Gizmo's Freeware: If You Use The Avast Forum, You Need To Change Your Password Now

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If You Use The Avast Forum, You Need To Change Your Password Now Posted: 29 May 2014 01:24 AM PDT If you're registered on the online support forums hosted by Avast, makers of the top-rated free antivirus software, then you may have heard that the forum has recently been hacked and has been taken offline for now. There is no indication that usernames and passwords have been accessed (the company says that they were all encrypted, or at least hashed), but this is still a concern. If you have used the Avast forums, and the password you chose was unique to that system, then there's no need to do anything. However, if you were registered on the forums and you used the same password elsewhere, on other systems, it would be wise to change that password on those other systems. Otherwise, if someone does manage to discover the Avast usernames and passwords, they can then be used on other systems too. Note that this only affects the Avast forum. The antivirus software itself is not affected, and you can continue using it as normal. http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/if-you-use-avast-forum-you-need-change-your-passwords.htm

Scan Your Network For Security Problems Posted: 28 May 2014 05:47 AM PDT If you have more than 1 device connected to your internet router, you have yourself a network. And if you're anything like me, your network probably contains quite a few devices when you start to think about it. In my case, for example, there are smartphones using wifi, my TV recorder, the router itself, a couple of PCs, a handful of IP security cameras, and more. Any or all of which could, in theory, have one or more security weaknesses that a hacker could exploit. Companies often use security vulnerability scanning software to look for problems in the devices on their network. Using such programs is cheaper than hiring a so-called ethical hacker, or penetration tester, but they still run into thousands of dollars. Thankfully, though, many of the major players offer free versions of their software for home or non-commercial use. One such product is called Nexpose, from Rapid7. The company also produces another product, called Metasploit, which attempts to hack into systems, using the weaknesses which Nexpose has, well, exposed. Metasploit is a complex beast which is not easy to use, and which can get you into all sorts of trouble if you misuse it, but Nexpose is a very useful tool indeed. And the community edition, available for free, scans up to 32 IP addresses, which should suffice for most home networks. http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/scan-your-network-security-problems.htm

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