Computer Security Articles

CSA DISCLAIMER: This video taken from YouTube. As well as any other video found on this site is not hosted here, it just embedded, and it taken randomly by our system from video hosting services like YouTube, Metacafe, and others. Therefore, we are not responsible for any copyright violations, video materials, hacking or cracking activities, or any other. If you have any legal issues, please contact the appropriate host site.

CSA DISCLAIMER: This video taken from YouTube. As well as any other video found on this site is not hosted here, it just embedded, and it taken randomly by our system from video hosting services like YouTube, Metacafe, and others. Therefore, we are not responsible for any copyright violations, video materials, hacking or cracking activities, or any other. If you have any legal issues, please contact the appropriate host site.

According to The Telegraph, German prosecutors are accusing two local hackers of breaking into the computers of over 50 pop stars, including Lady Gaga and Ke$ ha.

(Wouldn’t you have to be pretty brave to blackmail Lady Gaga? She can be, um, scary. )

Ralf Haferkamp, from the Duisburg prosecutor’s office, said in an interview with Deutsche Welle that the hackers, two boys of 17 and 23 from the West of Germany, infected the machines in order to steal all sorts of files.

Stolen property allegedly includes credit cards details, pictures, emails and unreleased songs. Prosecutors also claim that they managed to sell some of the unreleased material.

So how did they caught? The Telegraph reports that the hacker duo bragged about their nefarious activities on the web. Not only greedy, but idiotic show-offs too.

A few weeks ago I demonstrated SafeCentral to Riva Richmond of the New York Times. She wrote an article appears in Friday’s New York Times covering a “new breed of products” that address online identity fraud. The article features SafeCentral alongside other new services that directly address online threats to our identities and bank accounts. Riva Richmond points out that traditional tools like antivirus are struggling to keep up with the flood of high-tech crimeware that invades our computers to install keyloggers or conduct automated phishing.

This article is not an online holiday shopping scare fest. It provides helpful information on tools consumers can use to proactively protect themselves and remain safe and happy through the new year.

– on SafeCentral Blog

UPDATE Issues resolved. The windows logon ui seemed to negate any work done by antivirus programs. I simply renamed the file to exold from exe and haven’t had a problem since. Bad image errors resolved by paying attention to the name & location of the dll file. I went to my other xp pc and searched for that file and copied it from the exact folder referenced in the error since there were two copies of that file on the pc in different folders. Went back to the problem computer and first copied the referenced dll file and saved it to another hard drive just in case I really messed things up. Then I inserted my flash that contained the dll file from my other PC and copied and pasted it to the folder it was supposed to be in. I don’t have those Bad Image errors anymore. Below is what I first posted before resolving the issues: It looks like I have a virus.. Things haven’t looked the same since March 31, 2009. I get a series of bad image errors. Some programs work and some don’t. Regardless of the program, I get a bad image error box referencing the applicatoin or DLL c;|windows|system32\sensapi.dll is not a valid windows image. Please check this against your diskette. I have found some Trojans when running Super AntiSpyware, but I receive a windows logon ui error or the screen will go Blue (NOT A BLUE SCREEN of DEATH) and the only option is to power off. Any attempt to download patches from Microsof windows update is negated by the inability to Install Active X. I have run …

Merry Christmas from Sierra On-line inc. “A COMPUTER CHRISTMAS”

I show you all what I use to keep the Windows 7 PC running smoothly.

[Update: if this post is of interest to you, you may also find Kevin Townsend's commentary of interest, though the title seems a little misleading to me. While I'm not altogether comfortable with the fact that the message is a little too reminiscent of fake AV, I don't see how you can describe an application that ... Read More.

View full post on ESET ThreatBlog

You may have seen some headlines today about a New Java Trojan that attacks Macs. It turns out that it also attacks Windows and Linux users as well. The Trojan pretends to be a video on Facebook. A user gets a message asking “is this you in this video” with a link. Upon clicking the … Read More.

View full post on ESET ThreatBlog

An Eastern European cybercrime ring stole $70 million from US banks, the FBI announced today. In additions to the dozens of individuals charged in the…

View full post on Computer Crime Research News

Long-time readers may recall that I was rather critical last year, here and elsewhere, of the way in which the BBC played footsie with the bad guys, in contravention of OFCOM directives and, arguably, the UK's Computer Misuse Act, by paying a criminal a significant sum in exchange for control of a botnet, with the intention … Read More.

View full post on ESET ThreatBlog

AFP – Dutch authorities announced Tuesday the arrest in Armenia of the alleged mastermind behind a computer virus crime group whose server network was dismantled in the Netherlands a day earlier.

View full post on Yahoo! News: Security News

PC World – Ever find yourself deleting some files to make room for your overgrown media collection? Thanks to a new hack from a Russian PC enthusiast you should have plenty of room for your MP3 collection, along with the collections of everybody else you know. The hack consists of an array of 60 hard drives and the whole thing holds a whopping 70 terabytes of data.

View full post on Yahoo! News: Security News

This is the last segment in the series. To begin with, I have a question for you…
What do you call a device that has a 1 gigahertz microprocessor, 512 megabytes of RAM, several gigabytes of solid state storage, runs programs, can be programmed, and can access the internet? Sound a bit like a Netbook, but … Read More.

View full post on ESET ThreatBlog

GREENVILLE — A former Clemson official, fired three years ago amid disputes about the university’s financial management, has been indicted…

View full post on Computer Crime Research News

AFP – The Finnish company Stonesoft said Monday it had found new techniques that bypass current security systems which cyber-criminals could use to gain access company productivity applications.

View full post on Yahoo! News: Security News

The winners of Computer Weekly’s Blog Awards 2010 will be announced on the 18th of November.

That means you have one month (plenty of time) to head on over to Computer Weekly and vote.

F-Secure Labs is eligible in two categories.

News from the Lab is in the IT security category:

And Mikko is in the Twitter category:

Thanks for your consideration!

On 18/10/10 At 04:04 PM

View full post on F-Secure Antivirus Research Weblog

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Anti Virus – How To Know If Your Computer Has A Virus: antivirus-software.tech.officelive.com Many viruses today try to interfere with the downloading of windows security updates and the installation of anti-virus and anti-malware software. They are designed to interfere with the internet connection. They can block updates, thus making the anti-malware or anti-virus software almost useless. Some of the viruses are so sophisticated that they can render the new software ineffective during the download and installation process, before you ever get a chance to run the first scan. This makes the virus or malicious software very difficult to remove. More malware can download onto your computer while you are running scans to remove it! You will need to learn how to run your computer in the “Safe Mode with Networking” to update your software and remove a bad virus infection. Details on how to do that and free software at antivirus-software.tech.officelive.com Sign up for our free security newsletter at antivirus-software.tech.officelive.com More ways to protect your computer at spyware.tech.officelive.com

India plans to develop a new computer operating system, with an eye to enhancing the security of its computer systems, a government spokesman said on Monday.

View full post on Network World on Security

India plans to develop a new computer operating system, with an eye to enhancing the security of its computer systems, a government spokesman said on Monday.

View full post on Computerworld Security News

Adobe Flash is, in my opinion, the most ubiquitous spyware in the world and no products detect it as such. The reason it goes undetected is that it also has numerous legitimate uses, however, there is growing evidence that indicates significant abuse. This will be the first in a series of blogs in which I … Read More.

View full post on ESET ThreatBlog

We have all needed to dispose of unused computers at home and the office. I would like to encourage each of you to consider a responsible choice that helps the environment while at the same time safeguarding yourself, your company and your data.
Before disposing of any computer please consider the following as they may be helpful:

Save all important documents off onto a secure removable storage device, preferably encrypted media.
Wherever possible, extract any software license keys for reusable software.
Wipe your hard disk with Kill Disk, Boot and Nuke or like software. I typically keep/destroy my drives, but before I do I will wipe them by attaching them to another computer with my handy hard drive adapter kit. The adapter kit allows me to attach SATA/IDE drives to any computer through the USB port. (It’s handy…and has bailed me out many times.)
Remove any reusable cables or parts such as a network card. (A backup NIC is always handy…)
Remove any batteries and recycle them properly.

Here is a list of URL’s of the recycling programs from some of the well known players in the computing industry. Mileage will vary based on your needs. I have used Best Buy’s program for no other reason than its convenience and accessibility. Many other’s have different things to offer. Review them all and see which suits you.

Recycling

HP
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/environment/recycling/unwanted-hardware.html

Apple
http://www.apple.com/recycling/computer/

http://www.apple.com/recycling/nationalservices/us.html

Dell
http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/d/corp-comm/GlobalRecycling.aspx

IBM
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/environment/products/recycling.shtml

Lenovo (IBM)
http://www.lenovo.com/social_responsibility/us/en/

Gateway
http://www.gateway.com/about/corp_responsibility/env_recycle.php

Best Buy
http://www.bestbuy.com/recycling

Donating your computer is always a good choice as well. However, remember if you choose to donate any computer there are things that should be done to prevent harm to you or your company and exposing sensitive data. You will read more on Securing a Donated Computer another day. That is the topic for Day 16, stay tuned…
Please comment below if you know any additional steps or resources out there to assist in computer disposal and as always contact us via our contact form. Any sites that help out for countries other than the US would be great to share.
–

Kevin Shortt

ISC Handler on Duty

(c) SANS Internet Storm Center. http://isc.sans.org Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

View full post on SANS Internet Storm Center, InfoCON: green