SECURITY IN A MOBILE WORLD! ---- PART III

By , posted Thursday, May. 4th, 2006
Reader Comments: 3

6.) Antispam Applications: These programs will search your e-mail for spam and delete them for you. Most operate by reading your e-mail during it’s download and looking for predetermined “spam” keywords, then subsequently mark your spam e-mail by way of an “X-Header”. Your e-mail application (e.g. Outlook) will then filter and move all of the marked mail to the Deleted Items folder. One application will actually reach out to your e-mail server to check your new messages, downloading potential spam (in case an e-mail is not really spam) and then deleting it. This way, when you are ready to download your e-mail, it’s free of spam at that time.

- Popfile is a GPL (General Public License) program created and maintained for the betterment of all computer users, and exists in different OS formats (XP, Linux, etc). Filters spam AS you download it. After 2 weeks of use, it acquires an average efficiency rating of about 98% accuracy with the use of Bayesian filters .
- McAfee sells their Antispam product called SpamKiller, which resides on one desktop or server computer with access to an “always on” broadband connection and pro-actively checks ALL of your various e-mail accounts by reaching-out and touching each account for spam. If it finds any spam, it downloads the spam to it’s own client (just in case it’s not really spam) and then deletes the copy residing on the server. Then you can use other client devices (laptop, PocketPC, or desktop PC) when you want to download the legitimate e-mail left behind. This solution cleans the e-mail box so that other devices can access the account without having to check for spam. This solution is optimal for those users who want to spend their limited connection time (via GPRS or pay-by-the-megabyte Hotspots) ONLY downloading legitimate e-mail and not spam.

7.) “All-in-One” Suites: These programs usually contain a Firewall program, an Anti-Virus program, and may also contain Anti-Spyware and Anti-spam components. These usually provide the best dollar value for users.
- ZoneAlarm Security Suite offers Firewall, AntiVirus, Antispam, and AntiSpyware.
- McAfee Internet Security Suite offers their most up-to-date versions of AntiVirus, Personal Firewall, Spamkiller, and Privacy Service.
- Kaspersky Labs offers AntiVirus, AntiSpam, and AntiHacker (firewall?) security in their Personal Security Suite.

Did you read Part 1 of SECURITY IN A MOBILE WORLD? If not, you can read it HERE

Did you read Part 2 of SECURITY IN A MOBILE WORLD? If not, you can read it HERE

Did you read Part 4 of SECURITY IN A MOBILE WORLD? If not, you can read it HERE

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Whit,

I am sorry to hear that you were bothered by my paralleling vigilance in the arena of security with the specific example of women requesting an escort to their car (presuming it is located in a dark/unlighted location).

If I understand your question correctly, you seem to be inferring that I would place the blame at a woman's feet if she were assaulted after chosing to decline an escort. This is absolutely not the case, as I demonstrate with another example that precedes the "escort" example.

All I am attempting to do is drive the initial thought: "could I do something to better protect myself?". If the woman asks the question of herself at all, then my job is done. Likewise, if you consider if it's safest to secure your bike in a dark corner next to a store, or in the well lit bike rack, then my job is done. Your choices are yours to make, as are the results of that choice.

On to your seperate question relating to links and "measures" that Mobility Today offers: any links offered on this site are for your convenience only, we offer no measures which protect users from clicking on ANY links. While we actively police the forums for innappropriate posts, we are not the actual Police or any kind of law enforcement. We are merely VOLUNTEER librarians trying to answer as many questions as possible for end users, while asking those noisy users to "shhhh!".

I am sorry to hear that a download that you installed opened up your home network, but you should not expect Mobility Today to do your work for you in screening downloads or testing them with antivirus or trojan detection software. This is your job. Assuming it's someone else's job to protect you is the surest way to get into trouble.

In the same manner, the individual should always check the credentials of the person they are accepting the escort from. If you judge the escort to be a "black hat" (BH), then it's up to you decide how to utilize their services or offerings.

Posted by , Tuesday, May. 9th, 2006

This was helpful to me and it has good hints. However, at times I am taken by your references to women and what you seem to imply about the responsibility of a victim.

Your parellel about women who choose not to ask for security escorts to their cars at night is bothersome. Eactly what were you implying?

I downloaded something someone offered through a link posted in davesipaq forum (65xx series) that contained programming that opened up my home network, and PDA. I had no way of knowing what was in that download.

So what if the individual security escort is the attacker?

Who is wearing the white hat and who is wearing the black hat?

What measures does Mobilitytoday.com take to protect forum members like myself, who are willing to download. Are posted downloads reviewed by any security-enhancing protocol?

Posted by Whit, Wednesday, Mar. 22nd, 2006

Elrendhel, I can't thank you enough for your work here. It's incredibly well written and presented in terms that I can understand. Thank you so so much.

Posted by Laura, Monday, Oct. 17th, 2005

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