While you read these words, the chances are that somebody, somewhere, is trying to break in to your computer by guessing your password. If your computer is connected to the Internet it can be found, quickly, and if it can be found, somebody will try to break in. And it isn’t like the movies. The…

Debunking 5 Myths About DNS

From the boardroom to IT and the end user, the Domain Name System is often misunderstood, which can leave organizations vulnerable to attacks. The Domain Name System (DNS) is the common denominator for all communication on the Internet. It touches everyone. Every online transaction – good or bad – begins with a DNS lookup. Despite…

Explained: Bayesian spam filtering

Bayesian spam filtering is based on Bayes rule, a statistical theorem that gives you the probability of an event. In Bayesian filtering it is used to give you the probability that a certain email is spam. Named after the statistician Rev. Thomas Bayes who provided an equation that basically allows new information to update the…

Explained: Domain-Generating Algorithms

Cybercriminals use domain-generating algorithms to prevent their servers from being blacklisted or taken down. A domain-generating algorithm (DGA) is a program or subroutine that provides malware with new domains on demand or on the fly. Kraken was the first malware family to use a DGA (in 2008) that we could find. Later that year, Conficker made…