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Security News and Issues

Each day owning a computer and maintaining it online becomes more of a challenge. Security is a major concern to computer users. SaferPC brings you Security News and Issues of interest to security conscious PC users.

     
 Title   Date   Author   Host 

Fergie's Tech Blog: Sony DRM CDs infect Macs, too
fergdawg.blogspot.com
by Paul Ferguson
November 10, 2005

Simon sez, "On Macintouch today, Darren Dittrich reports that Sony's DRM software targets Macs too. Digging into the "enhanced" content on the disk, he found a Start.app that, when run, shows a license agreement, then asks you for an admin password. On en

Note that these aren't the rootkits that infect Windows PCs -- Sony's Mac crippleware comes from a different vendor called Suncomm.

Canadians to grow 1918 virus
CanWest MediaWorks (Canada)
by Margaret Munro
November 10, 2005

Scientists at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg plan to resurrect the virus that caused the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, a development that has led to calls for international oversight and control of the dreaded microbe.

The Canadian researchers plan to bring the virus to life using pieces of DNA containing the genetic recipe for the virus, said Dr. Frank Plummer, scientific director of the lab. The virus will be recreated inside living cells, then harvested and used to infect animals in an attempt to identify what made the virus so virulent.

Microsoft turns bounty hunter to fight IT crime
VNU Network (UK)
by Daniel Thomas
November 2, 2005

While the internet is providing new opportunities for businesses and consumers, its success is also making it a lucrative ground for criminals.

Organised crime syndicates and individual hackers are exposing flaws in IT products and consumer knowledge to steal money. Microsoft, the world's biggest software organisation, is a prime target for criminals trying to exploit vulnerabilities in its technology to launch viruses, compromise computers and plant money-stealing trojans.

Cyber Crime: Feds Targeting Sexual Exploitation of Kids
The Conservative Voice
by Jim Kouri, CPP
October 31, 2005

The Innocent Images National Initiative, a part of the FBI's Cyber Crimes Program, is an intelligence driven, proactive, multi-agency investigative initiative to combat the proliferation of child pornography.

The IINI provides centralized coordination and analysis of case information that by its very nature is national and international in scope, requiring unprecedented coordination with state, local, and international governments, and among FBI field offices across the country.

Fake grenade causes evacuations, flight delays at SoCal airport
Sign On San Diego (CA)
October 21, 2005

ONTARIO - A fake grenade packed in a suitcase spurred security officials to evacuate part of a terminal at Ontario International Airport, resulting in missed flights and flight delays, authorities said.

The chrome, pineapple-shaped device was spotted by security screeners about 6 a.m. Thursday. Its owner told police it was only a car gear shift knob, but the bomb squad was called in as a precaution to detonate it.

Bill Gates dumps dollar for euro
Sebi Meyer
October 19, 2005

The dollar’s downward trend has not been broken since I wrote a column about the subject in December.

In fact, the trend seems to be accelerating. Bill Gates openly stated yesterday he is pulling out of the dollar and is instead investing in euros.

MySpace hacked: Samy is my Hero
fast.info
October 13, 2005

An aquaintance of mine recently managed within 24 hours to become the most popular civilian on myspace with the help of a clever bit of viral javascript imbedded into his myspace page.

Let's see here...what would make my profile rock. Well, the most popular profiles on myspace pretty much consist of people with the limited english skills so I don't want to mimic those, but popularity begets popularity. I need some more friends. I need people to love me. I delved in and found that I could basically control the web browsing of anyone who hit my profile. In fact, I was able to develop something that caused anyone who viewed my profile to add my name to their profile's list of heroes. I was ecstatic. But it wasn't enough. I needed more. So I went deeper. A Chipotle burrito and a few clicks later, anyone who viewed my profile who wasn't already on my friends list would inadvertently add me as a friend. Without their permission. I had conquered myspace. Veni, vidi, vici.

Indian Call Centers May No Longer Be Worth the Trouble
Outsourcing Pipeline
by Paul McDougall
October 11, 2005

While offshoring call center work to India can save businesses millions, the practice can very quickly become a boondoggle if quality of service slips. The latest example of this came last week when a British Telecom executive called those customers who c

With those words, Bushell flunked marketing 101. She is effectively blaming the customer for a problem of BT's own making. How else does she expect customers to respond if they're forced to deal with an agent who, in the worst case, is unintelligible and, in the best case, is restricted to walking callers through a forest of scripted responses that may have little bearing on the problem at hand' This isn't just an issue for BT. In my own experience of late, I've noticed a sharp decline in the English proficieny of the Indian call center workers I deal with in my daily life. I think the reason is fairly obvious. More and more businesses are rushing to place call center work in India but the country's supply of workers capable of conversing freely in English as it is spoken in the West is limited. More and more, Indians with marginal English skills are being put into customer facing call center positions with predictable results--frustration at both ends of the call. This bodes ill for the growth of the Indian call center industry. IT outsourcing to the country will continue to skyrocket because technical work is not as dependent on language and heavy accents don't matter so much when writing, say, a Web services application. But call center work is quite different. As more and more businesses receive complaints about poor customer service from India, I suspect many of them will reevaluate whether the savings are worth it. There are plenty of middle-cost areas where English is the first language, such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, or middle America, that may provide better overall value for a company's call center dollar. Those are places with which Meryl Bushell and BT should become more familiar, instead of just blaming their customers for refusing to accept poor service.

Guy who was busted "for using lynx" found guilty
boingboing.net
by Cory Doctorow
October 6, 2005

Now the "lynx user" has been found guilty of unlawful intrusion, and has changed his story. He says that he wasn't just using nonstandard browser, but that'd he'd also probed the system when his attempt to make a donation had failed and he got a suspicion

Stephen de Vries sez, "The details of this case are important to understand exactly how absurd the verdict was. What Daniel actually did to 'knock on the door' was to insert a ../../../ character sequence into the web address and a single quote into the credit card field - THROUGH HIS BROWSER. He did not use any attack 'tools' or 'probes' other than Internet Explorer. Furthermore, typing these sequences into a browser does not an attack make - it only proves that a website may be vulnerable. It takes a hell of a lot more effort to actually gain any form of unauthorized access to the site. Daniel did none of this, he only typed the sequences and watched the responses - and don't forget, he actually donated the £30 p towards the fund using his real credit card and personal details.

Preschoolers Overlooked In TMI Emergency Plans, Memo Says
zwire.com
October 5, 2005

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ Preschool children in day care and nursery schools are at risk of being left behind...

should an emergency be declared at any of Pennsylvania's five nuclear power stations, according to a memo written by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission engineer.

     

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