Anti-Virus Competition...

A South-Korean firm (obviously south, right?) was reported in this article to be releasing a 'superior' anti-virus solution commercially to the US.   The software is called the AhnLab v3 Secure Cloud.  It could be a break-through in anti-virus as we know it, but at the same time it could be yet another flop.  A flop, in my opinion, such as Symantec's Norton Anti-virus has made on it's belly years ago.

The main allure to this software is that it will also protect mobile (Android) devices, and cloud-based storage.  Another interesting thing is that it will feature an anti-theft implementation.   I don't mean that the phone will set its lasers to stun, but you will be able to remotely wipe all data on the phone remotely through an SMS-text message and rest easily that none of your data was compromised by having the phone stolen or lost.  Having a back-up of data, protecting 5 PCs and 5 mobile android devices, sounds very appealing.  The price of a license is reported at $69.99/year

Security on the go...

There has been much talk about how mobile devices and computer security have this huge gap between them. A developer can buy a license or not, and slap code onto a mobile device quickly and with ease.  I have even developed a few apps for my windows phone myself, for personal uses of course.  I've made a few games in XNA studio that run on my windows phone among other things.

Code these days is being allowed to run on almost any device.  Did you know most refrigerators with LCD screens and special features run some form of Linux, and can be 'unlocked' or 'hacked' to, for example, play Tetris while you wait for your Hot-Pockets to finish in the microwave?

Hacking at the Patches...

An article at darkreading.com caught my eye.  It's about a 0day hacking contest named "Pwn2Own".  The contest is a sandbox based system, where entrants are tasked with finding exploits and using them to gain unauthorized access to a system or its resources.  Over the years there have been different criteria in the contest, but this time the task is to find exploits in browsers, and utilizing those exploits to somehow compromise the system.  There is a cash reward involved.  Reportedly 1st 2nd and 3rd prizes are a total of $105,000 US.  Additionally, Google.com has a standing bounty for any exploits, and finding one in this contest not only grants points for the contest participant, but gets you the reward from Google.

Popular Security Pitfalls...

    If you're not familiar with the comics from XKCD.com, allow me to formally introduce you two!  The author is a brilliant man who has made my life more bearable with  these witty anecdotes and observations pertaining to just about everything.  I present to you two XKCD comics that deal with computer security topics, which will segue into this blog post quite nicely actually.

Below: "Exploits of a mom" and "Password Strength"