In-flight entertainment has come a long way since passengers craned their necks to catch a glimpse of the flickering films shown in 1980s aircraft.Today’s passengers expect on-demand video systems, telephones and even broadband Internet access. Unfortunately, that’s not all they can do. The technology used by the new generation of aircraft is now so advanced that aviation officials fear that terrorists could use it to fly the plane.
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A US federal grand jury in Detroit has indicted a Michigan man dubbed the “spam king” and 10 others in an international illegal bulk emailing and stock fraud scheme, the US Justice Department said on Thursday. The 41-count indictment charges Alan Ralsky, 52, of West Bloomfield, Michigan, his son-in-law, and nine others with operating a spamming operation that focused on running a stock “pump and dump” scheme.
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Google’s AdSense earnings are threatened by a Trojan that replaces the search giant’s paid-for adverts with its own, in order to hijack advertising revenue. Launched in 2005, Google AdSense allows third-party websites or publishers to generate revenue from Google’s text advertisers. AdSense acts as a middleman between an advertiser and a publisher. By crawling the content of publishers’ web pages, AdSense determines the relevance of a text ad to page content and then places the ad within the page if there is a match.
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Before Boeing’s new 787 jetliner gets the green light to fly passengers, the jet maker will have to prove the plane’s computer network can’t be hacked. Boeing has designed the 787 to allow airlines to offer passengers more in-flight entertainment and Internet options than it has with previous planes. Those new features and other aspects of 787′s computer network go beyond the scope of existing regulations, so the Federal Aviation Administration is requiring Boeing to show the new technology won’t pose a safety threat.
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IBM’s Lotus Notes messaging software can be compromised by a single maliciously crafted email, according to researchers at Core Security Technologies. There is a vulnerability in in Autonomy KeyView, software used by Lotus Notes to process Lotus 1-2-3 files, they said. Core’s researchers found that when they opened a specially crafted Lotus 1-2-3 email attachment in Lotus Notes, they could run unauthorised software on the PC.
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We’ve seen similar infections in the past, but since this is pretty new, it might manage to bypass the antivirus protection and install on your computer. Security company Trend Micro discovered BKDR_DARKMOON.AH, a new backdoor affecting the Windows operating systems which attempts to open a port in order to allow the hacker to connect to your computer. Basically, it can open any port it wants and, since there are so many remote control technologies available out there, it can easily allow its creator to control your system.
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The Poynter Review on the loss of benefits data by Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs is under way, with a report to the chancellor of the exchequer due in December. The review team appointed to investigate the loss of child-benefit data from Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is scheduled to publish an initial report on 14 December, 2007. Kieran Poynter, the chair of PricewaterhouseCoopers, is leading the review on what lead to the loss of two CDs containing confidential personal information, including national insurance numbers and bank account details. The Poynter Review will make interim recommendations on any further, urgent measures that HMRC should put in place to guarantee the confidentiality of personal data.
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Computer worms, responsible for some of the worst virus outbreaks in recent years, are declining as hackers look to make money instead of inflicting damage, a new report claims. According to latest malware audit from security firm PandaLabs, worms are now heavily outnumbered by malicious codes such as adware or Trojans, which currently make up 49 percent of all detected infections.
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Hackers obtained access last month to the e-mail addresses and passwords of thousands of donors to 92 charities that use online database software and services from Convio Inc. Among the charities are CARE and the American Museum of Natural History. There is no evidence that anyone has used the information to engage in fraud, but several charities have notified donors of the breach and advised them to consider changing passwords if they use the same password for other purposes. Convio, of Austin, Texas, which works primarily with charities, discovered the breach Nov. 1 and told clients about it two days later, said Tad Druart, a spokesman.
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Many companies are afraid of ex-employees who got access to the internal security technologies, passwords or computers, a survey conducted by Citrix revealed. No less than 49 percent of the respondents considered that IT engineers or employees who worked in the security departments are a real threat for the Irish companies. In addition, 51 percent of them considered that hackers and malware represent a bigger threat than the angry employees while 52 percent voted for phishing attacks. 57 percent of the respondents said the DoS attacks are also a serious threat for the companies’ computers.
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