Music
Security Alerts
- TA13-168A: Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
- TA13-141A: Washington, DC Radio Station Web Site Compromises
- TA13-134A: Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
- TA13-107A: Oracle Has Released Multiple Updates for Java SE
- TA13-100A: Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
- TA13-088A: DNS Amplification Attacks
- TA13-071A: Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
- TA13-064A: Oracle Java Contains Multiple Vulnerabilities
- TA13-051A: Oracle Java Multiple Vulnerabilities
- TA13-043B: Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities
Security Tips
- ST06-001: Understanding Hidden Threats: Rootkits and Botnets
- ST06-005: Dealing with Cyberbullies
- ST06-004: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Online Trading
- ST04-009: Identifying Hoaxes and Urban Legends
- ST06-006: Understanding Hidden Threats: Corrupted Software Files
- ST10-001: Recognizing Fake Antiviruses
- ST04-016: Recognizing and Avoiding Spyware
- ST04-015: Understanding Denial-of-Service Attacks
- ST05-019: Preventing and Responding to Identity Theft
- ST05-006: Recovering from Viruses, Worms, and Trojan Horses
60-Second Adventures in Thought
Although, GPS does not use special relativity in it’s function – it has to account for it in order to function – If special relativity did not exist, gps would still be possible.
Address Is Approximate
Using stop-motion animation and imagery from Google Maps Street View, director Tony Jenkins provides a look at how a lonely desk toy manages to escape his confined world and take a cross country drive to the Pacific coast.
Doom 3 source code now available, gory customizations welcomed
Doom for everyone. It’s not a particularly festive message, but as promised earlier this week, the Doom 3 source code is now out on a general public license. Programming types can meddle with the game’s inner workings as wintery temperatures force them to huddle close to the warm hum of excessive gaming rigs. Doom dad John Carmack announced the release to his horde of Twitter followers, while doffing his cap to Timothee Besset, who helped sidestep some shadow rendering license issues that had dogged an earlier release. Peer into the source code, and know the true face of despair Doom.
Ron Paul’s interview on Face The Nation
Congressman Paul held himself well against the interviewer’s obvious attempt to discredit.
You say “rootkit,” I say “diagnostic tool”
“The only way to remove Carrier IQ is with advanced skills,” Eckhart wrote in a report, published on the Web on Monday. “If you choose to void your warranty and unlock your bootloader you can (mostly) remove Carrier IQ.” 
The software, Carrier IQ, tracked the location of the phone, what keys were pressed, which Web pages were visited, when calls were placed, and other information on how the device is used and when.
Eckhart discovered that Carrier IQ can be shown as present on the phone to users or configured as hidden, which was the case on the HTC phones he analyzed. And he found what he described as “leaked training documents” that indicate that carriers can view customer usage information via a remote portal that displays devices by equipment ID and subscriber ID.
The Seven Deadly Online Sins
6 extremely well known websites, and then Seamless… Viral ad campaign maybe? I can see it now…
“Hey boss, I have this idea for a new viral campaign! This is going to be huge! By the way, how do you feel about associating your brand and customers with blatant gluttony?”
“Sounds good to me. Just make sure you don’t use our name or reveal anything about our service while you’re insulting our customers.”
Hit the nail on the head. Definitely a viral campaign.
Canada’s new plastic $100 bill is all tricked out
A helpful YouTube video put out by the Bank of Canada explains the new security features. For example, a suspicious money taker should note that although the polymer bill is nice and smooth, there should be raised ink on the big number 100, the “Bank of Canada” text and the shoulders of the portrait of Sir Robert Borden, the prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920.
There are also two transparent windows on the note — one small one depicts a frosted maple leaf, the other extends the height of the bill, and has a copy of the portrait toward the top of the window, and an image of a building at the bottom. If you move the bill the colors of the building will change a lot, while the color changes on the portrait are more subtle.
Identity theft marketplace sells mothers’ maiden names, dates of birth, etc
Many websites will allow you to “recover a lost password” if you (or a crook) can supply your date of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc. So, of course, crooks buy and sell data like dates of birth, mothers’ maiden names, Social Security Numbers, and other easily mined minutae. 
Brian Krebs reports from superget.info, a site that sells would-be fraudsters this information, and also has a wholesale program so that entrepreneurial crooks can resell your personal information to their friends.
Superget lets users search for specific individuals by name, city, and state. Each “credit” costs USD$1, and a successful hit on a Social Security number or date of birth costs 3 credits each. The more credits you buy, the cheaper the searches are per credit: Six credits cost $4.99; 35 credits cost $20.99, and $100.99 buys you 230 credits. Customers with special needs to can avail themselves of the “reseller plan,” which promises 1,500 credits for $500.99, and 3,500 credits for $1000.99.
“Our Databases are updated EVERY DAY,” the site’s owner enthuses. “About 99% nearly 100% US people could be found, more than any sites on the internet now.”
Customers who aren’t choosy about the identities they’re stealing can get a real bargain. Among the most trafficked commodities in the hacker underground are packages called “fullz infos,” which include the full identity information on dozens or hundreds of individuals.
Tesla coil hat: “a really bad idea”
MIT student Tyler Christensen created a musical Tesla coil hat for his Halloween costume (it played the Mortal Kombat theme and the Harry Potter theme while discharging semi-tam lightning). While freely stipulating that this is “a really bad idea,” Tyler is still generous enough to document his project for others who might follow in his bad footsteps.
Really, it’s just a DRSSTC. Nothing less, nothing more, nothing fancy. It was a bit tricky to make a bridge appropriately sized, and even harder to make a boost converter for it. In fact, the boost never truly worked. If I play a mid to high note for a few seconds, the boost can’t keep up and it fades away. I think this is due to saturation of my boost core, but I haven’t really taken the time to do much on this since now I’m back in the gate driver world and also have to throw together my 6.131 power electronics final project. I’ll fix hatcoil in February.
Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet reviews are out
If you’re thinking about getting the Fire, you have to decide not just whether you want a tablet, but what kind of tablet you want. This isn’t an iPad-killer. It has the potential to do lots of things, but there are many things I have yet to see it do, and I wonder if it will get there given the lean software support. It’s my impression that Amazon believes that the Fire will be so popular that developers will choose to work on its platform rather than on Google’s main trunk of Android, but that’s just a theory right now.
Still, there’s no question that the Fire is a really terrific tablet for its price. The amount of content you have access to — and the ease of getting to that content — is notable to say the least. The device is decently designed, and the software — while lacking some polish — is still excellent compared to pretty much anything in this range (and that includes the Nook Color). It’s a well thought out tablet that can only get better as the company refines the software. It’s not perfect, but it’s a great start, and at $200, that may be all Amazon needs this holiday shopping season.
Good Stuff
Great Amazon content ecosystem
User friendly, consistent UI
Affordable
Bad Stuff
Software can be buggy
Amazon Appstore has limited selection
Uninspired hardware
Best Apple ad I’ve ever seen
Putin is such a #bauce.
Blackberry “London.” Leaked pic of new BBX device
Specs:
TI OMAP dual core @ 1.5GHz
1GB RAM
16GB internal storage
8MP rear cam, 2MP front cam
BBX QNX OS
The President Of Russia Has Cheerleaders (Because Why Wouldn’t He?)
Aw, if you thought the unnecessary call for attractive females was done today, then you, my friends, just don’t know me very well. Allow me to introduce Medvedev’s Girls, an organization of females in Russia that has pledged its undying devotion to the country’s president, Dmitry Medvedev.
That’s right, Russia’s president has a group of attractive young females wearing cheerleading outfits that follows him around voluntarily and supports everything that he does. Somewhere Bill Clinton is soooooooooo pissed.
Apparently the group was formed in opposition of a similar group of attractive females that encourages – seriously, I can’t believe I’m typing this – other attractive young females to strip in support of Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin. Most recently, Medvedev’s Girls have worn sexy schoolgirl outfits to support education initiatives and to support Medvedev’s ban on underage drinking (in Russia?) they shed articles of clothing as people poured out their beers. Seriously, how could you be mad about that?
QR Markham’s plagiarized spy thriller didn’t stop being good when he was caught
Debutante plagiarist Q.R. Markham’s temporarily-lauded spy thriller, Assassin of Secrets, is in fact a string of passages lifted from other books in the genre. No-one noticed until it was released, at which time readers noticed at once.
The book’s been recalled by publisher Little, Brown, whose president, Michael Pietsch, apologized in a prepared statement: “We take great pride in the writers and books we publish and tremendous care in every aspect of our publishing process, so it is with deep regret that we have published a book that we can no longer stand behind. Our goal is to never have this happen, but when it does, it is important to us to communicate with and compensate readers and retailers as quickly as possible.”
The author represented others’ work as his own, deceived and embarrassed those he worked with, and created a nightmare for his publisher, and deserves no sympathy or respect.
Latest Topics
US CERT RSS Feed
- Oracle Java SE Critical Patch Update Announcement - June 2013
- Security Updates Available for Adobe Flash Player
- Microsoft Releases June 2013 Security Bulletin
- Apple Releases OS X 10.8.4 and Security Update 2013-002
- Apple Releases Security Update for Safari on OS X
- Google Releases Google Chrome 27.0.1453.110
- Apple Releases Security Updates for Apple QuickTime 7.7.4
- Google Releases Google Chrome 27.0.1453.93
- Adobe Releases Security Updates for Adobe Flash Player
- Security Updates Available for Adobe Reader and Acrobat
