Creating a new security podcast

I left journalism and started SE Labs, a security testing lab, just over five years ago. But something of the media must have remained in my brain, because this week we launched our podcast.

There was an awful lot to learn, both technically and otherwise. Some of the best advice I read and heard came via the BuzzSprout platform, which we decided to use in the end.

It feels like there are more podcasts about podcasting than anything else. Meta.

But our podcast, De:Coded, is about security and how it applies to normal people. Normal people, of course, have personal lives and some work in the security business. Our hope is to provide useful information to everyone, but suspect people working in info-security will get the most from our episodes.

Windows Security wants your Outlook password (over and over) - SOLVED

Scenario: Outlook on your Windows 10 PC has stopped working. It continually asks for your username and password, but nothing you type will work.

You rarely want to see this, particularly on a busy day

You've tried Googling it. There is lots of advice about resetting Profiles, deleting Credentials from Windows and so in. Much of this is scary and time-consuming. Most of it doesn't work. And you need to get your work done. What should you do?

Blogger to WordPress URLs (permalinks)

If you have ever migrated a blog from Blogger to WordPress you might be worried that the links to your articles won't work anymore. And you would be right to be concerned.

There are lots of complicated things to pay attention to when moving a website from one hosting company or platform to another. In this article I'm going to cover the very specific issues around Blogger's handling of links vs. WordPress' approach.

Backup Windows 10 to an encrypted drive more easily

Back up your data to an encrypted external disk for free - money-free and hassle-free.

Summary: use auto-unlock so you don't need to enter your drive's encryption password every time you use it.

Backing up your data has always been important but, with the rise of ransomware, never more so than now...

Quick Excel Tip: VLOOKUP

Excel's VLOOKUP feature lets you turn it into a sort-of database.

If you use Excel to manage projects, invoices or other tasks where you enter the same set of contact details you can semi-automate the process using a handy function called VLOOKUP.

It's extremely handy but many descriptions I've read have been a little brain-bending so here's my cheat sheet.

Certified insane: Anti-malware certifications

[Nearly ten years ago I wrote an article for Computer Shopper magazine about anti-virus (aka anti-malware) certifications. The words, along with my website, have long since shuffled off into archive.org. Here's a copy, which I think stands up pretty well even today, despite the progress that testers (including myself) have made since then.]

How was Hacking Team hacked?

The attacker who stole Hacking Team's data gained access to an employee's computer while the victim was still logged in.

The attacker either had direct physical access to Christian Pozzi's PC or they used malware to achieve a similar level of access. Whichever way it was, we can tell that Christian was logged in at the time simply by looking at a folder name among the files that were leaked onto the internet.