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This weekend culminates the 20th year of the existence of the Internet Worm. The very first, major worm that proliferated on the Internet through infection. Even though the internet has evolved into something much more complex, worms are still destructive, ever more complicated than the first worms that littered the net. It still is a headache for system administrators. Though it hasnt gone on headlines over the years but the worms are far too difficult to repair now than two decades ago. Robert Tappan Morris launched in 1988, the very first worm in the form of an application designed to count the total number of systems on the internet at that time. It was created to propagate across Unix systems by using certain system vulnerabilities in how r-services authenticate internet connections. Due to a bug in its design, the Worm propagated more than the necessary attempts. It made the infected computers much more slower because of resource usage. Morris was caught eventually. The worms that followed were destructive as ever, the Melissa, I Love You viruses made headlines due to the fact that it hit critical institutions in the US.

Windows Vista is here at last. One of the largest software projects ever undertaken, Vista is indisputably a milestone.But Vista is not without its skeptics. Others say it requires more processing power, graphics capabilities, and memory than is typical of today’s machines. Software vendors complain that Vista’s security features are, in fact, locking them out. That’s why we’ve extensively analysed Vista hands-on and sorted out claims to help you decide on whether to change your own OS. Vista known to be “a breakthrough computing experience”, is far more than Windows XP with a pretty face. Many aspects of Vista are substantial improvements in security, built-in apps, networking enhancements, parental controls, and DirectX 10 graphics support, to name a few. Vista in some aspects, is very good, but not spectacular. You might want to call it a nice-to-have product rather than a must-have. If you’re on a PC running Windows XP, it’s hard to see why you have to upgrade right away. Maybe you can wait until you replace your pc, or at least a few months, until Vista fixes its bugs.

Access to free WiFi abound these days. You can find one in the nearest coffee shop, fast food outlet, schools and airports. Free WiFi allows people to check on their emails, pay their bills online or simply log on to their accounts on various social networking websites. Little did they know that with this privilege comes their vulnerability to online intruders.

Free WiFi does not have the capability to ensure that users can log on to websites securely. This gives snoops and hijackers the freedom to view the users’ data such as their usernames, passwords, contact information and other confidential data.

So instead of taking advantage of free WiFi access, be wise and choose paid WiFi. Shelling out money to do your business online is better than risking your own privacy. Doing so would also keep you from being a possible victim of identity fraud and other cyber crimes.

Today, the threat landscape is arguably more dynamic than ever. Identity theft is an increasingly prevalent security issue, particularly for organizations that store and manage information that could facilitate identity theft. Compromises that result in the loss of personal data could be quite costly, not only to the people whose identity may be at risk and their respective financial institutions, but also to the organization responsible for collecting the data.

Data breaches that lead to identity theft could damage an organization’s reputation, and undermine customer and institutional confidence in the organization. Underground economy servers are used by criminals and criminal organizations to sell stolen information, typically for subsequent use in identity theft. This data can include government-issued identification numbers (such as social security numbers), credit cards, bank cards, personal identification numbers (PINs), user accounts, and email address lists.

Source: Volume XII Symantec Internet Security Report

Image source: Geeks.com

Do you want to build your own website but lack the knowledge on how to go about it? Do you want to learn but do not have the financial capacity to enroll in a computer school? Do not fret because there are a lot of resources online that can help you learn the basics in building a website. Below are some among thousands out there.

For HTML - W3Schools
For CSS - CSS Tutorial
For Java script - EchoEcho
For Photoshop - Tutorialized
For Flash - Flash Designer Zone
For Dreamweaver - Dreamweaver Tutorial
For Cold Fusion - Free Programming Resources
For PHP - PHP.net

More information at CNN.com.

Image source: MSNBC

Avoid using dictionary-accepted words, names of persons, places or things and foreign-language words.
Avoid incorporating any personal information in your password (i.e. employee number or birthday).
Make sure your password is made up of at least six characters.
It is recommended to combine uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters in your password.
Create a unique password for each account that you have.
Do not let a soul know what your password is.

More tips at SecurityFocus.

Image source: VirtualTypingServices

In 2007, Nielsen unveiled its top social networking sites according to traffic.

MySpace - launched in 2003, based loosely on the features of one of the earliest social networking sites, Friendster

Facebook - founded by Mark Zuckerberg while still studying at Harvard University and was launched in 2004.

Classmates Online - started in 1995 by Randy Conrads

Windows Live Spaces - launched in 2004 by Microsoft.

AOL Hometown - has a feature called the EasyDesign for hassle-free customization of your web page.

Image sources: GreasyGuide, GearyI, Classmates Online, Windows Live Spaces, AOL Hometown