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Are you evil or willing to learn? Do you wish to profit off of the suffering of others? Do you have no scruples, morals, ethical boundaries or decency? Then come on down to CyberCrime Incorporated!
I’m guessing that the actual ads targeting potential cyber criminals aren’t quite that transparent. But according to this report in Reuters, at least two companies that promote criminal activities are placing ads for work-at-home jobs. Employees must take company-provided code and link it to something — anything — on the Web that will guarantee lots of clicks. The employee receives a payment for every 1,000 downloads generated by the link.
Mystery ‘dark flow’ extends towards edge of universe – “SOMETHING big is out there beyond the visible edge of our universe. That’s the conclusion of the largest analysis to date of over 1000 galaxy clusters streaming in one direction at blistering speeds. Some researchers say this so-called “dark flow” is a sign that other universes [...]
The Chinese government is infamous for controlling the information Chinese citizens have access to. The country uses several methods (including firewalls and proxy servers) to restrict access to various Web sites that criticize Communism or promote the causes of groups like the Falun Gong. Officially, these methods are part of the Golden Shield Project. But we know it better as “the Great Firewall of China.” And while restrictions are tight, a person with the right software and technical know-how can get around many of the obstacles.
Earlier this month, word spread that the Chinese government would require PC manufacturers to install the Green Dam-Youth Escort software before selling the machines to the public. The censorship software will block access to certain Web sites. The Chinese government claims that the purpose of the software is to censor pornography. But some people worry that it will do much more than that, making it even more difficult for Chinese citizens to access information from sources other than Chinese Web sites.
Call it the little malware that could.
An article in The New York Times this morning describes the efforts of a plucky cracker (that’s a malicious hacker) as he — or she — attempts to fight off the entire computer security industry. How is he or she doing it? By modifying Conficker, a malware program that’s attempting to turn the free computers of the world into a botnet.
If you were to have Conficker on your computer, it would turn your machine into a zombie, giving the crackers remote control over your computer and letting them use it to send spam messages, launch denial-of-service attacks and other nefarious deeds.
John Markoff, the author of the article in The Times, said that the program has been spreading since last year. Some members of ICANN, the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, have been working to stop the group responsible for the malware.
Something strange is going on across the Internet. Some Norton Anti-Virus users are receiving pop-up messages alerting them about an application called PIFTS.exe that is trying to connect to a server. But what is PIFTS.exe? Why does it need to access the Internet? What is it trying to access? What connection does it have to Norton (or Symantec, the company that produces Norton-branded products)?
As of right now, we don’t have many answers to these questions. What we do know is that it appears to be linked to a Norton update cycle. Whether Symantec is responsible for the application or not is still not known. Nor do we know what the application’s purpose is. All we know is that the application appears to connect the user’s computer to a remote server.
To make matters more confusing, it appears that inquiries posted by Symantec customers to the official Norton forums have been removed.
Earlier today Microsoft issued security advisory 968272 regarding a vulnerability discovered in the Office application Excel. According to the advisory, the user’s computer would become vulnerable to a malicious hacker (aka cracker) if the user opened a specifically designed Excel file. The cracker would then have the ability to perform remote code execution.
The cracker would gain the same user rights as the local user. That means if the user has administrator rights, the cracker would have practically unrestricted access to the user’s computer.
Zombie computers and botnets are always scary, but you should remember that the only way to become a victim of this particular attack is to open the special Excel file. To pull off an attack, the cracker would first need to distribute or host the Excel file and convince people to download it and open it. If you practice safe Web surfing habits, you should be fine.
When a hacker makes a zombie computer, he infiltrates an unsuspecting victim’s computer and uses it to conduct illegal activities. The user may be unaware that his computer has been taken over. Check out our HowStuffWorks article to learn more.
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