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Internet Explorer

German Government Advises Public To Stop Using IE 320

Posted by Soulskill from the enough-is-enough dept.
An anonymous reader writes "After McAfee's disclosure of an IE 0-day vulnerability this week that had been used in Operation Aurora, the hack and stealing of data from Google, Adobe and about 3 dozen other major companies, the German government has advised the public to switch to alternative browsers (untranslated statement). Given that the exploit has now been made public and the patch from Microsoft is still nowhere to be seen, how long will it be before other governments follow suit?"
Censorship

Submission + - Internet censorship proposal in Slovenia 1

Submitted by BostjanSkufca
BostjanSkufca writes: Slovenian government is trying to introduce legislation that would make ISP-level filtering mandatory, all in order to prevent cash flow to international gambling sites without Slovenian gambling concession. Currently court order is required to enforce filtering, but this proposal would enable various government offices to issue such orders. National Assembly (parliament) already passed this proposal in December (none of the parliament members objected it, few even expressed firm support) but it was later suspended by veto of the Council of State.
Before this Slovenia had only single major IC incident. It was in 2003 when website udba.net became public and started serving leaked documents (including personal information disclosure) about Yugoslovan secret police operatives (UDBA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UDBA). At that time The Office for Protection of Personal Data ordered ISPs to block traffic to aforementioned website. It was later proved that this order was in fact violating legislation of that time.

Google translation of article from Delo newspaper is here:
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.delo.si%2Fclanek%2F96325&sl=sl&tl=en
NASA

Submission + - High as a Rocket Man ?? (nasa.gov)

Submitted by RockDoctor
RockDoctor writes: Many SlashDotters of a "certain" generation will remember the Elton John lyrics :

Zero hour nine a.m.
And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then"
('Rocket Man', Elton John & Bernie Taupin)

Obviously someone at Cape Canevaral (or is it Kennedy?) likes the idea. A newsletter sent out on Jan 14th by the Kennedy Space Centre declares :

NASA Investigates Illegal Substance Found in Shuttle Hangar CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has launched an extensive investigation after a small amount of cocaine was found in a restricted area of the processing hangar for shuttle Discovery at Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

I'm sure a number of Slashdotters will have received the mailshot, but I can't find the press release online yet. The press release is referenced as "RELEASE: 01-10" from "Allard Beutel", but for some reason it's not online with the rest of their press releases. "Toot, toot" said Fat Freddy

Submission + - Give Your Gaming A Hand (gizmag.com)

Submitted by The Installer
The Installer writes: Just what gamers needed, a glove to give their gaming reactions that much more of an edge over the that guy with the better epic sword of awesome. Gizmag reports of this new contraption aimed at the intense gamer. Or perhaps those of our brothers which suffer from carpol tunnel syndrome(or RSI). The only real question is, if you are right handed do you still need a left glove so your right hand can be free for "personal time"?

Submission + - Transplanted windpipe renews Belgian woman's life

Submitted by mykepredko
mykepredko writes: While an organ transplant might now sound important, the CBC is reporting on Linda De Croock who has a working windpipe after surgeons implanted the trachea from a dead man into her arm, where it grew new blood vessels before being transplanted into her throat. For about eight months, she took drugs to stop her immune system from rejecting the new organ. Though some of the tissue from the windpipe's male donor remains, enough of De Croock's own tissue now lines the organ that she no longer needs anti-rejection medicines.
Security

Submission + - IE 0-day attack used in Chinese attack (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by
bheer
bheer writes: "A zero-day attack on IE was used to carry out the cyber attack on Google and others that's been getting so much ink recently, reports The Register quoting McAfee's CTO. While the web (and security) community has been pointing out the problems with IE's many security flaws (and its sluggish update cycle) in the past, IE shows no sign of vanishing from the corporate landscape. Will this latest, high-profile incident open CIO's eyes to the risk they're facing?"
Security

Submission + - Yahoo reportedly hit by China hackers (goodgearguide.com.au)

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "Yahoo was one of more than 30 companies hit by a sophisticated online attack from China, designed to steal intellectual property and collect information on Chinese dissidents. The news follows revelations that Google and Adobe had also been targeted by the hackers, who are thought to be from China. According to sources familiar with the matter, 34 companies in total have been affected — and more names are expected to come to light in the next few days."
Google

Submission + - IE Flaw -- Not PDF -- Fueled Google Cyberattacks (computerworld.com)

Submitted by CWmike
CWmike writes: Hackers exploited an unpatched vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser in a widespread attack that compromised Google's and Adobe's corporate networks last year and earlier this month, McAfee said on Thursday. Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research at McAfee, said the unpatched vulnerability in IE was the only exploit — not a flaw in PDF as reported earlier this week — used to hack into several of the companies attacked starting last month. Other researchers have said that as many as 33 firms were attacked, their networks compromised and in some cases, data stolen. Alperovitch said that Microsoft would release additional information about the IE vulnerability in a security advisory later on Thursday. "Microsoft is investigating these reports and will provide more information when it is available," a Microsoft spokesman said in an e-mail. The attacks have also been fingered as part of widespread spying effort from China.

Submission + - Airport Access IDs Hacked in Germany (spiegel.de)

Submitted by teqo
teqo writes: Hackers belonging to the Chaos Computer Club have allegedly cloned digital security ID cards for some German airport successfully which then allowed them access to all airport areas. According to the Spiegel Online article (transgoogleation here), they used a 200 Euro RFID reader to scan a valid security ID card, and since the scanner was able to pretend to be that card, used it to forge that valid ID. Even the airport authorities say that the involved system from 1992 might be outdated, but I guess it might be deployed elswewhere anyways.

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