What We Know About Windows 8 – Microsoft has started spilling about what we can expect in the next major version of Windows, and some of the changes are huge.
Car Theft Achieved via Text Message — But Don’t Panic – Hackers who discovered the vulnerability are working with the car manufacturer to fix it.
Have you been hacked this month? – I’m assuming the majority of people are sitting smugly reading this thinking ‘of course I haven’t!’ We conservatively estimate that the average family’s personal information has been breached 10 times since June.
Google’s Stealth Updates: Why Nobody Else Gets Away With It – How has Google managed to get users to accept its patches while other software vendors’ updates are ignored or condemned?
Google patches another wave of Chrome browser holes – Google has shelled out another $8,500 to purchase information on serious security vulnerabilities affecting its Chrome browser. The company released Chrome 13.0.782.215 for Linux, Mac, Windows, and Chrome Frame to address multiple vulnerabilities, some serious enough to expose users to code execution attacks.
Install one Trojan, get three more – When Badlib is firstly installed and detects an Internet connection, it tries to reach a C&C server in order to receive commands from it. It searches for it on a number of hard-coded domains, and if it doesn’t find it, it proceeds to check out several IP addresses on a default list. Once the C&C is contacted, it instructs the Trojan on where to download further malware. The response includes the number of files it has to download and their digital signature so as to make sure it downloads the right ones.
‘Kill tool’ released for unpatched Apache server vulnerability – The open-source Apache Software Foundation warns that active use of a ‘killapache’ attack tool targeting an unpatched vulnerability has been observed.
Android crapware – Greed at the expense of reputation and user experience – Putting greed ahead of the user experience and Android’s reputation, carriers continue to shovel crapware onto Android handsets – and if you don’t know how to root the device, it’ll be there forever.
Company News:
KillSwitch technology catches brute-force attacks – The use of brute force attacks and the exploitation of easily guessable passwords were responsible for more than half of the major data breaches in 2010. Furthermore, research conducted at Cambridge University revealed that more than 84 percent of top websites including Amazon, eBay and WordPress, do not limit the number of failed login attempts – leaving the sites wide open to brute-force attacks and the guessing or harvesting of usernames and passwords.
ICSA Labs to certify broadband home routers – Hackers are increasingly viewing home routers as a means of gaining access to sensitive personal data. To help combat this threat, ICSA Labs is offering a new program under which manufacturers can have their broadband home routers certified. The program, Managed Broadband Home Router Certification, evaluates a router’s effectiveness in identifying safe versus harmful data, and then in denying access to malicious data.
comScore Accused of Aggressive, Surreptitious Online Data Collection in Lawsuit – Two plaintiffs sued comScore for using highly aggressive tactics to collect large amounts of user information, often from people unaware they are being tracked. The company is also accused of using its data collection software to tamper with user systems and stealing information from saved documents, according to a proposed class-action lawsuit
Google Forfeits $500 Million in Online Drug Ad Settlement – That $500 million represents the revenue Google apparently received from the ads, which were delivered via AdWords, in addition to the revenue those pharmacies collected from domestic buyers. Shipping prescription drugs to U.S. customers from outside the country is a violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and possibly the Controlled Substances Act, the latter depending on the drugs in question.
Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple – Steve JobsSteve Jobs resigned this afternoon as CEO of Apple. In an eight-sentence letter to the Apple board of directors and “the Apple community,” Jobs indicated that he “could no longer meet [his] duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO.” The Apple board quickly elected Jobs chairman and accepted his recommendation to name Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook as his successor.
Off Topic (Sort of):
More managers value emotional intelligence over IQ – Amidst higher stress levels and economic uncertainties, employers are placing greater emphasis on emotional intelligence when hiring new employees and promoting existing ones.
Does Using Facebook Promote Teenage Drug Use? Study Says Yes – Are teens that use social media more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol? Yes, says a new study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.
WikiLeaks to Release 35,000 Cables: What’s Been Revealed So Far – WikiLeaks is about to release 35,000 US State Embassy cables, nearly fifteen percent of the 250,000 or so cables it obtained and began to release last November as part of Cablegate.
Despite hyperbolic punditry the PC and Microsoft are not dead – Despite what you may have heard from over-heated pundits, the PC and Microsoft are not dead nor are they dying. Debra Littlejohn Shinder explains why.
Today’s Quote:
“Isn’t it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?”
– Kelvin Throop III
Today’s Free Downloads:
Hard Drive Eraser – For most people, effectively wiping data involves firing up a free utility Darik’s Boot and Nuke or Hard Drive Eraser. Hard Drive Eraser runs under Windows and lets you selectively wipe individual partitions and drives. Both use the National Industrial Security Program’s DoD 5220-220-M “data sanitization” protocol.
WakeMeOnLan – WakeMeOnLan is a simple tool which enables you to turn on sleeping networked computers by sending them a Wake-on-LAN packet. When you first launch the program it’ll scan your wired network (it can’t be used with wifi), collecting the network name, MAC addresses and other details of everything it finds. Which makes WakeMeOnLan useful as a simple network scanner.
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