E-mail security

Google's Postini suffers prolonged e-mail delays

Some customers of Google's Postini e-mail security product experienced significant problems Tuesday, with reports of hours-long delays in e-mail delivery that are still affecting some customers.

Threads throughout Google's Postini forums spread involving the issue, which seemed to begin overnight on System 7--one of several systems used by the service--and was still affecting some customers as of Tuesday afternoon, although e-mail delivery had resumed for others. Users also reported problems accessing the management consoles used to log into the Postini service, preventing them from understanding exactly what was happening.

Postini, acquired by Google in 2007, offers e-mail security … Read more

Hacked Web mail accounts used to send spam

There has been a marked increase in the amount of spam e-mails being sent from Yahoo, Gmail, and Hotmail accounts, according to analysts at Websense Security Labs.

Websense said on Thursday that personalized spam e-mails had been sent from the compromised accounts to all of each user's contacts. The e-mails contain links to fake shopping sites, intended to capture sensitive information from the reader.

Earlier this week, Microsoft acknowledged that 30,000 Hotmail accounts had breached, and suggested the passwords for the accounts had been obtained in a phishing scam.

However, some security experts believe that the password breach … Read more

CNET News Daily Podcast: The inner workings of Google's Postini

Google's e-mail security service unit, called Postini, monitors 3 billion messages per day. They flow in and out of customer systems and pass through Postini's thousands of machines in data centers around the U.S. and in Europe before hitting the Internet.

That and other headlines of the day, on Wednesday's edition of the CNET News Daily Podcast.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

Today's stories:

Google's take on e-mail defense

RIAA triumphs in Usenet copyright case

Analyst: Intel-based thin laptops have design issues

Bing's first month produces small share gain

Greenpeace guide frowns on HP, still loves Nokia… Read more

Retrieve sent messages in Gmail, delay them in Thunderbird

Last August, I described how to delay the messages you send from Microsoft Outlook. In that post, I bemoaned the lack of a similar feature in Gmail. Well, Google engineer Yuzo Fujishima comes to the rescue with a new tool called Undo Send, though unlike Outlook's send-delay feature, in Gmail, you have to act--or unact--fast.

To activate the feature, open Gmail, click Settings in the top-right corner, and choose the Labs tab. If you don't see a Labs tab, click more in the top-left menu, select even more, click the Labs link at the top right, choose Gmail … Read more

Five simple PC security tips

The list of PC security products never ends. For every name that drops off, two more jump on. In fact, determining the best security hardware and software is a full-time job. Sometimes, you just want to throw up your hands and take your chances.

Maybe I'm just a cockeyed optimist, but I think you can stay safe without spending all your spare time doing research, installing updates, and generally becoming a PC-security expert. Here are five relatively easy ways to improve your security.

Use the firewall that's closest at hand In the computer industry, the reputation of a … Read more

Stay safe while using e-mail

The third of my three updates to the 10-Step Security story I wrote back in 2005 covers steps seven through 10, which deal with e-mail safety. (Last week, I refreshed steps one, two, and three, which address Windows security, and steps four, five, and six that cover safe browsing.)

Three years ago, e-mail was the source of most PC virus infections, but that's no longer the case. Now you're more likely to catch a piece of malware from a Web site, whether by downloading a file or simply by opening a booby-trapped page.

Does this mean you may … Read more

View HTML mail from trusted senders, plain text from others

My previous post described how to create a quick-and-simple HTML e-mail newsletter. I mentioned that you should view the plain-text version of the newsletter so you could see how it looks to recipients who have HTML mail disabled.

But what if you're on the receiving end? How can you ensure that you see the full-color, fancy-format HTML messages sent to you by people or organizations you trust, but are protected from potentially malicious HTML mail from bad guys? In Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007, it's easy.

Customize Outlook's message view Start by setting Outlook to view messages … Read more

Google powers up users' Gmail security arsenal

Gmail users now have some extra ways to make sure no one can snoop around in their e-mail accounts, a post Monday afternoon on the Official Gmail Blog explained. The Google e-mail service provider is introducing a feature so that members can see where they're logged in and then opt to log out if they want.

The feature is currently rolling out to Gmail members using the Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers.

At the bottom of your Gmail window, you will now see if you're logged on in any other locations, the post by engineer Erwin D'Souza … Read more

What's the NSA doing in your e-mail?

A former technician is hauling communications giant AT&T into court for sharing "email, search, and Internet records for more than a dozen other global and regional telecommunications providers." If it's true, the company may have massively violated federal privacy and industry law, and the National Security Administration may have acted in direct violation of legal parameters governing its domestic surveillance mission. Read the full story at The Washington Post.