Deb Shinder's MVP Blog

New Perspective on Airline Security

In these post-September 11 days, when we think of airline security, we tend to think about screening passengers for weapons and using technologies such as CAPPS (the Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-screening System) to determine a threat assessment for...

Published Mon, Aug 09 2004 11:34 PM by debshinder

Security and the Pocket PC

I love my Pocket PC. That wasn't always the case. I've always WANTED to love them, always loved the concept of the handheld computer, but for the longest time I just couldn't. I bought a couple, always with high hopes -- but found myself abandoning them...

Published Thu, Jul 15 2004 2:38 PM by debshinder

Blaming the Victims of Security Breaches

The “blame the victim” mentality is prevalent in many facets of society today. Cities pass ordinances that make it an offense to leave things of value in view inside your vehicle, lest some just-in-time thief be tempted and break in to take...

Published Wed, Jun 23 2004 11:45 PM by debshinder

Computer Security for Kids

There seems to be an assumption, at least on the parts of less tech-savvy parents, that all kids are computer whizzes. After all, the parents often have to call on their teenagers or pre-teens to figure out how to operate their own computers. In many...

Published Fri, Jun 11 2004 3:03 PM by debshinder

Stormy Weather and The Cost of Security

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, first last week with Tom off to TechEd (representing us both this time -- to all those I missed out on seeing, my regrets and hopes that next year I'll get a chance to be there too) me holding down the fort here. Then...

Published Fri, Jun 04 2004 4:50 AM by debshinder

Securing the Vote

The push has been on in the U.S. since the 2000 elections to replace old paper and punchcard ballots with electronic voting systems, but as the 2004 elections draw closer, serious questions are being raised about the security of the new systems, many...

Published Thu, May 13 2004 11:55 AM by debshinder

Somebody Missing in the Builders and Titans Report?

Today on CNN.com, I clicked the link to read Time Magazine's “Builders and Titans” report, which purports to be a list of those business people who have created successful businesses and/or championed established ones and have had a significant influence...

Published Wed, May 12 2004 1:36 PM by debshinder

Biometrics Conference

Biometric security has been a source of contention on many levels. On the surface, it sounds like the perfect solution to the problem of identity theft. After all, there are a number of physiological traits that are more or less unique to individual human...

Published Wed, May 12 2004 1:25 PM by debshinder

802.11i: Its time is coming

It looks as if this summer the IEEE will finally approve the standards for 802.11i. That's the wireless security standard that is based on RSN, which uses AES (the protocol formerly known as Rinjdael) and a 128 bit encryption key to provide better security...

Published Sat, May 08 2004 11:36 AM by debshinder

ALF article

The article on Application Layer Filtering (ALF) that I wrote for Windowsecurity.com has just been reprinted by SecurityProNews over at http://securitypronews.com/2004/0505.html . There is a lot of interest in ALF these days, and no wonder -- the ability...

Published Thu, May 06 2004 10:02 AM by debshinder

Securing Server 2003 Domain Controllers

I have a new article up on the Windowsecurity.com Web site that contains some tips on how to make your Windows Server 2003 domain controllers more secure. As home networks become more and more sophisticated, I run into a lot of people who are “doing Windows...

Published Wed, May 05 2004 1:26 PM by debshinder

Service Pack 2 Blues

In the April 27 issue of WinXPNews, I wrote a short piece on some of the experiences that our readers have reported with the installation of the technical preview release of Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. As noted in the article, those ranged from “smooth...

Published Wed, May 05 2004 1:04 PM by debshinder

Secure Computing for the Younger Set

Today's teenagers and preteens grew up with computers around them, and consequently many of them are far more skilled than their parents in making the machines do their bidding. The teen hacker is legend, and we often take it for granted that the kids...

Published Fri, Apr 30 2004 10:50 AM by debshinder

Followup on Internet Taxes

The Senate has spoken, voting by a huge majority for the McCain bill that only extends the Internet tax moratorium for 4 years, rather than permanently as proposed by Senators Allen and Wyden. Another difference between the two is that the McCain bill...

Published Fri, Apr 30 2004 10:24 AM by debshinder

Taxing the Internet

The U.S. tax moratorium on Internet access services that expired last November is back in the news again, as Congress prepares to vote this week on whether and how to reinstate the moratorium. What does that mean to the average Internet user? The original...

Published Mon, Apr 26 2004 3:40 PM by debshinder

Introduction

Although I've been involved with computers since the 70s and have been “living online” (where I met my husband, Tom Shinder, in 1994) for well over a decade, until recently I resisted the blogging trend. Too much to do, too little time. I wasn't convinced...

Published Sun, Apr 25 2004 2:39 PM by debshinder