Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Trojan using webmail to send spam

    Captcha systems possibly cracked to automate account creation. BitDefender has reported a new trojan attempting to bypass security measures on leading webmail systems Hotmail and Yahoo! , to use their services to send out spam. The trojan, dubbed ‘Spammer.HotLan’, downloads instructions from the web, and then either logs into existing accounts and mails from there,…

  • Battle over Blackberry spyware threat

    Spy tool for popular device claims to be legitimate. The expansion of the FlexiSpy mobile device snooping software, originally available only for the Symbian platform but with versions for both Windows Mobile and Blackberry released in May, has caused a war of words between the software maker and security vendor F-Secure . While the maker,…

  • Fourth of July targeted by trojan spam

    Celebration card emails carry links to malware. A further wave of greetings-card spam has been widely seeded, in the wake of considerable Storm Worm activity in the last week, with subject lines focusing on Independence Day celebrations under way today in the US. The wave of spams mostly contain web links to JavaScript downloaders, which…

  • Fake updates and phony postcards carry malware

    Microsoft patch and greetings card spams bring more trojans. Several spam runs posing as vulnerability alerts from Microsoft have been spotted in the last week, with links to supposed patches in fact leading to malware downloads. Since then, a resurgence of the trojans dubbed the ‘Storm Worm’, seeded in several waves earlier in the year,…

  • NOD32 alerts on suspect adverts

    False positive reveals sneaky techniques used in ads. ESET ‘s NOD32 product was updated several times in close succession over the weekend, as false positives were introduced flagging some JavaScript-based web advertising as the JS/Tivso trojan, and rapid adjustments were made to correct the false alarms. The incident, besides showing some very speedy response times…

  • July issue of VB published

    The July issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to download. The July 2007 issue of Virus Bulletin is now available for subscribers to browse online or download in PDF format. Some of the things this month’s issue has in store are: The wild WildList : ”The WildList is more pertinent than ever…

  • Challenge Blue Pill

    Researcher challenged to prove 100% undetectable rootkit claim. Joanna Rutkowska, the security researcher who last year claimed that she can create 100% undetectable malware, has been challenged by fellow researchers to prove it. Rutkowska made the claims about her Blue Pill rootkit technology at last year’s Black Hat conference. However, Thomas Ptacek, Nate Lawson and…

  • Advance diary dates: VB2008

    VB announces VB2008. VB is pleased to announce that VB2008 will take place 1-3 October 2008 in Ottawa, Canada. Reserve the dates and start making your travel plans now! If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, or require any more information about VB2008, please contact us by emailing [email protected] . Posted on 02 July…

  • Spammer offers new service

    Spammer turns court order into money-making opportunity. Wily email marketer/spammer (depending on your viewpoint) David Linhardt, famed for suing UK spam-fighting organization Spamhaus , has attempted to turn the court order he was awarded against the organization into a money-making opportunity, according to spam-watchers. In September 2006 an Illinois court forbade Spamhaus from listing Linhardt’s…

  • Pity poor MS Security workers

    MS Security rated 6th worst job in science. Spare a thought this month for the staff of the Microsoft Security Response Center who, according to Popular Science magazine, have the sixth worst job in science. The science-for-the-masses publication compiles an annual list of those working in ‘science’ that it feels should be recognised for doing…

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