There is a new bill proposed in the White House that would give president Obama “emergency powers” to deal with internet/network security emergencies, rolled within the legislation into a new term known as “cybersecurity.”

This would essentially allow for a few things:

1. The president would basically be able to disconnect anyone from the internet who he felt was a “cybersecurity threat.”
2. The government would certify IT people so they could be to be up to par with these “cybersecurity” standards.

As you might have guessed, I’m not too thrilled with this new proposed legislation, and neither are the folks over at ComputerWorld. Read more on IT Blogwatch.

Research is now showing that a security vulnerability in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser that the company has been scrambling over in the past few days was actually discovered nearly 2 years ago.

Microsoft, of course, has just how decided to do something about it, and is claiming that two of their researchers just discovered it. The vulnerability has been being exploited substantially for the past month.

Read more at ComputerWorld here: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9135259/Microsoft_may_have_known_about_critical_IE_bug_for_months.

Many people who have experienced the aftermath of the “New Shopping New Life!” email attack have found all their email contacts missing as well. So, to recover your contacts after an attack of the “New Shopping New Life!” virus hacker bot thing, here’s what you’ll need to do.

• First, you will need to contact your mail provider. Let them know that your account was compromised and that you have changed your password. If Yahoo! is your email provider, call them at this number: 1-866-562-7219.
• If you are unable to remove the vacation autoresponders set by the hacker bot, notify your provider and have them help you with this. Otherwise, inform them that you have already done this.
• Tell them that you have lost all your email contacts. They will ask you for a handful of contacts you know were in your list. Tell them these contacts.
• They will do their best to look through their backups from before the bot attacked your account and recover your contacts.

Hopefully this helps. Also, don’t forget to get your computer checked out for viruses, spyware and malware. If you live in Michigan, contact Strellix Computer Repair for quality computer service. Best of luck!

I just got off the phone with a Yahoo! telephone support representative on behalf of one of my clients who is experiencing some issues with a compromised account. I was quite impressed with the friendliness and helpfulness of the representative. Maybe there’s hope for customer support after all.

This individual was experiencing the “New shopping new life!” virus I wrote about a few weeks ago. It seems that this issue affects Yahoo a bit more deeply than it does Gmail, and can even wipe out a user’s contacts.

The representative told me that for issues of a compromised account, the best solution is to call the toll-free support hotline. If you are a Yahoo! user and are having problems resolving the “New shopping new life!” ‘virus’ or have been locked out of your account, the number to call is: 1-866-562-7219.

Hopefully, they will be as kind and helpful to you as they were towards me.