Technology News: Exploits & Vulnerabilities

China Scrambles to Repair Crumbling Green Dam

Monday - June 15, 2009

For years, China's government has kept the country's Internet surfers on a very short leash. Censors attempt to block any content considered immoral, which could be anything from pornography to politically charged blog posts. Its latest plan is to order the installation of filtering software directly into all personal computers. While that software may shut Internet users out of certain corners of the Web, it could also leave doors wide open for malicious hackers, according to J. Alex Halderman's students at the University of Michigan. [More...]

Windows 7 Beta to Stay Alive Until July

Tuesday - May 26, 2009

Early adopters of Microsoft's next operating system won't face debilitating bi-hourly shutdowns or be forced to clean-install the release candidate until July 1, despite an email that went out over the holiday weekend setting a June 1 deadline. The date for the shutdowns to begin is actually July 1, a month before the Windows 7 beta program expires. [More...]

Phishers Cast Lures Into Facebook's Social Stream

Friday - May 15, 2009

A new wave of phishing and spamming attacks is hitting Facebook users as scammers attempt to get hold of their passwords, the social networking site has acknowledged. Similar phishing and spamming scams -- in which messages supposedly from their friends lure victims to a malicious Web site -- have been occurring with greater intensity since the end of April. [More...]

Top Cybersecurity Official Spurs White House to Take Lead

Thursday - April 23, 2009

The woman who conducted a 60-day, top-to-bottom review of U.S. cybersecurity policy has said there needs to be more leadership on the issue from the very top -- the Obama White House. Melissa Hathaway, acting senior director for cyberspace for the National Security and Homeland Security councils, provided plenty of discussion material Wednesday for those attending the 2009 RSA Conference in San Francisco. [More...]

Disappearance of Books and Movies Shoves Amazon Into Tight Corner

Tuesday - April 14, 2009

What is worse: to be accused of prejudice, or accused of incompetence? In the e-commerce world, where how well one safeguards one's customer data is paramount to any reputation, taking a hit on the latter is a bitter pill to swallow. That is better, though, than to be viewed as a company that would deliberately and stealthily delist gay-themed books and movies, among other materials, from its sales ranks. [More...]

Conficker Twitch Leaves Security Sleuths With More Mysteries to Solve

Thursday - April 9, 2009

On Tuesday, computers infected by the Conficker worm woke up and downloaded a new variant. Named "Worm.Downad.E" by Trend Micro, "Conficker.AQ" by antivirus vendor Eset and "Trojan-Dropper.Win32.Kido.o" by antivirus vendor Kaspersky Labs, this new variant has left many security threat researchers bewildered. One conundrum: They don't know why it has a kill switch that apparently kicks in on May 3. [More...]

Exiled Tibetan Leaders Decry Malware Attack

Sunday - April 5, 2009

Tibet's government-in-exile denounced a cyber-spy network last week for hacking into the organization's computers, while a scholar said the sophisticated operation may have helped identify those inside Tibet who speak to exile groups. The exiled Tibetans were commenting on reports by a Canadian research group that the network, based mainly in China, hacked into classified documents from government and private organizations. [More...]

Conficker Fears Create Fertile Ground for Other Scammers

Tuesday - March 31, 2009

You Googled "Conficker," and you read the stories about the computer worm that's vexing security researchers around the world. Your fears about your own PC soon hit critical mass, so you then Google "how to detect/remove Conficker." What you get is the latest example of social engineering; in attempting to run away from one bit of nasty malware, you could head right into the arms of another. [More...]

Security Sleuths Work Overtime to Confound Conficker

Monday - March 30, 2009

Corporate network administrators can breathe a little easier as the world braces itself for what could be a massive Internet attack courtesy of the Conficker worm on April 1. International non-profit research organization The Honeynet Project, which works on Internet security, has come up with a new scanner to detect the worm on networks. [More...]

A Week of Memory, Malware, MacBooks and Marble

Friday - March 27, 2009

It's been a relatively quiet week for the Apple-focused blogosphere. Apple did announce the dates for its Worldwide Developers Conference, which is set for June 8-12 in San Francisco. WWDC just so happens to the be the venue in which Apple is widely expected to release its next version of Mac OS X -- "Snow Leopard" -- which may be prettier than expected. [More...]

Report: Security Holes Could Wreak Havoc in Proposed Smart Grid

Monday - March 23, 2009

It is supposed to revolutionize the way electricity is delivered and managed. It has $4.5 billion targeted for it in the Obama economic stimulus package. However, the so-called smart grid, as it is being developed today, won't be able to outsmart hackers looking to damage the U.S.'s utility infrastructure, according to a Seattle-based security firm. [More...]

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