Microsoft Cracks Down on Certification Exam Cheating

Microsoft is tackling certification exam cheating in a big way, with harsher penalties and a data forensics program that can find cheaters through statistical analysis of their exams.

Lifetime bans from Microsoft’s certification program will be handed down to anyone who cheats, commits fraud, or violates the non-disclosure agreements (NDA) that are designed to prevent test questions from being leaked to the public.

Under a soon-to-be released policy revision, “if you commit fraud, break the NDA, break any of our policies, it’s going to result in a lifetime ban from the Microsoft certification program,” says Peggy Crowley, the anti-piracy program manager for the Microsoft Learning department. “We used to have a year-long ban for some things and a lifetime ban for other things, and then we decided that cheating is cheating across the board, and why delineate between the two? So we decided to do a lifetime ban for all forms of cheating.”...

Internet flaw could let hackers take over the Web

Internet flaw could let hackers take over the Web

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Computer industry heavyweights are hustling to fix a flaw in the foundation of the Internet that would let hackers control traffic on the World Wide Web.

Major software and hardware makers worked in secret for months to create a software "patch" released on Tuesday to repair the problem, which is in the way computers are routed to web page addresses.
"It's a very fundamental issue with how the entire addressing scheme of the Internet works," Securosis analyst Rich Mogul said in a media conference call.

"You'd have the Internet, but it wouldn't be the Internet you expect. (Hackers) would control everything."

The flaw would be a boon for "phishing" cons that involve leading people to imitation web pages of businesses such as bank or credit card companies to trick them into disclosing account numbers, passwords and other information.

To read the whole article, see...

Global standards for IT professionals

Global standards for IT professionals

The International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) has set up a Task Force to look at building an IT profession of international standing. BCS is co-sponsoring this programme which mirrors its own professionalism initiative. The first newsletter is available from IFIP.

Previously known under the working name of I3P, the IFIP International Professional Practice Partnership is a global programme to promote professionalism in IT, define international standards and create a global infrastructure that will encourage and support the development of both practitioners and employer organisations. Recognition will be given to those who meet and maintain the required standards for knowledge, experience, competence and integrity....​

Approximately 800 vulnerabilities discovered in antivirus products

Approximately 800 vulnerabilities discovered in antivirus products

In what appears to be either a common scenario of “when the security solution ends up the security problem itself”, or a product launch basing its strategy on outlining the increasing number of critical vulnerabilities found in competing antivirus products, the IT/Security consulting firm n.runs AG claims to have discovered approximately 800 vulnerabilities within antivirus products based on exploiting a standard malware scanning process known as “parsing” :

“During the past few months, specialists from the n.runs AG, along with other security experts, have discovered approximately 800 vulnerabilties in anti-virus products. The conclusion: contrary to their actual function, the products open the door to attackers, enable them to penetrate company networks and infect them with destructive code. The positioning of anti-virus software in central areas of the company now poses an...

AVG flip-flops over fake traffic fiasco

AVG flip-flops over fake traffic fiasco

Security vendor AVG has issued an updated version of its AVG 8 anti-virus software that fixes the fake traffic issue that has caused a huge online backlash amongst web masters the world over...The Register was the first to notice a spike in site traffic in May. It was a little perplexed as not only did it have more readers than ever before but "more than a few ho-hum stories attracted an audience worthy of a Pulitzer Prize winner." A little digging from El Reg discovered that the real culprit was not a sudden and dramatic upsurge in the demand for technology news, but rather some odd behaviour by a malware scanner. When AVG acquired Exploit Prevention Labs it also got its hands on a malware scanning tool called LinkScanner. This quite cleverly pre-scans your search engine results before you start link-clicking to...

Internet addressing agency loses its addresses

Internet addressing agency loses its addresses

Registration company it oversees fooled into transferring domain names

NEW YORK - This doesn't sound good: The nonprofit agency in charge of the Internet's addresses recently lost track of its own.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, said it happened when an Internet registration company it oversees got fooled into transferring the domain names to someone else.

The attack was quickly noticed, and ICANN's domain names were restored within 20 minutes. However, because many Internet directories retain information for a day or two, visitors could have been redirected to an unauthorized site for longer.

To see the whole article, see here.

-Ken

Bavarian Police Can Legally Place Trojans On PCs

Bavarian Police Can Legally Place Trojans On PCs

See here &...

IE 8 To Include New Security Tools

Microsoft addresses XSS in Internet Explorer

Microsoft is planning to add a series of new security features to the next version of its Internet Explorer browser, including protection against cross-site scripting attacks.

A beta version of IE 8 is due out in August, and along with the XSS filter, it will include a filter designed to provide better protection against phishing attacks, features that make it easier for developers to request resources and share information across domains, and some changes to the way that ActiveX controls are handled by the browser. Specifically, developers will be able to write controls that are only available for the individual user who downloads them.

See the whole article here & here.

-ken

Texas PC Repair Now Requires PI License

New Computer Repair Law Could Affect Both Company Owners and Consumers

A strange new law in Texas, US...

A new Texas law requires every computer repair technician to obtain a private investigator's license, according to a lawsuit filed in Austin. Violators can face a $4,000 fine and one year in jail, as well as a $10,000 civil penalty.

Unlicensed computer shops will have to close down until they obtain a private investigator's license.

A private investigator's license can be obtained by acquiring a criminal justice degree or by getting a three-year apprenticeship under a licensed private investigator.

See here & here.

-ken

I wonder if this will catch on in the UK

Transformers shirt gets jet ban

Brad Jayakody, 30, was shocked when he was told to change his top if he wanted to catch his flight from Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

IT consultant Brad — on a British Airways trip with four colleagues to Dusseldorf, Germany — asked to see the security chief.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1234193.ece