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Networking

Submission + - Researchers warn of possible BitTorrent meltdown (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by
secmartin
secmartin writes: "Researchers at Delft University warn that large parts of the BitTorrent network might collapse if The Pirate Bay is forced to shut down. A large part of the avaliable torrents use The Pirate Bay as tracker, and other available trackers will probably be overloaded if all traffic is shifted there. TPB is currently using eight server for their trackers.

According to the researchers, even trackerless torrents using the DHT protocol will face problems: "One bug in a DHT sorting routine ensures that it can only "stumble upon success", meaning torrent downloads will not start in seconds or minutes if Pirate Bay goes down in flames.""
Security

Submission + - Kaspersky customer database exposed (securityandthe.net)

Submitted by
secmartin
secmartin writes: "A hacker has managed to gain access to several databases via a SQL injection vulnerability on Kaspersky's US website. He has posted several screenshots and a list of available tables; judging from the table names, the information available includes data on bugs and user- and reseller accounts.

The hacker has indicated that no confidential information will be posted on the Internet, but since a large part of the URL's used was visible in screenshots, it will only be a matter of time before somebody else manages to duplicate this."

Comment Re:A firm date from Google? (Score 2, Informative) 308

by secmartin (#26410135) Attached to: Chrome On the Way For Mac and Linux
According to the mac status page for Chromium, the browser currently fails 10% of the Webkit layout tests; work hasn't even started on building a user interface yet. So I think a release within six months is a bit optimistic.

If you'd like to get a preview of the Mac release, there are up-to-date builds available here so you don't have to compile it yourself.
Security

Submission + - Several high-profile Twitter accounts hacked (securityandthe.net)

Submitted by
secmartin
secmartin writes: "Following the big phishing scam yesterday, Twitter has just reported that at least 33 accounts have been hacked using internal tools used by Twitter's support team. Several high-profile accounts were compromised, including those used by Barack Obama and Britney Spears.

The exact vulnerability that was used to gain access to these support tools is currently unknown."

Comment They are still recommending antivirus! (Score 4, Informative) 449

by secmartin (#25979179) Attached to: Apple Says Macs Are Safe, No Antivirus Needed
Actually, they are still recommending the use of antivirus. Cnet quotes an Apple spokesperson saying:

The Mac is designed with built-in technologies that provide protection against malicious software and security threats right out of the box. However, since no system can be 100 percent immune from every threat, running antivirus software may offer additional protection.

Windows Vista is full of "protection", but I use antivirus on that as well. I love MacOS X, and I'm sure it's more secure, but there will be viruses and other malware on MacOS sooner or later.

By the way, isn't it ironic that Apple is still offering ClamXav for download on their own website?

Comment Re:Sea Boundaries (Score 5, Interesting) 287

by secmartin (#25872153) Attached to: Has HavenCo's Data Haven Shut Down?
A British court even ruled that Sealand was outside its jurisdiction in 1968; so according to international law, the "grandfathered in" approach might work. But since there are at most a dozen people on the platform, and no other country has recognized them, I bet the entire platform might just be used for target practice by several navy's if they are ever found to host terrorist websites...
Networking

Submission + - Has HavenCo's Data Haven shut down? (securityandthe.net)

Submitted by
secmartin
secmartin writes: "HavenCo, the self-proclaimed data haven located on the micronation Sealand, appears to be offline. Their website is down, and there have been no announcements from either HavenCo of Sealand. HavenCo has been covered here before; it was mostly know for offering hosting of content that might be illegal in other countries. Does anyone have news about what happend to them?"
Windows

Submission + - AVG virus scanner removes critical Windows file (securityandthe.net) 2

Submitted by
secmartin
secmartin writes: "The popular virus scanner AVG released an update yesterday that caused their software to mark user32.dll as a virus. Since this is a rather critical file, AVG's suggestion to remove this caused problems for users around the world who are now advised to restore the file through the Windows Recovery Console. So far, AVG has yet to post an update about this on their main website, but their forums are full of complaints."
The Internet

Submission + - Belgian ISP scores victory in landmark P2P case (securityandthe.net)

Submitted by
secmartin
secmartin writes: "Belgian ISP Scarlet scored an important victory in the first major European test of copyright law. The interim decision forcing them to block transfers of copyrighted materials via P2P has been reversed, because the judge agreed with Scarlet that the measures the Belgian RIAA proposed to implement proved to be ineffective. A final decision is expected next year."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft to release critical patch today (microsoft.com)

Submitted by
secmartin
secmartin writes: "According to this security bulletin, Microsoft will release an important security update later today. It will fix a vulnerability that is rated as "critical" for Windows XP, 2000 and 2003, and Important for Vista and Server 2008. There is a webcast at 1:00pm PST to answer questions about this update. The update comes ahead of the normal "patch tuesday", so this is expected to be a major vulnerability. Early information indicates that it concerns a new issue that can be exploited remotely."
Mozilla

Submission + - Fixing Firefox SSL-certificate warnings (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
secmartin
secmartin writes: "Richard Bejtlich has tested a new plugin for Firefox that can increase your security, while fixing a major annoyance. The plugin uses the Perspectives notary system that checks HTTPS-sites from different locations to make sure you are not the victim of a man-in-the-middle attack, thus improving security; as an added bonus, it gives you the option to disable those annoying SSL-certificate warnings for sites using self-signed certificates. This was one of the main complaints about Firefox 3.0, and it's good to finally see a solution for this!"
Wireless Networking

Submission + - Russians claim WPA/WPA2 cracking breakthrough (securityandthe.net)

Submitted by
secmartin
secmartin writes: "Russian security firm Elcomsoft has released software that uses Nvidia GPU's to speed up the cracking of WPA and WPA2 keys by a factor of 100. Since the software allows them to network thousands of PC's this anouncement effectively signals the death of wireless networking in business networks; any network handling sensitive data should start using VPN encryption on machines connecting over Wi-Fi networks, or stop using these networks altogether."

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