Security

Firewalls

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Unfortunately, when you use the Internet there are dangers around every corner. Viruses, worms, malicious users, Trojan horses, key loggers, hackers, and a host of others are out to do you harm.

That’s where your Firewall comes in.  Basically, a firewall is a barrier to keep destructive forces away from your computer.  A firewall is simply a program or hardware device that filters the information coming through your Internet connection into your private computer system.

Parsing CSV or other delimited strings in SQL Server

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In this script we will look at various ways we can design a string split function in SQL Server to split a delimited string in to individual rows.

We will use the following csv delimited string for building our split function.

DECLARE @csv_str VARCHAR(8000)
SET @csv_str = 'cat,dog,rat,ant,tiger'

Method 1 : USING charindex function

In this method we will use the system string function charindex. We loop through the string looking for the delimiter and parse the string accordingly.

How To Avoid A Java Drive By

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What is a Java Drive-by?

“Download of spyware, a computer virus or any kind of malware that happens without knowledge of the user. Drive-by downloads may happen by visiting a website, viewing an e-mail message or by clicking on a deceptive popup window: the user clicks on the window in the mistaken belief that, for instance, it is an error report from his own PC or that it is an innocuous advertisement popup; in such cases, the “supplier” may claim that the user “consented” to the download though he was completely unaware of having initiated a malicious software download”

Beware of Fake Social.png’s That Come With Pirated Plugins!

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Watch out for CryptoPHP, a threat that uses backdoored

Joomla, WordPress and Drupal themes and plug-ins to

compromise webservers.

Just came across an incidence of a malicious executable social.png that got loaded with a plugin that created a lethal infection of a Word Press Website. Lesson learned from it is to NEVER use pirated plugins. It is not worth it. Also, it may have ramifications for webservers.

The person who went through this experience is above average WordPress literate, is careful with plugins, and has WordFence loaded on her WordPress site. Wordfence found the social.png, but by the time she learned about it from Wordfence the Data Center that was hosting her account had picked up on the “CryptoPHP” exploit, and the account was immediately suspended without an option to make a backup. Looks as though it is so lethal Wordfence could not stop it. The social.png replicates itself and is very difficult to root out.

How to Get Rid of Hat Annoying Windows 10 pop-up Ad!

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Personally, I have nothing against Windows 10.  It seems to be working out quite well for some.  Others are complaining about privacy issues.  In my case, I don’t need to upgrade from Windows 7 as it works very well for me.  I don’t need to upgrade to Windows 10.  The only serious objection I have is that I find it quite presumptuous of Microsoft for placing that little Windows 10 Icon in the bottom right taskbar of my computer without my permission.  And worse, allow its ad to pop up when I log in, WITHOUT the option to turn it off.  There is a matter of principle involved here which to me is the equivalent of malware and spam.