LastPass stores all these online passwords in encrypted form. Even its tagline suggests that LastPass master passwords is the last password you will ever need. Ironically LastPass security seems to have been compromised and users might have problems accessing their passwords.
LastPass has requested all its users to go ahead and change their passwords to secure their accounts.
LastPass on its blog mentioned
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We noticed an issue yesterday and wanted to alert you to it. As a precaution, we’re also forcing you to change your master password.
In recent times, when almost everyone has 2-3 different online accounts for email, social, twitter and bookmarking – it is a good idea to store all the passwords in single place. LastPass is a popular service used by people who have many online accounts and use it on many different platforms.
But when the storage service itself might have issues, it can start a panic. At the moment it does not seem to be something major, but it has only been few hours. Real damage if any will be known in the days to come.
The frequency of software updates have increased day by day, due to which updating software manually has become a hectic task. If you’re a software junkie and have a lot of software installed on your system then, it will become a big headache for you.
This is the reason Update checkers have started gaining popularity. An update checker is a simple piece of software which checks updates for the softwares installed on your PC.
Why should you have a update checker?
Update checkers generally have a database of latest software, so when you run an Update checker it checks the version of the software installed on your PC and the latest software version available in its database.
If your firewall blocks these Update checkers, then add them to the exceptions list because they need to access internet in order to update your software.
Software developers constantly fix bugs and release new versions so in order to stay away from security glitches you need to update software constantly.
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Here are some of the best Update checkers –
#1. FileHippo Update Checker
FileHippo is one the best software hosting websites. Its software detection rate makes it the best Update Checker. It is portable enough. When I scanned my system, it showed me 16 updates of which 3 were Beta updates. As FileHippo doesn’t host commercial/shareware softwares, you won’t be able to see updates for paid softwares installed on your system.
TechTracker is developed by the famous software hosting website, Download.com (Cnet). It is portable too but with less software detection rate. It showed me 13 updates. TechTracker has a major advantage over FileHippo Update checker i.e. it checks updates of commercial softwares (as download.com contains shareware too!).
Update Star is available in two versions; one is freeware while the other is premium/shareware. The freeware gives you access to only limited number of updates (it showed me only 6 updates). It has a good visual appealing interface (similar to Snagit Image capture utility) but it’s a bit bulky than the other Update Checkers.
It is developed by informer.com. When I ran it, what amazed me is that it showed updates for not just software, but also for drivers installed on my system! But unfortunately it didn’t give the download links for the updated drivers; instead it gave link to my laptop manufacturer’s site. It showed me a total of 32 updates of which 2-3 were false positives. This makes it my second favorite after FileHippo update checker.
Facebook has revealed that it deletes almost 20,000 underage user’s Facebook profile. Well, that is something good which Facebook does.
Facebook has a policy with strict age limits, but thousands of children lie about their age to gain access to the site. The chief privacy adviser for the site, Mozelle Thompson, spoke with the Australian Federal Parliament’s cyber-safety organization and noted that the site deals with child users all the time,
There are people who lie. There are people under thirteen. Facebook removes twenty thousand people a day, people who are underage.
The company said,
At Facebook, we take safety very seriously and we were pleased to take part in a hearing in Australia to talk about our safety policies, practices and systems.As we explained in the hearing, these efforts include removing numerous accounts everyday for activities including spamming, posting inappropriate content, and violating age restrictions.
What do you think about it ? Feel free to share your view.
Facebook’s European director of policy,Richard Allan has admitted that the website needs to improve its security. The data that users delete form Facebook should be removed from site forever and permanently. Nice thought I must say.
People are always worried about what they wrote on Facebook when they were angry or just kidding. Now we all know that Facebook keeps the user’s data somewhere with them in the data center. The problem here is that some people are afraid these things can come in their way of getting selected somewhere.
When people write rude comments or things that shouldnt be written and the recruiter reads them from Facebook that sounds scary! Well , the director also said that
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Hard cases make bad law and that the majority of the people using Facebook want a guarantee that their data will stay on the service, rather run the risk of any of it being deleted.
He also mentioned that Facebook user’s data comes on Google’s search result. When asked why that couldn’t be removed , he said that users had wanted the service to do so in order to push other links they didn’t like about themselves down the search engine list.
Well even I think the user’s data should be removed as and when the user wants it to be. What do you think? Share your thoughts with me here.
A secure web experience is what every web service is trying to give its users. Gmail went the HTTPS way almost a year ago and even Facebook got into the act. Twitter users can use HTTPS by just adding it to the address bar. But this is a little troublesome and we have to do this every time we visit Twitter.
Twitter has now introduced an option which lets you open Twitter in HTTPS by default.
How to enable HTTPS on Twitter!
Sign into your Twitter account on Twitter.com.
On the top right, select the drop down menu which is with your username. This drop-down menu has link to settings. Click on it.
By default you will be at Account section of the Settings. Here scroll down to the end and select ‘HTTPS Only’.
Click on Save, and enjoy secure browsing of your Twitter account.
Why is HTTPS useful?
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Usually when we use unsecured Wi-fi networks for browsing there is a chance that, someone can snoop at your browsing activity. To avoid this we use HTTPS instead of HTTP. Most services will not offer HTTPS browsing because it does take a bit of load on their servers to provide secure browsing options.
Most people might be using Twitter on unsecured Wi-fi networks, as most people tend to tweet on the go. This makes the HTTPS option a handy one. Do drop in your comments.
Facebook users are being tricked into clicking on links which claim to be raw CNN footage of the Japanese tsunami. This is a plot to earn money by driving web traffic to take online surveys.
Once again a new scam comes on Facebook, making loads of people click on it and spread it throughout! When you click on the link, you are shown a video and asked to complete a set of online survey! This message gets automatically posted on your friend’s wall.
If you have already clicked this link, remove it from your wall post. Just stop it from spreading more. The best way is to avoid clicking on anything you are not sure of. Stay safe ! Did you experience this , if yes then what did you do ? Share it with me here.
Facebook announced two new safety features on Thursday. It was after President Obama and the first lady had posted a video on Facebook regarding safety measures!
A new reporting tool will let Facebook users, including teens and younger users, to privately report troubling content not just to the site itself but to parents, teachers and others in their support system.And an improved Safety Center, due out in the next few weeks, will give educational videos, articles and other content created by bullying experts to help adults address the problem.
In a video posted on the safety page, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama encouraged Facebook members to join in the effort to decrease bullying, both online and off. The new Safety Center will constantly be updated with new information and tools, accordingly.
What are your views for it. Share them with me here.
We all are fans of cloud computing, because of its simplicity in accessing data anywhere in the world. People were singing praises to the cloud all over until suddenly one morning Gmail deleted emails for about 150,000 accounts. This was because of a bug but people panicked when all their email could not be retrieved.
The problem has been explained by Gmail it is blog, along with also commenting on it further.
Gmail’s explanation…
Gmail explains that they do have data stored at multiple locations but the bug ended up infecting systems at multiple places. This led to the various Gmail accounts being affected.
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Why did the bug affect Gmail users?
Gmail released a storage update which had an unexpected bug. This bug led to emails being deleted for over 150,000 accounts. I guess over the next week, some heads will roll in the Gmail team for this bug.
Gmail has all the data backed up to physical tape which is not online and hence does not get affected with bugs. This has allowed Gmail to restore all the accounts except that it is taking them well over 40 hours now. 😐
Will Cloud computing be affected?
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The answer for the short-term is yes. Especially as this has happened with Google, the champion of storing things on cloud. The new Chrome OS with all your files being stored on the cloud does not sound appealing if a bug over the weekend can wipeout your data and you cannot access the data for over 40 hours!
In the long-term, I do hope Google learns from these mishaps and improves cloud computing technology.
What are your views on this issue? Has your confidence in storing files on the cloud been shaken? Do drop in your comments.
Google had announced two-step verification for some of its Google Apps accounts back in September 2010. Now it is rolling out this extra security feature for all Gmail users. This is a good step as it means two sets of verification instead of just one which is the password.
The second verification step will be a code sent through a SMS on your phone. It is highly unlike for a hacker to be in possession of both your password and your phone, so this security measure will be almost foolproof.
Here there is a new link to enable 2-Step verification (as seen in image above).
Here you will be prompted to enter your mobile phone number and a verification code sent. From then on you need to use your password and also the verification code.
A feature to remember your code for 30 days is also available.
Why is 2-step verification better?
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Most people will be happy with just a password as their security. But now a days it’s not just your email that is managed with a google account. We have photos, access to various apps and so many other important services with Google that having 2 step verification is a much desired feature.
What are your views on 2-step verification with Google? Will you opt for it, especially for accounts which are linked to Adsense? Do drop in your comments.
A new spam is going around on Facebook now. It says about an official announcement that Facebook will close all those inactive accounts. Well, it is not true.
This spam says that,
??The owner of Facebook announced that all accounts will be shut down today. In order to keep your account alive, you must verify your account.
Once you click on the link given, you are taken to a new page. It says you have to check or perform some tasks to prove that you are human. Hah! Stupid! Yes and the moment you realize that it is a spam the message is already displayed on your Facebook wall.
Such spam spread like fire on-line. There is no such thing like Facebook closing account or itself (Source).
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How to avoid such Spam ?
One way is to not click it at all and another way can be use HTTPS for secure browsing. (Source) When you enable the secure browsing feature, Facebook asks you before opening any application. That may not stop all the spam immediately but it can give you time and option so that you may think before clicking on it and spreading spam to others . 🙂
What do you think ? Did you or any of your friends clicked on it ? Feel free to share your views here.
