Archive for the 'Digital Security' Category

Anatomy of a Google 302 Redirect Hijack

Recently while Googling “Olla de Carne” (Costa Rican beef stew) my browser was hijacked after taking a search results link. Rather than receiving a list of ingredients, the link redirected the browser to a bogus antivirus site that mimicked Windows and faked an integrated Explorer virus scan (see screenshot below or watch the video).

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Password Protection with PassKeeper

After recently losing a USB flash drive with all my passwords, I was grateful for the precaution I took by storing all my password data using Brad Greenlee’s PassKeeper password manager.

PassKeeper is a Windows utility that allows you to keep a list of accounts with usernames, passwords, and notes. This list is stored encrypted.

The utility is freeware and has been available for public download since the mid-90’s. Data are encrypted using the 56-bit DES cipher and stored in an DAT file in the application’s root directory. The size of the application (189 kilobytes) and the data file (~400 bytes/entry) are lightweight and can easily be carried around on any USB flash drive.

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