Tag Archive for online security

New GlassWire security & firewall tool lets you know of any unusual network activity

Posted on October 6, 2014 by

Be safe while surfing on the Internet, is advice of-heard these days. There’s now a tool called GlassWire that helps you understand whether there’s been any unusual network activity that could mean malware or privacy violations.

Essentially, it is a visual network monitoring & security tool which comes with a built-in firewall to block anything that you decide shouldn’t be doing that uploading or downloading. GlassWire displays your network activity in an easy-to-understand graph while searching for unusual Internet behavior. If such unusual network activity has been discovered, the user is instantly alerted with detailed information so that he/she can protect his/her computer, privacy, & data.

GlassWire is a free security tool, meant to supplement rather than replace your existing malware protection. It will work together with your anti-virus & any other malware detection & removal tool you may have installed.

New security tool

There are plenty of network monitoring & security tools available, but Glasswire aims to stand out through its easy-to-use & understand visual interface.

All the past & present networking activity on your computer will be shown in a simple real-time graph with outgoing traffic in yellow & incoming data in pink. You can use the slider to set the period shown.

Click on the graph to find out what applications have initiated the bandwidth usage, & what applications/hosts the application on your computer is communicating with. In other words, when you see a network spike, you can instantly find out what application on your computer is responsible for it, & who or what it is talking to.

You can click the apps & traffic options to see your network activity categorized by traffic & application type. You can also see detailed traffic stats for a specific period such as a day or week.

If some kind of traffic pops up on your network, GlassWire will show send you a discreet notification. Apart from the built-in firewall that can block anything you decide shouldn’t be sending or receiving data, GlassWire includes a toolbox of security checks including a system file monitor, device list monitor, proxy settings monitor, DNS server settings, Internet access, & more. GlassWire will also let you know if you are communicating with an IP or domain that is known to be threat.

The US-based GlassWire was set up recently by Jon Hundley & Anton Bondar. The tool is currently in beta & free to download & use, but they plan to add premium features in future versions.

Image Credit: GlassWire

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Dropbox, Google, others come together to launch service org called Simply Secure

Posted on September 19, 2014 by

simplysecure

Online storage platform Dropbox, Google, & the Open Technology Fund today have launched Simply Secure, a new organization focused on making open source security tools simpler & easier for people to use.

The aim is to use Simply Secure to bring some of the best minds in security, user interaction research & design together to dedicate resources & brainpower to solving this problem. Although consumer-facing security tools exist & are technically effective, they often have low adoption rates because they’re inconvenient or too confusing for the average person to operate. Even well-known features like two-factor authentication, offered by many Online services, are not widely used.

Led by Director Sara Sinclair Brody, the organization will work with the open source community to develop tools that make it easy for people without advanced technical knowledge to choose better security without sacrificing usability.

“Simply Secure represents an exciting opportunity to bring together diverse groups in pursuit of an important goal: making security and privacy tools more user-friendly. This transparent, community-focused approach is new, and represents a compelling adaptation of the open-source model to interaction design. Usable security has been a passion of mine for the past ten years, and I’m thrilled to be leading such a wide-ranging and well-supported initiative.” Sara Sinclair Brody, Director of Simply Secure

“If technology is secure but impossible to use, is it really secure? It’s a challenge to provide proven, open source tools to the public in ways that meet their high expectations and modern use cases. With its clear mission, an exceptional board, and a community-focused approach, we believe Simply Secure can bring us much closer to a world in which ubiquitous security is the norm.” Meredith Whittaker, Open Source Research Lead, Google

In the coming months, Simply Secure will be collaborating with others on:

  • Researching & developing usability & security auditing practices. How do we measure the two in a single assessment?
  • Bringing usable-security researchers from major institutes in contact with secure-software developers, & building an academic practice focused on practical implementation.
  • Sponsoring usability studies for major secure-communications tools, & working with designers & developers to act on their findings.
  • Convening usability researchers & software developers to identify big problems, & crafting collaborative ideas for solving them.

 

Image Credit: Simply Secure

 

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