Reuters.com
Wed May 30, 2007. BERLIN (Reuters) - A German mistook a subway entrance for an underground car park and her vehicle got stuck on the stairs, police said on Wednesday.
The 52-year-old drove her Volkswagen Beetle across the pavement in central Duesseldorf and into the entrance where it ground to a halt about five steps down, police said.
Police estimated the damage at around 1,500 euros ($2,000).
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
China cracks down on college campus porn sites...
Technology Reuters.com
Mon May 28, 2007 BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese campaign to clean up online pornography has reached college campuses with the Education Ministry lashing out at some school Web sites for making money from porn.
"We strongly condemn Web site hosts for making 'unlawful' money by distributing pornographic information," Vice-Minister of Education Li Weihong was quoted as saying.
"Students are easily influenced and perverted by such information as they are still in their formative years and do not have a solid hold on their values."
Xinhua did not elaborate on how the college Web sites were run or what they contained.
The Ministry of Public Security and nine other government departments launched a six-month campaign in April to crack down on illegal online activities such as distributing pornographic materials and organizing cyber strip shows.
"The campaign hopes to purge the web of sexually explicit images, stories and audio and video clips," Xinhua said.
By mid-May, Chinese police had cracked 244 cases and detained 270 suspects involved in online pornography.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Mon May 28, 2007 BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese campaign to clean up online pornography has reached college campuses with the Education Ministry lashing out at some school Web sites for making money from porn.
"We strongly condemn Web site hosts for making 'unlawful' money by distributing pornographic information," Vice-Minister of Education Li Weihong was quoted as saying.
"Students are easily influenced and perverted by such information as they are still in their formative years and do not have a solid hold on their values."
Xinhua did not elaborate on how the college Web sites were run or what they contained.
The Ministry of Public Security and nine other government departments launched a six-month campaign in April to crack down on illegal online activities such as distributing pornographic materials and organizing cyber strip shows.
"The campaign hopes to purge the web of sexually explicit images, stories and audio and video clips," Xinhua said.
By mid-May, Chinese police had cracked 244 cases and detained 270 suspects involved in online pornography.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Gay pub wins right to ban straights...
Reuters.com
Tue May 29, 2007. MELBOURNE (Reuters) - An Australian hotel catering for homosexuals has won the right to ban heterosexuals from its bars so as to provide a safe and comfortable venue for gay men.
In what is believed to be a first for Australia, the Victorian state civil and administrative tribunal ruled last week that the Peel Hotel in the southern city of Melbourne could exclude patrons based on their sexuality.
Australia's equal opportunity laws prevent people being discriminated against based on race, religion or sexuality.
But Peel Hotel owner Tom McFeely said the ruling was necessary to provide gay men with a non-threatening atmosphere to freely express their sexuality.
"If I can limit the number of heterosexuals entering the Peel, then that helps me keep the safe balance," Peel told Australian radio on Monday.
McFeely said that, while the hotel welcomed everyone, its gay clientele had expressed discomfort over the number of heterosexuals and lesbians coming to the venue in the past year.
He said there were more than 2,000 venues in Melbourne that catered to heterosexuals, but his hotel was the only one marketing itself predominantly to gay men.
Victoria's state human rights commission backed the ruling, saying it was in line with equal opportunity guidelines defending the rights of groups subject to discrimination.
Commission chief Helen Szoke said the hotel's gay clientele had experienced harassment and violence. "(They) also have felt as though they've been like a zoo exhibit with big groups of women on hens' parties coming to the club," Szoke told reporters.
McFeely told the radio that the hotel had received homophobic telephone calls since news of the ruling was made public.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Tue May 29, 2007. MELBOURNE (Reuters) - An Australian hotel catering for homosexuals has won the right to ban heterosexuals from its bars so as to provide a safe and comfortable venue for gay men.
In what is believed to be a first for Australia, the Victorian state civil and administrative tribunal ruled last week that the Peel Hotel in the southern city of Melbourne could exclude patrons based on their sexuality.
Australia's equal opportunity laws prevent people being discriminated against based on race, religion or sexuality.
But Peel Hotel owner Tom McFeely said the ruling was necessary to provide gay men with a non-threatening atmosphere to freely express their sexuality.
"If I can limit the number of heterosexuals entering the Peel, then that helps me keep the safe balance," Peel told Australian radio on Monday.
McFeely said that, while the hotel welcomed everyone, its gay clientele had expressed discomfort over the number of heterosexuals and lesbians coming to the venue in the past year.
He said there were more than 2,000 venues in Melbourne that catered to heterosexuals, but his hotel was the only one marketing itself predominantly to gay men.
Victoria's state human rights commission backed the ruling, saying it was in line with equal opportunity guidelines defending the rights of groups subject to discrimination.
Commission chief Helen Szoke said the hotel's gay clientele had experienced harassment and violence. "(They) also have felt as though they've been like a zoo exhibit with big groups of women on hens' parties coming to the club," Szoke told reporters.
McFeely told the radio that the hotel had received homophobic telephone calls since news of the ruling was made public.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Cinemas use night goggles to nab pirates...
Reuters.com
Fri May 25, 2007. KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian cinemas have found a powerful new weapon in their fight against movie pirates -- military-style night-vision goggles.
After showing people to their seats, trained ushers are strapping on the goggles and scanning darkened cinemas around the country to spot anyone trying to make illegal copies of movies with hand-held video recorders or mobile phones.
The Motion Picture Association, which is training Malaysian ushers to catch the pirates, said cinemas had caught 17 people in the past two months, during which Hollywood studios released blockbusters like "Spider-Man 3" and "Pirates of the Caribbean."
"All of the cases were spotted with night-vision goggles," the association's Malaysia manager, Nor Hayati Yahaya, said on Friday. "Its very successful."
Malaysia figures on the U.S. watchlist for movie and software piracy, but local authorities have launched a major crackdown on producers and retailers of illegal DVDs since the country began free-trade talks with the United States a year ago.
The association, which represents the big Hollywood studios, recently brought to Malaysia two dogs trained to sniff out DVDs -- with stunning results. The two Labradors, Lucky and Flo, have sniffed out more than a million DVDs and broken a fake DVD ring.
They have been so successful that authorities believe Malaysian pirates have put a bounty on the dogs' heads.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Fri May 25, 2007. KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian cinemas have found a powerful new weapon in their fight against movie pirates -- military-style night-vision goggles.After showing people to their seats, trained ushers are strapping on the goggles and scanning darkened cinemas around the country to spot anyone trying to make illegal copies of movies with hand-held video recorders or mobile phones.
The Motion Picture Association, which is training Malaysian ushers to catch the pirates, said cinemas had caught 17 people in the past two months, during which Hollywood studios released blockbusters like "Spider-Man 3" and "Pirates of the Caribbean."
"All of the cases were spotted with night-vision goggles," the association's Malaysia manager, Nor Hayati Yahaya, said on Friday. "Its very successful."
Malaysia figures on the U.S. watchlist for movie and software piracy, but local authorities have launched a major crackdown on producers and retailers of illegal DVDs since the country began free-trade talks with the United States a year ago.
The association, which represents the big Hollywood studios, recently brought to Malaysia two dogs trained to sniff out DVDs -- with stunning results. The two Labradors, Lucky and Flo, have sniffed out more than a million DVDs and broken a fake DVD ring.
They have been so successful that authorities believe Malaysian pirates have put a bounty on the dogs' heads.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Skype worm uses ICQ and MSN to spread...
TechSpot News By Justin Mann, TechSpot.com
May 24, 2007. The first of a kind worm that was specifically targeting Skype users has moved on over to greener pastures, and is now aiming at instant message networks. It uses pretty standard tactics for other IM worms, using infected machines to send messages to people attempting to get them to download a .pif .
Of course, opening said file will result in compromise on a Windows machine. It seems the worm will look for many different clients, making it somewhat unique. It will scan and try to send messages through MSN, AIM, Trillian, YIM, Miranda and ICQ, though the article mentions that it has been seen only sending through MSN and ICQ:
"The infection checks the registry for evidence of programs like AIM, Trillian, Yahoo Messenger, Miranda and ICQ - however, so far we've only seen it fire a message to an ICQ and an MSN Messenger Client," writes Chris Boyd, director of malware research at FaceTime.
"The main target appears to be Skype with regards a delivery mechanism for the messages sent, but the potential for the infection to leap across various networks is obviously there." As always, thinking before
you click is the best defense here, and suspicious links are not hard to spot.
May 24, 2007. The first of a kind worm that was specifically targeting Skype users has moved on over to greener pastures, and is now aiming at instant message networks. It uses pretty standard tactics for other IM worms, using infected machines to send messages to people attempting to get them to download a .pif .
Of course, opening said file will result in compromise on a Windows machine. It seems the worm will look for many different clients, making it somewhat unique. It will scan and try to send messages through MSN, AIM, Trillian, YIM, Miranda and ICQ, though the article mentions that it has been seen only sending through MSN and ICQ:
"The infection checks the registry for evidence of programs like AIM, Trillian, Yahoo Messenger, Miranda and ICQ - however, so far we've only seen it fire a message to an ICQ and an MSN Messenger Client," writes Chris Boyd, director of malware research at FaceTime.
"The main target appears to be Skype with regards a delivery mechanism for the messages sent, but the potential for the infection to leap across various networks is obviously there." As always, thinking before
you click is the best defense here, and suspicious links are not hard to spot.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
A drink a day may slow mental decline to dementia | Health | Reuters.com
Health Reuters.com
Mon May 21, 2007 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In older people with mild cognitive impairment, having a drink now and then -- up to an average of one drink of alcohol each day -- may delay progression to dementia, new research suggests.
"While many studies have assessed alcohol consumption and cognitive function in the elderly, this is the first study to look at how alcohol consumption affects the rate of progression of mild cognitive impairment to dementia," study authors Dr. Vincenzo Solfrizzi and Dr. Francesco Panza, from the University of Bari in Italy, said in a statement.
In the study, reported in the medical journal Neurology, the researchers assessed the occurrence of mild cognitive impairment in 1445 subjects and the progression to dementia in 121 patients with mild cognitive impairment.
The participants were between 65 and 84 years of age at the start of the study, and they were followed for 3.5 years. Alcohol use was assessed starting the year before the survey.
Drinking was not associated the development of mild cognitive impairment, according to the report. However, once mild impairment occurred, subjects who had up to one drink per day of alcohol had an 85 percent reduced risk of dementia compared with those who abstained.
The benefit was seen with both alcohol in general and with wine in particular.
Having more than one drink a day, however, offered no protection against dementia compared with abstaining, the report indicates.
"The mechanism responsible for why low alcohol consumption appears to protect against the progression to dementia isn't known. However, it is possible that the arrangement of blood vessels in the brain may play a role," Solfrizzi and Panza conclude.
SOURCE: Neurology, May 22, 2007.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Mon May 21, 2007 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In older people with mild cognitive impairment, having a drink now and then -- up to an average of one drink of alcohol each day -- may delay progression to dementia, new research suggests.
"While many studies have assessed alcohol consumption and cognitive function in the elderly, this is the first study to look at how alcohol consumption affects the rate of progression of mild cognitive impairment to dementia," study authors Dr. Vincenzo Solfrizzi and Dr. Francesco Panza, from the University of Bari in Italy, said in a statement.
In the study, reported in the medical journal Neurology, the researchers assessed the occurrence of mild cognitive impairment in 1445 subjects and the progression to dementia in 121 patients with mild cognitive impairment.
The participants were between 65 and 84 years of age at the start of the study, and they were followed for 3.5 years. Alcohol use was assessed starting the year before the survey.
Drinking was not associated the development of mild cognitive impairment, according to the report. However, once mild impairment occurred, subjects who had up to one drink per day of alcohol had an 85 percent reduced risk of dementia compared with those who abstained.
The benefit was seen with both alcohol in general and with wine in particular.
Having more than one drink a day, however, offered no protection against dementia compared with abstaining, the report indicates.
"The mechanism responsible for why low alcohol consumption appears to protect against the progression to dementia isn't known. However, it is possible that the arrangement of blood vessels in the brain may play a role," Solfrizzi and Panza conclude.
SOURCE: Neurology, May 22, 2007.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
X-rated nude car wash gets police all-clear...
Reuters.com
Thu May 17, 2007 CANBERRA (Reuters) - A nude car wash offering an X-rated sideshow and topless cleaning in Australia's tropical Queensland state has been given the all-clear after police and officials said they were powerless to scrub it.
The Bubbles 'n' Babes car wash in Brisbane prompted a flood of complaints with a topless car wash for A$55 ($45) and a nude car wash with X-rated lap-dance service for A$100. "If it was approved for a car wash then I can't imagine how we can stop them," Lord Mayor Campbell Newman told a council meeting with worried local lawmakers.
Professional car washes have boomed in most cities with drought-stricken Australians banned from washing their own cars due to tough water restrictions.
Queensland police denied any cover-up in a state where their image has been dented by past accusations of police corruption and involvement with organized crime.
The raunchy wash, set up by a strip-club owner, was screened from the public and used recycled water to avoid breaching water use restrictions, they said.
"We don't want any traffic accidents caused by people looking at the girls instead of looking at the road," Superintendent Colin Campbell told local media.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Thu May 17, 2007 CANBERRA (Reuters) - A nude car wash offering an X-rated sideshow and topless cleaning in Australia's tropical Queensland state has been given the all-clear after police and officials said they were powerless to scrub it.
The Bubbles 'n' Babes car wash in Brisbane prompted a flood of complaints with a topless car wash for A$55 ($45) and a nude car wash with X-rated lap-dance service for A$100. "If it was approved for a car wash then I can't imagine how we can stop them," Lord Mayor Campbell Newman told a council meeting with worried local lawmakers.
Professional car washes have boomed in most cities with drought-stricken Australians banned from washing their own cars due to tough water restrictions.
Queensland police denied any cover-up in a state where their image has been dented by past accusations of police corruption and involvement with organized crime.
The raunchy wash, set up by a strip-club owner, was screened from the public and used recycled water to avoid breaching water use restrictions, they said.
"We don't want any traffic accidents caused by people looking at the girls instead of looking at the road," Superintendent Colin Campbell told local media.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Train passengers asked to get out and push...
Reuters.com
Wed May 16, 2007. PATNA, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of Indian rail passengers got more than they had bargained for when the driver of their train asked them to get out and push.
It took more than half an hour to move the stalled electric train 12 feet so that it touched live overhead wires and was able to resume its journey, officials said on Wednesday.
The incident occurred in the eastern state of Bihar on Tuesday after a passenger pulled the train's emergency chain and it halted in a "neutral zone," a short length of track where there is no power in the overhead wires.
"In so many years of service in the railways, I have never come across such a bizarre incident," said Deepak Kumar Jha, a spokesman for Indian Railways.
A train's momentum usually allows it to continue moving through neutral zones.
India's rail network carries more than 15 million people daily -- more than the combined population of Norway and Sweden -- but its safety record often comes in for criticism.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Wed May 16, 2007. PATNA, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of Indian rail passengers got more than they had bargained for when the driver of their train asked them to get out and push.
It took more than half an hour to move the stalled electric train 12 feet so that it touched live overhead wires and was able to resume its journey, officials said on Wednesday.
The incident occurred in the eastern state of Bihar on Tuesday after a passenger pulled the train's emergency chain and it halted in a "neutral zone," a short length of track where there is no power in the overhead wires.
"In so many years of service in the railways, I have never come across such a bizarre incident," said Deepak Kumar Jha, a spokesman for Indian Railways.
A train's momentum usually allows it to continue moving through neutral zones.
India's rail network carries more than 15 million people daily -- more than the combined population of Norway and Sweden -- but its safety record often comes in for criticism.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Bank sells house complete with owner's corpse...
Reuters.com
Tue May 15, 2007. MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish bank repossessed a house and put it up for auction complete with the mummified body of the former owner who had missed her mortgage payments, newspaper El Pais reported on Wednesday.
The corpse, preserved by salty air in the seaside town of Roses after an apparent death by natural causes, was discovered by Jorge Giro, who entered the house for the first time on Saturday after buying it at the auction, El Pais said.
The dead woman, described by neighbors as having been in poor health and often absent visiting relatives in Madrid, had stopped paying her mortgage six years ago.
The unnamed bank which eventually repossessed the home never bothered to look inside before
selling it.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Tue May 15, 2007. MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish bank repossessed a house and put it up for auction complete with the mummified body of the former owner who had missed her mortgage payments, newspaper El Pais reported on Wednesday.
The corpse, preserved by salty air in the seaside town of Roses after an apparent death by natural causes, was discovered by Jorge Giro, who entered the house for the first time on Saturday after buying it at the auction, El Pais said.
The dead woman, described by neighbors as having been in poor health and often absent visiting relatives in Madrid, had stopped paying her mortgage six years ago.
The unnamed bank which eventually repossessed the home never bothered to look inside before
selling it.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Software piracy hits $40B worldwide, says study...
Computerworld John Blau (IDG News Service)
16 May, 2007. Globally, 35 percent of software installed on PCs in 2006 was obtained illegally, amounting to $40 billion in lost revenue, a study says.
Get the Facts: Window Servers vs Linux Zone Efforts to curb software piracy in China are bearing fruit although the piracy rate remains high, costing vendors billions of dollars in lost revenue, according to a survey paid for by large vendors, including Apple and Microsoft.
That was one of several findings of a report published Tuesday by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in collaboration with IDC.
Industry observers generally agree that piracy rates are high, though some question the assumptions behind the BSA's and IDC's methodology.
The study is based on various data, including the number of new PC shipments, the installed base of PCs and software licenses, as well as estimates of the number of software applications installed on PCs. Open source, which is included, is handled as paid software.
"We know, for instance, that new PCs going to consumers in the U.S. generally have eight pieces of software, four of which are free like Adobe Reader and the other four should be paid for," said John Gatz, chief research officer at IDC. "So if you know how many pieces of hardware have software and how many pieces of software were paid for, the difference is the pirate."
China's piracy rate dipped four percentage points for the second consecutive year and a total of 10 percentage points in the last three years -- from 92 percent in 2003 to 82 percent 2006. Revenue lost through piracy over the three-year period is estimated at US$864 million.
But the rate of reduction is the result of government efforts to increase the use of legitimate software within its own departments, vendor arrangements with PC suppliers to use legitimate software and industry education and enforcement initiatives, according to the report.
The legitimate software market in China grew 88 percent to $1.2 billion in 2006 -- and more than 358 percent since 2003.
Russia saw its piracy rate drop to 80 percent in 2006 from 87 percent in 2003. In contrast, 29 pe cent of software installed on PCs in Australia in 2006 was pirated, the study claims.
Globally, 35 percent of software installed on PCs in 2006 was obtained illegally, amounting to $40 billion in lost revenue, up 15 percent over the previous year, according to the study.
Put another way, for every two dollars of software purchased legitimately, one dollar was obtained illegally, according to BSA. Global losses increased in 2006 by more than $5 billion over the previous year. Of the 102 countries covered in the 2006 study, 62 reported moderate drops in software piracy, while 13 registered an increase.
Another key finding: while the U.S. had the lowest piracy rate of all countries at 21 percent, it reported the greatest losses at US$7.3 billion.
IDC estimates that over the next four years, businesses and consumers worldwide will spend $350 billion on PC software but predicts that more than US$180 billion worth of software will be pirated during the same period.
16 May, 2007. Globally, 35 percent of software installed on PCs in 2006 was obtained illegally, amounting to $40 billion in lost revenue, a study says.
Get the Facts: Window Servers vs Linux Zone Efforts to curb software piracy in China are bearing fruit although the piracy rate remains high, costing vendors billions of dollars in lost revenue, according to a survey paid for by large vendors, including Apple and Microsoft.
That was one of several findings of a report published Tuesday by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) in collaboration with IDC.
Industry observers generally agree that piracy rates are high, though some question the assumptions behind the BSA's and IDC's methodology.
The study is based on various data, including the number of new PC shipments, the installed base of PCs and software licenses, as well as estimates of the number of software applications installed on PCs. Open source, which is included, is handled as paid software.
"We know, for instance, that new PCs going to consumers in the U.S. generally have eight pieces of software, four of which are free like Adobe Reader and the other four should be paid for," said John Gatz, chief research officer at IDC. "So if you know how many pieces of hardware have software and how many pieces of software were paid for, the difference is the pirate."
China's piracy rate dipped four percentage points for the second consecutive year and a total of 10 percentage points in the last three years -- from 92 percent in 2003 to 82 percent 2006. Revenue lost through piracy over the three-year period is estimated at US$864 million.
But the rate of reduction is the result of government efforts to increase the use of legitimate software within its own departments, vendor arrangements with PC suppliers to use legitimate software and industry education and enforcement initiatives, according to the report.
The legitimate software market in China grew 88 percent to $1.2 billion in 2006 -- and more than 358 percent since 2003.
Russia saw its piracy rate drop to 80 percent in 2006 from 87 percent in 2003. In contrast, 29 pe cent of software installed on PCs in Australia in 2006 was pirated, the study claims.
Globally, 35 percent of software installed on PCs in 2006 was obtained illegally, amounting to $40 billion in lost revenue, up 15 percent over the previous year, according to the study.
Put another way, for every two dollars of software purchased legitimately, one dollar was obtained illegally, according to BSA. Global losses increased in 2006 by more than $5 billion over the previous year. Of the 102 countries covered in the 2006 study, 62 reported moderate drops in software piracy, while 13 registered an increase.
Another key finding: while the U.S. had the lowest piracy rate of all countries at 21 percent, it reported the greatest losses at US$7.3 billion.
IDC estimates that over the next four years, businesses and consumers worldwide will spend $350 billion on PC software but predicts that more than US$180 billion worth of software will be pirated during the same period.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Map of Virgin's shrine offers pilgrims sex ads...
Reuters.com
Mon May 14, 2007. LISBON (Reuters) - Pilgrims to a holy shrine in Portugal are being given free maps of the site that show the Virgin Mary on one side and adverts for sex objects and aphrodisiacs on the other.
The maps, thought up by an advertising company, have raised eyebrows among the Catholic faithful and ire from the authorities at the popular Sanctuary of Fatima.
"The map is not official and makes the wrong use of the picture of the Virgin Mary," a shrine spokeswoman said on Friday.
"The Sanctuary is saddened and will carry out the necessary measures to end its distribution."
Thousands of pilgrims are expected to travel on foot to Fatima on May 13 to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the first appearance of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children on a hillside near the town, 120 km (75 miles) north of Lisbon.
About 3.5 million people flock to the shrine every year. One of the children who reported to have seen visions of the Virgin Mary later became a nun and is said to have foretold the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981. The pontiff later placed one of the bullets that nearly killed him in the crown of the statue of Fatima.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Mon May 14, 2007. LISBON (Reuters) - Pilgrims to a holy shrine in Portugal are being given free maps of the site that show the Virgin Mary on one side and adverts for sex objects and aphrodisiacs on the other.
The maps, thought up by an advertising company, have raised eyebrows among the Catholic faithful and ire from the authorities at the popular Sanctuary of Fatima.
"The map is not official and makes the wrong use of the picture of the Virgin Mary," a shrine spokeswoman said on Friday.
"The Sanctuary is saddened and will carry out the necessary measures to end its distribution."
Thousands of pilgrims are expected to travel on foot to Fatima on May 13 to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the first appearance of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children on a hillside near the town, 120 km (75 miles) north of Lisbon.
About 3.5 million people flock to the shrine every year. One of the children who reported to have seen visions of the Virgin Mary later became a nun and is said to have foretold the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in 1981. The pontiff later placed one of the bullets that nearly killed him in the crown of the statue of Fatima.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Malware piggybacks on Windows updates..
Security - ZDNet Australia By Dawn Kawamoto, CNET News.com
15 May 2007. Around 100,000 users have been infected with malware that has piggybacked on Windows updates, according to a report from security research firm Symantec.
A Trojan, which began circulating in March via spammed e-mail, used an "interesting" technique to download malicious files, said the report.
Its method of attack was by way of a Windows component, also known as Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), to download the files.
The trouble, however, is Windows updates rely on BITS as its main service for downloading patches and keeping the operating system running smoothly. And because the BITS service is part of Windows OS, it's trusted and can bypass the local firewall as it downloads files.
Javier Santoyo, manager at Symantec's Security Response Center, used this analogy to describe the piggyback technique: "imagine someone opening a door with a legitimate access badge and an attacker tailgating them to enter the building".
Microsoft said that users would have already had to have been duped, via social engineering, into allowing the TrojanDownloader:Win32/Jowspry to infect their system. Once infected, the Trojan utilises BITS to download additional malware.
The pattern continues unless an infected user scans their system and removes all variants of the Trojan, according to the software giant.
15 May 2007. Around 100,000 users have been infected with malware that has piggybacked on Windows updates, according to a report from security research firm Symantec.
A Trojan, which began circulating in March via spammed e-mail, used an "interesting" technique to download malicious files, said the report.
Its method of attack was by way of a Windows component, also known as Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), to download the files.
The trouble, however, is Windows updates rely on BITS as its main service for downloading patches and keeping the operating system running smoothly. And because the BITS service is part of Windows OS, it's trusted and can bypass the local firewall as it downloads files.
Javier Santoyo, manager at Symantec's Security Response Center, used this analogy to describe the piggyback technique: "imagine someone opening a door with a legitimate access badge and an attacker tailgating them to enter the building".
Microsoft said that users would have already had to have been duped, via social engineering, into allowing the TrojanDownloader:Win32/Jowspry to infect their system. Once infected, the Trojan utilises BITS to download additional malware.
The pattern continues unless an infected user scans their system and removes all variants of the Trojan, according to the software giant.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Finally: Cheap and Easy (and Bullet-Proof) Backup..
It Management By Mike Elgan
April 25, 2007. If you had an unrecoverable hard disk failure -- right now -- what would you lose? E-mail? Family photos? The report you've been working on? Your job?
I'm not here to lecture you about the need for backups -- you know you should do regular backups, but you probably don't. And I know why.
Backups suck.
The software is too complicated, and often dumps everything into a proprietary backup file you can't easily access or check. If you back up to the same disk as your data, you're dangerously putting all your eggs in the same basket. External hard drives aren't much better. I've owned three, and all have let me down in one way or another, either by suddenly failing, or constantly damaging random files. And offline storage isn't great, either -- it's expensive, and usually provided by some company you've never heard of, and that may go out of business tomorrow.
The Perfect Backup System
The ideal system would back up my files automatically and constantly, store off-site, cost very little, be totally secure, and let me look at, open, check and verify any file, any time. It would also be cross-platform, and back up to servers I trust completely. It should be fast and cheap. It should also let me back up from one system, and grab those files from another -- say, from my laptop.
Is that asking too much? Apparently not. I have found such a backup system -- finally!
Jungle Disk
A new application called Jungle Disk works as an interface to Amazon.com's super-secure and reliable Amazon Simple Storage Service (otherwise known as Amazon S3).
Jungle Disk puts a virtual drive on your computer that looks like any another hard drive.
Unlike "regular" backups systems, you can browse, open, check and confirm the validity of every file in your backup by simply opening the folder, and using the files as if they were on your local hard drive. They're not locked away in a cryptic, proprietary system.
The Jungle Disk application lets you set up automated backups, which looks for any file changes in the files or folders you specify, then backs up any modified files at the frequency you set. You set it and forget it.
Jungle Disk is currently in "beta," and is free for now. Once it launches, the company plans to charge a one-time fee of $20, or you can choose to pay $1 per month for as long as you use it.
Wait, "beta" backup software?
That's right, and it's not risky. Jungle Disk is just an interface to the S3 service, which is very secure, reliable and trusted.
Amazon's S3 won a "Codie" award this month for "Best Storage Software Solution."
Amazon S3 lets you move, copy or delete file sizes up to 5 GB each, and you can store an unlimited number of files.
You pay for Amazon only for what you use, when you use it. It costs 15 cents per gigabytes for storage, and 20 cents per gigabyte of data transferred.
How to Use Jungle Disk
It's easy to get started. Just go to the Jungle Disk Web site, click "Download," choose the Windows, Mac or Linux version and install as you would any application.
The installation will walk you through the process of setting up and establishing the secure connection to Amazon S3. To pay, you can use your existing Amazon.com account -- the one you already use to buy books -- or create a new one.
Once installed, you'll notice a Jungle Disk mini-icon in your Taskbar tray (if you're using Windows). Double click on it to open, then select "Configure" from the File menu. Click on the "Automatic Backup" tab and choose how often you want backups made.
Now you're ready for anything -- your PC could be stolen, your house could burn down, your PC could be destroyed by a meteor. No problem! Just find another system, and all your files are there, safe and sound and ready to use -- Finally!
April 25, 2007. If you had an unrecoverable hard disk failure -- right now -- what would you lose? E-mail? Family photos? The report you've been working on? Your job?
I'm not here to lecture you about the need for backups -- you know you should do regular backups, but you probably don't. And I know why.
Backups suck.
The software is too complicated, and often dumps everything into a proprietary backup file you can't easily access or check. If you back up to the same disk as your data, you're dangerously putting all your eggs in the same basket. External hard drives aren't much better. I've owned three, and all have let me down in one way or another, either by suddenly failing, or constantly damaging random files. And offline storage isn't great, either -- it's expensive, and usually provided by some company you've never heard of, and that may go out of business tomorrow.
The Perfect Backup System
The ideal system would back up my files automatically and constantly, store off-site, cost very little, be totally secure, and let me look at, open, check and verify any file, any time. It would also be cross-platform, and back up to servers I trust completely. It should be fast and cheap. It should also let me back up from one system, and grab those files from another -- say, from my laptop.
Is that asking too much? Apparently not. I have found such a backup system -- finally!
Jungle Disk
A new application called Jungle Disk works as an interface to Amazon.com's super-secure and reliable Amazon Simple Storage Service (otherwise known as Amazon S3).
Jungle Disk puts a virtual drive on your computer that looks like any another hard drive.
Unlike "regular" backups systems, you can browse, open, check and confirm the validity of every file in your backup by simply opening the folder, and using the files as if they were on your local hard drive. They're not locked away in a cryptic, proprietary system.
The Jungle Disk application lets you set up automated backups, which looks for any file changes in the files or folders you specify, then backs up any modified files at the frequency you set. You set it and forget it.
Jungle Disk is currently in "beta," and is free for now. Once it launches, the company plans to charge a one-time fee of $20, or you can choose to pay $1 per month for as long as you use it.
Wait, "beta" backup software?
That's right, and it's not risky. Jungle Disk is just an interface to the S3 service, which is very secure, reliable and trusted.
Amazon's S3 won a "Codie" award this month for "Best Storage Software Solution."
Amazon S3 lets you move, copy or delete file sizes up to 5 GB each, and you can store an unlimited number of files.
You pay for Amazon only for what you use, when you use it. It costs 15 cents per gigabytes for storage, and 20 cents per gigabyte of data transferred.
How to Use Jungle Disk
It's easy to get started. Just go to the Jungle Disk Web site, click "Download," choose the Windows, Mac or Linux version and install as you would any application.
The installation will walk you through the process of setting up and establishing the secure connection to Amazon S3. To pay, you can use your existing Amazon.com account -- the one you already use to buy books -- or create a new one.
Once installed, you'll notice a Jungle Disk mini-icon in your Taskbar tray (if you're using Windows). Double click on it to open, then select "Configure" from the File menu. Click on the "Automatic Backup" tab and choose how often you want backups made.
Now you're ready for anything -- your PC could be stolen, your house could burn down, your PC could be destroyed by a meteor. No problem! Just find another system, and all your files are there, safe and sound and ready to use -- Finally!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
ANI Trojan Sticks It to Popular Tom's Hardware Geek - Site Visitors
www.eweek.com By Lisa Vaas
May 11, 2007. More than a month after Microsoft patched the .ANI vulnerability, the geek favorite e-tailer Tom's Hardware has found the W32.ani Trojan lurking in one of its banner ads.
ScanSafe, a managed Web security services company, on May 8 noticed a spike in traffic blocks that had a common theme. The company found that Tomshardware.com was unknowingly hosting the banner ad, which was redirecting users to a site where the driveby malware was automatically downloaded. In an interview with ScanSafe, Vice President of Product Strategy Dan Nadir said that the ad was being hosted out of a site in Argentina.
Click here to read more about ANI patch causing problems with third-party apps.
The banner ad was up, infecting victims with unpatched systems, for 24 hours. When ScanSafe contacted Tom's Hardware, they were told that the site had already learned of the Trojan from its victims. The site has since removed the ad.
For any high-volume site such as Tom's Hareware, a threat such as this stands to get many hits before it's removed, even if it's up only for an hour, Nadir pointed out.
According to a media kit on Tom's Hardware, the site gets more than 5 million unique page views from more than 1.9 million unique visitors monthly. It ranks at No. 923 on Amazon.com's Alexa Web traffic ranking service, according to ScanSafe.
The incident illustrates the current status of malware worming its way into places that many people wouldn't expect them to be. "The trend a couple years ago was you could tell people to keep away from [certain sites, such as porn sites], and you'll be safe. Because of these exploits, any site can potentially host malicious content. You can't just rely on user education or URL filtering that says 'This is a good site' vs. 'This s a bad site.' Any site can potentially be a bad site. We've seen them in lots of MySpace pages, on Wikipedia pages and in banner ads. They're all over the place now," Nadir said.
A service like ScanSafe sits on the front end and uses real-time scanning to block these types of Trojan downloads before they have a chance to infect a system.
Check out eWEEK.com's Security Center for the latest security news, reviews and analysis. And for insights on security coverage around the Web, take a look at eWEEK's Security Watch blog.
May 11, 2007. More than a month after Microsoft patched the .ANI vulnerability, the geek favorite e-tailer Tom's Hardware has found the W32.ani Trojan lurking in one of its banner ads.
ScanSafe, a managed Web security services company, on May 8 noticed a spike in traffic blocks that had a common theme. The company found that Tomshardware.com was unknowingly hosting the banner ad, which was redirecting users to a site where the driveby malware was automatically downloaded. In an interview with ScanSafe, Vice President of Product Strategy Dan Nadir said that the ad was being hosted out of a site in Argentina.
Click here to read more about ANI patch causing problems with third-party apps.
The banner ad was up, infecting victims with unpatched systems, for 24 hours. When ScanSafe contacted Tom's Hardware, they were told that the site had already learned of the Trojan from its victims. The site has since removed the ad.
For any high-volume site such as Tom's Hareware, a threat such as this stands to get many hits before it's removed, even if it's up only for an hour, Nadir pointed out.
According to a media kit on Tom's Hardware, the site gets more than 5 million unique page views from more than 1.9 million unique visitors monthly. It ranks at No. 923 on Amazon.com's Alexa Web traffic ranking service, according to ScanSafe.
The incident illustrates the current status of malware worming its way into places that many people wouldn't expect them to be. "The trend a couple years ago was you could tell people to keep away from [certain sites, such as porn sites], and you'll be safe. Because of these exploits, any site can potentially host malicious content. You can't just rely on user education or URL filtering that says 'This is a good site' vs. 'This s a bad site.' Any site can potentially be a bad site. We've seen them in lots of MySpace pages, on Wikipedia pages and in banner ads. They're all over the place now," Nadir said.
A service like ScanSafe sits on the front end and uses real-time scanning to block these types of Trojan downloads before they have a chance to infect a system.
Check out eWEEK.com's Security Center for the latest security news, reviews and analysis. And for insights on security coverage around the Web, take a look at eWEEK's Security Watch blog.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Microsoft ID technology helps keep e-mail honest..
Microsoft Sender ID
December 11, 2006 (Updated) According to a recent Microsoft study, spammers send an average of 3.8 billion messages to Hotmail addresses every day. Thanks to a technology called Sender ID, an average of 20 million of those spam messages are blocked from e-mail inboxes every day.
If you use the following e-mail programs, you're already experiencing increased protection from spam through Sender ID:
• MSN Hotmail
• Windows Live Hotmail
• Microsoft Exchange Server
• Microsoft Office Live Mail
<--- If an e-mail message fails Sender ID, you will see a warning like this one.
What is Sender ID?
Sender ID authenticates inbound e-mail to help verify that it is from the person that it says it is from. Messages that have been authenticated by Sender ID are less likely to be spam and messages that fail Sender ID are more likely to be spam. To help distinguish between verifiable and unverifiable senders, Sender ID checks and validates the sender's e-mail address against the sender's Internet Protocol (IP).
<---Sender ID at work. Only authenticated messages are allowed to reach the receiver.
Identification is key
Microsoft began implementing Sender ID in MSN Hotmail early in 2005 and has seen positive results. As of April 2007, 8 million domains worldwide have adopted the Sender ID technology.
Momentum for Sender ID adoption is quickly growing. As more Internet and e-mail providers begin to work with this new technology, the ability of Sender ID to intercept spam, phishing attempts, and other online exploits continues to increase.
Also, an increasing number of technology organizations have announced Sender ID support by encouraging industry adoption, publishing their own sender records, or offering specific products and services that support the Sender ID system, from e-mail applications to anti-spam services. For more information on Sender ID, visit www.microsoft.com/senderid.
December 11, 2006 (Updated) According to a recent Microsoft study, spammers send an average of 3.8 billion messages to Hotmail addresses every day. Thanks to a technology called Sender ID, an average of 20 million of those spam messages are blocked from e-mail inboxes every day.
If you use the following e-mail programs, you're already experiencing increased protection from spam through Sender ID:
• MSN Hotmail
• Windows Live Hotmail
• Microsoft Exchange Server
• Microsoft Office Live Mail
<--- If an e-mail message fails Sender ID, you will see a warning like this one.What is Sender ID?
Sender ID authenticates inbound e-mail to help verify that it is from the person that it says it is from. Messages that have been authenticated by Sender ID are less likely to be spam and messages that fail Sender ID are more likely to be spam. To help distinguish between verifiable and unverifiable senders, Sender ID checks and validates the sender's e-mail address against the sender's Internet Protocol (IP).
<---Sender ID at work. Only authenticated messages are allowed to reach the receiver.Identification is key
Microsoft began implementing Sender ID in MSN Hotmail early in 2005 and has seen positive results. As of April 2007, 8 million domains worldwide have adopted the Sender ID technology.
Momentum for Sender ID adoption is quickly growing. As more Internet and e-mail providers begin to work with this new technology, the ability of Sender ID to intercept spam, phishing attempts, and other online exploits continues to increase.
Also, an increasing number of technology organizations have announced Sender ID support by encouraging industry adoption, publishing their own sender records, or offering specific products and services that support the Sender ID system, from e-mail applications to anti-spam services. For more information on Sender ID, visit www.microsoft.com/senderid.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
What do you MEAN I'm not going to die?
Reuters.comMon May 7, 2007. LONDON (Reuters) - A British man who went on a wild spending spree after doctors said he only had a short time to live wants compensation because the diagnosis was wrong and he is now healthy -- but broke.
John Brandrick, 62, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years ago and told that he would probably die within a year.
He quit his job, sold or gave away nearly all his possessions, stopped paying his mortgage and spent his savings dining out and going on holiday.
Brandrick was left with little more than the black suit, white shirt and red tie that he had planned to be buried in when it emerged a year later that his suspected "tumor" was no more than a non-life threatening inflammation of the pancreas.
"When they tell you you've got a limited time and everything, you do enjoy life," Brandrick, from Cornwall in the west of England, told Sky television.
"I'm really pleased that I've got a second chance in life... but if you haven't got no money after all this, which is my fault -- I spent it all -- they should pay something back."
If he can't get compensation, he is considering selling his house or suing the hospital that diagnosed him. The hospital has said that while it sympathizes with Brandrick, a review of his case showed no different diagnosis would have been made.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Microsoft to ship critical Windows, Office patches...
ZDNet.com Ryan Naraine
May 3, 2007. Next week's Patch Tuesday updates from Microsoft will include fixes for a wide range of "critical" vulnerabilities in the Windows, Office and Exchange product lines, the software giant announced today.
As part of its advance notice mechanism, Microsoft said a total of 7 bulletins will be released on May 8, 2007. Here are the barebones details.
Two Microsoft Security Bulletins affecting Microsoft Windows. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. These updates will require a restart.
Three Microsoft Security Bulletins affecting Microsoft Office. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. These updates may require a restart.
One Microsoft Security Bulletin affecting Microsoft Exchange. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. These updates will not require a restart.
One Microsoft Security Bulletin affecting CAPICOM and BizTalk. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. These updates will not require a restart.
One of the "critical" bulletins will most certainly contain fixes for the Windows DNS RPC vulnerability that was being used in attacks by botnet herders last month.
According to FrSIRT, there are several known Microsoft Office vulnerabilities that are unpatched. The list includes two code-execution vulnerabilities, one each in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Powerpoint. The PowerPoint bug was reported to Microsoft nine months ago (July, 2006).
More information on next week's patches on the MSRC blog.
May 3, 2007. Next week's Patch Tuesday updates from Microsoft will include fixes for a wide range of "critical" vulnerabilities in the Windows, Office and Exchange product lines, the software giant announced today.
As part of its advance notice mechanism, Microsoft said a total of 7 bulletins will be released on May 8, 2007. Here are the barebones details.
Two Microsoft Security Bulletins affecting Microsoft Windows. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. These updates will require a restart.
Three Microsoft Security Bulletins affecting Microsoft Office. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. These updates may require a restart.
One Microsoft Security Bulletin affecting Microsoft Exchange. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. These updates will not require a restart.
One Microsoft Security Bulletin affecting CAPICOM and BizTalk. The highest Maximum Severity rating for these is Critical. These updates will not require a restart.
One of the "critical" bulletins will most certainly contain fixes for the Windows DNS RPC vulnerability that was being used in attacks by botnet herders last month.
According to FrSIRT, there are several known Microsoft Office vulnerabilities that are unpatched. The list includes two code-execution vulnerabilities, one each in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Powerpoint. The PowerPoint bug was reported to Microsoft nine months ago (July, 2006).
More information on next week's patches on the MSRC blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)