Going to be implementing some Studio upgrades in the next couple of weeks should be fun. I go after a couple of my state legislatures pretty hard tonight on two idiotic bills that they introduced. Also hope I was not to punchy on the last show notes. I am feeling much better by the way and although the voice is not a 100% I feel a 100% better.

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Two Hawaii Legislatures have lost their minds!
Investigating Google New Privacy Policy?
North Korea + Cell Phone = War Criminal!
FBI wants to index Social Sites!
Google Privacy Policy and Business / Gov’t!
Google the Drug Dealer.
Samsung Profits.
Apple TV 1.4 Million more units sold.
Netflix + 800 Devices = Wow
Happy B-Day Firefox.
Spectrum Wars.
Symantech Warning.
Traffic Spike on File Lockers.
1 In Jail – 2 on Bail.
FBI Sued?
Twitter Censors!
Mackie iPad Mixer.
Super Wi-Fi!
Google Earth Update!
TechMeme.com Update
Data Storage at Google!
P2P Victory!
Space Water.
Progress Departs ISS.
Our Home!
Mozy Offers New Services.
My kind of Charger.
Press Freedom Ranking.
Railroad Crossing Controls Safe.
Xbox 720 Rumors.
Polish ACTA Protest.
Xbox Gold Discount.
UK Signs ACTA.
Cool Table

Between the phone ringing, computers rebooting and me sticking my foot in my mouth 2-3 times I have a great show for you.. Back for one show here in Honolulu and off to Austin next week. Then home for Christmas and to prepare for CES 2012!

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SmartPhone Spying.
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Yahoo top 10 Searches?
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Carrier IQ #1
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Apple TV Update.
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No Hack at All.
Sprint handing over 1.6 Billion!
AT&T has a Fit!
Printing Bone Repairs.
Spotify with Apps?
Mall Maps by Google.
Gmail Calendar Hack.
iPhone rail Slider.
Magic Cables.
Cadillac Baby Stroller.
Xbox + Verizon TV = Fail.
France going after Streamers.
uTorrent Plus!
TWC + Android = Glorified Remote.
Fossum on Space.
Curiosity to Mars!
Germs to Mars?
Sony TV Update.
12,000 Computer Lan Party.
Make a Call in Google Hangouts.
Jawbone Up Fail?
TV Ownership Down!
Bank Hacking on Rise.
Google Changes Search results.

Credits:
Jack Ellis – Executive Producer
Mike Baine – Associate Producer

Symantec's report on a recent wave of cyberattacks includes the geographic breakdown of computers used in the attacks.

What do these four articles have in common.

• European Commission suffers ‘serous’ cyberattack
• Cyber-espionage attempts on U.S business are on the rise
• Symantec exposes wave of cyber-espionage attacks
• Hackers Wreck Havoc on Palestinian Internet Services

They are all signs that cyber espionage is growing as a threat in today’s increasingly interconnected world. Not only for the U.S but for other countries and groups around the world. Many believe that most attacks are coming out of China and Russia. Countries like the U.S., Israel also use cyber espionage when it is to their advantage. The use of infected machines by hackers often makes it difficult to know where the attacks actually originate from.  Attacks maybe either done by nation-states, private groups or individuals and telling the difference is very difficult. Some hackers may try to attack defense targets, but most target businesses and involve attempts to steal intellectual property, including design documents, formulas and various manufacturing processes. How many attacks occur yearly is unknown, since many companies do not report such attacks publicly.

The critical importance of the fight against cyber espionage was underscored by retired four star Marine Corps general James Cartwright, in an interview with Reuters. He believes that we should be more public when it comes what general deterrents we have and are willing to use. He said “You can’t have something that’s a secret be a deterrent. Because if you don’t know it’s there, it doesn’t scare you. Many experts believe that a deterrents policy needs to be created to indicate the threat of possible action without being too specific. For now U.S officials are silent on the type of deterrents that the US has, however it is assumed that it has both defensive and offense ones it can use.

The Obama administration is currently crafting rules of engagement in cyber space after releasing its general policy earlier this year. Many see cyber space as the fifth pillar of defense, which had been land, sea, air and space. The one thing that is clear cyber espionage is only going to increase in sophistication and intensity as cloud computing becomes more popular.

Meetup in Albuquerque is on for next week if you want to attend please email me ASAP. We are also collecting prizes for show #700 if you would like to donate a product or service drop me a line. This show gets very serious almost out of the gate we all need to make sure we protect our freedoms.

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Netflix vs Amazon Video.
Nomad.
Cover some P2P Tracks.
1 Million Dollar Vacation to Space.
HDHomerun.
Skitch.
Foursquare adds Events.
Firefox 7 Beta.

As the fall-out from the News of the World scandal continues, many sources continue to inaccurately refer to “mobile phone hacking”. The truth (as far as is known) was that it was the voicemail of the mobile phone that was hacked rather than the phone itself. There are two ways to do this – the first is to simply guess the PIN of the voicemail and the second is to use Caller ID spoofing.

In the mid-2000s, most mobile phone voicemail systems were poorly protected as they typically came with a default PIN which was often easily guessed and only varied  according to the mobile phone company. Most users didn’t bother to change the PIN. Say the phone was on Orange, then the default PIN was 1234. If it was Vodafone, then 0000.  Typically, the villain then makes two simultaneous calls to the victim. One will be picked up, the other will go to voicemail.   By then pressing “*” or “#” while listening to the voicemail prompts, the individual can gain access to the voicemail system using the default PIN. Computeractive has article covering this scenario and how, in theory, it would be harder (but not impossible) to take this approach today.

As for Caller ID spoofing, this technique makes a call look like it’s coming from a different number than it actually is. It can be used legally to make someone calling from a mobile to actually appear to be coming from a company office, so that the person’s mobile number is not divulged. However, in some instances it has been used to gain access to voicemail boxes as many voicemail systems do not ask for further identification if the system recognises the inbound Caller ID as one of its own. PC Mag and c|net have short articles on how this is done and worryingly, this is still a threat. The Wall Street Journal covered the problem in 2010 before the current scandal broke.

It would appear that the best protection to both these attacks is (a) to change your PIN on your voicemail and (b) require your PIN even when calling from your own mobile phone. That way, even if your Caller ID is spoofed, the caller can’t get in without knowing your PIN.

News International today announced that this Sunday’s edition of the News of the World newspaper would be the last edition and that the newspaper was closing down. Ostensibly the reason is that a phone hacking scandal had a irretrievably stained the name of the newspaper but the suspicion is that there’s far more to the closure.

For non-UK residents, it’s an astonishing story that involves several alleged crimes and some disgraceful behaviour. First of all, News of the World (NOTW) is one of the biggest selling Sunday newspapers with around 40% of the market and 2.8 million readers. It’s been going for 168 years and while considered a tabloid paper, it has been instrumental in revealing other scandals involving politicians and other well-known figures.

The scandal itself is that around six years ago, a private investigator used by the newspaper is alleged to have hacked into the voice mailboxes of over 4,000 people, including royal aides, sports stars, celebrities and politicians. Even worse, it is further alleged that the mailboxes of soldiers killed in Iraq and murder victims were hacked into. In particular, the alleged deletion of messages on Milly Dowler’s phone is suggested to have given hope to her parents that she was still alive when she had been killed.

Rumours of the hacking arose when the newspaper published stories that could only have been discovered from personal messages. The private investigator and the journalist involved were sent to prison back in 2007 and at the time, a police investigation suggested that the two individuals involved acted alone. In 2009, the Guardian newspaper claimed that thousands of mailboxes had been hacked and that the practice was well known and routine. The Metropolitan Police refused to re-open the investigation. It has also now been alleged that NOTW made payments to the police in return for information. The hacking of the mobile phone’s voice mail was not sophisticated. The private investigator simply relied on the fact that most people did not bother changing the default PIN on their voice mailbox.

Over the past week, as the revelations of the alleged hacking continued, public opinion turned against NOTW. Major advertisers in the paper withdrew their contracts, unwilling to be associated with the unfolding scandal. It was perhaps inevitable that the NOTW would have to close but it seems harsh to punish the current staff for the activities of their predecessors.

The intrigue continues as the parent company, News International, is keen to buy out the remaining shares in BSkyB. However, this had raised concerns that one single company would own too much of the UK media – News International owns the The Times too. The suggestion has been made that by closing one newspaper, NOTW, this will reassure the regulatory authorities but there are also now questions about whether News International is fit and proper to take over BSkyB. It is rumoured that News International will launch a Sunday edition of a sister newspaper The Sun. The domains “TheSunOnSunday.co.uk” and “TheSunOnSunday.com” were registered two days ago, though it’s not clear by who registered them

It’s an amazing scandal and totally despicable – some of the stuff you couldn’t make up. If there’s one thing to be learnt from the scandal, it’s make sure you change the default PIN on your mobile phone’s voice mailbox.

Congrats to our winner! I give you all some insight into what has been happening physically with me, I am on the mend hopefully and back to normal activities. I know your going to love the show lots of high charged tech tonight.

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School is back in Court.
Shuttle at the ISS!

Show Notes:
Chromebook Unboxing.
Apple Blinks.
Can he help Internet Television?
IPV6 Overview!
IPV6 Thougths.
Can they tame the wild West?
Microsoft has to pay up.
The Wii U?
NBC Universal Olympics.
Web Video World at CES 2012.
GMediaFinder.
Boxee UK.
Panasonic and AT&T Team Up.
App Forensics!
How did she get Elected?
Groupon Loyalty Cards.
WP7 to beat iPhone?
120,000 Promoted Tweets.
Tweets Decline after Weiner.
Texting on Decline?
Skype + Canada + New Int Rates = Savings!
Anon threatens NATO!
iOS 5 Features you may have missed.
Judges Revenge Saves P2P Victims.
CitiGroup 200k Accounts Hacked.
Chrome New Security.
Chromebook Teardown.
Google Cloud and Trust.
Academic Copyright Lawsuit.
Weird ICE PSA Ads.
NASA needs Cash.
Soyuz Arriving.
Android Market Phone Matrix.
At&T Most Calls Dropped!
Kiddie Porn or Freedom of Speech Domain Seizure?
Reasons to like HTML5.
Windows Phone App Porting made Easy.
Bing Webmaster Tools!
Skype Savings!
Gaming Tower.
Ultimate iPhone Accessory.

Headed back to Honolulu, I have had a great week here in Texas, much accomplished. Planning a return trip in Mid June followed by a potential east coast trip as well. Lot’s of tech with a political slant tonight kinda weird but seems that at times themes develop in the news reporting.

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Show Notes:
5 Ways to use LinkedIn
Malware on the loose for Mac Users.
Apple App Store Security Threat?
Chrome URL Bar going Bye Bye?
Religious Reaction by Apple Fanboys?
Fetch.IO
More bad news for Sony PSN?
16hr Cell Phone Marathon on Train?
Twitter Changes Rules Again.
Verizon 4G LTE Growing.
Comcast Sensitive to FCC Hire Tweets.
TokBox Group Video Chat!
Social Media Infographic.
Google Search App.
Verizon iPhone 5 Dual Mode.
Data Hungy Apps making BW Impact.
Twitter providing Reporters Intel.
Little Blue Pill Hearing Loss.
Amazon Gadget Trade In.
Intel Open Mouth Insert Foot x2.
iPhone Oximeter.
Verizon Family Data Plans.
Secret Service 2x Screw Ups.
AT&T No App Restrictions.
Wired Teaches Potentially Illegal Activities.
Philly Police and Citizen Gun Holder Incident.
Amazon and State Sales Taxes.
Who owns the Tweets.
4th Amendment under attack!
Artist to get some money after all.
Apple TV Hack.
Homeless Planets.
Don’t Take Space Program Lightly.
Windows Phone 7 comes to Verizon.
Smartphone Tracking Law.
Dark Mater Hunter.
e-books King!
Warrantless Bill backed by RIAA.
One Headset!
Guitar Self Tuner.
20 iPad 2 Apps.
T-Mobile wants You.
P2P Traffic Surge.

Your going to love this one, I get on the Soap Box and stay there for a good bit in the show today. Fools and their wasted money is the theme. Plus I place a wager on a specific companies new initiatives failing. I also want to welcome our newest insider, thank you for supporting the show it is greatly appreciated.

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Show Notes:
Burglar Blaster.
Firefox 4 Final Release date 3-22.
Firefox 4 Notes.
* Renegade
It’s not the downloads.
This Mom needs to be a Parent.
14 Months, 40 Million NYT Fools.
NYT Paywall Plans?
Open Canadian Letter to NYT!
Business Cards Dead?
RSA SecurID May Be Hacked.
Hacking your Car.
Matt Cutts – Google Luminary.
Japan Telephone/Network Lines a Wreck.
TSA now cannot do Math.
Netflix to do Original Content?
Webm Plugin for IE9.
President says Do Not Track!
BlueTooth Headset Review.
Soyuz back to Kazakhstan.
Women.Nasa.gov
Women in Space.
Lasers Solution to Space Junk?
More Resources for Japan.
Protecting your company Image.
Time Warner iPad App.
Google Largest Torrent Search Engine.
White House thinks Streaming is Fed Crime.
Sick of Sarah 2205.
Visa goes after Paypal.
Rustock Spam Botnet Brought Down?
Hackers having fun with Electronic Sign.
Sony gets Paypal info on PS3 Case.
Best Sprinkler Yet.
Lexar 128GB SDXC Cards.
Solar Stove.
IPTV Moving Upwards.
IE9 Partners with Hulu.
Free Computer Games.
Gnome 3.0 Beta.
Video Alarm.
OSX Media Conveter.
Google Docs on a roll.
Dutch test 110 old X-Ray machine.
U-Socket Review.
Radiation from Planes and Passengers.

Yes you heard me correctly 100 Terabytes if you think that is crazy wait till we ad some more devices to the mix, never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we would move that much video traffic in a month. Tonight, I introduce a second stream, we are on both Ustream.tv and Justin.TV see links below, will work the bugs out over next few shows.

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Insider / Ohana Links:
Future Fuel: Using food crop residues (as opposed to food).
Great review of an app that streams video to iPhones/iPads
Google Apps Implementation in LA.

The Geek’s Show Links:
Abuse of New Media Creators!
Kindle with Microphone?
Overpaying for iPad Data Plans!
FaceTime over 3G.
Sensors to correct blurred Images.
100 Million dollar Cyber Army.
Heat Water with Water.
Are you a woodworker?
Office 2011 for Mac Pricing.
Facebook doubles Data Center Size.
Samsung Captivate.
Where do you spend your time online?
Android Overtakes iPhone Sales!
Clearwire race to 4G
IE regains ground!
Should we Green Card the Brightest?
Time-Warner Wideband Blasted.
Ustream Turns over User Data.
Wired and the Web is Dead?
Data Collection on you and I.
Botnet has treasure trove!
RFID Sniffing.
Is the Rover Spirit Finished?
NASA cash on Hold!
NYC Subway Cell Covergae soon!
Verizon Lobbyist Expenditures.
LHC to re-write Science.
Trillian 5 Beta.
Google Maps to catch Permit Cheats!
Fridge Dock for your iPad.
Get Videos at your Local Library.
Solar Tsunami Today!
200 Billion on counterfeit Goods?
Go To Jail #1
Needs to go to Jail #2
Is your Browser HTML5 Ready?
Rock, Paper, Scissors.
No E-Book Allowed.

Send in your stories to geeknews@gmail.com and be sure to provide a link to your websites!

Close call for us in Hawaii, cut fiber do not bode well for Internet reliability but we are up and online. Lot’s of exciting things in the frying pan and boy has it been a week of firsts. The longer I work in this new media space the more my eyes are opened to the possibilities of this medium.

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Insider / Ohana Links:
E Text Book Popularity in Texas.
Webcam Lawsuits.
Holding 1-7 Keys to Net Security.
Gel Stops Tooth Decay?

The Geek’s Show Links:
Net Speed Nightmare
Preserve your Net Freedoms.
Steerable Solar Sail.
Android + Wallpaper = Powned
Space Junk Tracking.
UK Clears Google.
Comcast Billing Glitch.
More School Webcam Lawsuits.
Old Spice Sales Up!
Real Photoshop Madness of BP Images.
Pink Slips for Shuttle Workers.
Spacewalk at ISS!
Religion of Apple?
Anybots to Spy on You.
App Genome Project.
Internet Radio for your Stereo Rack.
ProMed Network on Roku.
iPhone calling home to Mama Bell.
15 Minutes now for YouTube Videos.
Monitor your Elderly Parents.
IE9 in September.
Magic Trackpad I don’t get it.
Mozilla Tab Candy.
iOS4 for iPhone Performance.
Hacking an ATM.
Kindle for $139.00
Corporations Biggest Threat to Net Neutrality.
T-Mobile tops in Customer Service.
Home Server versus Cloud.
5 great iPad Apps.
Dragon Naturally Speaking Version 11.
More Toyota Recalls.
Your Facebook data Compiled?

Send in your stories to geeknews@gmail.com and be sure to provide a link to your websites!

Just an update from my story of a few days ago. Hacker Albert Gonzalez got a sentence of 20 years on the first guilty plea, entered in Massachusetts, to unauthorized computer access. Two more cases (and guilty please) in New York and New Jersey will be finalized next week in Boston, when additional sentences will be pronounced.

It’s probably not enough, but it sends a really strong message, that’s for sure. Keep your hands of what isn’t yours.

Albert Gonzalez, a former government informant charged last year with hacking into credit card systems of nearly a dozen major retailers, along with the U.S.’s largest credit/debit card processing firm, is set to be sentenced for pleading guilty to the hack. His lawyers say he should get no more than 15 years, the government wants 25.

I want to see more than just a prison sentence, personally, because my credit/debit information was among the 200 million that were stolen by Gonzalez as he hacked. Proceeds from his hacking include cars, jewelry, houses, in addition to a luxury lifestyle that included trips, designer clothing, and stays at fancy hotels. All on my dime (and the dimes of others that were ripped off). While that money didn’t come directly from my bank account, I (and everyone else who shops) is paying for this as prices increase to cover the losses these companies suffered in the hack. And not only did he make money, he was also a repeat offender. He had been caught hacking in 2003 and turned government informer in order to avoid prosecution and jail time, then continued his hacking activities while providing information to the government about other hackers’ activities!

No, a term in jail is not enough. Gonzalez should be banned from computers for life. Even after he’s served his time, he will re-offend, I’m sure of that. There aren’t enough firewalls and security in place to keep this guy out of servers if he can get access to a computer. This was more than him just trying out a “proof of concept” about hacking. He stole all of that information and used it for personal gain, and even tried to sell portions of his accumulated information overseas as well. There is not enough in a jail sentence, in my mind. What this guy did, and what he taught others, makes all of us more vulnerable to theft in the future. And there’s not a lot we can do about it; this is not a cash-based society any more. I use my debit card hundreds of times a month. I rarely write checks, and rarely use cash for anything other than small purchases (like my morning Diet Coke from the gas station on the way to work). If people like Mr. Gonzalez can continue to gain footholds in gaining our plastic information, and not face any long-term consequences, then we all continue to be at risk.

And while we should expect that retailers and credit/debit card processors will continue to exercise due-diligence in keeping our information safe, we cannot call that any kind of guarantee. We just have to continue to be diligent. And make punishment for hacking a harsh and irrevocable measure that will make hacking a lot less enticing to criminals in the first place.

What punishment do you think Mr. Gonzalez should get?

Dumb: ATM owners who use the default password for administering their ATM’s, allowing hackers to get into the machines easily by locating the default password online from vendor sites.

Dumber: ATM owners who don’t change the default password after the machine is hacked and used to give out more money than it was supposed to.

A pair of crooks got caught using the default password on an ATM for the fourth time. They weren’t caught the first three times, but by the fourth time, the police had information from surveillance cameras and had alerted the store manager (where the ATM was located) to the identity of the thieves. So when they tried it for the fourth time, they got caught.

I’m wondering why the ATM owner didn’t just change the default password on the administrative functions of the ATM so it couldn’t be hacked a second time. That would have been the smarter thing to do, wouldn’t you think?

Who’s dumber, the criminal or the ATM owner? I’m thinking it’s the latter.

On my way to Japan tomorrow morning, but dealing with a very sore back after a major fall here at home. Slightly worried about my connectivity in Japan but will keep you all advised if it looks like I will have to delay a show. Congratulations to Dale on winning PogoPlug.

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Show Notes:
Windows 7 will play .Mov Files
Old School NASA Saturn Picture
Twitter Alternatives
Digg to Battle Stumbleupon
1.5 Million Footprint Found
Google Apps Status Page
CC Zero
Quebecor Sells Out on Three Strikes
Border Search of Encrypted media must give up Data
Earth Eclipse as Seen from Moon
Windows 7 Are they Listening
MIT Invention Powers Bicycles
Do you have a Broken Mac Air Hinge
I Love this Monitor Setup!
17 inch Macbook Pro Review
Pirate Bay Day 9
Lenses Informational
Why the Labels are Crying Wolf
Panther and CDN Networks Merge
Powerbook Battery Explodes
RIP Rocky Mountain News
Say Hello to Google Twitter
Facebook Photos a iPhone Contact List
iPhone Japan poor sales
MRO trouble
Discovery March 12th Launch
Blubrry Sponsors Wordcamp Denver
Fairness Doctrine first Nail in Coffin
How to Sync two Windows Home Servers
FAA hack
36 Changes to Windows 7
CBS gets Pass by Apple to Stream TV via 3G – Podcasting Denied
Asus Eee PC 1000HE

Hyper-Threading technology, built into some Intel Pentium 4 central processing unit (CPU) microprocessors can be exploited by crackers and allow access to security keys. A description of the timing attack was presented Friday by a Colin Percival, a computer science researcher, at the BSDCan 2005 conference. Intel’s Hyper-Threading (HT) algorithm enables Pentium CPUs to maximize the efficiency of the processing system. According to Intel’s website, with HT technology “desktop users can experience greater system responsiveness and performance when multitasking. At home, users can encode audio and video at the same time, or run a virus scan in the background while continuing to play their favorite game. In the office, HT Technology enables IT managers to deploy PC services such as encryption, compression or backup technologies while minimizing the impact on PC user productivity. In addition, multitasking business workers can experience greater system responsiveness, enabling increased productivity. In summary, the Pentium 4 processor supporting HT Technology delivers a new level of performance and PC responsiveness for consumers and business professionals.”

The HT technology allows two separate processes, software threads, to concurrently execute, using a single CPU, and it’s this capability that can be exploited. he multiple processes share access to the CPU’s cache, and through this shared access the security keys for the computer can be gleaned.

Dave’s Opinion
Cache is a portion of memory, usually built into the microprocessor, that enables ultrafast access to frequently-used, and recently-used data. By storing the data in fast-access memory, overall system performance is improved. Generally, the system’s L1 cache is cleared between system processes; however, with HT technology, the cache may remain filled, pending a request from another thread, this allows one processing thread to have access to the data intended for use by the other. The problem is akin to a shared desk: one user has access to another’s papers unless the desk is cleared between work shifts.

Percival reported that the co-access security risk only affects servers, and that desktop users are not at risk; however,
Hyper-Threading processors also ship on desktop PCs, but this particular flaw is only a problem for servers, Percival said on his Web site.

According to Percival, “Hyper-Threading, as currently implemented on Intel Pentium Extreme Edition, Pentium 4, Mobile Pentium 4, and Xeon processors, suffers from a serious security flaw,” Colin explains. “This flaw permits local information disclosure, including allowing an unprivileged user to steal an RSA private key being used on the same machine. Administrators of multi-user systems are strongly advised to take action to disable Hyper-Threading immediately.”

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References
BSDCan 2005 Hyper-Threading Vulnerability

It was only a month ago that Microsoft Corp. announced its free antispyware application; however, malware has already been detected by an antivirus company, Sophos PLC, that will disable Microsoft’s program and delete all files in the program’s installation directory.

The malware, known as BankAsh-A, not only deletes all of the Microsoft antispyware files, it then goes on to install a keylogger (keystroke logging) program to record all data entered into online banking websites.

Dave’s Opinion
The current version, BankAsh-A, targets U.K. bank customers; however, future versions of the malware application could target other countries’ banking customers. While this type of keylogger isn’t new, BankAsh-A proves the concept that Microsoft’s antispyware software is vulnerable to attack.

It’s disconcerting, although not at all unexpected, that Microsoft’s antispyware would be targeted; many digital security experts just didn’t expect the first attack to come so quickly.

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Symantec Corp., manufacturer of the popular Norton series of antivirus products, yesterday warned customers of a multiple critical holes in Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system. The security holes make the Windows systems vulnerable to remote attack.

Following postings to the Bugtraq mailing list, a respected source of timely security information, Symantec security managers also detailed the heap overflow vulnerabilities of Microsoft’s popular operating system. Until Microsoft releases patches, users are vulnerable to attack through the winhlp32.exe file, which manages Windows help files. An attacker can trigger a memory overflow by tricking a user into opening a Trojan help file.

In related news, Symantec also warned of a second Windows vulnerability, called LoadImage, that guides the operating system in displaying desktop icons, cursors, and bitmap images. Trojan images can be used to trigger a memory overflew and install rogue computer code on computers running Windows. The Trojan images can easily be received via e-mail or through websites.

As with the Help file vulnerability, most supported versions of Windows are affected by the LoadImage flaw, including versions of Windows NT, Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, Symantec said.

Dave’s Opinion
Users should be especially careful to not open unexpected e-mail attachments and to visit only known, reputable websites until Microsoft issues security updates for these serious security vulnerabilities.

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References
Microsoft
Symantec

Three academic computer scientists have uncovered a serious security hole in the Google Desktop Search Toolbar that was released on October 14th. Dan Wallach, assistant professor of computer science at Rice University and two graduate students, Seth Fogarty and Seth Nielson, have known of the security problem for a month; however, this is the first confirmed report of a serious problem with Google’s popular search tool.

The security hold allows a cracker to gain access to the contents of a toolbar user’s computer without the user’s being aware of the the attack. Google says that it has repaired the security hole and has begun distributing an updated version of the search toolbar installation program.

Dave’s Opinion
It seems that users of the Google Desktop Search Toolbar are safe from this security problem, if they are using version 121.004 or newer.

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References
Rice University
Google

A flaw in the Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) in Windows NT Server 4.0, Server 2000, and Server 2003 creates a security hole that would allow a cracker to gain full control over the network server, thereby putting corporate data at risk.

WINS is a network component that manages a distributed database of network stations by mapping computer names and IP addresses across a routed network. While other versions of Microsoft Windows include support for WINS, only the server versions are currently known to be infected, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft will patch this security flaw as part of it’s scheduled monthly update.

Dave’s Comment
This is a serious security issue. Until an update is released, network administrators can secure their systems by blocking their firewall’s TCP and UDP ports 42 and either removing WINS or using IPsec to secure the network traffic.

Call for Comments
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References
Microsoft Security