CompuWorld

Beware: Malware Will Delete All Your MP3 Collection!

Hackers who created this malware must have been very nasty else why would someone spend nights in order to create a malware which goes on to delete the computers mp3 files. Yes that is true!

A recent article on computerworld suggests that the creators of this malware are more likely to be teenage mischief-makers than the organized criminal gangs we typically see authoring financially motivated malware these days.

Symantec Corp., which calls the worm W32.Deletemusic, said in an advisory that the worm copies itself to all drives on a PC. It also creates an autorun file to start itself whenever a user accesses a drive.

The worm affects PCs running Windows 2000, 95, 98, Me, NT, Server 2003, XP and Vista, Symantec said. To block potential problems users could disable the autorun feature in Windows that automatically launches programs on CDs or USB drives.

Users could also exercise caution by holding down the SHIFT for a few seconds in order to deactivate the Autorun function when they plug in USB sticks or other removable media to their computers or when they insert a disk. Users should also make regular backups for their critical data by burning DVDs or using automated backup tools.

More:
Making of MP3
Must Read Hacking Tips To Be Safe
Use Google Video To Hack Password
YouTube Could Be Used To Hack Computer

Technorati Tags: Deletemp3, malware, worm

Labels: bugs found, security

Internet Explorer Hit With Another Vulenrability

Labels: bugs found, ie, microsoft

Warning: Google Video Could Be Used To Hack Your Password

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Warning: YouTube Could Be Used To Hack Your Computer

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IITk Website Hacked

[Click Images To Enlarge Them]

Indian Institute Of Technology, Kanpur (IITk), which is considered to be the best engineering institute of India and its teaching methodologies are recognized world wide, had its website hacked few days back by probably a McDonald Fan. When you click on the above images to see the enlarged view you will find (marked with red arrows and color) the changes which the hacker made. The hack not only displays the knowledge of hacker but it also shows how innovative the hacker is. IITk website was soon brought back to its normal form as the authorities came to know about it but my classmate Sudhanshu was quick to take its screenshot. Thank You to him.

NOTE: My intention behind posting this article is just to show to Internet users the innovation the hacker used and by no means I am challenging the name of IITs which I know will always remain the best. I love IITs.

Labels: bugs found, fun

WARNING: Yahoo Messenger 8.0 & Above Highly Vulnerable To Attacks

Yahoo messenger, the most famous chatting messenger available is again providing open vector for hackers to gain access to your system and that too with minimal user interaction.

Labels: bugs found, yahoo

Google Desktop Vulnerable To Attack

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Google Behaving Awkwardly

[click to enlarge]

Labels: bugs found, google

US Census Bureau Helps Hackers By Posting 63,000 Social Security Numbers Online

Government officials removed the data from the Web site on April 13, the day they were alerted to the breach by an Illinois farmer who discovered the numbers while surfing the Internet. They did not publicize the matter until yesterday, saying they needed the delay to enable information-security officials to contact those whose numbers were revealed and to contact "at least a half-dozen" mirror sites.

"We take full responsibility for this and offer no excuses for it," said Terri Teuber, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "We absolutely do not think it was appropriate."

A watchdog group countered that officials tried to suppress the news.

"The bottom line is the government screwed up," said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch. "What's really important is that they now try to rectify the problem. Thousands of research groups have copies of this site."

Government officials said they knew of no misuse of the personal data, but the breach underscores the ease with which such data can be exposed in the digital age.

Labels: bugs found

Linux Kernel IPv6 Sockets DoS Vulnerability

A kernel vulnerability has been found today by Masayuki Nakagawa, which can be exploited by local attackers to cause a denial of service (DoS) attack.

Labels: bugs found, linux, security, tips tricks and hacks

"Google Advisory" Points To Broken Link & Expects You To Learn About Computer Security From It

While searching for a keyword in Google which might lead to some harmful website Google first displays a Warning page as shown in above image. That is Google's way of fighting malware on Internet. Fine!

Now while searching for winantivirus pro on Google the first link as usual led me to the google advisory page and suggested me NOT to visit the website. That page asked me to visit StopBadware.org (the actual broken link) to learn about harmful web content and to secure my computer. But this actually led me to a broken link page of stopbadware's website.

So, good to see that Google is fighting with harmful web content they are missing out with something. They want there readers to learn about harmful web content and how to secure there computers from a "broken link"? I am in a state to say . . . nothing.

Labels: bugs found, google

Scary Vulnerabilities In IE7 And Firefox 2.0

This is scary. I could see my boot.ini file online? Huh. The common vulnerability makes it clear that the flaw in programming could be used for some dangerous works over the Internet.

Labels: bugs found, firefox, firefox tips, ie, microsoft

Vulnerability In Versions 7.08 And Earlier Of Adobe Reader And Acrobat

A vulnerability has been reported in Adobe Reader. It is caused due to an unspecified error when processing pdf files.

Adobe Reader on Windows
Adobe strongly recommends upgrading to Adobe Reader 8, available from the following site:
http://www.adobe.com/go/getreader.

Users with Adobe Reader 7.0 through 7.0.8, who cannot upgrade to Reader 8, should upgrade to Reader 7.0.9. Adobe Reader 7.0.9 is available as a full installation package and not a patch. It can be installed on top of any older version of Reader 7 and user preferences will be preserved:
http://www.adobe.com/go/getreader.

If customers are using Adobe Reader 6.0–6.0.5 and are unable to upgrade to version 8 or 7.0.9 due to Operating System constraints for example, Adobe recommends upgrading to version 6.0.6 either via a series of patches from: http://www.adobe.com/downloads or by using the auto-update mechanism within the product when prompted.

Adobe Reader on Mac OS
Adobe strongly recommends upgrading to Adobe Reader 8, available from the following site: http://www.adobe.com/go/getreader.

Users with Adobe Reader 7.0 through 7.0.8, who cannot upgrade to Reader 8, should upgrade to Reader 7.0.9. The Reader 7.0.9 update requires that Adobe Reader 7.0.8 is installed on your Mac system. To determine which version of Adobe Reader is installed, choose Adobe Reader > About Adobe Reader. The version number appears in the upper left corner below the Adobe Reader logo.

If version 7.0.8 is installed, download and install this incremental patch.
After downloading the update file, double-click it to begin the update process and access the file's contents.

If version 7.0, 7.0.1, 7.0.2, 7.0.3, 7.0.5, 7.0.7 or an earlier version of Reader is installed and customers cannot update to Reader 8, Adobe recommends that customers download the full Adobe Reader 7.0.9 installer from the Reader download page.

Adobe Acrobat on Windows or Mac OS
For version 7.0–7.0.8, users should utilize the product's automatic update facility. The default installation configuration runs automatic updates on a regular schedule, and can be manually activated by choosing Help > Check For Updates Now. Alternatively, the update files can also be manually downloaded and installed from www.adobe.com/downloads.

If customers are using Adobe Acrobat 6.0–6.0.5 for Windows and are unable to upgrade to version 8 or 7.0.9 due to Operating System constraints for example, Adobe recommends upgrading to Windows version 6.0.6 either via a series of patches from: http://www.adobe.com/downloads or by using the auto-update mechanism within the product when prompted.

Adobe Reader on UNIX
For version 7.0, users should upgrade to Adobe Reader 7.0.9 from http://www.adobe.com/go/getreader.

For versions prior to 7.0, users should upgrade to 7.0.9 http://www.adobe.com/go/getreader.

Server-side workarounds for website operators
Adobe has provided workarounds for website operators to prevent the cross-site scripting vulnerability (CVE-2007-0045) from the server side. Please review Security Advisory APSA07-02 for more information.

Labels: adobe, bugs found, security, tips tricks and hacks

Vulnerability In MS Office Could Give Access To Your Computer

Microsoft and vulnerabilities have a relationship similar to a company boss and the subordinates. They hate each other but they cannot leave each other too. The fifth zero-day unpatched vulnerability has been confirmed by Microsoft.

Related Softwares:
Microsoft Office 2000, Microsoft Office XP, Microsoft Office 2003, and Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac are the softwares found vulnerable.

What can cause the vulnerability:
When a user opens a specially crafted Office file using a malformed string, it may corrupt system memory in such a way that an attacker could execute arbitrary code.

Labels: bugs found, microsoft, security, tips tricks and hacks

25th Birthday of Virus

First thought: "25 years? Aaaah I'm old!"

Fortunately I still regularly get the feeling I had back when I wrote cloner.

"Why did I do it", a reporter asked. "Was it malicious?"

No, not malicious. It was a practical joke combined with a hack. A wonderful hack.

Back then nothing was networked. We had these computers in a lab, and there was software for them on floppy disks. You stick in the disk and run the software. Simple.

The aha moment was when I realized I could essentially get my program to move around by itself. I could give it its own motive force, by having it hide in the resident RAM of the machine between floppy changes, and hitching a ride onto the next floppy that would be inserted. Whoa. That would be cool.

Insight without implementation is worthless, so to work I went.

 Elk Cloner:  The program with a personality

It will get on all your disks
It will infiltrate your chips
 Yes it's Cloner!

It will stick to you like glue
It will modify RAM too

 Send in the Cloner!

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Labels: announcements, bugs found, security

Hackers Attack Gorbachevs Web site

There you go, another victim of hacking for revenge.

Hackers attacked the Web site of a foundation run by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, accusing him of brutally suppressing a pro-independence demonstration in Soviet Azerbaijan in 1990.

The perpetrators posted photographs of the suppressed rally on the Web site and published an open letter to the former leader, blaming him for the deaths of more 130 people — a tragedy known in Azerbaijan as the Black January.

The site was down by Saturday afternoon.

Fueled by the conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region inside Azerbaijan populated mostly by ethnic Armenians, pogroms broke out against Armenians in Azerbaijan's capital Baku in January 1990, forcing Soviet troops to intervene and evacuate many Armenians.

Thousands rallied in Baku demanding the ouster of communist officials and independence from the Soviet Union, causing Soviet troops to storm the capital late at night on Jan. 19, 1990.

Shootings and violent clashes lasted several days, leaving 134 people dead and more than 770 wounded. International rights groups said the force used against the demonstrators was excessive and disproportionate.

Azerbaijan gained independence in 1991 after the Soviet collapse.

Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, Gorbachev maintains an active public life running the Gorbachev Foundation — an organization that deals with international issues including globalization, security, weapons of mass destruction, environmental and natural resources and poverty.

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Labels: announcements, bugs found

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