Monthly Archives: November 2014

AVG

Apps For Our Veterans

As we celebrate Veteran’s Day in the U.S. this November 11th, I’d like to honor our uniformed men and women, both those who have served and those who continue to do so. I am very proud of my own military service and most veterans will tell you the same. If you are like many of us, and have friends or family members who have served, here are a five great apps/services to check out.

 

For Re-entry into Civilian Life

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Hiring Our Heroes app, in partnership with Verizon, is a mobile one-stop shop developed to help veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses searching for employment. The app gathers all of the program’s resources in one tool – enabling military members and their families to search for jobs and access free employment resources on virtually all mobile devices.

Militarylounge.com has an app called College Guide that provides a comprehensive list of universities that accept the G.I. Bill, a calculator of benefits, as well as a handbook of benefits that are available to vets and soldiers.  A major benefit to the military is the G.I. Bill, which, in its post-9/11 form, provides full tuition and fees for public, in-state schools, plus a monthly allowance for housing and an annual stipend for textbooks. Over 6,000 institutions participate in the Post 9/11 GI Bill Yellow Ribbon Program.

 

For Health

Many veterans understandably have trouble navigating the complicated world of the Veterans Administration. Claims Coach, developed by The American Legion, is designed to help the process. It provides step-by-step guidance to help service officers through the process of filing for VA benefits. The free app features a nationwide directory of accredited American Legion service officers, a built-in organizer for appointments, documents and deadlines, and a wealth of other resources. Additionally, a personal secure file called “My Checklist” keeps everything in order, from the initial meeting with a service officer through VA’s decision and appeal, if necessary.

Unfortunately, but understandably, many of our troops come back from service traumatized from events. PTSD Coach was designed for veterans and military service members who have or may have Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This app was created by the VA’s National Center for PTSD in partnership with the Department of Defense’s National Center for Telehealth and Technology. It provides users with education about PTSD, opportunities to find support and tools to help manage the stresses of everyday life with PTSD.  You can download it here.   It’s been downloaded more than 100,000 times in 74 countries. Features include:

  • Information on PTSD and treatments that work
  • Tools for screening and tracking symptoms
  • Direct links to support and help
  • And, as a mobile app, it’s always just a click or phone call away.

As the VA points out: Any data created by the user of this app are only as secure as the phone/device itself. Use the security features on your device if you are concerned about the privacy of your information.

 

For Families

Scout Military Discounts LLC has just launched SCOUT, a military savings mobile application for both iOS and Android devices. The new, free mobile app is designed to provide all U.S. veterans, military members and their families a way to easily access military discounts and freebies from anywhere, at any time from their mobile phone or other mobile devices.

The SCOUT app is available for download at Apple or Google Play. Use the search term SCOUT Military to find the app for download. And if you want to volunteer or get involved, go to scoutmilitarydiscounts.com. The SCOUT app is available for download at the Apple App Store and Google Play. This looks like a great app to use during the holiday season!

 

For Those Still Serving

So much support for our troops come from veterans friends and families. You can’t beat Skype for keeping in touch with troops at home or abroad.  Rules and regulations are different depending upon where a soldier is stationed, but veterans can communicate face to face with their overseas colleagues for practically nothing, and perhaps more importantly, spouses can keep in touch with loved ones that might be far away.

This Veteran’s Day, I want to wish all those who have served, and those who still do serve, the gifts of safety, health, and happiness. Thank you for your service.

Microsft

MS14-070 – Important: Vulnerability in TCP/IP Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (2989935) – Version: 1.0

Severity Rating: Important
Revision Note: V1.0 (November 11, 2014): Bulletin published.
Summary: This security update resolves a publically reported vulnerability in TCP/IP that occurs during input/output control (IOCTL) processing. This vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker logs on to a system and runs a specially crafted application. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of another process. If this process runs with administrator privileges, an attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights.

Microsft

MS14-069 – Important: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Could Allow Remote Code Execution (3009710) – Version: 1.0

Severity Rating: Important
Revision Note: V1.0 (November 11, 2014): Bulletin published.
Summary: This security update resolves three privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a specially crafted file is opened in an affected edition of Microsoft Office 2007. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. Customers whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than those who operate with administrative user rights.

Microsft

MS14-073 – Important: Vulnerability in Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (3000431) – Version: 1.0

Severity Rating: Important
Revision Note: V1.0 (November 11, 2014): Bulletin published.
Summary: This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft SharePoint Server. An authenticated attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary script in the context of the user on the current SharePoint site. In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit these vulnerabilities and then convince a user to view the website. The attacker could also take advantage of compromised websites and websites that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements. These websites could contain specially crafted content that could exploit these vulnerabilities. In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to view the attacker-controlled content. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to take action, typically by getting them to click a link in an email message or in an Instant Messenger message that takes users to the attacker’s website, or by getting them to open an attachment sent through email.

Microsft

MS14-074 – Important: Vulnerability in Remote Desktop Protocol Could Allow Security Feature Bypass (3003743) – Version: 1.0

Severity Rating: Important
Revision Note: V1.0 (November 11, 2014): Bulletin published.
Summary: This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow security feature bypass when Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) fails to properly log audit events. By default, RDP is not enabled on any Windows operating system. Systems that do not have RDP enabled are not at risk.

Microsft

MS14-079 – Moderate: Vulnerability in Kernel-Mode Driver Could Allow Denial of Service (3002885) – Version: 1.0

Severity Rating: Moderate
Revision Note: V1.0 (November 11, 2014): Bulletin published.
Summary: This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow denial of service if an attacker places a specially crafted TrueType font on a network share and a user subsequently navigates there in Windows Explorer. In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a website that contains a webpage that is used to exploit this vulnerability. In addition, compromised websites and websites that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements could contain specially crafted content that could exploit this vulnerability. In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to visit such websites. Instead, an attacker would have to persuade users to visit a website, typically by getting them to click a link in an email message or Instant Messenger message that takes them to the attacker’s website.

Microsft

MS14-077 – Important: Vulnerability in Active Directory Federation Services Could Allow Information Disclosure (3003381) – Version: 1.0

Severity Rating: Important
Revision Note: V1.0 (November 11, 2014): Bulletin published.
Summary: This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS). The vulnerability could allow information disclosure if a user leaves their browser open after logging off from an application, and an attacker reopens the application in the browser immediately after the user has logged off.

Microsft

MS14-072 – Important: Vulnerability in .NET Framework Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (3005210) – Version: 1.0

Severity Rating: Important
Revision Note: V1.0 (November 11, 2014): Bulletin published.
Summary: This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft .NET Framework. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an attacker sends specially crafted data to an affected workstation or server that uses .NET Remoting. .NET Remoting is not widely used by applications; only custom applications that have been specifically designed to use .NET Remoting would expose a system to the vulnerability.

Microsft

MS14-076 – Important: Vulnerability in Internet Information Services (IIS) Could Allow Security Feature Bypass (2982998) – Version: 1.0

Severity Rating: Important
Revision Note: V1.0 (November 11, 2014): Bulletin published.
Summary: This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Internet Microsoft Information Services (IIS) that could lead to a bypass of the “IP and domain restrictions” security feature. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could result in clients from restricted or blocked domains having access to restricted web resources.

Microsft

MS14-071 – Important: Vulnerability in Windows Audio Service Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (3005607) – Version: 1.0

Severity Rating: Important
Revision Note: V1.0 (November 11, 2014): Bulletin published
Summary: This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow elevation of privilege if an application uses the Microsoft Windows Audio service. The vulnerability by itself does not allow arbitrary code to be run. The vulnerability would have to be used in conjunction with another vulnerability that allowed remote code execution.