threat, Mozilla Corp., Secunia, February, Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 924667, Operating Systems, Software
- Technical articles 2007-02-26
- Microsoft announces security bulletin changes
- A Microsoft spokesperson just notified me of planned changes to both the advanced notification service ANS and format of the monthly scheduled Microsoft security bulletins. These changes are worthy of note, but they will not affect the actual information provided -- just the way it is presented.According to the spokesperson,...
- Tags: patching, Microsoft Update, Microsoft
- Blog posts 2007-05-16
- Microsoft releases six critical security bulletins for February
- For February's Patch Tuesday, Microsoft released a dozen security bulletins, rating six of them as critical. John McCormick tells you what you need to know about the six critical updates. For February's Patch Tuesday, Microsoft released 12 security bulletins, half of which the company has rated as critical....
- Tags: Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Corp., John McCormick, Microsoft Office, Web browsers, security, COM Object Instantiation Memory Corruption Vulnerability, vulnerability, Microsoft Security Bulletin, Microsoft Security, Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, IT Locksmith Newsletter, Workaround, Threat, Bulletin, Security Bulletin, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word, Word Processors, Operating Systems, Software, Office Suites
- Technical articles 2007-02-16
- iPods Endanger Pacemaker Patients
- Weve all been in hospitals and seen the signs warning us not to use cell phones because of possible dangers to patients on delicate electronic equipment, but a Chicago high school student has found that iPods interfered with about one third of implanted pacemakers tested.The Denver Post (and multiple other...
- Tags: Security, Ipod
- Blog posts 2007-05-11
- Attempted attack on Net backbone highlights potential risks
- When hackers recently targeted the backbone of the Internet, they caused little damage. But the attempt underscores the risks associated with our reliance on the Web. John McCormick weighs in on the attempted attack and brings you up to speed on other recent threats. While causing no actual damage,...
- Tags: Adobe Systems Inc., Adobe Acrobat Reader, John McCormick, Internet, Domain names, SECURITY, CVE Web site, DNS server, server, backbone, IT Locksmith Newsletter, Information Technology, Attack, Adobe Security Bulletin APSB07-01, Telecommunications
- Technical articles 2007-02-12
- Photoshop File Threat - Did You Ever?
- Just when you thought it was safe to do something online, we have an example which shows that there can be dangerous vulnerabilities in virtually any application.Im including this Photoshop file threat not because I think it will become some massive security threat to a lot of users but simply...
- Tags: vulnerability, Threats, Threat Modeling, Security, Risk Management, It Management, Hacks, Hacking, Cybercrime, adobe, acrobat
- Blog posts 2007-05-07
- A new zero-day threat emerges for Excel
- Microsoft Word isn't the only Office application with zero-day vulnerabilities anymore—a new threat has emerged for Microsoft Excel. In addition, a pair of threats for Windows-based smart phones and two new holes in MIT's version of Kerberos have also surfaced. John McCormick has the details. Yet another zero-day...
- Tags: Microsoft Windows Mobile, Microsoft Corp., John McCormick, Kerberos, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, Telecom & Utilities, Microsoft Excel, Office suites, Operating systems, Handhelds, phone, vulnerability, IT Locksmith Newsletter, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Security Advisory 932553, Security, Software
- Technical articles 2007-02-05
- Yet another zero-day threat emerges for Word
- Microsoft has released a security advisory detailing a fourth zero-day threat in Microsoft Word, and three critical flaws have surfaced in the Cisco IOS. John McCormick has the details about these and other recent security threats you need to know about. The hits keep coming for Microsoft Word....
- Tags: Microsoft Windows Vista, Cisco Systems Inc., John McCormick, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Office, Word processors, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), US-CERT, vulnerability, security, flaw, IT Locksmith Newsletter, Microsoft Corp., Office Suites, Software
- Technical articles 2007-01-29
- Top Security Mistakes
- Top Basic Security Mistakes1) Trusting people. The biggest threat to your IT security is ALWAYS the trusted employee. This is especially true of executives because poor personal security practices are just as dangerous or more dangerous as having a dishonest employee. If you ever need to cite an example,...
- Tags: Security, Authentication
- Blog posts 2007-04-30
- Major retailer suffers data breach
- When it comes to security, 2007 has started off with a bang—a major data breach that could potentially make history, a Trojan horse following an epic storm, and a Swedish bank losing millions. Get the details in this edition of the IT Locksmith, and get some resources to make sure...
- Tags: John McCormick, Spyware, adware & malware, Viruses and worms, Financial services, Cyberthreats, bank, trojan horse, antivirus, security, attack, IT Locksmith Newsletter, Open Source Development Labs, Information Technology, Malware, Linux, UNIX, Open Source, Operating Systems, Software
- Technical articles 2007-01-22
- 25 Mac OS X Vulnerabilities Patched! SuSE Security Updates.
- 25 OS X Threats! There are multiple critical remote code execution and DoS vulnerabilities in Macintosh OS X Version 10.3.9, Server 10.3.9, 10.4.9 and Server 10.4.9 The 25 vulnerabilities are a mix of locally and remotely exploitable threats.Patch links for: 10.3.9 Client 10.3.9 Server Security Update 2007-004 Universal Serucity...
- Tags: Security, patching, Macintosh
- Blog posts 2007-04-23
- Microsoft releases three critical bulletins but ignores Word flaws
- For January's Patch Tuesday, Microsoft released four security bulletins, rating three of them as critical. Get the details in this edition of the IT Locksmith, and get the best of the rest of recent security news. For the first Patch Tuesday of 2007, Microsoft released four security bulletins,...
- Tags: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Corp., John McCormick, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office, SECURITY, vulnerability, IT Locksmith Newsletter, Version, Threat, Flaw, Security Bulletin, Advanced Find Vulnerability, Denial Of Service Vulnerability, Microsoft Outlook, Office Suites, Software
- Technical articles 2007-01-12
- Acrobat flaw threatens both Firefox and IE browsers
- While initially thought to only cause exposure to random code on Web sites, an Adobe Acrobat Reader flaw can also expose the contents of a user's local hard drive to hackers. Get the details in this edition of the IT Locksmith, and get the best of the rest of recent...
- Tags: Mozilla Firefox, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Internet Explorer, OpenOffice.org, John McCormick, OpenOffice, Web browsers, SECURITY, Acrobat flaw, OpenOffice buffer-overflow vulnerability, Web browser, vulnerability, buffer-overflow, Apple QuickTime, IT Locksmith Newsletter, Information Technology, Threat, Flaw, Office Suites, Software, Internet
- Technical articles 2007-01-08
- Outrage! RIM Mum on BlackBerry Outage
- In what I personally can only describe as OUTRAGEOUS, Research in Motion has refused to give any detals on the subject of the major north american outage of service.Canadian reports published today Friday say that the company is not returning media emails or phone calls about the outage.The Washington...
- Tags: Security, Blackberry
- Blog posts 2007-04-20
