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Linux

LinuxCon 2011 Keynotes Streaming (and Free)->

Submitted by DeviceGuru
DeviceGuru writes "All keynote sessions from the LinuxCon North America 2011 conference held in Vancouver this week are being made available for free public streaming today through Friday (August 17-19). One noteworthy highlight: today's 4:45 pm (pdt) keynote will feature Greg Kroah-Hartman in conversation with Linus Torvalds. Viewing the streams requires free registration."
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Security

BlackBerry blog hacked after riots in London->

Submitted by Unexpof
Unexpof writes "Hackers have launched an attack against RIM's BlackBerry blog.

RIM announced that it would help police identify rioters who might have used the BlackBerry Messenger service (BBM) to co-ordinate their activities.

Some 37% of British teenagers are said to own BlackBerrys, whose BBM service provides untraceable and free one-to-many communications.

The TeamPoison hacking gang claimed responsibility for the attack, which warned RIM that it would release confidential information about employees if it assisted the police."
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Security

"Dislike" Button Scam Hits Facebook Users 179

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the i-dislike-this dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A message saying 'I just got the Dislike button, so now I can dislike all of your dumb posts lol!!' is spreading rapidly on Facebook, tempting unsuspecting users into believing that they will be able to "dislike" posts as well as "like" them. However, security researchers say that it is just the latest 'survey scam', tricking Facebook users into into giving a rogue Facebook application permission to access their profile, and posting spam messages from their account. The rogue application requires victims to complete an online survey (which makes money for the scammers) before ultimately redirecting to a Firefox browser add-on for a Facebook dislike button developed by FaceMod. "As far as we can tell, FaceMod aren't connected with the scam — their browser add-on is simply being used as bait," says Sophos security blogger Graham Cluley."
Security

Olympus Digital Camera Ships With a Worm 249

Posted by kdawson
from the do-not-get-too-close-to-the-viewfinder dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Olympus Japan has issued a warning to customers who have bought its Stylus Tough 6010 digital compact camera that it comes with an unexpected extra — a virus on its internal memory card. The Autorun worm cannot infect the camera itself, but if it is plugged into a Windows computer's USB port, it can copy itself onto the PC, then subsequently infect any attached USB device. Olympus says it 'humbly apologizes' for the incident, which is believed to have affected some 1,700 units. The company said it will make every effort to improve its quality control procedures in future. Security company Sophos says that more companies need to wake up to the need for better quality control to ensure that they don't ship virus-infected gadgets. At the same time, consumers should learn to always ensure Autorun is disabled, and scan any device for malware before they use it on their computer."
Security

Clickjacking Worm Exploits Facebook "Like" Feature 124

Posted by StoneLion
from the it's-no-robert-morris dept.
An anonymous reader writes "For the last 24 hours, a series of attacks have exploited Facebook's 'Like' feature through a clickjacking vulnerability. Using subjects such as 'This Girl Has An Interesting Way Of Eating A Banana, Check It Out!' hackers have spread an attack that links to web pages that use invisible iFrames to trick users into saying they like the content. Users are presented with a innocent-seeming web page that says 'Click here to continue,' but clicking at any point on the page publishes the same message to their own Facebook page. Security blogger Graham Cluley says that hundreds of thousands of Facebook users have been hit, and offers advice on how to clean up affected Facebook profiles.
Privacy

Almost All Browsers are Uniquely Fingerprintable->

Submitted by Peter Eckersley
Peter Eckersley writes "Earlier this year, a lot of Slashdot users participated in EFF's Panopticlick experiment to test whether browsers are can be tracked using only the version and configuration information that they share with websites. We have now published a paper reporting the statistical results of the experiment. It shows that 94% of browsers that run Flash or Java (and 84% of browsers generally) were completely unique in a sample of around half a million — almost all desktop browsers were uniquely fingerprintable. The report also studies how rapidly these fingerprints change, and what countermeasures can be taken against fingerprinting. But in summary, browser version and configuration information needs to be treated as identifying in much the same way that IP addresses, cookies, and supercookies are."
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Security

Child Porn desktop? Don't take your PC for repair->

Submitted by Unexpof
Unexpof writes "When 46-year-old Daniel J Wagner brought his virus-infected laptop into the Sheboygan Falls branch of Best Buy, the technicians probably thought it was nothing out of the ordinary.

However, what Best Buy's employees found, according to reports, was that the laptop's desktop wallpaper was of an illegal pornographic image of a child. Subsequent investigation found over 60 images of child abuse, and the technicians turned the matter over to the police.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at security firm Sophos, commented, "It was extraordinary enough to me that someone who had this kind of content on their computer would go to a store to have it repaired, but take a look at this part of the report which explains exactly how the Best Buy technicians noticed something was amiss:"

A technician assigned to repair the computer found a child pornographic image on its desktop background, and attempted to replace the pornographic desktop photo because he was working in a public area of the store. The technician then found more pornographic photos in the computer’s "My Pictures" folder and notified his manager, who called police.

"I used to think nothing good could come of a virus infection. Maybe I was wrong," continued Cluley."
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Security

Poll: 95% say Facebook privacy changes are wrong->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "A poll conducted by a computer security firm has found that 95% of Facebook users don't agree with the site's proposed changes to its privacy policy.

Facebook's controversial changes to its privacy policy could mean that when you visit a website it could already know who you are, your date of birth, where you live, and who your friends are. "All, without ever having given the site explicit permission to access that data," according to Sophos.

Even though Facebook says that only a small number of pre-approved sites will be offered this feature and that users would be able to "opt-out", an overwhelming 95% of the 680 people questioned in Sophos's online survey declared that they thought Facebook's privacy changes were "a bad thing".

Question: Do you think Facebook's proposed changes to their privacy policy are a good or bad thing?
  • Bad. I don't support the changes Facebook is proposing. 95%
  • I don't understand what they're changing. 3%
  • Good. I support the changes Facebook is proposing to make to their privacy policy. 2%

Sophos security researcher Graham Cluley is quoted as saying that he believes Facebook's privacy changes "stink".

"Most users still don't know how to set their Facebook privacy options safely, finding the whole system confusing. The onus should not be on Facebook users having to "opt-out" of this new feature, but instead on users having to "opt-in". Once again, it feels like online privacy is being eroded by stealth. Too many websites are chipping away at their members' privacy and security, potentially exposing their personal data to third parties that were never in the equation when they first signed-up for the service," he writes.

Sophos further reports that some of those votes approving Facebook's privacy policy came from an IP address at Facebook.com.

More details on Sophos's website."
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Security

Facebook scammers lure unwary with free iPad beta->

Submitted by Unexpof
Unexpof writes "Scammers are creating "Fan pages" on Facebook with the intention of tricking unsuspecting social networking users into signing up for a premium rate cellphone service.

Using names such as "Free iPad Beta Test", users are invited to register for a special beta program for the Apple iPad. However, in order to be considered they must become fans of the Facebook page, and invite all of their friends to do the same. Only then can users "register" for the program which — they find — involves taking a "Kanye West or 50 Cent" survey to discover if they are human or a spambot.

Sophos researchers reveal in a video that the survey demands personal information such as date of birth and cellphone number. The cellphone details are then used to sign-up for a premium rate service (approximately $10 per week), and no iPads ever arrive."
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Security

Sick hackers exploit SeaWorld Killer Whale Attack->

Submitted by Unexpof
Unexpof writes "Cybercriminals are using advanced search engine optimisation (SEO) tricks again to spread malicious code.

This time they are creating webpages stuffed with content which claims to be a ghoulish video of Sea World animal trainer Dawn Brancheau's death yesterday — but are really designed to pop-up fake anti-virus alerts. Sophos reports that this is just the latest exploitation of a hot news story by hackers designed to trick users into installing malware on their computers or handing over their credit card details.

Sophos's Graham Cluley writes: "You could argue that anyone hunting for footage of this horrific accident deserves everything that's coming to them, but the real sick ones here are the hackers who are trying to profit from the death of an innocent woman in a tragic accident.""
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I fear explanations explanatory of things explained.