Saddam Hussein was executed at 9:57 pm est.
Rot in hell you evil bastard.
Tags: Saddam, Dictator, Evil Fucker, Saddam Hussein
The war on spam has taken another soldier on our side. The Open Relay Database which tracked mail servers that allowed spammers to use as relays has gone dark. While this was technology from a day gone by it was still sad to see them go.
“ORDB was a holdover from the past era when open relays were a major vector for spam,” said John Levine, co-author of “Fighting Spam for Dummies.” “Now the vast majority of spam is sent by virus-controlled zombie computers. … There’s way more of them (than) there ever were open relays.”Lists that target zombies as well, such as one from the Spamhaus Project, have in recent times been more effective, Levine said.
The number of open relays listed at ORDB dropped in late 2004 and has largely leveled off at about 225,000 servers since then.
This was a great technology in its day. But, now it has outlived its usefulness.
This site was run by volunteers and we would like to tip our hat to them for their good work.
Tags: ORDB, Spam, Spammers, Open Relays
I have noticed a remarkable surge in spam and other nasty bits landing in my email inbox. Turns out that I’m by no means alone in this.
Hackers are shamelessly exploiting the festive season to spread malware.A Christmas-themed jigsaw puzzle game called Christmas_Puzzle.exe doing the rounds is actually a Trojan (Ardamax-E) that uses rootkit technology to hide its presence on compromised systems.
Meanwhile a PowerPoint file named Christmas+Blessing-4.ppt uses an IE vulnerabilities to deposit malicious code on vulnerable Windows boxes. The exploit has been embedded in an innocent Christmas-themed PPT slideshow that’s been circulating on the net, security firm F-Secure notes.
Read the full article after the jump.
Ouch, that would explain why I can’t get through.
Internet and telephone services across Asia were disrupted, hampering financial transactions, after earthquakes near Taiwan damaged undersea cables.“The repairs could take two to three weeks,” said Leng Tai-feng, president of Chunghwa Telecom Co.’s international business. The Taipei-based company, Taiwan’s largest phone operator, said two of its undersea cables were cut.
A series of earthquakes, including a magnitude 7.1 tremor, struck Taiwan last night and today, killing at least two people and cutting power supplies.
Now, where is that old sat phone?
Tags: Taiwan Quakes, Chunghwa Telecom, Undersea Cables
MSNBC is running a piece about the apparent discovery of a security flaw in the new Vista operating system.
Windows Vista, the new computer operating system that Microsoft Corp. is touting as its most secure ever, contains a programming flaw that might let hackers gain full control of vulnerable computers.Microsoft and independent security researchers, however, tried to play down the risk from the flaw, which was posted on a Russian site recently and is apparently the first affecting the new Vista system released to larger businesses in late November.
This particular problem only affects a system that the malicious character already has access to already. This has little more significance than to be the first reported vulnerability. Although I would say that Joanna Rutkowska’s work would qualify as being the first.
Tags: Windows Vista Security, Vista Security Flaw, Vista Vulnerability
2007 is going to be a busy year for security. With the forthcoming release of Vista for the masses you can rest assured that the ne’er do wells are already working away searching for ways to exploit the new operating system.
Who will find the first major security flaw in Windows Vista? Will it be released as zero-day? Is there an end in sight to the botnet menace? Is spam close to being canned? Just who are these criminals phishing for your credit card data?
This and other predictions for 2007 in the following eWeek article.
Tags: 2007 Predictions, Zero Day, Security Flaws, Windows Vista Security
Be a player, pay the consequences.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged a Pennsylvania court today to dismiss defamation claims against the controversial website DontDateHimGirl.com, arguing that federal law shields the website from liability to protect the free flow of information online.
Tags: EFF, DontDateHimGirl.com, Defamation
I’m going to be offline for a few days. Everyone needs a break.
Have a great holiday.
cheers,
Dave
First day of winter has arrived. Although here in Toronto you would never know it. +6C today and +8C tomorrow. Not exactly a recipe for a snow covered holiday. Unless of course you’re in Denver.
A big hello to our visitors this morning from Canada, Russia, India, Germany, Denmark, Taiwan, Singapore and UK as well as visitors from Ziff Davis, CNET and the BBC. Thanks for stopping by. Yesterday we hit yet another new high for subscriptions! Thanks!
- Singapore teen convicted of tapping wireless (hardly a fair judgement in this case)
- PHP security under scrutiny
- Skype threat confusion clears (all clear, nothing to see here)
- Computer Security Expert Edward W. Felten Joins EFF Board of Directors
- Websense Moves into Leakage Prevention with PortAuthority Buy
- Apple fixes QuickTime spyware flaw
- British police warn of online pedophile risk
- Tom Pyke | A more secure IT environment
- Top tips on destroying data on your hard drives
Tags: News, Daily Links, Security Blog, Morning Coffee, Skype Worm, Data Security, Online Safety, EFF, PHP Security, Wireless
In a bid to further raise awareness to the security of SCADA systems Dale Peterson from Digital Bond has posted his run down of the top SCADA stories.
Worth a read.
Tags: SCADA, SCADA Security, Top 10 2006
