Secure desktops not just for Vista
http://www.fcw.com/online/news/150875-1.html
The Office of Management and Budget has told agencies that use Microsoft
Windows XP or Vista to begin using the governments approved secure
desktop configuration by February 2008, but it hinted that the Windows
operating system was only the beginning of a more extensive program.
The next phase may be under way as the National Security Agency works
with Apple, Sun Microsystems and Red Hat to develop secure baseline
standards for those vendors latest operating systems. NSA has worked
with Apple and Sun for years. However, for the first time, Red Hat has
asked for help in securing an operating system, its Enterprise Linux 5.
Weve had our own hardening tips, and for this version we wanted to work
with NSA since [we] have a close relationship with them already, said
Karl Wirth, Red Hats director of security solutions.
Another inconvenient truth: Al Gore's Web site hacked
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/11/26/Another-inconvenient-truth-Al-Gores-Web-site-hacked_1.html
A blog set up to promote former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's film, An
Inconvenient Truth, has been hacked and is hosting links to Web sites
hawking online pharmaceuticals.
The links appear to have been created as part of a scheme to boost the
Web traffic for sites that promote the drugs, security experts said
Monday. They contain titles such as "Xanax On Line," "Viagra," and "Buy
Valium Online."
Cyber scammers have been using this technique for months now, packing
hacked Web sites with links to their products in hopes of bumping up
their rankings on search engines like Google and Ask.com. Another
similar tactic, known as "comment spam," involves flooding the comment
sections of Web sites with these types of links.
Flaw leaves Microsoft looking like a turkey
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/microsoft-flaw-a-massive-shock/2007/11/23/1195975914416.html
By Patrick Gray
The Sydney Morning Herald
November 26, 2007
MICROSOFT engineers worked frantically over the US Thanksgiving holiday
to fix a design flaw in Windows that has exposed millions of computers
to hijacking by computer criminals.
By exploiting the design flaw a lone miscreant could take control of
vast numbers of home or office PCs around the world in a single attack.
They could read data, steal passwords and monitor internet use or use
them to distribute spam or viruses.
The bug was demonstrated at the Kiwicon hacker conference in New Zealand
last week by an ethical hacker, Beau Butler.
"This whole presentation came about from me telling a story to a bunch
of my computer security friends down the pub one night," he said on the
phone from New Zealand. "They basically said, 'You're going to have to
step up and talk about that'."