All Posts by Paul

Pirate Bay Get’s bought by Warner Bro’s –(April Fools???)

Paul

wb-tpb-love

Torrent Freak just released this information:

[ad#cricket-right-ez]In the press release, both groups gave a positive outlook to the deal. “The Pirate Bay team has built an exciting and powerful media platform that complements Warner Bros’s mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” said Jim Kjeyzer, Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros.”

This probably won’t go well with the Pirate Bay users because of the fact that most of them liked the idea of having a place to hide and not be monitored. What will people do now?

As for some this seems to be an April Fools Joke, I think it might be but I am unsure as how real this is. I will keep up to date on this situation and find out for sure. We should know something April 1, 2009 4:30pm EST. I will have more information to follow. Do you think this is a Joke or Do you think this Real? I will let the readers decided!!

*Update 4/1/09 at 8 pm EST

Looks like it was an very good april fools joke.  I haven’t seen any press releases and Piratebay changes the homepage back to normal.  I’m going to conclude that it didn’t happen.  I thought it might be but wasn’t sure.

Mac Users aren’t Immune, so stop broadcasting “You’re glad you have a MAC”

Paul

With the Conficker going on right now, I am seeing more and more Tweets about Mactwitconficker and

twitconficker

[ad#cricket-right-ez]

Now I might not know a lot but this type of Smug confidence will be the downfall of the Mac’s in the coming years.  I have to ask do you not expect to get a virus at ALL?    You see when a company like Apple starts to get above a certain degree in the eyes of the hackers.  They will become a target, not a big target but a target.

In one of my post I talk about [intlink id=”2173″ type=”post”]Mac’s and Botnet[/intlink], you should really read it.  It talks about why Apple will become the next fail whale.    Some other Articles to Consider are:

And So I went into Google to see the trends for “Mac Virus” and Here is what I seen:

Mac Virus Google Trend

As you can tell Mac’s Virus and Maleware are on the rise.  This doesn’t mean you have to worry about the Conficker worm, but you have to Worry.  Most Apple Users are over confident that they will never get a virus or maleware on there system to the point that they will install it because they think they won’t get it.   I’ve seen in the past where Mac users are [intlink id=”2801″ type=”post”]download programs illegally[/intlink] just because they think they are not going to a Virus or Maleware.

It just gets me going when I constantly see people post about how they have a Mac.  I guess that Mac Ads are working but soon very soon they will change.    Although the mentality of the Mac not getting a virus is so god like that one day something like the Conficker worm will hit Mac’s exclusively because of the attitude of users.  Should Mac’s get anti-virus software, has been asked so many times in the past months that it makes me wonder.  Who has made this happen in the first place?  I’d have to point to Apple.  I don’t agree with there MAC Tax when it comes to buying a computer and will never pay for a mac.  So the next time I see people broadcasting they are glad they have a mac, I’ll just have to send them to this page!!  No Operating system is 100% secure or safe, even Linux systems can have viruses.

Just Google Conficker and you’d be surprise

Paul

Countdown to March First is on it’s way or already depending on your location and People have been sending tweets about the 60 Minutes coverage of the Conficker:

conflickermarch

As you can tell over the last week Google trends is showing a mountain of people looking for this information.  I am so glad the media has talked about this but it has mad a hysteria or frenzy of people trying to find information on this little worm or some are calling a virus.

[ad#cricket-right-ez]

Now I must remind you that [intlink id=”2715″ type=”post”]Conficker.a[/intlink], [intlink id=”2754″ type=”post”]Conflicker.B[/intlink], [intlink id=”3214″ type=”post”]Conficker.C[/intlink], and [intlink id=”3236″ type=”post”]Conficker.D[/intlink] are the only worms or viruses out there and that you should really [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]protect yourself from every virus[/intlink] because there are more viruses or worms out there than this one.

There are several Free Anti-virus options Available:

  • Clamwin — I’ve been trying this one out over the past month and it seems to work just as good as the others.

  • Avast Home Edition — AVG does better than this one but people seem to like this so I have to add this for people who like this better than the others.

  • AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.5.283 — This is another free one that can remove viruses really easily. Download this and you don’t have to worry to much.

  • Avira Antivirus — This is a free anti virus software that some people like.  I like AVG myself, it’s all user preference on which one you want to use.

As you can tell I have sever options available in my [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]Malware Resource page[/intlink] for you to use this is just a few that can be helpful when trying to protect your system.  With Conflicker disabling your windows update and if you have a lot of systems you need to update your patches, I’d go with [intlink id=”2883″ type=”post”]Autopatche[/intlink]r this little program will help install the necessary Windows updates.  You should follow Microsoft advice when you are trying to fix the your system with regards to the Conflicker.    Remember this is not the only computer threat out on the internet but be vigilant with where you go and what you.   You are the last line of defense when it comes to protecting your money, your identity, and you computer.

Although if you have a lot of systems that your are worried has the conflicker worm, Arstechnica released information on easily detecting this worm.  This looks like a positive step in stoping this worm.

Conficker Discussion Part 2 – Even more stuff to talk about

Paul

We’ve heard in the[intlink id=”3214″ type=”post”] coming days there will be an update for the Conficker.C Worm[/intlink] and Microsoft has Released even more information about it: For Instance:
[ad#cricket-right-ez]

Win32/Conficker.C is a worm that infects other computers across a network by exploiting a vulnerability in the Windows Server service (SVCHOST.EXE). If the vulnerability is successfully exploited, it could allow remote code execution when file sharing is enabled. It may also spread via removable drives and weak administrator passwords. It disables several important system services and security products.(was reported to Microsoft on February 20, 2009.)

Win32/Conficker.D is a variant of Win32/Conficker. Conficker.D infects the local computer, terminates services, blocks access to numerous security related Web sites and downloads arbitrary code. Conficker.D can relay command instructions to other Conficker.D infected computers via built-in peer-to-peer (P2P) communication. This variant does not spread to removable drives or shared folders across a network (as with previous variants). Conficker.D is installed by previous variants of Win32/Conficker. (was reported to Microsoft on March 4, 2009.)

As you can tell, this seems to be two different Variants starting to emerge.  Now let’s go a little bit more deeper shall we.  According to US-CERT(United States – Computer Emergency Readiness Team) , They claim that this is Widespread infection and have posted about it on there website TA09-088A.

My one questions is Why is the US getting ready for this Conlicker worm, are they worried that what happened to the Parliament will happen to some branch of the White House.  This seems to be an even more hype building over this worm.  Everyone will tell you the same thing, they are not sure what will happen on April 1, 2009.  I think it will be a normal day and all because with all news about the Conficker worm, the person who wrote this won’t want the light shined on them before they get there foot hold in systems.  So you will most likely not notice anything special on April Fools day due the awareness of the worm.

But don’t forget to update your [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]Anti-virus software[/intlink] and also might be time to add a good [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]free firewall to help protect yourself[/intlink] from this worm.

Hotmail accounts get compromised!!

Paul8 Replies

I received an email on a list and wanted to warn people:
[ad]

Dear friend,
i would like to introduce a good company who trades mainly in electornic products. Now the company is under sales promotion, all the products are sold nearly at its cost. They provide the best service to customers,they provide you with original products of good quality,and what is more,the price is a surprising happiness to you! It is realy a good chance for shopping.just grasp the opportunity,Now or never!
The web address: http://www.nekcn.com

Seems this is being sent from Hotmail accounts. There are a number of ways someone could be getting a hold of your email address. According to Microsoft forums this seems to delete your email contacts and also send out this in the same time. This seems to be a new spam campaign for this one company. I would guess someone bought advertising from this company and the advertiser is doing some really unmoral things.

There are several ways someone hotmail account could be sending out these emails. It could be a [intlink id=”2650″ type=”post”]phishing attempt like they did with Twitte[/intlink]r. They could of done a dictionary attack on each account to find the password, that I why [intlink id=”2646″ type=”post”]I suggest having a password generator[/intlink]. It could of been a virus, and if that is the case you would need to [intlink id=”2205″ type=”page”]check your system out for the virus[/intlink]. I would guess it is the first two, because I am unsure of if you can have pop3 account or not. I don’t use Hotmail but people seem to be using it.

If you recieve this email, I’d email the account responsible to let them know that they have sent this.  I would also like to know if it was a virus or how they account got compromised.   Remember only you can prevent from getting a virus, nothing else works better than yourself.