The Security Mentor

Roger Zelazny wrote a fantasy novel in which the magicians invite both white magicians and black magicians to a huge get-together. They meet under a flag of truce, and it's considered impolite to pay too much attention to the difference, because the reason for the confab is to exchange information and to party.

The computer security world has an annual meeting like that, in (you guessed it) Las Vegas.

The buzz there was that Windows XP Service Pack 2 is going to make Windows noticeably harder to break into.

The most quoted talk was about how to use Google to find leaked information and vulnerable computers. Try Googling for your unlisted phone number, or even your credit card -- the results may surprise you. Lots of web sites are set up with mistakes that publish more information than anyone intended. Any search engine can then point the world toward that information.

What it means for you

Upgrade your XP installation to Service Pack 2 when it comes out. Are you tired of hearing me say that?

Think twice before you send someone a sensitive file by putting it on a server.