Clampi virus prey on big online financial transactions

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“The Clampi virus is pretty scary”

Tim Wilson, editor of Dark Reading, a technology security news site, said of the fast-spreading computer virus.

Clampi, targets on financial accounts that are universally used by businesses. It can download and execute additional malware on to the already infected computer.

While other “banking Trojans” prey on consumers’ online banking accounts, Mikko Hyppönen, senior analyst at anti-virus firm F-Secure says that the creators of Clampi are “are going after bigger fish” — primarily companies.

Slack Auto Parts, a chain of 10 stores in Gainesville, Ga. was one of its victims, losing $75,000 on July 3-7. Henry Slack, the owner, said that Clampi-infected computers sent nine payments to six different mule accounts and failed to transfer an additional $69,000 in eight other attempts.

So how does a computer get infected?

The usual – when a user clicks on a “tainted ” Web page. The infected PC then waits for a user to log into personal accounts such as business and government agencies, and their bank.

It then sets a trap to obtain the user name and password of network administrators who have clearance to access all of an organization’s Windows PCs. It logs on as the administrator, and then spreads companywide, USA Today reports.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2009-07-30-clampi-computer-virus_N.htm

NASA’s Endeavor set to land

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Source: BBC
Source: BBC

After five launch attempts, NASA’s Endeavor finally blasted off into space (literally J) and is now coming home.

The first attempt to touch down at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is scheduled today at 1547 BST (1047 EDT) with the weather forecasted to be favorable for landing in Florida.

The Endeavor crew of seven astronauts took off on July 15 and spent more than 11 days of flying in low-Earth orbit attached to a port on the International Space Station. The mission was scheduled to last 16 days, including the time it took for the shuttle to travel to and from the space station.

The construction mission was carried out successfully having delivered and installed fresh batteries and installing a “porch” for Kibo – Japan’s first human space facility which enhances the unique research capabilities – for science experiments which has been under construction for more than a decade.

Endeavor will come home without US astronaut Tim Kopra, who will become the new station resident, taking the place of Japanese astronaut Kochi Wakata who spent 138 days in space.

Another launch will be made after this. Discovery is scheduled to blast off on August 18 at 0925 BST (0425 EDT).

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8177528.stm

Adobe releases patch for Flash hole

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Adobe just released a patch for a Flash Player problem that could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. Updates are available for most Flash installations on WindowsMac and Linux computers.

The critical vulnerabilities were identified to have affected a file that shipped with Flash Player 9.x and 10.x for Windows, MacOS X, and Linux, and with Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat 9.x for Windows, Macintosh, and Unix.

In a security advisory released yesterday, Adobe said the problem is now fixed and urges users to patch their installations as the company categorized the problem to be a critical issue.

Matt Rozen from Adobe posted a note on Twitter which gave a link that users can access to download the patched version. You can visit the site here.

An article from the Washington Post website also reminds users that they may need to install the update more than once, depending on the number of browsers your computer has.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10300329-83.html

iPhone app developer frustrated with Apple

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How do you get your app approved in the App Store? Or a better question would be, what do you do to make your app stay in the App Store?

The answer would be uhm – who knows?

Probably the Apple guys, that’s for sure. But for the app developer whose application was pulled out after it was already in the App Store for the past four months, he’d have to try better than talking on the phone with Apple’s representatives.

Riverturn’s VoiceCentral application integrates Google’s GrandCentral and Google Voice with the iPhone. It was submitted and approved by Apple. He released updates, and they too were approved. But why was it pulled out?

The removing of the app was done shortly after Apple rejected Google’s Voice app for the iPhone last Tuesday. Perhaps this was the warning bell?

Most upsetting part for the developer however, is that he couldn’t get helpful answers from Apple. In a telephone conversation with the Apple representative who was tasked to inform him about the app being removed, the most common answer from the rep seemed to be “I can’t say.” A blog was posted on Riverturn’s website paraphrasing the call, and here’s an excerpt:

Me (Riverturn): “Can you tell me what portions of the app were duplicate features?”

Richard: “I can’t go into granular detail.”

Me: “Is there something we can change or alter in order to regain compliance and get back in the Store?”

Richard: “I can’t say.”

Me: “Well if we can’t figure out the issue then how will we know whether to resubmit the app. And how will we know whether to invest in any other development efforts? Future apps could be impacted.”

Richard: “I can’t help you with that”

This Richard guy seems pretty chatty, don’t you think? 😉

Oh, the worst part? The developer is now being asked for refund requests from customers. Apparently, Apple gets to keep its 30 percent commission, while the developer has to refund the full amount to whoever bought the app.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10299755-37.html

Apple has had enough with “jailbreakers”

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Who wouldn’t want to have more apps, even the “unauthorized” ones, on their iPhones? More options, more usability, more fun! And so far, doing this is still legal and Apple can’t do anything to stop you from doing it.

The company however, is not taking this sitting down. They have been pressing federal agencies to make jailbreaking illegal. They have recently filed comments with the U.S. Copyright Office (DMCA) stating that the act of jailbreaking your iPhone constitutes copyright violation and can even pose a major security issue.

In response to DMCA’ query as to why they think jailbreaking constitutes a copywrite violation, Apple said that unlocked phones “could potentially allow hackers to remotely crash cell towers, initiate a DOS (Denial of Service) attack and in the worst case scenario, render the cell tower to an useless monolith for considerable amount of time”, TechTree reports.

Also, according to Apple, jailbreaking may cause the phone to be unstable, susceptible to malware and privacy breach and overall degradation in the quality of the cellular network. Lastly, the company claims that jailbreaking lead to the “discouragement of innovation, and damage to Apple’s brand and to its relationship with developers.”

The copyright office is expected to have their final ruling sometime in October.

What do you think? Did Apple give enough justifications?

Source: http://www.techtree.com/India/News/Jailbreaking_is_Evil_Apple/551-104965-893.html

Flying surveillance robot coming soon

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Sci-fi movies have been featuring futuristic gadgets and innovations for as long as I can remember. Some have been far-fetched like showing robots housekeepers roaming around by the year 2005 (which by the way have already gone by four years ago)  in Bicentennial Man or high-tech gadgets in numerous spy movies.

There are however, already many inventions that involves robots and machines that are helpful to the us, the latest is the Aeryon Scout.

So what does it do?

flyer_and_gcs_small_270x236The Aeryon Scout robot is a two-pound flying surveillance robot that has enough on on-board intelligence and stability control to allow it to be flown by people who just point to locations on a Google Map-based interface, CNet reports.

Aeryon Labs President Dave Kroetsch showed the robot the kit in a company pitch which includes a table-based control module and the flying bot. The kit fits in a suitcase-sized crate and can be quickly assembled in the field. The robot then can be told where to go by pointing to a spot on a map. It also has a 5-megapixel cam that can take stills and can stream video back to the control module.

The company plans to sell the robot to private security forces and eventually to police departments. They are also eying future buyers that include the military, contructons (for site surveys) and other public safety application. The cost? A whooping $50,000 for one kit.  🙂

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10299166-250.html

Windows 7 activation hacked, rumors say

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Not even available in the market, and its already hacked. Well, it comes not as a surprise when hackers have become more and more intelligent in breaking protections and deciphering codes.

The final code for Windows 7 which was just released to manufacturers is now reportedly facing a security risk, according to variety of forums and as first reported by Neowin.com. Rumors say that the Windows Genuine Advantage antipiracy system in the Windows 7 Ultimate release to manufacturers (RTM) has reportedly been compromised by Chinese hackers, allowing a user to fully activate the software offline without having to connect to Microsoft’s activation server.

The software’s RTM code is the same as the retail code. These codes are released earlier to PC makers to give them time to get ready by the launch date, which is set on October.

Hackers, through the leaked ISO file, were able to get a hold of the activation cert that Microsoft digitally signed for the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) version of Windows 7.

Microsoft isn’t unaware of the situation though. In a statement they released to CNet News, they assured customers that they are busy doing whatever they can to put a stop on this.

We are aware of reports of activation exploits that attempt to circumvent activation and validation in Windows 7, and we can assure customers that Microsoft is committed to protecting them from counterfeit and pirated software. Microsoft strongly advises customers not to download Windows 7 from unauthorized sources. Downloading Windows 7 from peer-to-peer Web sites exposes users to increased risks–such as viruses, Trojans, and other malware and malicious code–that usually accompany counterfeit software. These risks can seriously harm or permanently destroy data and often expose users to identity theft and other criminal schemes.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10299051-83.html

An app for your wrecked car

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It’s a wonder how these developers can seem to think of apps to whet the customer’s appetite for new apps.

Nationwide, an insurance provider, has launched an iPhone app called Nationwide Mobile (free) that basically comes in handy when er…you’ve just an accident. 😉

The app allows users to capture detailed info about the car accident like taking pictures of the scene and the accident’s location. It will also let you call police for help, a tow truck, an authorized repair facility and a Nationwide agent close to you, reports ZDNet. It also includes a handy flashlight app in case you’ve had an accident at night.

Don’t go crashing your car though just to test out the app. It’s not even worth thinking about it. Lol.

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=4533

Number of fake antivirus on the Web increases

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Naturally, you’d want your PC protected from viruses and malware right? So the first thing you’d do (if you still don’t have one) is find an antivirus software. But what if the antivirus software you found to solve the problem IS the problem?

Nowadays, that’s not very unlikely to happen. A report released from PandaLab says that malware posing as antivirus software is infecting tens of millions each month.

PandaLabs, an international network of research and technical support centers who help users by protecting them against viruses, found 111,000 samples of fake antivirus software last year and that number has grown to 374,000 at present.

The fake antivirus software that issues false warnings of infections in order to get people to pay for software they don’t need.

When asked, Luis Corrons, the technical director of PandaLabs said in an interview, “”We’ve created a specific team to deal with this.”

Not to interest you in pursuing a career in making fake antivirus software or anything, but a Finjan report from March has estimated that distributors of those antivirus software are raking in cash of around $10,000 monthly. Not bad huh? 😉

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-325914.html

Yahoo and Microsoft unveils a 10-year partnership

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The two web giants just announced Wednesday that they will unite and work together to face one common competitor.

The 10-year term will still be subject to review by US anti-trust regulators but is expected to close in the early part of 2010.

According to a report from AFP, under the no-cash deal, Yahoo will be able to use Microsoft’s search engine Bing on its own sites and will act as Microsoft’s exclusive global sales force for their premium search advertisers.

Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10-year license to Yahoo’s core search technologies and will be able to integrate them into their own existing Web search platforms.

“This agreement comes with boatloads of value for Yahoo!, our users, and the industry,” said Carol Bartz, Yahoo’s new chief executive. “I believe it establishes the foundation for a new era of Internet innovation and development.”

Microsoft’s camp also has only good words for the partnership.

“This really is a win-win agreement both for Microsoft and Yahoo!,” Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said. “Through this agreement with Yahoo!, we will create more innovation in search, better value for advertisers, and real consumer choice in a market currently dominated by a single company.”

Care to warrant a guess what that “single” company is? 😉

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090729/tc_afp/usitcompanyinternetyahoomicrosoftgoogle

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