We are all familiar with close-circuit televisions (CCTVs) in banks and at the cashiers. How about having CCTVs nationwide?

That’s exactly what Malaysia may do. Its capital, Kuala Lumpur, currently has 255 CCTVs in seemingly innocuous spots to keep a close watch on the traffic situation in there. Local police have found these CCTVs to be also helpful in solving vehicle thefts, robberies, kidnappings and even murders.

Speaking to reporters after a recent community event, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said: “We want to try out these electronic eyes. Our policemen are insufficient… If CCTVs prove effective and practical, what’s wrong if we use them throughout the country?”

Federal Territories Minister Datuk Zulhasnan Rafique said: “The 14 cameras placed by the police at the Golden Triangle area have helped reduce crime rate in the area by 20 per cent and we feel that the reach of the cameras should be expanded.”

Officials intend to fully integrate these traffic cameras into a full-fledged crime-monitoring system to reduce crime in the Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

If this pilot project proves successful, officials will implement CCTVs across the whole nation of Malaysia.

If this proves to be successful for Malaysia, should other countries follow? Would you be supportive if you have CCTVs all over your neighborhood in the name of reducing crime?

Is your PC protected with the latest anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing and firewall?

A study released last December by AOL and the National Cyber Security Alliance found that 81% of home PCs lack at least one of the three critical protections — updated computer virus software, spyware protection, and a secure firewall — necessary to help guard against viruses, spyware, hackers, and other threats. More than half (56%) of the participants either had no anti-virus protection or had not updated it within the last week, almost half (44%) did not have a properly-configured firewall, and four in ten (38%) lacked spyware protection.

Yet, despite these findings, the large majority of users (83%) falsely believed that they were safe from online threats. 

We believe having to pay subscriptions for security software contributed greatly to these statistics. Now, thanks to AOL, PC users worldwide can protect themselves with the latest industry-strength anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing and firewall at no cost, no obligation, and no AOL membership required.

AOL is giving away two security software for free: Read the rest of this entry »

Do you know anyone using McAfee security programs?

They must apply an official update to avoid passwords and other sensitive data from being exploited by hackers.

Marc Maiffret, chief hacking officer at eEye Digital Security Inc., a competing maker of security products, has found a way to access PCs running the flawed McAfee software over the Internet and make them run his code. If exploited, this flaw can allow hackers to track bank account numbers, and access, change and delete sensitive files and do other damage to those PCs.

McAfee spokeswoman Siobhan MacDermott confirmed the vulnerability and said their software engineers were expected to release the fix on Wednesday for its Internet Security Suite, SpamKiller, Privacy Service and Virus Scan Plus titles.

According to experts, McAfee and top security solution providers like Symantec and Trend Micro are always very open targets to hackers.

Some experts recommend running two or more security software at the same time. Any reason why you wouldn’t do it?