Archive

Archive for October, 2007

iPod touch now running Mail, Google Maps, and more

October 11th, 2007 Comments off

We’re not looking at general availability yet, but those happy hacking cats unravelling the iPod touch have decrypted the ramdisk and are now busy installing applications. Already, Mail, Maps, and other 3rd party apps are up and running on their jailbreaked touches. The race is on between the cat and the mouse to see who will release their wares first. Maps screenshot after the break.

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Hackers Could Shut Down Car Engines!

October 11th, 2007 Comments off

Some people just have no idea what they are doing. Here we go again – this is another case of overzealous security that can seriously end up in hurting the ones who should be protected!
General Motors is going to come up with a system to make car thefts history… at least in their opinion! The technology is called Stolen Vehicle Slowdown and it’s used, as you might have imagined, to slow down cars. So, basically, should the Police be chasing a stolen vehicle, or a speeding one, they could call GM and ask for them to remotely shut down the engine. Now, surely this would help the Police a lot, but let’s think what else could happen.

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Adobe Acrobat and Reader vulnerable to hacks

October 11th, 2007 Comments off

dobe Systems, whose software is used by millions of people to read documents sent over the internet, said some of its programs contain a flaw that makes personal computers vulnerable to attack. In an 5 October posting on its website, Adobe said the “critical” flaw is incorporated into versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat software, and could allow malicious programs to get on to a PC without the user knowing about it.

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eBay most common brand in phishing scams

October 11th, 2007 Comments off

PayPal and eBay are easily the most common brands used in online scams, a PhishTank report reveals.
The report – based on the end-user submission of almost 300,000 emails believed to be phishes – shows PayPal and its parent eBay served as the lure in 63,437 verified phishing emails.

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Hackers step up attacks on US utilities

October 9th, 2007 Comments off

Hack attacks targeting US utilities have almost doubled this year, a security firm warned today. Managed security services company SecureWorks estimated that it blocked an average of 49 attacks per utility client every day from January to April 2007. But this increased to an average of 93 per day between May and September.

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3rd party apps on iPhone 1.1.1

October 9th, 2007 Comments off

The eternal battle rages on, and this time iPhone hacker asap18 has successfully managed to port a number of third party applications to the iPhone and having them appear properly in the home screen. At point of publishing, only 15 icons can be added in this manner, with the last spot apparently being exclusive for iTunes. Not only that, asap18 has also tracked down an option for international capabilities in SprinBoard that could potentially bear fruit to foreign language Application support. This would come in handy in countries where the iPhone will debut soon, such as Germany and France. Do take note that your unlocked iPhone might end up bricked when you upgrade to the latest 1.1.1 firmware.

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Hacker locks eBay users out of accounts

October 9th, 2007 Comments off

A hacker broke into an eBay server on Friday and temporarily suspended the accounts of a “very small” number of members, the company has admitted. “We were able to block the fraudster quickly before any permanent damage had been done. At no point did the fraudster get any access to financial information or other sensitive information,” eBay spokeswoman Nichola Sharpe claimed via e-mail.

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Microsoft disables IE7 validation process

October 9th, 2007 Comments off

Microsoft is to allow users of Windows XP to download Internet Explorer 7 without having to gain Windows Genuine Advantage authentication. Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is part of Microsoft’s Genuine Software Initiative. It is intended to help prevent the distribution and use of unauthorised versions of Windows. Previously, to download Internet Explorer 7, users had to authenticate to WGA.

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Spam accounts for 70 percent of emails

October 9th, 2007 Comments off

Spam in the form of HTML email is still rampant, while PDF, image and e-card spam is on the decline, a new report finds. According to Symantec’s latest monthly spam report, spam accounted for 70 percent of all email in September, which is one percent higher than the month before.

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YouTube used to lauch spam

October 9th, 2007 Comments off

A feature on YouTube that enables users to share videos with friends is being exploited by spammers to deliver junk mail, security experts have warned. “YouTube users have a facility where they can invite their friends to view videos that they are looking at or have posted,” said Bradley Anstis, director of product management of email security firm Marshal. “This effectively allows them to email to any address from their YouTube account. This is the functionality that the spammers are exploiting.”

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Categories: Random Security, Spam Tags: