THE TOP 10 CYBER-SECURITY URBAN LEGENDS

Nov 1, 2004 12:00 PM

1. Hackers can legally break into Web sites that lack “warning” notices. Breaking into Web sites is a crime — whether there is a sign posted or not.

2. Some Windows system files are really malicious and should be deleted. Legitimate Windows system files like JDBGMGR.EXE and SULFNBK.EXE can cause actual harm to the Windows system if these real — and useful — files are deleted.

3. Hotel card keys secretly record personal information, which could be maliciously taken advantage of without the person knowing. The information encoded on these cards is limited to room number, check out time, and other non-identifying information.

4. Including a fake entry in an e-mail address book will prevent e-mail Trojans. Not only is this untrue, but it can give the user a false sense of security.

5. A digital cell phone can be infected with a virus merely by answering a phone call. There is no evidence that a virus can be spread in this way.

6. Search engine ‘crawlers’ perform security checks and notify users of vulnerabilities. No known search engine employs this practice.

7. Thieves are using lists of ‘out of office’ auto-replies to target homes for burglary. There are no known cases of burglars actually using this technique.

8. Free patches e-mailed to a user will protect a PC from the latest worm or virus. An unsolicited “patch” won't protect a PC — it is really a Trojan that will infect it if the patch is installed.

9. Signing up with a “Do Not Spam Registry” will stop a user from getting spam e-mail. Unlike the popular U.S. government “Do Not Call Registry,” there is no official “Do Not Spam” registry.

10. Elf Bowling and Blue Mountain Greeting Cards contain viruses. While downloaded software can indeed be a source of viruses, no users have ever contracted a virus from one of these legitimate programs.

SOURCE: Secure Computing, San Jose, Calif.

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2012 Penton Media Inc.

This month in Access Control

• Targeting The Customer
• Electronic Pedigrees
• One Hero Among Many
• Who? What? When? Where? Why?
• More from September's issue