Virus writers have been gaming Google’s “sponsored links” — the paid ads shown alongside search engine results. They are aiming to get their malicious software installed on computers whose users click onto ad links after searching for legitimate sites such as BBBonline.org.

According to a report at Exploit Prevention Labs, while the top sponsored links that showed up earlier this week when users searched for “BBB,” “BBBonline” or “Cars.com” appeared to direct visitors to those sites, they initially would route people who clicked on the ads through an intermediate site. The intermediate site attempted to exploit a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows to silently install software designed to steal passwords and other sensitive information from infected PCs. The attackers exploited a flaw in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser, a problem that the company issued a patch to fix last June. — Brian Krebs (Washington Post Blog)

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Online security is a nightmare these days, with all the viruses, phishing, drive-by downloads, pop-ups, and other malware out there. How bad is it? Researchers set out to chart the Internet’s worst domains. Their report looked at 265 top level domains (TLDs) worldwide and came up with some telling numbers…

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Open-source Firefox browser is vulnerable to attack using the Windows flaw.

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Hi Elamb,

I have a computer that I share with my roomate. She may have been reading my emails. I could just be paranoid but what can I do to have a little more privacy.

signed paranoid-privacy

Hello paranoid,

Privacy is very important. There are a few simple things you can do to have privacy:

Thats totally cool with me. But here are some things you might also want to consider for privacy:

– NEVER check the box “Remember me on this computer” “Remember me” because then all they have to do is type in your name and it will automatically put in your password.

– Watch out for shoulder surfer (looking over your shoulder).

– Always clear previous searches and even login passwords.

Another thing you can do for privacy is to make you own account on that computer. Make it so that it comes up with a login screen every time. Create an account for her (that doesn’t require a password) and make one for you that does. Then log out every time you finish. That will force her to login to her own account.

It’s been two years since I’ve wrote “The six dumbest ways to secure a wireless LAN” and it’s probably been one of my more successful blog entries ever. Since that time I’ve written a free electronic book on enterprise wireless LAN security for anyone to use and download from TechRepublic. Since it has been two years, I’m going to update the ..

Rock solid wireless LAN security for the home or small office can be summed up in a single paragraph. All you need to do is use WPA-PSK security with a random alpha-numeric pass-phrase that has a minimum of 10 characters. I estimated that a truly random alpha-numeric 10-character pass-phrase using modern single-core computers will take one thousand PCs working in parallel 500 years to crack.

Great article from George OU

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Most of these are economic spies, stealing technologies, such as the Blackberry cellphone, which was copied last year by a Chinese company and called the Redberry. The thefts cost over $12 Billion dollars per year to Canadian companies.

“The damage to Canadian interests takes the form of lost contracts, jobs and markets and overall, a diminished competitive advantage,” CSIS reported in a 2004 paper.

One example is China stealing the Blackberry technology. The Chinese version is called the “redberry” now Canadian companies have to compete with a Chinese version that was stolen from them.

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“The only way the RIAA can get that information is if the RIAA takes us to court to get those names,” John Diamond, spokesman for the university system said.

Its rare that an institution respects an individuals right to privacy. But, “should these students have the right to break the LAW?!” you may ask. Who says they broke the law? They are making accusations and demanding that the university give up private information. All the RIAA have to do is take the university to court.

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Office involved in this breach has a special responsibility, tracking and countering efforts to steal bomb information. Its computers would have material on what the department knew about foreign operatives and efforts to steal sensitive information.

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