Commentary
Safeguard Podcasts Now, While The Technology Is New
Brian Livingston posts details on how a podcast might infect a PC. He writes: "Podcasts threaten to become another automated way hackers can put viruses and spyware onto your computer. As we all know only too well, Microsoft Word begat macro viruses, Microsoft Outlook begat e-mail viruses, and Internet Explorer begat ActiveX viruses."Brian Livingston posts details on how a podcast might infect a PC. He writes: "Podcasts threaten to become another automated way hackers can put viruses and spyware onto your computer. As we all know only too well, Microsoft Word begat macro viruses, Microsoft Outlook begat e-mail viruses, and Internet Explorer begat ActiveX viruses."What it boils down to: A podcast sends binary code down to your PC. Security measures need to ensure that the code isn't executable and that the data file doesn't interact with the receiving podcasting software (such as iTunes) in such a way as to exploit a security hole.
Brian takes a fast look at some of the more popular podcasting software and evaluates each for security.
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Don't pooh-pooh this stuff as alarmist nonsense. We need to safeguard podcasting now, while the technology is new and still growing, rather than wait until the eggs are already broken, as we did with E-mail and Web-borne infections.
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