Voting machines hackable
Diebold, the e-voting-machine maker has come under fire as being insecure according to a Princeton University study, says OpEd News.
The results of that study confirm many of the concerns often expressed by computer scientists and security experts, as well as election integrity activists, that electronic voting may now be exceedingly vulnerable to the malicious whims of a single individual.
The study reveals that a computer virus can be implanted on an electronic voting machine that, in turn, could result in votes flipped for opposing candidates.
Despite free AV, vendors still sell
According to Chicago News, despite all the free virus protection, primarily for Windows computers, leading security vendors are still moving forward with plans to selling their annual slate of security products.
"I absolutely don`t argue that the highly tech-savvy consumer will and can search the Web for freeware and knock out 90%, maybe 95% of the risk," said Lane Bass, Trend Micro`s GM for consumer products. "That`s not the largest (base of) consumers out there."
Most people, he said, would rather install a package that does everything.
Spyware biggest threat
Today`s biggest threat to any PC or PC user is spyware, says Market Day, and it is vital to crack down on this growing concern.
Spyware programs continually update your habits and activities and send it back to the home base. These can also uses your computer as a live server causing major operating delays.
Many anti-spyware programs are bundled with virus protection for a total solution or can be purchased separately. There are also many Web sites online designed to detect spyware programs and it takes only a few minutes to scan a system.
Campuses fall victim to ID theft
According to The Appalachian Online, computer hacking is a growing concern among college campuses.
Most of what Appalachian State University handles is virus related messages sent to students through pop-ups, Web sites or other e-mail accounts that end up infecting the system.
According to the article, Northwestern University, Carnegie Mellon University and Stanford University have all been targets of cyber crooks who accessed the databases and retrieved Social Security numbers and credit card information.
Share
