Free Republic

Windows worm weaves its way with search engines A new worm that uses Internet search engines to spread rapidly was detected Thursday, according to antivirus software maker Panda Software, a private company based in Bilbao, Spain, which operates in the U.S. as PandaLabs of Glendale, in Southern California. Called "MydoomAO," the worm uses Mountain View-based Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Altavista, Sunnyvale-based Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Lycos to search for e-mail addresses to which to send itself. In order to trick users, the worm pretends to be a mail delivery error message. In this way, a single infected computer can distribute thousands...

Gates speech to crown RSA show Analysts: Microsoft chairman may unveil antivirus push LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- As a host of information-technology security experts and professionals descend upon the RSA Conference, the industry sector's largest annual gathering, many are awaiting with bated breath a scheduled keynote speech by Microsoft's Bill Gates. Gates, who also serves as chairman and chief software architect of the world's biggest software firm, is set to officially kick off the conference in San Francisco with a keynote speech Tuesday morning. Analysts widely expect Gates will use his speech, entitled "Security: Raising the Bar," as an...

It is the ethical dilemma that for decades has troubled the rich and aspiring the world over: when you place a live lobster in a pot of boiling water, does it feel pain? Norwegian scientists were asked to investigate pain, discomfort and stress in invertebrates and claim now to have discovered that the answer is no. Their conclusion applies also to crabs and to live worms on a fish hook. None of these feel a thing. Which is good news for Norwegian fishermen at least. Their government was considering a ban on live worms as fish bait under revisions to...

A malicious script that spies on Apple Mac users was discovered over the weekend. The malware, which has been dubbed ‘Opener’ by Mac user-groups, disables Mac OS X’s built-in firewall, steals personal information and can destroy data. Security experts say these traits are common among the thousands of viruses targeting Microsoft’s ubiquitous Windows operating system but are virtually unheard of amongst the Apple Macintosh community. Paul Ducklin, Sophos’ head of technology in the Asia Pacific, told ZDNet Australia that the malware, which Sophos calls Renepo, is designed to infect any Mac OS X drives connected to the infected system and...

Mobile phone security is bad now, but it is only going to get worse, a security firm said Wednesday as it laid out this year's attack timeline to demonstrate the quickening pace of exploits. Finnish anti-virus vendor F-Secure listed 2004's attacks against smartphones, particularly those running the popular Symbian operating system -- Nokia is a one of the phone makers whose devices use the OS -- starting with the spring's Mosquito "trojanized" game and running through this week's similar threat, another Trojan masquerading as a popular cell phone game, Metal Gear Solid. In between, the Cabir worm spread, which first...

ADL slams racist remarks by Likud backbencher Hazan Maariv international The Anti-Defamation League has condemned the " inappropriate and prejudicial remarks" made by Likud MK Yehiel Hazan at the Knesset earlier this week. MK Hazan repeated likened the Palestinians to "worms" and stated that the Palestinians are a nation of "murderers" and "terrorists." (2004-12-15 18:41:47.0)

An Israeli Knesset member from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ruling Likud party has described all Arabs as worms in a parliamentary debate.Yehiel Hazan, parliamentary leader of the biggest lobby group for Jewish colonists illegally settling in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, said on Monday: "The Arabs are worms. You find them everywhere like worms, underground as well as above." Hazan continued: "Until we understand that we're doing business with a nation of assassins and terrorists who don't want us here, there will be no let up. These worms have not stopped attacking Jews for a century."    The Knesset...

A man who either fell or jumped off the roof of his moving Mercedes-Benz in Scottsdale has been identified as an acclaimed chief financial officer for Phoenix whose struggles with a parasite might have caused his behavior Wednesday. Kevin Keogh, 55, died about 3 p.m. after he climbed onto the roof of the car he was driving east on Camelback Road with arms outstretched, similar to actor Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie “Titanic.” Police haven't determined if the death was suicide or accidental, Scottsdale detective Sam Bailey said. Keogh contracted the illness a couple of years ago while on vacation...

Windows XP users could be excused for feeling a little less safe this week. Security tools maker Finjan Software warned on Wednesday that it found as many as 10 security flaws in the last update to Microsoft's flagship operating system, Windows XP Service Pack 2. In a statement that contained few details, the U.K. company claimed that the vulnerabilities could enable attackers to remotely access a victim's files, remove security measures aimed at Internet threats and run programs without any notification to the user. Windows XP SP2 "suffers because it is still basically the same operating system and has some...

Microsoft is admonishing those who found the IFRAME vulnerability - the flaw exploited by the bofra virus - for the way they made it public. Microsoft has slammed the people responsible for publishing details of the vulnerability that has lead to the creation of the bofra virus. The software giant, which has yet to release a patch for the flaw, said that the vulnerability was not reported in a responsible fashion. In a prepared email statement from a Microsoft spokesperson, the company said: "Microsoft is concerned that this new report of a vulnerability in Internet Explorer was not disclosed responsibly,...

Microsoft on Tuesday published 10 software security advisories, warning Windows users and corporate administrators of 22 new flaws that affect the company's products. The advisories, and patches published with the bulletins, range from an "important" flaw affecting only Microsoft Windows NT Server to a collection of eight security holes, including three rated "critical," that leave Internet Explorer open to attack. Microsoft's highest severity rating for software flaws is its "critical" ranking, while "important" is considered slightly less severe. One flaw, in Microsoft Excel, even affects Apple Computer's Mac OS X. The abundance of flaws could leave corporate PCs vulnerable to...

French President Jacques Chirac is to meet his Chinese counterpart on the second day of a visit designed to boost the two countries' economic links. Mr Chirac will meet President Hu Jintao in Beijing hours after delivering a speech in the city of Chengdu. France is keen to improve its trade links with China, and a high-profile team of ministers and industrialists is with Mr Chirac on his state visit. On Friday Mr Chirac called for an end to an EU embargo on selling China arms. The United States is urging the European Union not to lift an embargo that...

just got a slightly faster web connection and am looking to download come quality freebies ;) What do you consier absolute "must-have" freeware programs? All opinions greatly appreciated.

TEHRAN (MNA) -- During the latest season of excavations of the northern gate of Takht-e Suleiman, an ancient Zoroastrian fire temple located in northwestern Iran, the stamps of two seals were discovered which indicate that objects entered Takht-e Suleiman from other regions with special tags attached to them which seem to be advertisements. They signify that an early form of advertising was being practiced during the Sassanid era (224-642 C.E.), Yusef Moradi, the head of the excavation team, said on Friday. “The team began its excavations in early August and found the stamps of two seals at the upper levels...

Secrets of an ancient Persian armada sunk off the coast of Greece 2500 years ago are being dredged up by modern archaeologists. A team from Greece, Canada and the United States has just completed a second expedition to retrieve artefacts from 300 ships of the Persian King Darius that were wrecked in a storm off the Mt Athos Peninsula, northern Greece, in 492BC or 493BC. Aucklanders will be among the first to hear the results today when three of the expedition leaders present their findings in a free public lecture at Auckland University. In two trips so far, last October...

Microsoft released the long-anticipated Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) to manufacturing mid-day Friday, just two days after unknown delays temporarily stumped its wrap. Although Microsoft's signed off on SP2 -- a major update to Windows XP that devotes considerable effort toward tightening up the operating system against security threats -- it's not yet offering the upgrade to end users. SP2 will post for downloading next week, said Microsoft, but it's urging users to not flood the Windows Update servers by retrieving the approximately 80MB file on their own. Instead, the Redmond, Wash.-based developer is trying to convince users...

Papers have been flapping with new headlines about the latest in a long line of alleged dinosaur ancestors of birds. This one is claimed to be a sensational dinosaur with feathers on its hind legs, thus four ‘wings’.1 This was named Microraptor gui—the name is derived from words meaning ‘little plunderer of Gu’ after the paleontologist Gu Zhiwei. Like so many of the alleged feathered dinosaurs, it comes from Liaoning province of northeastern China. It was about 3 feet (1 meter) long from its head to the tip of its long tail, but its body was only about the size...

WASHINGTON -- Consumers who allow their infected computers to send out millions of "spam" messages could be unplugged from the Internet under a proposal released today by six large e-mail providers. Internet users also could be limited on the amount of e-mail they send out each day to ensure they haven't become unwitting spammers, under voluntary guidelines proposed to curb unwanted junk e-mail. The proposal was developed by Time Warner Inc.'s America Online, Yahoo Inc., EarthLink Inc., Microsoft Corp., Comcast Corp. and BT Group Plc. Spam now accounts for up to 83 percent of all e-mail traffic, and large Internet...

"News: New virus reads keys you type" Posted: Fri, 04 Jun 2004 10:52:39 GMT Author: LinuXProX A new virus is on the prowl that can infect your Windows XP/2K system and record every key you hit on your keyboard. The keys are then sent back to the virus creator where he/she can steal your passwords and credit card information. The virus named, Korgo, started showing up in the last week of May but it now has at least six different variants. To protect yourself from this nasty virus, Microsoft is urging all users to download the KB835732 Security Update. The...

I have been getting an inordinant number of attacks on my system. They are on ports 666 and 3049. I have Norton intercepting these attacks, but I am not well-versed ebough on firewalls and the like to know what exactly is going on. The whois for most of them go back to my ISP (SBC). Interestingly, a few have come from Denmark, where the prince just got married to that commoner. Is anyone else getting this kind of thing -- like there is a virus running around?