Articles by Jack M.Germain

If you use the latest antivirus packages and run a firewall, you don't have to worry about spyware intrusion, right? Wrong, say leading security experts It is just this type of thinking that is allowing spyware intrusions to overtake computers in both the home and the workplace. Spyware is quickly becoming the second most troublesome computer malad...

The online finance industry needs a makeover. Like any product or service presented to consumers, it's all about image. A new report by Javelin Strategy and Research shows that the online finance industry is suffering from an image problem According to the latest Javelin Online Finance Update, consumers by an 8 to 1 margin are letting their fears a...

Spyware, an intrusive malicious software -- or malware -- application that slips into computers via free downloads and visits to some Web sites, is quickly becoming the second most troublesome computer malady after virus infections. Spyware can track Web surfing habits and send the results to purveyors of junk mail. It can scan hard drives for sensitive files and send them to a central location run by hackers. Spyware can slow down a computer so much that it renders the machine next to useless...

Got Insurance? If your business has a presence on the Internet, you had better have it. Traditional liability insurance will not be adequate, however. Loss of income and data plus lawsuits filed against your business are the expected consequences of hacker and virus attacks. These are potentially more threatening to businesses today than negative cash flow and the threat of buyouts...

In the wake of federal e-signature legislation that Congress approved nearly four years ago, the online financial world has seen dozens of Internet companies proffer solutions that promised tamper-proof electronic signatures. The recurring result was a steady stream of solutions that raised lots of business interest but never really materialized in an industry-wide standard...

Software piracy is so widespread that it exists in homes, schools, businesses and government offices. According to the Business Software Alliance (BSA), an international association representing the leading software developers, software piracy is practiced by individual PC users as well as computer professionals who deal wholesale in stolen applications...

Spyware is fast becoming the next generation of spam. It is software that installs onto a computer or local network, monitors computing habits and delivers the information to third parties. Usually, the user is unaware that the software exists on his or her computer Much like spam, spyware is becoming more than just a nuisance; it's raising major r...

Suggesting that the federal Can-Spam Act of 2003 doesn't pack a big enough punch to curtail electronic mail spam, state lawmakers around the country are creating their own regionalized antispam laws. The New Jersey legislature is the most recent to join the movement to toughen antispam regulations The two-tiered legislature in New Jersey has bills ...

Spam is stuffing consumer and corporate e-mail inboxes with useless pitches for unwanted products and services. It is also clogging bandwidth and contributing to traffic congestion on the Internet Experts estimate that as much as 60 percent of all e-mail that enters inboxes every day is spam, unsolicited commercial e-mail that targets e-mail addres...

Junk e-mail, the way most computer users see it, has become more prolific than postal junk mail. It overloads inboxes and consumes valuable hours each day. Every day, e-mail users must weed through appeals to buy everything from phony products and stock offers to drugs and body-part enhancers -- not to mention the countless free passes to porn sites...

File-sharing through the dozens of software piracy mills on the Internet and well-known peer-to-peer networks like Kazaa, Morpheus, iMesh, eDonkey, Gnutella, LimeWire and Grokster accounts for thousands of illegally downloaded music files, games, movies and software. Computer security experts warn that more harm than the mere theft of intellectual property by piracy occurs through participation in file-sharing over the Internet. For example, use of file-sharing operations usually leads to situations in which computers -- and even networks -- are infected with spyware, malware and backdoors left ajar for hackers...

Security experts are warning that malware attacks will pose more of a major threat over the next three years than direct hacker attacks. The British mi2g Intelligence Unit claimed this week that the malware risk has risen from 1 in 40 last year to about 3 in 10 for 2004. This reflects a jump from 2.5 percent to 30 percent risk May was the fifth wor...

Security attacks on IT systems have more than doubled since last year. That's what 100 IT chief security officers at financial institutions around the globe reported in a global survey compiled by Deloitte & Touche LLP. External security attacks on information technology systems at a sampling of the world's leading financial institutions more than doubled from a year ago, according to those who responded to the rigorous global survey. Deloitte & Touche LLP is one of the nation's leading professional services firms...

Is it possible to end the investigations and prosecutions that the RIAA, the music download police and similar entities use to prosecute users of file-sharing networks? The answer depends, say online security experts, on which next-generation technology proves to be more successful. So far, enforcement investigators hold the upper hand "Everybody n...

Viruses delivered by e-mail, phishing attacks and spam are becoming as much a part of using computers as accidents, tolls and bumper-to-bumper delays on the freeway are in commuting to work each day. Both situations cause frustration, steal productivity and cost money Phishing scams trick e-mail recipients into clicking a link in the message to rea...

In today's world of merged business and technology applications, e-mail has become as essential as the telephone. But e-mail on the corporate level is also one of the most deadly communication tools. It is through e-mail that most security risks occur, warn security specialists If the corporate e-mail system is not tightly guarded, hackers can use ...

Searching for data on a PC used to be a series of isolated activities. Users needed one or more computer-based software utilities to hunt through the hard drive for specific files containing keywords. Finding information beyond the hard disk meant logging in to a library or university system and entering archaic Boolean search terms into a distant server's query window...

A real security threat is looming with wireless PDAs, WiFi devices and smartphones. These are the electronic marvels that are pushing the goal of wireless telecommunications to new limits. Industry watchers report that people are dropping their older PDAs like hot potatoes and snapping up the latest generation of wireless devices like crazy The new...

A new worm that first materialized last Tuesday appeared in its third minor variant early this morning. The Sasser worm threatens any unprotected Windows computer tethered to the Internet via a broadband connection The rogue code was officially recognized and named early Saturday morning. The new worm also is known by a variety of aliases, includin...

In mid-March, BJ's Wholesale Club announced it was investigating a security breach that involved theft of credit card information from its computer network. Company officials ordered an exhaustive review of the retail outlet's state-of-the-industry technology systems with a leading computer security firm. Following that review, BJ's ruled out the ...