Posted in Applications, Everything, tagged Security, Windows Vista on January 4, 2007 | 7 Comments »
Then and Now
Microsoft Windows XP™ initially creates all user accounts as local administrators. Administrators have full access to system-wide resources and can execute any privileged operation. Microsoft guidelines suggest that users run day-to-day tasks under a least privileged account (LUA), however many users prefer to operate at the administrator level for the following typical reasons:
Home [...]
Posted in Applications, Everything, tagged Security, Windows Vista on January 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Presently, users of the Microsoft Windows™ operating system have had to face several challenges to secure the integrity of the data residing on their computer. Users have had to cope with the vast slew of malware, including viruses, spyware, and root-kits, which typically cause damage to data and/or applications residing on the user’s desktop pc. [...]
Posted in Everything, Software Development, tagged Code, Security on June 1, 2006 | 2 Comments »
Overview
This post serves as a primer for software developers interested in learning about Code Access Security (CAS) in .NET. The following information is not exhaustive of the subject matter and contains the basic overview of Code-Access-Security. Those interested in this subject are encouraged to read further.
The following articles cover code security and are [...]
Posted in Applications, Everything, tagged Security on March 4, 2006 | Leave a Comment »
So, you’ve made the jump to Least Privileged User Account (LUA), but some of your applications no longer work…. These are known as “LUA Bugs”, and Aaron Margosis has written a post about fixing them.
Posted in Applications, Everything, tagged Microsoft Windows, Security on January 25, 2006 | 2 Comments »
For those of you that read my blog often (or talk to me directly), you’ll know that I am constantly advocating that users operate their computers under a least-privileged user account – LUA. Many have taken my advice, of not running day-to-day operations under an administrator account, or account with elevated privileges (yes, that includes [...]
Posted in Everything, Miscellaneous, tagged Security on November 17, 2005 | 2 Comments »
Quoted from: http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/howtouse.html
To install the software on this disc, you
must have Administrator rights on your computer.
[...]
Posted in Everything, Miscellaneous, tagged Security on November 10, 2005 | Leave a Comment »
It may not have escaped your attention that Sony has been featured in
the news a lot recently, concerning proven allegations about Sony BMG
installing DRM root kits on Windows computers, belonging to consumers:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4400148.stm
Essentially, root kits are malicious pieces of software that are
installed in the lower-levels of the Windows operating system, which
can hide from anti-spy ware [...]
Posted in Everything, Software Development, tagged ASP.NET, Security on November 9, 2005 | Leave a Comment »
See my previous post about LUA, and why it is a good idea. Today
I managed to get ASP.NET 2.0 to debug correctly, using Visual Studio
.NET 2005 under LUA. Thanks to Andrew Duthie’s post. I needed to tweak my system a little, here are my steps in digest (II6 only):
1. Create a new user group (Control [...]
Posted in Applications, Everything, tagged Security on November 9, 2005 | Leave a Comment »
I have recently converted my developer workstations over to running as
non-admin. I was inspired to move over to a least-privilege user
account after sitting in on a talk by Randy Hayes – president for the
CMAP (Central Maryland Association of .NET Professionals) user
group. The principle theme of Randy’s talk was about better
protecting your Windows machine from spy [...]
Posted in Everything, Software Development, tagged C#, Security on June 16, 2005 | Leave a Comment »
Okay, I am posting a link to this awesome example of DPAPI (Data
Protection API) for C# and VB.net, mainly for my own reference. If you
want to encrypt data in web.config files on shared servers, this is the
way to do it.
http://www.obviex.com/samples/dpapi.aspx
Thanks to Julie Lerman for making me aware of DPAPI.
