-
Open source release takes Linux rootkits mainstream
The art of burying invisible malware deep inside a Linux machine is about to go mainstream, thanks to a new open-source rootkit released Thursday by Immunity Security, a firm that supplies tools for penetration testers.
When implemented, Immunity's DR, or Debug Register, makes backdoors and other types of malware extremely difficult to detect or eradicate. It's notable because it cloaks itself by burrowing deep inside a server's processor and availing itself of debugging mechanisms available in Intel's chip architecture. The rootkit, in other words, mimics a kernel debugger.
By exploiting a CPU's native ability to generate interrupts, DR escapes some of the pitfalls that have visited more traditional types of rootkits, which modify an operating system's system call table. That's of increasing importance as more and more Linux distributions make it harder to make changes to the syscall table and rootkit detection programs such as chkrootkit and rkhunter actively check for such modifications.
-
Sony recalls 440,000 laptops after buyers burned
Japan's Sony is recalling 440,000 Vaio laptop computers worldwide due to a wiring flaw that caused seven people minor burns. The consumer electronics company said the recall involves 19 models in the Vaio TZ series manufactured between May 2007 and July 2008.
The news comes two years after several computer makers were forced to recall more than 10m laptop batteries made by Sony because of possible overheating. That recall cost Sony about $430m (£243m).
The Tokyo-based company said improperly placed wires near the hinge connecting the body of the laptop and its display could wear quickly, causing a short-circuit and overheating. It added that a flaw in a circuit board inside the display could also cause the rim to overheat.
-
Aussie teen's $365,000 computer scam
A teenage computer whiz in Australia has pleaded guilty to an attempted A$300,000 (NZ$365,000) fraud involving an elaborate trail of dummy businesses.
The 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty to 33 counts of fraud and attempted fraud in the Perth Children's Court today. Prosecutor Simon Formby told the court the offences dated from March 10 to June 3 this year, when police executed a warrant at the boy's home.
Mr Formby said the boy had a total of six registered business names which he used to open cheque accounts with various banks. "He then wrote cheques that he knew would be dishonoured to either obtain property, pay debts or open further cheque accounts," he said.
-
88% of IT admins would steal data if fired
An IT administrator scorned is not to be trusted, according to a study recently conducted by Cyber-Ark.
The security firm claims a survey conducted on 300 security professionals found a whopping 88 per cent of IT admins would steal valuable and sensitive company information if they were fired tomorrow. Only 12 per cent said they'd leave empty handed — or at least were smart enough not to openly admit they'd plunder sensitive data on a questionnaire.
"Our advice is to secure these privileged passwords and identities, and routinely change and manage them so that if an employee's contract is terminated, whether voluntary or not, they can't maliciously wreak havoc inside the network or vindictively steal data for competitive or financial gain," said Cyber-Ark CEO Udi Mokady.
-
Metallica OK With New Album Being Pirated?
In a display of hypocrisy that seems like it could almost be taken directly out of a lyrical interpretation of a track from Metallica's own "...And Justice for All" album, the band's drummer and well-known music piracy combatant, Lars Ulrich, has now said that he doesn't care if Metallica's new album is pirated.
There is probably not a person reading this that isn't at least somewhat familiar with Metallica's history of music downloading issues. Their beef with Napster pretty much cracked the whip on the entire illegal download litigation circus that has been raging for nearly a decade.
The band's upcoming album "Death Magnetic" was leaked recently, and Lars (presumably speaking for the band as usual) has no problem with it. "It's 2008 and it's part of how it is these days, so it's fine. We're happy," he says.
-
Whistleblower prompts review of German data protection laws
Germany's Interior Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, vowed today to tighten the laws governing how data on German consumers can be gathered, sold, and traded. Schäuble's declaration comes after a call center whistleblower, Detlef Tiegel, handed a CD containing the banking details of some 17,000 German citizens over to the authorities. The information in question had been obtained (possibly purchased) by the unidentified company that employed Tiegel. The initial 17,000 records were only a fraction of the roughly 1.5 million records Tiegel claimed he could produce.
German officials took the man's claims seriously enough to open their own investigation, and were dismayed when they were able to purchase 6 million records of personally identifiable information (PII) for a paltry €850 (~$1,220). Minister Schäuble called a meeting today in Berlin to address the situation and share his concerns with multiple ministers within the German government. Attendees included data protection commissioner Peter Schaar, Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries, Economy Minister Michael Glos, and Consumer Affairs Minister Horst Seehofer. Representatives from several German states were also in attendance.
-
Execs predict next Google-like tech
You could easily forget a business birthday, but Google wields more star power than most. It was officially incorporated 10 years ago this Sunday while co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were still working from a garage.
To celebrate, the journal Nature has asked researchers and business pundits to postulate on which young technologies might have as much impact on the world as Google 10 years down the road. After all, in the last 10, Google has grown from running a few loaner servers to a vast network of data centers that can not only deliver a map to a local store but also could have major effects on scientists' understanding of nature.
-
New fingerprint method could unlock cold cases
It's a discovery that would make even Sherlock Holmes proud.
British scientists have developed a new crime-fighting technique that allows police to lift fingerprints from bullets even if a criminal has wiped down a shell casing.
Authorities in Britain and the United States used the method to re-open three cold cases, including a U.S. double murder that police are now optimistic of solving, said John Bond, the physicist who developed the technique. "In one case there was enough evidence that could lead to an identification of an offender," said Bond, a researcher at the University of Leicester and consultant at Northamptonshire Police in Britain.
-
Startup introduces 'unclonable' chip technology
A Palo Alto security and authentication startup known for its "unclonable" silicon chips, relaunched Wednesday as Verayo in an effort to move its focus from government defense contracts to commercial markets.
The fabless semiconductor company offers a unique small electronic circuit that relies on technology known as Physically Unclonable Functions, or PUFs, a type of "DNA or fingerprint" for silicon chips, developed by technologists at MIT.
PUF is designed to exploit slight inconsistencies in each integrated circuit (IC) to create a unique digital signature for each chip. "Similar to people, no two silicon chips are exactly alike," says Vivek Khandelwal, Verayo director of marketing. "You can have two chips from the same wafer in a Pentium laptop, but they are slightly different."
-
First scientific petabyte computer planned
IBM has singed a deal to build the world's first sustained petascale computational system dedicated to open scientific research.
Dubbed Blue Water, the computer system is being built for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and its National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).
It will go live by 2011 and will use more than 200,000 processor cores, more than a petabyte of memory and more than 10 petabytes of disk storage. “Blue Waters will be an unrivaled national asset that will have a powerful impact on both science and society," said Thom Dunning NCSA director and a professor of chemistry at Illinois.
|
Resources 
Career Central : entry-level or intermediate
Career Central : InfoSec Leaders Career Survey
