Linda LeBlanc

If you are small firm, your employees must bear multiple responsibilities. But you have had the wisdom to hire good IT personnel to keep the business running smoothly. You believe you have a good working relationship with the company “geeks” and that they would always be willing to come to you with any problems or […]

In anticipation of the new year ahead, I’d like to look at those things most likely to test our security patience. Let’s talk about the Top Five things we can anticipate becoming bigger issues or more insiduous threats in the months to come. To know the future, you must understand the past and this has […]

So by now most of you know that a few weeks ago someone stole my backpack, which was holding my laptop, my PDA, my pager and my wallet. You can imagine, in the little closet of your most secret fears, what would happen if you lost all of your electronic gizmos that help your brain […]

As I was driving to work a couple of weeks ago, I stopped at a neighborhood gas station to fill up since I’d be traveling over the weekend. While some may attest that I’m paranoid, it seems a little over the top to lock my truck doors before I start to gas up and pay […]

So we’re all agreed: Malware can be hazardous to your health. We also agree that more and more exploits are being discovered every day in various software packages. Thankfully, vendors are finally exhibiting an ability to make security an essential component of their products, instead of viewing security as a bolt-on luxury feature no one […]

I have a confession to make. I do not consider myself a ‘white hat’ in the common sense of the word within the technology community. Although, I am certainly not a ‘black hat’. I consider myself just a hat — maybe a grey hat — because I don’t believe my security work never strays from […]

There’s an old adage that goes: On the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog. This has been rendered in terms of the dating pool, products being sold and any number of other things. In no case is it more true than in the hacker’s mind. You see, the average hacker is only looking for […]

You know on the Internet you can be anyone you want to be, right? Anyone who has spent time playing online games, visiting dating Websites or online poker rooms knows this. I routinely invent identities that allow me to accomplish whatever it is I need to do online without compromising my personal privacy. I use […]

Recently, while a colleague was visiting a top university, he experienced some difficulty getting on the network there. He approached a student in the library and asked for help getting registered for DHCP or wireless access. Rather than point him to a help desk or IT assistant, the student wrote down his own username and […]

Bill Gates wants us to believe security is Microsoft’s new Number One priority. He wants us to believe they have the users’ best interests at heart. I, personally, want to believe the moon is made of green cheese. The problem with both of these situations is I know too much for either to ever happen. […]