The Windows operating system enables prefetching to make system boots or applications startups faster. “the prefetcher tries to speed the boot process and application startup by monitoring the data and code accessed by boot and application startups and using that information at the beginning of a subsequent boot or application startup to read in the code and data”. Prefetch files are what store the information required for faster startups. The NTOSBOOT prefetch file stores the [...]

There are many reasons why a computer may be running slow. Sometimes it may be related to software or hardware, while other times it may be due to malware. Whatever the reason, you should find the solution. This article provides step-by-step instructions to speed up your computer. Please note that the instructions below are for Windows users. Note:If one step doesn’t work, continue on to the next step (not all steps will be required). Step [...]

Windows 8 ? Microsoft’s most secure OS to date ? already faces issues with the way it stores passwords for local accounts. The flaw was discovered by the team at Passcape Software, a company that specializes in recovery of forgotten account passwords, while analyzing ways to recover login credentials without brute-forcing the accounts. Windows 8 is the first operating system from Microsoft to support alternative non-biometric authentication mechanisms such as Picture Password and PIN. To [...]

In the last week of November it was clear that Iranian hackers had stole data from UN atomic agency’s server according to the news update. Even United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency has admitted that data from a retired server at its Vienna headquarters was stolen and posted to a hacker website. A group calling itself Parastoo allegedly stole the data in an effort to draw attention to Israel’s nuclear weapons program and as a [...]

For me Cosmo was the best hacker for 2012, who is just 15. Cosmo got into hacking through online gaming. He grew up on Xbox, and played others online competitively. One daytime, he was knocked offline mid-match, forfeiting the game. He discovered that this was done via a simple trick, where one gamer turns a script on his opponent’s IP address. He began using this same tactic himself. It was easy and required nothing more [...]

The FoxTab add-on to Mozilla Firefox presents some interesting artifacts in respect to forensic analysis. According to FoxTab’s webpage, the add-on “brings innovative 3D functionality to your Firefox.” Among the features offered by FoxTab are the “Tab Flipper” and “Recently Closed Tabs”, which allow a user to view their currently opened tabs and recently closed tabs in an animated fashion. While these features may be appealing to some users, they are interesting from a digital [...]

Dr. Cole is an industry-recognized security expert with over 20 years of hands-on experience. Dr. Cole has experience in information technology with a focus on helping customers identify the right areas of security by building out dynamic defense solutions that protect organizations from advanced threats. Dr. Cole has a master’s degree in computer science from NYIT and a doctorate from Pace University, with a concentration in information security. Dr. Cole is the author of several [...]

Create Security Policy Statements The most important security practice, that which all other security controls and protections are based on, is the creation and enforcement of security policies. Every organization must have an overall policy that establishes the direction of the organization and its security mission as well as roles and responsibilities. There can also be system specific rules to address the policies for individual systems and data. Most importantly, the appropriate use of computing [...]