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Security

Submission + - DNS attack ushers in new era of Phishing 2.0 (computerworld.com.au)

Bergkamp10 writes: Researchers at Google and the Georgia Institute of technology are studying a new virtually undetectable form of attack that exploits 'open recursive' DNS servers, which are used to tell computers how to find each other on the Internet by translating domain names like google.com into numerical Internet Protocol addresses. Some 17 million open-recursive DNS servers are on the Internet, and unlike other DNS servers they answer all DNS lookup requests from any computer on the net, making them the perfect target for would be hackers and attackers. Criminals are apparently using these servers in tandem with new attack techniques to develop a generation 2.0 of phishing. Here's how an attack would work. A victim would visit a Web site or open a malicious attachment that would exploit a bug in his computer's software. Attackers would then change just one file in the Windows registry settings, telling the PC to go to the criminal's server for all DNS information. If the initial exploit code was not stopped by antivirus software, the attack would give attackers virtually undetectable control over the computer. Once they'd changed the Windows settings, the criminals could take victims to the correct Web sites most of the time, but then suddenly redirect them to phishing sites whenever they wanted — during an online banking session, for example. Because the attack is happening at the DNS level, anti-phishing software would not flag the phoney sites.
Programming

Submission + - Ruby on Rails 1.2 Released

Scooter[AMMO] writes: David Heinemeier Hansson sent a post to the Rails Blog letting everyone know about the availability of Rails 1.2. This new version adds a slew of buff and polish to the rest of the system, as well several new features like RESTful interfaces, response formats, improved multi-byte support, and more. If you haven't checked out the web application framework that aims to renew joy within its users, give it a look. You may be amazed at how easy it makes things without sacrificing power or functionality.
Editorial

Submission + - An Underdog Story: How the Wii Became Number One

John Misak writes: "GWN have published a thought-provoking editorial piece on the past, present and future of the Wii and PS3. From the article:

"Has the world gone mad? At this time last year Sony was sitting comfortably on top of the gaming console hill. Nintendo rolled the dice with the Wii and it seems to have come up seven for the company, while Sony is constantly betting the hard eight and losing chips by the handful.

Sony still sits atop the gaming heap, but may not be resting all that comfortably these days. It's interesting that the first few PS3 consoles sold in the US came with a Blu-Ray copy of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby because Sony is now a bit like Will Ferrell's Ricky, seeing that competitor coming up fast from behind. Instead of a gay French NASCAR driver, it's an Italian plumber coming by way of Japan, Sony's home turf.

An in-depth look at exactly how it happened."

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