Another Critical Vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer Found
Security company Secunia has demonstrated yet another vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer running under Windows XP Service Pack 2. The vulnerability can be exploited to compromise systems bypassing operating system security features. The security company has only one advise: "Use another product." Those insisting on using Internet Explorer 6.0 should disable the "drag and drop or copy and paste files" option and set the security level to high for the Internet Zone.
(baca selengkapnya: www.sys-con.com)

Man Arrested for Hoax Tsunami Death Email
A man has been arrested in the UK after he allegedly sent an email to the families of those listed as missing in Asia – posing as a government official and telling the recipient that their loved ones have been confirmed dead. The man, described by Police as 40-years-old, was using information posted by families on the Sky News Web site. He was allegedly using the email address [email protected] and is being held in London. A Police spokesperson said: "The British government would not use email to convey news of the death of a loved one. Anyone receiving such an email should treat it with utmost caution." Sky News reported the hoax to Police.
(baca selengkapnya: story.news.yahoo.com)

China Getting Next Generation Internet
CERNET2, which is the first to use Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) technology, became operational on December 25th in China. So far Chinese government agencies and a few Chinese universities are connected to it. Expansion is in the works. In a December 7th trial run between locations in Beijing and Tianjin, the network saw speeds of 40 gigabits per second. The universities, however, currently see speeds of 1-10 gigabits per second. This network allows China to gain more IP addresses. Currently, the US controls 74% of all IP networks on the Internet that uses IPv4 technology. The National Development Reform Commission is contributing $169 million to help expand China's new net.
(baca selengkapnya: inhome.rediff.com)

Quantum Cryptography Keeps Hackers Away
If you're one of the many millions who sends an e-mail or receives sensitive data with that fear of privacy being lost, soon you'll be able to relax. Programmers have made a major breakthrough, it's called quantum cryptography. This is done by encoding the data at a subatomic level on individual photons, then sent on optical fibre networks from one user to another. To decode such messages, a hacker will need to defy the laws of quantum mechanics. Toshiba predicts this will become commercial within three years, and is looking into further trials with financial organizations.
(baca selengkapnya: www.guardian.co.uk)

GarageBand.com Signs Deal With Microsoft
GarageBand.com and Microsoft’s MSN music service have signed an agreement that will see independent bands featured on the GarageBand Web site feature also on the MSN music download service. GrageBand’s CEO Ali Partovi said that the Web site is largely unrecognised by the general public, and the deal with Microsoft will initially see five GarageBand.com musicians offer their music for free via the MSN music service. Further down the track, MSN will offer GarageBand.com’s full catalogue of musicians who have agreed to have their music downloaded for free and eventually some GarageBand.com artists will be able to sell their music using the MSN platform.
(baca selengkapnya: story.news.yahoo.com)

"AOL Has Really Whipped The Lama's @ss" - Nixes Nullsoft
AOL, the parent company of Winamp producer Nullsoft, has cut the company down to a skeleton crew of three. This makes any future developments of Winamp unlikely, writes departing Winamp developer Steve Gedikian on his website. Gedikian also wrote, "At this point, I feel like I no longer have the power to make any positive impact on Winamp." Angry Winamp devotees blasted AOL, saying the company has "really whipped the Llama's ass on this one." Nullsoft was purchased by AOL in 1999 for $100 million, only two years after then 18-yr old Justin Frankel created the Winamp software. Its audio streaming community, Shoutcast, produces some 70 million hours of streaming media a month.
(baca selengkapnya: www.theregister.co.uk)

Firefox, the arch rival of IE ready for full release
Firefox 1.0 is now ready for full general release according to The Mozilla Foundation, producers and backers of the project. Firefox claims to address a number of the security flaws that have plagued Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE). The core of the Firefox product is similar to Netscape, a product considered instrumental in the growth of the Internet during the 90’s. Netscape fell victim to the massive financial backing Microsoft gave to IE in the late 90s. Netscape eventually lost the browser war and now IE has 92.9% market share. However there is a lot of interest in Firefox, over 7 million people downloaded the pre-release. Recently IE has lost several percentage points of market share to Firefox.
(baca selengkapnya: news.yahoo.com )

Microsoft spams thousands of internet users
Microsoft, a major opponent of spammers, has sent out a spam mailing of its own. The letter was one of a series that was sent out to fight against the popularity of the Linux operating system. Microsoft claims no wrongdoing by sending the spam, saying they followed the rules of the Can-Spam act. However, there is no noticeable "Opt-out" link anywhere in the email message. Lawyers for Microsoft say they followed the rules of the Can-Spam act fully.
(baca selengkapnya: www.msnbc.msn.com)

Netscape Employee Fired Over 'a--hole.jpg'
An image on a web site owned by Netscape caused an employee to loose his job. The image, showing the President and Mrs. Bush, was by some reason named 'a--hole.jpg' (replace the two dashes with you-know-what). The posting of the image on Netscape's site was a part of an online coverage of the election. Andrew Weinstein, a Netscape spokesman, says: "As soon as the situation was discovered, it was immediately corrected, and the employee has been terminated." The naming was not visible to the average user, but appeared when someone checked the image properties, or tried to save the image.
(baca selengkapnya: www.mensnewsdaily.com)

New Phishing Scam - Email Redirects Browser
A new email has originated in South America that activates a small script on the readers computer when they open the phishing message. The script covertly redirects a user's web browser to a phony banking web site. The redirection occurs even when the user enters a valid URL. Analysts say that the current scam is not a serious threat right now, but "If it works there, [in South America] we could well see it elsewhere." The script does have its limitations, working only on Windows computers and only when Windows Scripting Host is enabled and ActiveX is switched on. A file is then modified by the phishing script and is used to map domain names.
(baca selengkapnya: www.newscientist.com)

1,600 Internet Cafes Closed By Chinese Government
The operators of 1,600 Internet cafes in China have had their business' shut down and have been fined a combined $12 million. The Chinese government says they were allowing children violent games and had violated other laws. 1.8 million Internet cafes were inspected, part of a campaign launched in March to to reduce or eliminate sex and violence via the Internet, video games etc. Inspectors were looking for cafes which turned a blind eye to children playing adult games. Zhang Xinjian, a Culture Ministry official said: "Porn, gambling, violence and similar problems have adversely affected the healthy development of the Internet in China." China encourages Internet use for education and business only.
(baca selengkapnya: story.news.yahoo.com)

Two New Vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s IE
Danish security firm Secunia announced yesterday that it had uncovered two new vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6.0 which could allow hackers to hack through the security around XP’s Service Pack 2. Secunia stated, in an online alert, that the vulnerabilities exploit XP SP2’s Local Computer zone lockdown security feature. The firm tested the bugs on “a fully patched system with Internet Explorer 6.0 and Windows XP SP2.” Secunia recommends PC users deactivate Active Scripting within the browser, or that they use a different browser altogether, like Mozilla’s Firefox.
(baca selengkapnya: story.news.yahoo.com)

American Sells His Vote On Ebay
24-yr old Tim Hubbard of Kansas City, Missouri has been arrested and charged with a misdemeanor after it was learned that he put his vote for US President up to the highest bidder on Ebay. Enraged prosecutor Page Bellamy said the minimum bid for Hubbard's vote was $25. The winner would then be able to tell Hubbard to vote for either Bush or Kerry. "Our right to vote was bought by the blood of our veterans and it's priceless," she said. Hubbard says he was just joking when he put his vote up on Ebay. If convicted, Hubbard could face up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
(baca selengkapnya: www.local6.com)

Google Can Now Search Your Hard-Drive With New Program
Search engine company Google has unveiled a new program, code named "Fluffy Bunny", that is described as "the photographic memory of your computer." It can scan your hard-drive and find anything on it in seconds. The free program is also designed to work with the company's online search engine. All your Google search requests will show up in a special part of the program. The company hopes this feature will generate more searches and more advertising hits. As with G-mail, privacy issues have come up. "The key question will be if this thing ever phones home to the mother ship," said Pam Dixon of the World Privacy Forum. Google says the program does not give a "peephole" into people's hard-drives.
(baca selengkapnya: story.news.yahoo.com)

Hackers Using Porn JPEGs to try to Hijack PCs
Hackers are using porn images posted on Usenet newsgroups to take advantage of the flaw in Microsoft programs regarding JPEGs. An overflow occurs in the GDI+ JPEG decoder from malicious code in the JPEG. The nickname for this is JPEG of Death. The JPEG of Death tries to install Radmin which is a program which allows users to have remote access to their computers. However, in this instance, a Trojan Horse program controls the program. Computers infected by this report to an IRC channel. The only OS affected so far is Windows XP. While this infection does not have the ability to spread like a virus, security experts fear that this exploit could be used to spread a worm. Antivirus programs currently can detect these corrupted JPEGs.
(baca selengkapnya: www.computerworld.com)