Vista has a new Vulnebility!

According to Techworld.com,  Vista has a new Vulnerability that could let a hacker infect a Vista machine with a rootkit.  The talk from them is quite intriguing.   I will quote it to better let you know what the Vulnerability is:

The vulnerability could allow a hacker to install a rootkit, a small piece of malicious software that is very difficult to detect and remove from a computer, Unterleitner said.

[ad#ad2-left]Phion notified Microsoft about the problem on 22 October. Microsoft indicated to Phion that it would issue a patch with Vista’s next service pack. Microsoft released a beta version of Vista’s second service pack to testers last month. Vista’s Service Pack 2 is due for release by June 2009.
[via Techworld.com]

The way they could do this is through the Device IO Control which in turn could corrupt the Kernel of Windows Vista.  Now we all know that Microsoft will release a patch quicker than 6 months away.  According to this article, people are already looking for the exploit and want to know more about it.  I would be willing to bet they will have a patch out sooner than later.  Probably January or Febuary, which will be a big deal because no one will expect it.  I would also imagine hackers will start trying to figure out how they could install software as quick as possible before Microsoft pushes out the patch.   So what can you do to protect yourself, Get a firewall, a Antivirus and learn how to protect yourself to prevent yourself from getting a computer virus.

What’s with Google trends?

Having been going to the Google Trends and keeping watching.  I am starting to wonder something?  Take a look at this and you tell me?

Oct 20,2008 Google Trends

[ad]Can you see how someone might use this to create a Goog-411 and use it to promote there website? It is all about the hits and getting what publishers like to say the eyes on a website. Now is that going to confuse people or make people not want to come to a site.  So how would people abuse this?

Very Simple, they’d watch what is trending and post accordingly.  Now you as a reader would click on the website expecting to see what you want to see but instead it would popup with advertisements and maybe malware?  Check these links to better understand it:

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Now even though these are just a few.  You can see how someone might want to abuse it and get there site up on Google trends and be able to infect several to even millions of computers before Google sees that or stops.  You could in theory take over a website high in Google rankings and do exactly that.

Then I have to ask myself, why would hackers want to do it in the first? One they’d be able to direct people to sites that they could use to phish your information, or maybe make money by you going to these sites. It is all about money, I don’t say that lightly, but it seems to always be true.

So what is Google doing to prevent this? is it right to use Google for your advantage? Do we need it for anything other than to see what people are looking at? Is that a form of them tracking your every click.

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Are you comfortable with them keeping the list of what people searched for last year? if you don’t believe me, go check it out yourself. These are important questions to answer and should be explored.

Hot, sexy bot sweet-talks personal data out of chatters

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Security software company PC Tools warns that the bot can easily be used for malicious purposes. The company said that the program’s ability to mimic human behavior to dupe chatters is worrisome, and could readily be used to collect all manner of information. “As a tool that can be used by hackers to conduct identity fraud, CyberLover demonstrates an unprecedented level of social engineering,” said PC Tools senior malware analyst Sergei Shevchenko in a statement. “CyberLover has been designed as a bot [robot] that lures victims automatically, without human intervention. If it’s spawned in multiple instances on multiple servers, the number of potential victims could be very substantial.”
[Via Arstechnica]

This is really a security issue here. Never give out your personal information online. I just want to post this to remind people not everything online is safe.

Trojan horse targets Mac OS X

A new trojan horse designed specifically for Mac OS X systems has been discovered on several pornography websites that can hijack Web traffic, according to security firm Intego. Affected systems are used to hijack some Web requests that lead users to other phishing sites, or simply display ads for other pornographic websites to generate ad revenue. Phishing attacks may lead users to believe they are surfing to eBay, Paypal, or various banks when in fact they are accessing specially-crafted mockups designed to retrieve usernames and passwords for those sites. The trojan, titled OSX.RSPlug.A, is rated as a critical risk by Intego, and is known to affect Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger as well as Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Intego is testing prior versions of Mac OS X, but believes them to be vulnerable as well.

The trojan claims to install a video codec necessary for viewing free pornographic videos on Macs, but when users click on the still images to view the content they are directed to a Web page stating that they must download a new version of a codec to play the movie file with QuickTime. Safari users who have checked the “Open ‘Safe’ Files After Downloading” option in General Preferences will find that the disk image which is downloaded to their Mac automatically mounts, and the installer application will automatically launch.

Thought it was going to happen soon, Now since apple is getting bigger they are going to have more hackers wanting to get into the system.