Mobile linux news

2008 08 28

The Latest Windows Security Mess (Digest)

Proprietary Innovation Strikes Again

There are two stories posted on Linux Today that I knew I was going to rant about as soon as I saw them: Nominum Solves Kaminsky Attack, and Novell's iPrint Open to Attack, Say Researchers. What do these stories have in common? I was thinking perhaps institutionalized delusional thinking and incompetence, but maybe I'm being too harsh. [...] Lest anyone think I am being too mean to poor old defenseless Novell and Microsoft, I recall ActiveX security advisories almost from its inception back in 1996 or so. What has changed since then, twelve years later? Nothing, as this random recent security bulletin shows: "Microsoft has released Security Advisory (955179) to describe attacks on a vulnerability in the Microsoft Office Snapshot Viewer ActiveX control. Because no fix is currently available for this vulnerability, please see the Security Advisory and US-CERT Vulnerability Note VU#837785 for workarounds." So we need to revise the popular "fool me once" saying: Fool me once, shame on you Fool me twice, shame on me Fool me thousands of times over many years...let's get married!" Now why is it again that corporate participation is important to FOSS?

http://s5h.net/u?zf0cba
Lawyer Falls Prey to Pricey Internet Scam

Atlanta securities lawyer Gregory Bartko said he is the victim of an Internet fraud scheme that is apparently targeting law firms throughout the country and the banks where lawyers have their escrow accounts. As a result, Bartko is now a defendant in a federal suit by Wachovia Bank -- which is seeking reimbursement for nearly $200,000 that the bank wired, on Bartko's instructions, to a Korean bank on behalf of a company that had hired Bartko via the Internet. [...] On April 11, shortly after 10 a.m., Bartko returned to Wachovia and arranged to wire $192,530 to the Woori Bank. Three days later, on April 14, Bartko said he discovered that his escrow account reflected a debit of $197,530.

http://s5h.net/u?z58609
Hackers resort to 'sick' kidnap spam

The security firm is warning users that emails entitled 'We have hijacked your baby' are being sent to Web users around the globe. As well as asking for a US$50,000 ransom for the 'release' of the child, the messages also contain an attachement supposed to be a photograph of the child. Instead the file actually contains a deadly Trojan Horse that will steal personal information.

http://s5h.net/u?z4126
"Spam will be a thing of the past in two years’ time." --Bill Gates, 2004 "There are no significant bugs in our released software that any significant number of users want fixed." --Bill Gates, 1995 "The Internet? We are not interested in it." --Bill Gates, 1993 "Like almost everyone who uses e-mail, I receive a ton of spam every day. Much of it offers to help me get out of debt or get rich quick. It would be funny if it weren't so irritating." --Bill Gates Recent: What is the speed of spam? 7.8 billion messages per hour!

Spam volumes have doubled, and the Srizbi botnet alone was seen to be capable of pumping out an astonishing 7.8 billion messages an hour. That is probably worth repeating: 7.8 BILLION spams every single hour!

http://s5h.net/u?z46e7