Security

Jimmy Daniels of RealTechNews writes:
Just finished reading a really interesting article from the Washington Post called, Invasion of the Computer Snatchers, where they actually interview this kid who lives with his parents, and controls over 13,000 computers from his laptop.
Read More about the Botnet Master Here
[tags]realtechnews,security,jimmy daniels,botnet[/tags]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
I’m surprised… surprised the U.S. didn’t say anything about this first, knowing our government. :-)
At any rate, because of the new built-in drive encryption features in Windows Vista, law enforcement officials may need a way around the encryption. Professor Ross Anderson of Cambridge University was testifying before [...]

In the interest of full disclosure, I used to work at CNET and founded the gaming side of CNET’s business which was then Gamecenter.com and is now Gamespot.com.

Never update the firmware of a wireless router over a wireless connection - always connect a network cable between the computer and the router and update the firmware over that link. The D-Link page to download firmware updates is here.
Aaron Portnoy and Keefe Johnson has reported a vulnerability in D-Link Wireless Access Point, which [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
Well, that’s why Microsoft’s AntiSpyware is still beta right? However, rather than the program, it seems related to the latest definitions file (5805, 5807. I’ve seen my AV list a false positive before if a file was erroneously detected because of a definitions file mistake (or heuristics).

Joris Evers of ZDNet.com writes:
Computer code that could be used in cyberattacks on Firefox users has been released, increasing the urgency for people to upgrade to the latest version of the Web browser.
The two pieces of exploit code, posted online earlier this week, take advantage of a security vulnerability in Firefox that Mozilla patched [...]

Secunia has sent out a couple of advisories (here and here) for the Sun Java runtime (including early versions) that you install on your Windows, Solaris, or Linux computer, for the Web Start, and for the Java Development Kit or the Software Development Kit.
The vulnerabilities are rated highly critical and allow system access [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
It’s home stretch time for Microsoft’s new security product. OneCare combines antivirus, anti-spyware and firewall software with back-up features and several tune-up tools. Microsoft says it will arrive before the summer and will be priced at approximately $50 a year on a subscription basis.
Read More about Microsoft’s OneCare Live [...]

Jimmy Daniels of RealTechNews writes:
Not sure if this was new or not, can’t find a date on it, but a University of Washington study of spyware proved to be very interesting reading. They studied two periods May 2005 and October 2005, so it may be old news.
Read more on Spyware Here
[tags]internet,realtechnews,jimmy daniels,spyware[/tags]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
Digital Rights Management (DRM) controls are placed on most digital books. Librarians are concerned that such DRM may make it difficult, if forecasts in digital vs. hard copy publications come to pass, for libraries to continue to provides citizens the resources they do today.
Read more on Libraries and DRM [...]

Jimmy Daniels of RealTechNews writes:
On Monday Nullsoft announced that version 5.12 had a security bug and released a patch to fix it. Exploit code is already circulating the internet, a rep from Sunbelt Software said they have already found websites hosting a winamp play list that took advantage of the exploit to load spyware on [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
The Kama Sutra trojan, AKA MyWife, Nyxem, Blackmal and Grew, was scheduled to overwrite and corrupt files on infected PCs yesterday, as we earlier reported. However, the word got out and there were almost no reports of damage. That’s a good thing, right?
Read More about Nyxem Here
[tags]realtechnews,security,michael santo,antivirus[/tags]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
Why should they avoid it? Well, according to News.com, besides the security vulnerability we wrote about earlier, McAfee security software fails to display text or graphics when their UI is displayed.
Read More about McAfee and IE7 Beta Here
[tags]realtechnews,mcafee,security,michael santo,ie7[/tags]

Two vulnerabilities have been reported in Mozilla Suite, which can be exploited by malicious people to conduct cross-site scripting attacks and potentially compromise a user’s system.
For more information, see #1 and #4 in: SA18700

Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Firefox, which can be exploited by malicious people to bypass certain security restrictions, conduct cross-site scripting attacks, potentially disclose sensitive information, and potentially compromise a user’s system.

Jimmy Daniels of RealTechNews writes:
As reported to vnunet.com, the firewall in Microsoft’s Onecare security suite fails to stop a couple of potentially exploitable data streams. Onecare is a suite of tools that include the firewall, which block traffic incoming and outgoing, anti-spyware, antivirus and backup software.
Read More about Microsoft OneCare Here
[tags]microsoft,realtechnews,jimmy daniels,anti-spyware,onecare[/tags]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
It’s been about 24 hours since the Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Public Preview was released, and it’s time to say … oops. Security researcher Tom Ferris says he has found a vulnerability in the release. It’s in the URLMON.DLL and can either crash the browser or allow the attacker to [...]

Michael Santo of RealTechNews writes:
First off, I want to thank Microsoft for giving us early information on this. I spoke with Gary Schare, Director of IE Product Management at Microsoft. As of right now, you can download the Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Public Preview HERE. I installed the software, and although [...]

David Johnston of RealTechNews writes:
I just found this very interesting extension for Firefox (there’s an IE version too though) called SiteAdvisor. SiteAdvisor is designed to help keep you informed about the websites that you are visiting (or may visit). It works similarly to Google’s search engine, utilizing bots to scour the web and [...]

Jimmy Daniels of RealTechNews writes
Zone Labs announced that 180Solutions has dropped it’s lawsuit that sought to get them to change how they labeled their Zango and Search Assistant programs. No reason was released by 180, nor was this a settlement.
Read More on 180Solutions’ Lawsuit Here
[tags]realtechnews,jimmy daniels,180solutions,zone labs[/tags]