viruses
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Portable 'cold plasma' wand prototype could destroy germs in seconds
Engineers from the University of Michigan created a plasma jet wand to disinfect hospital rooms.
Samsung tweet suggests scanning your smart TV for malware every few weeks
This morning a Samsung customer support account tweeted an odd warning that, to prevent malicious software attacks on your smart TV, you should scan it for viruses every few weeks. It even included an instructional video to help you do so. The tweet, first spotted by The Verge, was short lived. Samsung has since removed it, but it existed long enough to raise a few red flags.
Resident Evil: Revelations developer diary discusses importance of viruses
Did you know that viruses are important to the Resident Evil series? Thanks to this Resident Evil: Revelations developer diary video, you do now.
Kaspersky Labs preps its own OS to guard vital industry against cyberwarfare
Kaspersky Labs' namesake Eugene Kaspersky is worried that widely distributed and potentially state-sponsored malware like Flame and Stuxnet pose dire threats to often lightly protected infrastructure like communication and power plants -- whatever your nationality, it's clearly bad for the civilian population of a given country to suffer even collateral damage from cyberattacks. To minimize future chaos and literally keep the trains running, Kaspersky and his company are expanding their ambitions beyond mere antivirus software to build their own, extra-secure operating system just for large-scale industry. The platform depends on a custom, minimalist core that refuses to run any software that isn't baked in and has no code outside of its main purposes: there'll be no water supply shutdowns after the night watch plays Solitaire from an infected drive. Any information shared from one of these systems should be completely trustworthy, Kaspersky says. He doesn't have details as to when the OS will reach behind-the-scenes hardware, but he stresses that this is definitely not an open-source project: some parts of the OS will always remain confidential to keep ne'er-do-well terrorists (and governments) from undermining the technology we often take for granted.
White House announces anti-botnet initiative
The White House has been drumming up momentum for tighter internet privacy laws for a while now, and today it's furthering that online safety agenda with a new initiative for combating botnets. Washington just announced a pilot program for fighting viruses, citing a whopping five million PCs infected worldwide this year. The program will use principles outlined by the Industry Botnet Group, with the main goal being to educate internet users on the dangers of cyberspace while preventing botnets from spreading by sharing data about infected computers. The White House is working with the Information Sharing and Analysis Center to develop and implement the "botnet pilot," presumably to enact those anti-virus principles.
Exploit uses firewalls to hijack smartphones, turns friends into foes
Normally, firewalls at cellular carriers are your best friends, screening out malware before it ever touches your phone. University of Michigan computer science researchers have found that those first lines of defense could be your enemy through a new exploit. As long as a small piece of malware sits on a device, that handset can infer TCP data packet sequence numbers coming from the firewall and hijack a phone's internet traffic with phishing sites, fake messages or other rogue code. The trick works on at least 48 carriers that use firewalls from Check Point, Cisco, Juniper and other networking heavy hitters -- AT&T being one of those providers. Carriers can turn the sequences off, although there are consequences to that as well. The only surefire solution is to either run antivirus apps if you're on a mobile OS like Android or else to run a platform that doesn't allow running unsigned apps at all, like iOS or Windows Phone. Whether or not the exploit is a serious threat is still far from certain, but we'll get a better sense of the risk on May 22nd, when Z. Morley Mao and Zhiyun Qian step up to the podium at an IEEE security symposium and deliver their findings.
University gets $188 million AMD-based supercomputer, free copy of Norton
It used to be that you only needed a bachelor's degree and elbow patches to be taken seriously as an academic, but now it's all about that 50-petaflop supercomputer with 500 petabytes of storage whirring away in the basement. The University of Illinois used to shop with IBM, but it's just about to have a brand new Cray XK6 installed instead, so it can continue providing computing power to the National Science Foundation's Blue Waters project. It's not all about inciting gadget envy, of course: the machine's unlikely truce of AMD Opteron 6200 16-core processors and NVIDIA Tesla GPUs will help more than 25 teams of scientists to model and understand real-world phenomena, from the damage caused by earthquakes to the way viruses to break into cells. Breakthroughs from these projects will -- hopefully, one day -- make the $188 million total cost of Cray's products and services seem like a bargain. Full details in the PR after the break.
Apple cracks down on MacDefender, prevents malware downloads with daily quarantine list
Preconceptions aside, Apple products do occasionally spread viruses, and not just the biological kind, which is why Cupertino saw fit to equip Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard with a quarantine function to safely set malware aside. This week, however, Apple's kicking those digital white blood cells into high gear, updating that quarantine list daily with a new background process. The company's primarily got its crosshairs on the recent MacDefender scare, of course, but on the off-chance malware starts coming out of the woodwork, it sounds like you won't have to wait for a formal security update to be forewarned of the dangers. If privacy's your primary concern, however, you can also opt-out -- take a gander at our source links to see how it's done. [Thanks, Jake]
MIT's genetically modified viruses boost solar-cell efficiency by herding nanotubes
The wizards of MIT have done it again. Having checked artificial leaves and Operabots off the to-do list, they've moved on to improving the efficiency of solar cells. Their technique combines a genetically modified version of the M13 virus with carbon nanotubes, which have already been shown to increase efficiency. Unfortunately, some nanotubes enhance solar cell performance, while others inhibit it – and both types tend to clump together, negating their benefits. The modified M13 virus, however, can separate the two types as well as prevent clumping; we've seen similar use of the Tobacco mosaic virus to build better electrodes. Adding virus-built structures to dye-sensitized solar cells increased power conversion efficiency by almost one-third and, with only one additional step in the manufacturing process required, the new approach could be rapidly taken up by existing production facilities. MIT: proving once again that viruses are good for more than just smiting your enemies.
Report: iPhone, iPad glass crawling with bacteria and viruses
During the winter months in most of the world, you can see pump bottles of antibacterial gel scattered around most businesses as workers and visitors try to keep their hands free of pathogens. Now, a spate of suspiciously similar news items today are warning that the glass screens on iPhones, iPads, and iPods can harbor bacteria. While that's kind of a big "Duh!" moment -- after all, who hasn't looked at a smeary iPad screen and wondered what kind of bugs are multiplying on the glass -- British researchers in one study found that mobile phones carry 18 times more bacteria than a flush handle in a men's room. Ewwwww. For viruses that have taken up residence on iPhone screens, a single touch can easily transfer them to your fingertips, which then pass the viruses to your eyes, mouth, or nose. Hello, flu! This isn't something new; the New York Daily News swabbed four iPads in NYC Apple Stores in June, and lab results found Staphylococcus aureus (a common source of staph infections), Candida parapsilosis (a yeast), and Corynebacterium minutissimum (a common source of skin rashes). There are just so many people handing Apple devices at the stores in a typical day that it's almost impossible for them to not pick up bacteria of some sort. How can you keep yourself from being overrun by disease vectors while using mobile electronics? There are a couple of ways. First, don't share your phone or iPad with others. That's more easily said than done in households with small children, for who Mom and Dad's phones and iPads are just another toy. Second, try to keep the screen clean by using approved cleaning sprays and wipes on a regular basis. For example, I use the Apple-approved iKlear spray and wipes on my iPad and iPhone. Finally, if you do touch a device that has been used by many other people, wash your hands thoroughly after use or use a sanitizing gel. The reports coming out today might give you pause about handling your iToys, but using a little common sense and regular hygiene practices should keep you from contracting an infection from your devices. [via Macworld.co.uk]
Dear Aunt TUAW: Should I buy anti-virus software for OS X?
Dear Auntie, I am relatively new to the Apple desktop world. I just bought my first iMac a little over six months ago and I love it. My question concerns anti-virus software. All of my friends who have Macs say you don't need any. Even the folks at the Apple store said I don't need it. Now that I see Google is switching away from PCs and Apple's market share is growing... is this something I should be investing in? Thank you, Your loyal nephew Ken
BitTorrent copies of iWork '09 may contain nasty Trojan
Intego has released a security alert for a Trojan horse circulating in copies of iWork '09 downloaded from BitTorrent trackers and direct download (read: not official, but warez-esque) sites. The Trojan, known as OSX.Trojan.iServices.A is actually pretty clever: it exists as a package within the actual iWork '09 installer (meaning you can't see it unless you view every package in the installer bundle). Then when the installation begins and asks for your administrator password (which is what a non-infected version of iWork '09 would do), the Trojan package will install itself as a startup item in the /System/Library/StartupItems folder, where it has root permissions.Once this service is on your system (and it is called something that sounds innocuous: iWorkSerices), it will connect to a remote server online, making your computer a target for other malicious downloads and remote operations.It is important to note that the iWork '09 files on these downloads are not affected in any way, they are merely a catalyst to get this Trojan on your system.Intego has updated their virus definitions for its VirusBarrier programs. We recommend not downloading software from untrustworthy or unofficial sources. And you know, paying for a legitimate iWork license.
McAfee report reveals the most dangerous web domains
In an era where clicking on the wrong link while browsing the web could mean your account will get hacked, and one of your guild members clicking on the wrong link means your guild bank could get emptied as well, it's always good to protect yourself and keep abreast of web security issues. In that vein, it's worth checking out a new report released by McAfee called Mapping the Mal Web Report Revisited. It tested 9.9 Million websites in 265 domains to find out which ones had a higher risk of exposing visitors to malware, spam, and malicious attacks via a red, yellow, and green system.
BBC: Teach our kids about safe Mac computing
It's the end of innocence, according to the BBC, the time when you'll have to sit down your children and tell them about the birds, the bees, and the recent Mac Trojan (no, not that kind of Trojan) security compromises. There's little new or ground breaking in the BBC article but their adherence to the Safe-Sex/Safe-Computing paradigm is pretty hilarious. We all knew that as the Mac became more popular as a platform that it would start to be attacked more regularly and last week's exploits confirms this new reality. On the one hand, a wider installation base means better software and easier repairs. On the other hand, Mac OS X security becomes a bigger and bigger target. Thanks to Steve Barnett
Danger Will Robinson!
I saw this screen shot last night on the WoW LJ community, and I have to admit, it took me by surprise. This is the first time I've ever actually seen the World of Warcraft launcher/load screen come out and point-blank warn people about the presence of Trojans on their machines. As there are a lot of variants of this particular Trojan out in the wild, that specific name doesn't surprise me.Considering the fact that two Blue accounts were recently compromised, it looks like it's a good time to once again make sure your systems are patched, your virus scanners are up to date, and that you've got some good lines of defense against these Trojans. (Personally, I'm a huge fan of FireFox and some of the browser extensions that have come out for it.) Or, as some of my friends have told me, I could just get a Mac, and not have to worry so much about these kinds of things either. I keep telling them I'll happily switch when they buy me one.
How would you react to a wide-spread Mac OS X virus?
One of the long-standing major appeals of the Mac OS has been its relatively small and low-impact ratio of serious security vulnerabilities and virus attacks. Users wear it like a badge on their shoulder, and even Apple has jumped in by flat-out bragging about Mac OS X's security with their latest Get a Mac ad campaign.While the debate surrounding exactly why the Mac has earned this reputation has raged at least since the term 'trolling' was coined, I'm a bit more interested in bending the space-time continuum and asking you, dear readers, a hypothetical: what would happen if a truly malicious Mac OS X virus were to break out in large scale? I'm talking about something along the lines of the Sasser worm, which grounded some Delta Airline flights, brought many other companies to their knees, and is estimated to have caused billions in damage.I know Apple's machines aren't quite as integral to the various operations of our society and businesses like Windows and Linux are, but it would be hard to argue that a good portion of of the Mac user base doesn't care about the security of their chosen OS. With this in mind, I wonder: would you keep your Mac in a day and age when 3rd party virus and security tools become a basic necessity of Mac OS X? Would you bite the bullet and buy Norton Virus Mega Security Bundle Premium 2007 beta 5? Do you think all those switchers - reeled in by Apple's "We don't have any viruses" Get a Mac commercials - would become crippled in disillusion?What say you, TUAW readers. How large of a hole in Apple's security record would be 'too large'?
TUAW Podcast #13
This week's podcast involves Dan Pourhadi and the C4 developer shindig he attended, those exclusive Leopard screenshots we nabbed, iPod viruses and the corporate blame game, and we round off with Apple's preliminary 4th quarter earnings results. Dan and I kept things short this time around, as the podcast rounds off at just over 20 minutes and 18.6MB.As usual, you can grab the podcast via a direct link, our podcast RSS feed or in the iTunes Store podcast directory. Enjoy the show.Update: It seems there's a bug in our iTS feed preventing from getting this latest episode, though our other links for accessing the podcast are working just fine. We'll keep you posted.
Some 5.5 gen iPods ship with Windows virus
This certainly isn't amongst the new features that Apple has touted for their latest rev of iPods. It would seem that a 'small number' of iPods shipped after Sept. 12, 2006 may be carrying a Windows virus by the name of RavMonE.exe. Apple says that less than 1% of Video iPods are infected, and they have seen less than 25 cases reported. The most interesting sentence of this note is, 'As you might imagine, we are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it.'Nice spin, Apple. 'Umm.. yeah, so we shipped something with a virus on it, but Windows shouldn't get viruses! Yeah, that's the ticket.'Apple suggests scanning your iPod with an anti-virus program and restoring the iPod's software using iTunes.iPod shuffles, nanos, and OS X are not affected and all currently shipping iPods are 100% virus free.Thanks, Zack.
Is Your Warcraft Account More Valuable Than Your Credit Card Info?
Microsoft has caught on to what many Warcraft players already realized - our characters and in-game items are valuable. And for some, the value of your account itself is higher than that of the credit card you use to play the game with, making account theft a lucrative target. And, while Blizzard can help restore stolen in-game goods, once your account has been compromised, it's a long and tedious process to get it back. So in all cases, it's better to protect your account before-hand - while most of it's common sense, Blizzard has some good advice on that front.[Fan art by Sarah Jaffe]
Symantec: No file infecting viruses for OS X
Every time I write about Mac security the comments fill up with people telling me that I am an idiot (actually, come to think of it, that happens with most of my posts). Therefore, I thought some of you would enjoy this post from Symantec that which states categorically that there are no known file infecting viruses for OS X. Hurrah! Macs rulez!! W00t!Hold your horses, spanky. Todd Woodward, the author of the post, rightly points out that while there are no viruses for OS X there are worms, rootkits, and vulnerabilities in the OS itself. So, it is like I always say, Mac users might not have to worry about viruses now but that doesn't mean that OS X is somehow magically immune to viruses.
