Sony has used a technology in one of its products that relies on similar techniques to those employed by hackers. The Sony MicroVault USM-F is a flash drive that includes a biometric protection device, namely a fingerprint recognition scanner. According to security firm F-Secure, the software that comes with the drive creates a hidden folder using ‘rootkit techniques’. Rootkits are usually malicious programs that lie hidden on a PC, disguising their presence by accessing the operating system in an unusual way. While F-Secure suspects that Sony’s rootkit-like software is hiding fingerprint authentication, which seems like a sensible reason to hide data, the company also notes that the system can be abused by bad guys: “This new rootkit… can be used by any malware author to hide any folder.” McAfee has also analysed the software and demonstrated how it can be used to cause problems on a system.
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Security experts believe it’s just a matter of time until widespread attacks on VoIP systems begin to materialize. But there has yet to be a major event to make the IT industry sit up and take notice. Still, as VoIP adoption continues to grow, vendors and integrators are stressing the importance of building layers of security into VoIP deployments. Last November, the SANS Institute, in its annual ranking of the Top 20 security threats, for the first time included VoIP servers and phones, in recognition of the fact that collaboration technologies that weave VoIP into messaging systems provide new pathways for hackers to exploit.
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After two long weeks back in Australia with my WiFi only iPhone I’m pleased to say I’ve finally got it working on an Australian GSM network. And it works perfectly (albeit with no visual voicemail – but I’ll survive). There are now no fewer than four different ways to unlock the iPhone, and it seems more are being released each day. Software solutions are just around the corner, however I chose to go theTurboSIM method, as I felt a hardware based unlock was more update-resistant than the software solutions. This is a hunch, and I’m comfortable if I’m proved wrong — the TurboSIM still works for me!
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George Hotz, the teenager who unlocked Apple’s iPhone from AT&T’s network, will receive a new sports car after signing a deal with a US “aftermarket” mobile phone company. Hotz will drive away in his Nissan 350Z later today after a presentation at CertiCell’s headquarters in Kentucky. Hotz revealed last week that he had developed a process for untethering the iPhone from the AT&T network, allowing the device to work on other GSM compatible networks.
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Sony claims the rootkit-like behaviour of a device driver used to run its biometric Micro Vault USB drive was unintentional. Sony Sweden representative Fredrik Fagerstedt told local press this week that sometimes even actions undertaken with “good will” can go wrong. Fagerstedt’s comments come the same day that antivirus firm McAfee joined the growing chorus of companies criticising Sony for compromising its customers’ security.
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About 146,000 people using a jobs website sponsored by the US government have had their personal information stolen by hackers who broke into computers at Monster Worldwide, a government spokesman said today. The theft on the USAjobs.gov site, which has about two million total users, was part of the hacking operation that Monster disclosed last week, according to Peter Graves, a spokesman for the US Office of Personnel Management.
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Several hundred blogs on Googleâs Blogger site have been hacked, with fake entries linking to Storm Trojan downloads.
If you use Googleâs Blogger site, youâd better be careful, because itâs becoming a very dangerous place. Hackers are posting fake entries to a number of blogs there. That might not seem too threatening, but the entries contain links that lead to downloads that are booby-trapped to infect a Windows PC.
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Powerful new tools let you search for free software and music, zoom in on landmarks and buildings, and add comments to news stories. Google’s in the news these days (which is no surprise). Seriously, I can’t look at PC Advisor – or just about any blog – without seeing its name. So I’m not going to go against the tide, and this week I’ve got two new Google newsmakers – as well as a tremendous imaging site from Microsoft.
Hacking with Google
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A NEW JERSEY teenager has broken the locks on Appleâs iPhone, a move that threatens to ruin exclusive deals Apple has negotiated with mobile-phone carriers worldwide. George Hotz, 17, of Glen Rock, spent 500 hours tinkering with the $499 phoneâs software and rewiring it with a soldering iron. He has posted a guide showing people how to unlock their iPhones in two hours on his blog (http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/ ).
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Many parts of the official Gentoo website have been taken down due to hacker attacks. There is no telling when their website will be fully back online. Gentoo is an open OS that is based on Linux or FreeBSD (which has Unix as a platform as well) that has great maneuverability. Gentoo Linux is very easy to configure and to adapt to a person’s own needs, that’s why it’s a very well known brand all around the world. Last week, Ubuntu (another open Linux-based OS developer) has announced that they have unplugged 5 of their eight servers because they had been severely infected and now they were attacking other computers and now Gentoo suffers as well.
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