The Security Intelligence Report (SIR) is a comprehensive study of malicious software that Microsoft releases twice a year. The latest report is Volume 8 (SIR v8) and covers analysis from September 2009–March 2010. SIR v8 shows that the nature of...

Support for Windows Vista without any service packs ends today, April 13, 2010. If your computer is running Windows Vista without Service Pack 2, you won't get security updates for Windows. This means that your computer will be at risk for viruses...

Microsoft releases security updates on the second Tuesday of every month. Today Microsoft released 8 new security updates for Microsoft Windows and 2 new security updates for Microsoft Office and 1 new update for Microsoft Exchange Server. Get the...

If you read this blog, you probably have at least a passing interest in learning about online safety or teaching others about it. Whether you’re an IT professional, a teacher, a parent, or just someone who happens to know a lot about cybersecurity, the...

If you’ve ever seen suspicious pop-up ads with urgent warnings to download security software, you’re not alone. According to the most recent Microsoft Security Intelligence Report , fake security software (also known as rogue security software ) is the...

If you want to keep up with the very latest information about Microsoft’s response to emerging security issues, you can now follow the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) on Twitter. The address is http://twitter.com/msftsecresponse . If you...

Screen scraping is the act of taking all the information that a person has posted on their Web site or social networking page and then using the information to break into the user’s account or to commit some other fraud involving identity theft . Social...

Security essentials 2010 is the latest fake security software to use the Microsoft name to spread malware instead of to help protect against it. Security essentials 2010 is a form of rogue security software that cybercriminals use to trick people into...

Most Internet users have probably seen e-mail scams that include promises of large amounts of money in return for a small initial payment. This is called advanced fee fraud , and every year, victims lose money to this scam and often inadvertently turn...

Today Microsoft released an out-of-band security update for all versions of Internet Explorer . Most security updates are released on the second Tuesday of the month. Out-of-band security updates are released before or after a regular monthly update...

Here’s the latest scam to float to the top of my e-mail inbox: Dear customer! Unfortunately we failed to deliver postal package you have sent on the 7th of December in time because the recipient’s address is erroneous. Please print out the invoice...

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently outlined the company’s cloud computing strategy in a speech at the University of Washington in Seattle. The CEO described how from Windows Azure to Windows Live , Microsoft is embracing cloud technology. In fact...

Microsoft releases security updates on the second Tuesday of every month. Today Microsoft released 1 new security update for Microsoft Windows and 1 new security update for Microsoft Office. Get the updates To download the update, visit the Microsoft...

Here's another form of Internet fraud that combines a variety of other common scams- social engineering , fake security software , and phishing . Cybercriminals have started calling people on the telephone, claiming to be from Microsoft, and offering...

If you file your taxes over the Internet, it's important to remember some common sense rules about how to protect your privacy and help prevent identity theft. The information in your return contains everything that an unscrupulous third party needs to...

Microsoft announced a preview of new technology called U-Prove , designed to protect privacy on the Internet. U-Prove tokens make it possible for people to disclose minimal amounts of identifying information when they access applications and services...

Last month the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) released a study about how cybersecurity and cybersafety are taught in United States schools. Researchers interviewed more than 1,000 teachers, 400 school administrators, and 200 technology coordinators...

Microsoft just announced that support is ending for some older versions of the Windows operating system (OS). Support for Windows Vista without any service packs will end on April 13, 2010. Support for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) will...

Yesterday Microsoft announced a successful, collaborative effort to deactivate a major botnet, called win32/Waledac. Botnets are networks of compromised personal and business computers controlled remotely and secretly by one or more cybercriminals...

Microsoft recently joined forces with the organization Enough is Enough to publicize a new safety education program , Internet Safety 101 . Internet Safety 101 is a DVD for parents, educators, and other caregivers to use to help protect kids online...

A new decade is upon us, which means the presence of all kinds of “Best of the Decade” lists and a new United States Census . Much has changed in ten years, including the rise of identity theft , especially on the Internet. The Better Business Bureau...

Microsoft releases security updates on the second Tuesday of every month. Today Microsoft released 13 new security updates for Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office. Get the updates To download the update, visit the Microsoft Update Web site ....

These days we store more and more information not on our computers but on the Internet, or in the cloud . Cloud computing can be used in all kinds of ways, such as for Web-based e-mail or large, corporate content management systems. Recently, Microsoft...

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and these days it’s very common to send Valentine wishes electronically . Electronic greetings can save time, paper, and postage and can contain go beyond the standard heart-shaped doily with music and animation...

The Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) establishes security and privacy throughout the Microsoft development process. SDL has proven to be effective in making flagship Microsoft products more resilient to security and privacy threats and to better protect...