internet security software Information and Resources

Another IE 7 pop-up security flaw discovered
Browser vulnerability could enable malicious attackers to alter content in a trusted site's pop-up window.

At 30, crypto still lacks usability, experts say
Government controls held back cryptography in the past, but today usability blocks adoption. Microsoft's Ray Ozzie promises a fix.
Photos: Crypto anniversary

Did worm infect Alaska candidates' site?
A husband-wife team running in the state's governor's race blame a hacker for infecting their election Web site with a virus.

RFID passports take off
Despite security and privacy concerns, all but three of the countries required by the U.S. to issue passports with radio tags are doing so.

Linux guru warns on security of open-source code
Veteran developer Alan Cox cautions that hackers are trying hard to break open-source code and that many projects are far from secure.

Symantec earnings, outlook come in at low end
Security software maker cites disappointing sales in Europe as big weakness in the second quarter.

Mozilla rebuts Firefox 2 bug reports
A pair of security flaw reports are "just noise" and don't present any real risk to Firefox users, Mozilla says.

Spoofing bug found in IE 7
Security experts find weakness in browser that could help crooks mask the type of attack it was designed to thwart.
Image: IE 7 spoofing bug

DVD Jon, DoubleTwist crack Apple's FairPlay
Q&A DVD Jon and partner Monique Farantzos work to break through the wall Apple has put up around iPod and iTunes.

Brokerages lose millions in hacker onslaught
Trading sites are paying out millions of dollars to make good losses by customers hit by spyware-wielding scammers.

Scary malware tricks part 1
In keeping with the Halloween season, I'm starting a series on scary malware tricks, similar to last year's series on spyware tricks. Perhaps my personal focus has changed, but it seems to me spyware tricks are becoming far more devious and destructive.  Last year I was testing mostly adware, whereas this year I'm testing more [...]

Edelman on ‘Deceptive Door Openers’ and Ask toolbars
In a new article posted this morning, Ben Edelman continues his investigation of high-profile companies clogging users' computers with junk.  Today's target: InterActiveCorp's Ask.com, known for its widespread "smiley" toolbars.Last year I blogged about Ask's various toolbars and the trinkets Ask uses to get users to install them.  But Ben thinks there's a bigger problem here.  [...]

Is Zango stealing affiliate commissions from adult webmasters?
It seems that Zango, formerly known as 180solutions, the company we all love to hate, has royally ticked off a bunch of adult webmasters. Paperghost, aka Chris Boyd, has the story, complete with links to forums where the adult webmasters discuss Zango allegedly stealing affiliate commissions.  True?  I don't know, but considering some of Zango/180solutions' past questionable business practices, [...]

So what about user education on security?
CNET's Joris Evers writes about one security expert who says education users on computer security in the enterprise setting is "pointless".  Doctoral candidate Stefan Gorling, speaking at the Virus Bulletin Conference, said:"I don't believe user education will solve problems with security because security will always be a secondary goal for users," Gorling said. "In order [...]

Malware being spammed as PDF from retail stores
Reports surfaced today of spam purporting to be from Dell, Walmart, Circuit City or Sony confirming an order for a Sony Vaio computer with a PDF attachment, but the attachment is, in fact, a very nasty piece of malware named Haxdoor. Text of email:Subject: Order ID : 37679041Dear Customer,Thank you for ordering from our internet shop. If [...]

MVP awards, Messenger Plus! and adware — a good combination?
A controversy has been raging in certain circles the last few days over a MVP award, which has now been rescinded, to an adware pusher known as Patchou, Cyril Paciullo, the author of Messenger Plus!. There's a lot of nonsense going around and I'd like to clear some of that up.

Spyware pushers cash in big on zero day exploit
Nearly 50 malware threats being installed though the VML zero day exploit, including familiar names like Virtumonde, BookedSpace, webHancer, SurfSideKick, Qoologic (also known as Qoolaid), Zenotecnico, TagAsaurus, with some trojan downloaders and a backdoor thrown in the mix. Many of these use affiliate programs where the affiliate gets paid per install, so somewhere affiliates of these adware/spyware companies are making a killing off this zero day exploit, trashing computers with their crapware.

Should anti-spyware programs remove cookies?
Spyware expert Ben Edelman has written a great piece on anti-spyware programs and cookies. He tested eleven different anti-spyware programs against cookies from 50 advertising systems and posted detailed results including which anti-spyware programs detected which cookies and which programs detected the most cookies.

DollarRevenue adware pushed through bot net for huge profits
German Honeynet Project researchers report that adware company DollarRevenue is directly linked to a bot net attack exploiting the MS06-040 server service vulnerability reported last month. Bot net trackers estimate that one malicious hacker alone earned 0 in one day by installing malware/adware programs on infected machines.