Malware may hide in Windows registry

Malware may hide in Windows registry

Security experts have found a vulnerability in Windows that could allow malware to lurk undetected in long string names of the Windows Registry. The weakness is caused by an error in the Windows Registry Editor Utility's handling of long string names. A malicious program could hide itself in a registry key by creating a string with a long name, which would allow the malicious string and any created after it in the same key to remain hidden. Keys are stored in the Windows Registry, which saves a PC's configuration settings.

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Microsoft releases Windows file system beta

Microsoft releases Windows file system beta

Microsoft has released a test version of its next-generation file system, WinFS, well ahead of schedule. The software giant made the first beta of the new file system available to Microsoft Developer Network subscribers, who had not expected to see it until next year. WinFS will not be a part of the next version of Windows, Windows Vista, when it ships at the end of next year, but will be available to the operating system as an add-on release sometime in 2007, said Quentin Clark, director of program management for WinFS at Microsoft.

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Confessions of a Zotob Worm Author

Confessions of a Zotob Worm Author

Last week, with the arrest of two men thought to be responsible for unleashing the destructive Zotob, Mytob and Rbot family of computer worms, it came to light that investigators believe these guys were somehow making money off of their creations. Officials at the FBI and Microsoft said evidence indicates that Farid Essebar, 18, a Moroccan national born in Russia who went by the screen moniker “Diabl0," developed the worms for sale to Atilla Ekici, aka “Coder,” a 21-year-old citizen of Turkey. The story I reported last week said Moroccan officials believe the two men are linked to a credit card fraud ring. Now another source claims to have had contact with Diabl0 a month before his arrest, and in their conversation Essebar claimed he was using the worm to infect computers with spyware and adware.

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Intel demos worm cut-off technology

Intel demos worm cut-off technology

Intel researchers have demonstrated a new hardware system designed to rapidly and automatically quarantine PCs infected with worms of viruses. Announced at this week’s Intel Developer Forum (IDF), the Manageability Engine technology - internally referred to as "Circuit Breaker" - is designed to monitor the number of connections being made by a PC, and assess the integrity of the machine’s security software. If it detects a higher than normal number of external connections being made, and this can be related to other software anomalies, the PC is then automatically disconnected to stop it becoming a platform from which to infect further machines.

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Suspected Computer Worm Creators Arrested

Suspected Computer Worm Creators Arrested

Authorities in Morocco and Turkey have arrested two people believed to be responsible for unleashing a computer worm that infected networks at U.S. companies and government agencies earlier this month, the FBI said Friday. Farid Essebar, 18, was arrested in Morocco, while Atilla Ekici, 21, was arrested in Turkey on Thursday, the FBI said. They will be prosecuted in those countries, the FBI said.

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One in five Brits can't live low-tech

One in five Brits can't live low-tech

One in five Brits claim not to be able to survive without digital technology, according to a new survey by Intel. Perhaps the chip giant has spent too long hanging around hospital intensive care units.

One thousand Brits and many more across six other European countries answered questions posed by Intel on how technology impacts our lives. The UK's 80 percent survival rate makes us more dependent than the average: overall, one in eight Europeans reckoned they'd die without PCs and mobile phones.

So the next time the power fails, expect to see slaughter in the streets. Perhaps it's not surprising that another 13 percent of us say we'd be happier if all the digital and computer technology was taken out of our lives.

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HOW-TO: Laptop resurrection and upgrade

HOW-TO: Laptop resurrection and upgrade

I thought at least some of you might enjoy this and it will probably be more noticed here in the News forum than in Articles.


"I have been known to keep old hardware alive, long past it’s use-by date. Over the last year I acquired a couple of laptops. One of them had been smashed up (I think someone sat on it..) and the other got a drink spilled in to the keyboard. So I ended up with enough parts to make a cheap laptop.

The i1400 Thinkpad came out with a few different variations of processor. The one I salvaged is a Celeron 500. I was also recently given another damaged laptop, which I robbed the DVD drive from and some RAM, so it’s maxed out to 256MB (I tried more, but it just didn’t like it). I’ve only spent around $180 total, not including the 60GB drive. That’s not bad for a cheap work laptop, with wireless."


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Some XP machines vulnerable to Zotob worm

Some XP machines vulnerable to Zotob worm

Some Windows XP machines are vulnerable to the Zotob worm that ran riot on Windows 2000 systems last week, Microsoft has said. In a "clarification", Microsoft said that PCs running Windows XP Service Pack 1 are also at risk if a file-sharing feature called “Simple File Sharing and ForceGuest” is enabled. The company hadn't seen any attacks trying to exploit this scenario, it said.

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Linux/Unix e-mail flaw leaves system wide open

Linux/Unix e-mail flaw leaves system wide open

Two serious security flaws have turned up in software widely distributed with Linux and Unix. The bugs affect Elm (Electronic Mail for Unix), a venerable e-mail client still used by many Linux and Unix sysadmins, and Mplayer, a cross-platform movie player that is one of the most popular of its kind on Linux. The Elm flaw involves a boundary error when the client reads an e-mail's "Expires" header. A specially crafted e-mail could exploit the bug to cause a buffer overflow and execute malicious code on a system, according to security researchers. Adding to the flaw's potential impact, exploit code has begun circulating on the Internet, according to FrSIRT, the French Security Incident Response Team, which published sample code on its site.

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New CompTIA Convergence+ Cert Moving Forward

New CompTIA Convergence+ Cert Moving Forward

Development of a new vendor-neutral, convergence-focused certification from the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is moving forward, the company says.

The company is currently looking for subject matter experts (SMEs) to participate in a first-round job task analysis panel for the new Convergence+ title, to be held Sept. 21 and 22 in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. The SMEs will work with the organization's staff and psyhometricians to develop core coverage areas for the upcoming title.

Full Story: certcities.com