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IT: 10 Anti-Phishing Firefox Extensions

Posted by CowboyNeal on Friday June 01, @01:12AM
from the lock-the-windows dept.
Mozilla
An anonymous reader writes "A list of 10 anti-phishing Firefox extensions was published at Security-Hacks: 'For most Internet users, defending against phishing attacks is a top priority. One popular way to combat phishing attacks is to maintain a list of known phishing sites and to check web sites against the list.'"

EMI, YouTube Strike Music Video Deal

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday May 31, @11:38PM
from the ebony-and-ivory dept.
Google
eldavojohn writes "Despite initial complaints of copyright infringement, EMI is now striking a deal with YouTube. Perhaps they've noticed that Warner's deal has boded well or they've finally come around to free marketing? From the article, "EMI and YouTube have agreed to work together to develop ways in which EMI-owned recordings can be incorporated into user generated content by YouTube users. News of the deal comes just 10 days after EMI agreed to be taken over by private equity group Terra Firma for £2.4bn." YouTube is slowing building a cadre of friends on the playground while Viacom continues to bully the new kid."

Your Rights Online: New Anti-Forensics Tools Thwart Police

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday May 31, @10:15PM
from the knowing-thine-enemy dept.
Security
rabblerouzer writes "Antiforensic tools have slid down the technical food chain, from Unix to Windows, from something only elite users could master to something nontechnical users can operate. 'Five years ago, you could count on one hand the number of people who could do a lot of these things,' says one investigator. 'Now it's hobby level.' Take, for example, TimeStomp. Forensic investigators poring over compromised systems where Timestomp was used often find files that were created 10 years from now, accessed two years ago and never modified."

Science: Launch Date Announced for Shuttle Mission STS-117

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday May 31, @09:48PM
from the back-in-the-saddle dept.
NASA
chuckpeters writes "After a two day Flight Readiness Review in Florida, space shuttle managers have announced an official launch date for STS-117 to be June 8, 7:38 PM. The launch window will run in two parts — from June 8th to the evening of June 12th when the shuttle must stand down for a June 14th Atlas launch. After that the windows opens again on the 17th. This first opening gives the standard four attempts in five days. If they have not launched by the 12th, they will replenish things such as liquid oxygen and hydrogen for the fuel cells to prepare for the 17th attempt."

Apple: Music Listeners Test 128kbps vs. 256kbps AAC

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday May 31, @08:22PM
from the perfect-pitches dept.
Media (Apple)
notthatwillsmith writes "Maximum PC did double-blind testing with ten listeners in order to determine whether or not normal people could discern the quality difference between the new 256kbps iTunes Plus files and the old, DRM-laden 128kbps tracks. But wait, there's more! To add an extra twist, they also tested Apple's default iPod earbuds vs. an expensive pair of Shure buds to see how much of an impact earbud quality had on the detection rate."

IT: City Almost Loses 450K to Keylogger

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday May 31, @07:31PM
from the never-too-safe dept.
Security
SierraPete writes "The city of Carson, California (a suburb of Los Angeles) was the target of a 6-digit theft of cash. The LA Times reports that information taken from a keylogger was used to attempt to steal $450K from the city's treasury. Quick work by the city froze most of the funds, but it drives home the importance of keeping good anti-spyware and anti-virus software updated on both corporate systems as well as systems being used from home."

IT: Flawed Survey Suggests XP More Secure Than Vista

Posted by Zonk on Thursday May 31, @06:43PM
from the no-knee-jerking-here dept.
Windows
SkeeLo writes "One of Vista's big selling points is security, but a report from CRN concludes that Vista offers little in the way of security advancements over Windows XP. Ars Technica analyzed the report and found some methodological problems. 'The report faults Vista for "providing no improvement in virus protection vs. XP," but of course Windows Vista does not ship with antivirus software — something the reviewer fails to mention. Faulting an AV-less Vista for not stopping viruses is a bit like faulting a door without a lock for opening when the handle is twisted.' That's not all: 'It was also disappointing to see CRN completely ignore the issue of buffer overflows, which has been addressed well in Vista by most accounts. This was a major weak spot with XP, and so far, Vista looks strong in this area, strong enough that Vista may never get its own "SQL Slammer." Why CRN didn't address this is a mystery, as it is no minor matter.'"

IT: The IT Department as Corporate Snoop?

Posted by Zonk on Thursday May 31, @06:01PM
from the like-penny-in-inspector-gadget dept.
Security
coondoggie writes with a link to a NetworkWorld article about the dangers of IT department snoops. A study released today is likely to exacerbate the trend of failing trust in employees; it shows that one in three IT employees poke through systems and prod at confidential information while on the job. The survey was done by a firm specializing in password security, so some salt might be required for this particular article. "The survey found that more than one-third of IT professionals admit they could still access their company's network once they'd left their current job, with no one to stop them. More than 200 IT professionals participated in the survey with many revealing that although it wasn't corporate policy to allow IT workers to access systems after termination, still almost 25% of respondents knew of another IT staff member who still had access to sensitive networks even though they'd left the company long ago."

MLB Says Slingbox Illegal, CEA Thinks Otherwise

Posted by Zonk on Thursday May 31, @05:25PM
from the media-ing-on-the-fly dept.
Television
The Tie Guy writes "Sling Media's Slingbox allows consumers to watch and control their home television programs from a remote PC or smartphone — a process called 'placeshifting'. Content owners are typically edgy when it comes to the placeshifting topic. However, most don't view Slingbox as an imminent threat that will destroy the commercial broadcast model. Major League Baseball is going against the grain by saying that Slingbox owners who stream home games while traveling are breaking the law because it allows consumers to circumvent geographical boundaries written in to broadcast deals. This has sparked a huge debate that has the MLB, baseball fans, and the CEA up in arms. CEA President Gary Shapiro doesn't agree, and is coming to the defense of Sling Media and place-shifting in general."

Hardware: A Look Beneath the 'Surface'

Posted by Zonk on Thursday May 31, @04:44PM
from the just-don't-crack-the-surface dept.
Microsoft
Hajsky writes "Ars Technica takes a closer look at Microsoft's new "Surface" tabletop device. Turns out that Surface isn't actually a touchscreen at all, but uses five cameras located in the table's base to record movement and touch. 'The five cameras are near-infrared devices, but that's not because they are trying to read heat signatures from fingertips (or other body parts) on the table. Instead, it's because the entire surface of Surface is bathed in light; by illuminating the top of the table, the cameras can easily see when things are placed on it. Shining colored light across the surface of the table would spoil the effect that Microsoft wants, so near-infrared light is used for invisible illumination.' The whole setup runs on a Core 2 Duo and off-the-shelf hardware, and can handle 52 simultaneous touches." jfanning wrote with a link to an overview of similar technology used in the Helsinki 'CityWall'. The article she provides discusses the unique public display, and has an in-depth video on the way these kinds of setups work.

Linux: Microsoft Sees No Conflicts With Patent Initiatives

Posted by Zonk on Thursday May 31, @04:05PM
from the maybe-they-should-look-again dept.
Microsoft
AlexGr writes "According to Eweek's Peter Galli, Microsoft sees no contradiction between its open-source community building efforts and the more-than-thinly-veiled legal threats at Linux and other projects. Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft's vice president of intellectual property and licensing, actually states: 'One makes the other possible, especially at a time like this, when interoperability is so important. Microsoft recognizes the importance of interoperability, which is why we are doing the things we are in our products, why we created the Interoperability Executive Customer Council, and why we are listening to customers.'"

Linux: Democracy Player Receives $100K Grant From Mozilla

Posted by Zonk on Thursday May 31, @03:21PM
from the friendly-dinosaur-in-our-midst dept.
Mozilla
puntloos writes "The Open Source Internet TV Platform 'Democracy' has just received a $100,000 Grant from the Mozilla Foundation. Democracy is a combination of ways to view and download media to your desktop in an intuitive way, built on top of the ever-popular VLC video player. Seth's blog has details: 'The Mozilla Board agreed to support them for the following reasons: 1. Their mission to ensure the continued rise of open source & open standards aligns with the Mozilla mission to encourage choice & innovation on the web. 2. They're building something that can have influence on the way users browse web content, rich media, and desktop UI -- and it's based on Mozilla technology. 3. PCF is another example of that leverage we are looking for...they don't have any venture backing, they're running on a very lean budget, and they continue to seek creative resources to make a big difference in the way their users access content on the Web.'"
Games: Can Blizzard Top StarCraft? 94 of 109 comments

IT: A Look at BSD Rootkits

Posted by Zonk on Thursday May 31, @02:43PM
from the under-the-devil's-horns dept.
Security
blackbearnh writes "Windows has a reputation for being easily exploited by rootkits, but just because you're using Linux or BSD doesn't mean you're safe from infection. In an interview on O'Reilly's ONLamp site, Joseph Kong (author of Designing BSD Rootkits ), talks about how to build and defend against Rootkits under BSD. 'I know a lot of people who refer to rootkits and rootkit-detectors as being in a big game of cat and mouse. However, it's really more like follow the leader — with rootkit authors always being the leader. Kind of grim, but that's really how it is. Until someone reveals how a specific (or certain class of) rootkit works, nobody thinks about protecting that part of the system. And when they do, the rootkit authors just find a way around it. This is what I meant earlier when I said rootkit hunting is hard — as you really have to validate the integrity of the entire system.'"

IT: Germany Declares Hacking Tools Illegal

Posted by Zonk on Thursday May 31, @02:03PM
from the hack-the-planet-leave-germans-alone dept.
Security
dubbelj writes "Germany has updated their computer crime law to declare 'hacking tools' illegal. This will place most of the professionals in the network admin and computer security fields in a sort of legal grey area. 'The new rules tighten up the existing sanctions and prohibit any unauthorized user from disabling or circumventing computer security measures to access secure data (see the law, sections 200 and following [in German]). Manufacturing, programming, installing, or spreading software that can circumvent security measures is verboten, which means that some security scanning tools might become illegal.' We discussed a similar measure in January when Australia considered the same kind of legislation. How will this affect Linux distribution in Germany, as most standard Linux distributions come with these kind of 'hacking tools' installed by default?"
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