|
|
|
Virus purporting Bin Laden suicide hits web
A VIRUS purporting to show images of Osama Bin Laden’s suicide popped up on the internet on Friday last week, designed to entice recipients to open a file that unleashes malicious software code, security experts said.
The virus was attached to a message that was posted on over 30,000 usenet newsgroups and is now being spread via e-mail, said web security vendor Sophos.
The US government has been hunting for Bin Laden since 2001, holding him responsible for masterminding the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, but he has not yet been found.
Chris Kraft, senior security analyst at Sophos, said the message and virus was designed to lure unsuspecting readers into opening a file, similar to the Anna Kournikova virus that enticed readers to open a file that unleashed malicious software code.
“If you don’t know the person or the origin of a message, you shouldn’t be opening it,” Kraft said. The fake Bin Laden suicide file, when opened, unleashes a program called a Trojan horse that makes it possible for attackers to take over infected personal computers running Microsoft’s Windows operating system.
Kraft said the virus itself had already appeared on the Internet before, but the virus writer had apparently repackaged it by saying it contained Bin Laden’s suicide photos.
Sun unveils Opteron machines
Sun Microsystems has taken the wraps off new Opteron-based servers and workstations, expanding the company's Solaris x86 OS portfolio, and sweetening the deal with aggressive price plans.
Officially launched are the Sun Fire V40z server, powered by four of AMD's Opteron processors, and the Sun Java W1100z and W2100z workstations, both of which also feature the Opteron. The new machines run Sun's enterprise-grade Solaris operating system, as well as Linux and Windows.
RealNetworks targets iPod
RealNetworks Inc. has took the wraps off of new software that will make downloads from its online music store compatible with any portable media player, including Apple Computer Inc.'s popular iPod. The move could potentially allow users to take music from Real's store and transfer it to any of dozens of popular music devices, as opposed to the single MP3 player that supports its format now.
The new software will recognize MP3 players as they are connected to the user's computer, convert the DRM wrapping around the file as appropriate and then copy the song to the device. A test or "beta" version of the software is available now.
New search technology debuts
Attempting to take a chunk of business from biggies such as Google, an embryonic San Francisco-based company, Blinkx, has introduced a new search technology that looks up links before the user asks for them.
The free tool, launched this week, uses self-learning algorithms to analyze the content of the documents a computer user is viewing and scout for related information on internet or on the user’s PC. The product is available for download from the company’s website, which also offers an animated demo of the tool.
Once loaded, Blinkx continually reviews what is being displayed on the computer’s monitor—documents, emails, websites, even videos, and finds links related to that material.
The tool also monitors what the user is typing. The links can be displayed by moving the cursor across the Blinkx toolbar, which offers drop-down menus showing search results in several categories, including links from the web, from news sites, from broadcast news sites or from the user’s PC.
These links change and refresh as the users scrolls down the page. The user can refine the search by simply selecting a word or a paragraph in the text. And it’s also possible to search in the traditional way, by typing a keyword into a search box.
The company says that the software can search through 200 media types, including documents in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Acrobat PDF, as well as video and audio formats.
Yahoo’s Photo Upload service
Seeking to tap the explosive growth in cell phones with cameras, Yahoo has launched a service that will let users transmit pictures from their camera phones directly to their Yahoo Photos accounts.
The company said Yahoo Mobile Photos Upload will work with any camera phone on the five major US wireless carriers. There is no charge for the service, Yahoo said, and no limit to the number of photos that can be uploaded.
The new upload service follows an application Yahoo already offers for customers of some cell phone carriers that lets users view the pictures in their photo accounts on their phones.
McAfee names worst viruses
McAfee's Anti-virus and Vulnerability Emergency Response Team (AVERT) ranks Exploit-MhtRedir.gen, also known as Download.Ject or Scob, as the top threat because it was used in a high number of attacks against both corporations and consumers. Here are McAfee's top ten threats of the year so far:
Exploit-MhtRedir.gen (also known as Download.Ject or Scob), VBS/Psyme, Adware-Gator, Adware-180Solutions, Adware-Cydoor, Adware-BetterInet, W32/Netsky.d@MM, W32/Netsky.p@MM, W32/Netsky.q@MM, W32/Mydoom.a@MM, Trojans Multiply. The only defence against the attack is in Windows XP Service Pack 2, not available in final form until next month, and numerous Web servers may still be compromised, Gullotto said. — Sci-tech World Report
|
|
|
|
