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Jailbroken iPhones exposed to second worm, this time malicious
As inevitable as the sun rising in the East and setting in the West, an innocuous iPhone worm has been transformed into a malicious bank details-stealing virus. The second recorded iPhone infection operates on exactly the same principles as the first, as it targets jailbroken handsets with SSH installed, but this time adds the ability for the hacker to remotely control and access the phone. By throwing up a purported ING Direct login page, he (or she, or they) can collect your online banking credentials and, presumably, all the cash they are supposed to protect. Presently isolated within the Netherlands, this outbreak may spread further still, as it is capable of infecting other jailbroken iPhones on the same WiFi network.
First iPhone worm rickrolls jailbroken phones
We sort of knew this would happen as soon as we heard about that iPhone wallpaper hack in the Netherlands -- a hacker named ikex has created what's apparently the first iPhone worm, and it's currently infecting jailbroken iPhones across Australia. The "ikee" worm, as it's being called, takes advantage of the fact that jailbroken iPhones with SSH installed all have the same default root password of "alpine," and once in the system it changes your wallpaper to an image of Rick Astley and then tries to install itself on other jailbroken iPhones on the network. Sophos says it hasn't confirmed any infections outside of Oz, and to be clear, this worm can't get to stock iPhones or jailbreak owners who haven't installed SSH -- but if you're running a hacked phone we'd say you should change that root password just to be safe right away. Get to it, kids. [Via PMP Today; thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Worm rickrolls unsecured jailbroken iPhones via SSH
For the last few days, some jailbroken iPhone users have found their home screen background a little different than they remembered. A hacker, going by the name "ikee," created a worm that changes the home screen background on jailbroken iPhones whose owners failed to change the default password after installing SSH. Simply jailbreaking your iPhone will not make you vulnerable to this sort of hack. The iPhone OS, in general, is also immune to this hack. Still confused? Let's back up a bit. On jailbroken iPhones, SSH is installable with a package from Cydia that allows you to connect to your phone and make changes to the filesystem. It does this by logging into the root user with the password "alpine." After installing SSH, it is always recommended that you change "alpine" to the password of your choosing. This hack can only affect people who chose not to change that password -- no one else. This hack originated in Australia, the home country of ikee, and has possibly spread to other iPhones in other countries, but we've been unable to verify that. A gentleman by the name of JD held an interview with the hacker over IRC and posted it to his blog. In ikee's own words, here's how the worm has spread: ...The code itself is set to firstly scan the 3G IP range the phone is on, then Optus/Vodafone/Telstra's IP Ranges (I think the reason Optus got hit so hard is because the other 2 are NAT'd) then a random 20 IP ranges. I'm guessing a few phones hit a range that another vulnerable phone was on. Basically, once your phone is infected, the worm starts looking for other iPhones on the cellular network that use the root:alpine combination. Once it finds another vulnerable iPhone, it installs itself and begins the process again... and again... and again. Luckily for the jailbreakers in the audience who may have been affected, there's really no harm done -- at least not with this version of the worm. According to the hacker, this was more of an experiment than anything else. The worm changes your background and then disables inbound SSH, which is a good thing. If SSH was left turned on, a similar worm could follow along but conceivably do much more damage. For instructions on how to delete this worm, read JD's interview with ikee. I would recommend reading the interview just for the information it presents; I found it pretty interesting. If you've got a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch and you've never changed the default device password, now's the time. Here's how, if you are using terminal: Type: ssh root@(iPhone IP address) When prompted for the password type: alpine Now you're connected the phone... type: passwd It should then prompt your for a new password -- type one that you'll remember. There's no easy way to reset it if you forget it. That's it. Please remember to be responsibly secure with your devices. Hackers like ikee are troublesome, but this could have been much worse. While I don't personally condone his actions, he's prevented a lot of people from being vulnerable to more malicious attacks later down the road. Thanks, James!
Malware targeting gamers gets some mainstream spotlight
Those vicious and despicable malware authors are targeting gamers, according to BBC. I know, big whoop, right? The news article reports on something many World of Warcraft players have known for years -- that viruses, phishing sites, trojans, and all those dirty tech terms have us gamers smack in the middle of their digital crosshairs. The findings are a result from a study by Microsoft, which tracked the exceptional growth of a family of worms called Taterf. The programs have been around for some time now, snooping around players' computers for login details to various games with in-game currency. World of Warcraft players are juicy targets because of the remarkably large player base and existence of the gold-buying industry which Blizzard has actively warned and fought against. While the findings are nothing new, they only serve to confirm our fears about the growing threats to our accounts. WoW.com has been big about account security for awhile, and it's nice to see the mainstream media begin to show some attention to the matter.
Microsoft warns users of worm that targets MMO players
Remember how we always tell you to remain vigilant against malicious programs that can compromise your MMO account's security? Well, it seems we now have more reason to remain vigilant.Microsoft's latest security intelligence report covers the resurgence of worm type viruses and specifically mentions one that targets MMO players -- Taterf. As a worm, Taterf attempts to divine the user's account name and password through keystroke logging, reading the active memory, and even injecting itself into the game client. Either way, by the end of it, you end up naked and goldless. Hrm, we wonder if Taterf has been masquerading itself as our last girlfriend.
The Queue: There's more than one way to skin a worgen
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's (almost) daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today.So my thought process Monday morning goes like this. Kubien asks a question about skining worgens. My cat is next to me vying for my attention, and after headbutting me for a few minutes decides to pounce on my arm. Luckily I'm a fatty so all is good and he just bounces off harmlessly to the floor, but it makes me think for a minute about punishing him. Then I remember the old saying, "There's more than one way to skin a cat."And from cat, to lolcat, to lolwowcats.I'm sorry Warcraft community, I really am. But what's done is done. Let's just move on and go have some tea and crumpets.Kubien asked..."While killing Worgen in Silverpine Forest the other day, it occurred to me I can skin them. When Alliance play Worgen, can I skin them? Please!"
Video: Scientists create walking goo, Steve McQueen put on alert
Who needs servos and a degree in robotics? The real threat to humanity is brewing in the distillation columns of chemists at Waseda University in Tokyo where researchers have developed a chemical gel that walks like an inchworm. Really, just check the video after the break. The color-changing, motile gel reacts to chemicals in its environment to create its own oscillating locomotion without the need for electrical stimulation. The idea is to augment the electronics in future robotics with these "self organized" chemical systems to avoid additional circuitry complexity and external controls. Our advice? Run.
Gorilla Thunderstomp ability given to all tenacity pets
If you've been reading WoW Insider for a while, you probably remember Big Red Kitty's meditations on the Gorilladin. With judicious use of the Gorilla Hunter pet's Thunderstomp skill, you could grind multiple mobs at once and bring Hunter leveling and farming to a whole new level -- enough that Blizzard's had Gorillas under the microscope for a while. Now the word has come down: No more monkey business in 3.1. Gorillas are losing Thunderstomp as a unique pet family ability. That doesn't mean, however, that Thunderstomp is going away. Rather, it means that all tenacity pets are getting it.
Worm infiltrates computer, disables CPU fan, causes overheating
If you have both cats and dirt you may want to be wary of a new type of worm that's infecting computers across Great Britain -- or computer, anyway. It's called an earthworm, and one of the five-inch variety stealthily found its way into the laptop of one Mark Taylor. He began receiving overheating errors and took his machine to a technician who promptly found the unfortunate invertebrate wedged in the cooling fan, slowly crisping thanks to the system's heat. Taylor thinks one of his cats dug up the worm, brought it inside, and then the poor thing crawled through one of the cooling vents on his notebook to flee its pursuer. We're not sure how it got separated from its ultra-high-tech-indestructible-super-space-cyber-suit, but surely somewhere Queen Slug-for-a-Butt is laughing.[Via Switched]
The Queue: Death Knights in the arena and other things
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft.Hey, welcome back! How was your Thanksgiving, my American pals? Did you sit around and laugh at Europeans like I did? You did? Great! High five! No, I'm just kidding, I love all of you equally. My Thanksgiving was pretty good! Well, as good as Thanksgiving can be when nobody feels like cooking so you buy a pound of sliced turkey and drop it in a pot of warm canned gravy, toss some of it on bread, and have a can of jellied cranberry sauce on the side. It's not good unless you can still see the can ripples in it. Mmm. Can ripples. Delicious.Right, right, the Q&A! Let's start with Rasman's question...I was just thinking about Death Knights and PvP and realized, Casters are really going to be hurting in the areas now if they match up agianst a DK. Death Knights don't care about your casting bar because they can just yank you in or go Vader on you because you forgot his cookies, and choke you for the Silence. Matter of fact, if they get you close, they really have 3 or 4 ways to interupt those casts, if you include the stun from an Unholy DK's Ghoul, that is. Am I just stammering on and not knowing what I'm talking about, or are Death Knights going to make this upcoming Arena season VERY Melee heavy?
Scattered Shots: The Future Soon: Hunters in patch 3.1 and beyond
Welcome to Scattered Shots, the weekly Hunter column which is written by a guy who doesn't generally spec for said talent.So. I'm here. I'm not completely wrapped up in Wrath, I promise. In fact, just to show how much I am not wrapped up in the here and now, in the long lines for the queues and prospect of getting a beautiful worm pet and all that good stuff, I'm going to predict the future! Let's look at some of the promises and perils that 3.1 and other future patches will bring for the Hunter.
Scattered Shots: Wrath of the Hunter
Welcome to Scattered Shots, where Daniel Whitcomb is totally making plans to walk with rhythm so that he can attract the worm.So with Wrath less than a week away, we got our work cut out for us, so to speak. Luckily, 3.0's early release has given us time to learn to handle our pets and respec to take advantage of new talents, but now the big push is upon, as 10 levels and a whole slew of new zones opens up for us. When you step off the boat or zeppelin in Borean Tundra or Howling Fjord, where will you go? What will you do? Here's a few quick Hunter specific tips to getting started in the Wrath of the Lich King.
Scattered Shots: Autocast bugs and other animal handling issues in 3.0.2
Welcome to Scattered Shots, where Daniel Whitcomb loves his Hunter Judgement, but wishes he got the cool looking shoulders too. So between 3.0.2, the Scourge Invasion, and Hallow's End, my Hunter's seen a lot of play as I've been going after the title and the undead armor and playing with all the new changes on a live server and all, and in that time, I've had some chance to see how stuff works out when it's thrown into the crucible of live server playing. Most of my observations have ended up focusing around pets, which is probably to be expected. After all, they've changed quite a bit. Here's what's I've learned from 3.0.2 in the last few weeks about managing your pet:
Patch 3.0.2 guide to Exotic Pets: Worm
Worm:The worm is your exotic Tenacity option if you need a really hard-core single-target tanking pet. It doesn't have the gorilladin's ability to tank multiple targets at the same time, but you can't do much better than Acid Spit for single target debuffing over time. The more physical damage-dealers you have attacking that target over the longest period of time possible, the more you'll see its effect stack up. It looks to me like the best boss-tanking pet you can find in a party made up of mostly physical damage-dealers rather than magical, if you can get your friends to let it tank the boss, of course. In PvP, the effect doesn't wear off as fast as the devilsaur's ability, so you might find it somewhat useful there as well, if you need a pet with more survivability.BRK showed us worm a while back, and of course Wowhead can show you all its 6 colors (as well as the upcoming Northrend version). In Azeroth, the most likely place to find these is in Silithus, or if you're in the Horde, you can just hop down to Ragefire Chasm and tame one there.If you need a non-exotic pet with armor reduction, you can try out the wasp and its Sting, though that's a Ferocity pet for damage more than tanking. If you want a good Tenacity pet for PvP before Northrend, then the crab and its Pin ability might be what you're looking for. In Northrend, however, you're going to want a Rhino for all your PvP Tenacity needs, without a doubt. RETURN TO EXOTIC PETS GUIDE FRONT PAGE >> Patch 3.0.2 "Echoes of Doom" has landed and WoW Insider has you covered. From patch notes to talent guides for every class to fixing your addons to 5 easy achievements you can snag right now. Make sure to check out the latest news.
Patch 3.0.2 guide to Exotic Pets
If you're a hunter, you're probably pretty excited about the new talents we're getting in Patch 3.0.2, not the least of which is the new Beast Mastery talent, appropriately enough called Beast Mastery. It gives you 4 extra talent points, and enables you to tame "exotic" pets that would otherwise be beyond your reach. But which exotic pet is right for you? Where can they be tamed? Are they really better than the regular pets? There are seven exotic pets in all, but only five of them are available to us now: Chimaera Core Hound Devilsaur Silithid Worm The Rhino and the Spirit Beast will only be available in Northrend once the expansion actually arrives next month. For now, we have the selection of exotic beasts that would become available to a level 60 hunter upon first clicking that 51st talent point, and reaching the pinnacle of his or her mastery of beasts. These pets are not necessarily set in stone, of course, and they will change a bit over the next month or so, though how much is still anyone's guess.So what makes each of these pets special? Let's have a look. FIRST UP: CHIMAERAS >>
ASUS pre-installs Japanese Eee Box PCs with worm, issues recall
Uh oh. ASUS just issued a recall for all Eee Box PCs sold in Japan due to a nasty pre-installed worm. The malicious code dubbed "recycled.exe" may attempt to download additional malware while attempting to replicate itself to attached USB storage devices at the first opportunity. Of course, this isn't the first time that ASUS has been embarrassed by its image burns. Who could forget the the illegal keygen and confidential documentation shipped on those brand new laptops last month? Apparently, only ASUS who has yet to clean house. [Via The Inquirer]
Space Station laptops catch "nuisance" virus
While it doesn't appear to be nearly as serious as some of the computer problems the International Space Station has faced, it looks like a virus has managed to find its way onto some of the laptops used on the Station, which NASA is now describing only as a "nuisance." According to SpaceRef.com, the virus is the W32.Gammima.AG worm, which is normally used to swipe sensitive information for online games. As Wired's Threat Level reports, the worm has also spread to more than one laptop on the Space Station, which would seem to suggest that it has either been spread via an on-board intranet, or via a thumb drive. Somewhat disconcertingly, when asked by Threat Level if any mission critical systems were connected to the same network as the laptops, NASA spokesperson Kelly Humphries simply said, "I don't know and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to tell you for IT security reasons."[Via Threat Level, thanks a.c.e.r.]
Scattered Shots: Pet talent trees in the Wrath Beta
Welcome to another edition of Scattered Shots, the other WoW Insider weekly Hunter column. Daniel Whitcomb is your guest host again this week. So, we theorized about talented pets a bit quite a few installments of Scattered Shots ago, but now we have the actual trees live and testable on the Wrath Beta, and they seem to be firming up nicely. There's a few promised changes yet to come, such as the removal or lowering of focus costs on many major abilities and talents, and it's still very possible that Blizzard may make changes here and there before live, but I think they're solid enough at this point that we can look at each tree and make some solid predictions about how people will use them and how various talent builds might look.
Hunter Pet News: New exotic pet families added, Kill Command changed
The latest Beta Build has hit the test servers, and there's a lot to report for Hunters. In particular, many of the announced changes we discussed in the last Scattered Shots went through. Aspect of the Beast now grants a melee AP buff, and Mongoose Bite is unlinked from dodge. Tranquilizing Shot now dispels magic effects, and Arcane Shot does not. Most of the big notable changes however, center around pets, and specifically Beast Mastery. The 51 point talent is now implemented, and 5 extra talent points work. Chimeras and Devilsaurs are now exotic only. In addition, two new exotic pet families have been found: Worms and Silithids. %Gallery-28679% You can tame both the Dredge Striker and Dredge Crusher type worms in Silithus and the Jormungar worms in Northrend. For Silithids, only one "warrior" skin seems tamable, while the worker, wasp, and heavy tank type silithids are not tamable. The worms are Tenacity pets who feed on bread, cheese, and fungus and have a family skill called Acid Spit that does nature damage and reduces, while the silithid is a Cunning pet who feeds on meat and fungus and have an ability called Venom Web Spray that roots the target for 4 seconds and does nature damage. I've added some screenshots of the new pets and their abilities to the gallery above. Also, if you're not impressed with any of the new exotic pet families so far, take heart. We've been told they're still working on the pets themselves. Unfortunately, the rest of the pet-related news is less than amazing.
SanDisk introduces write-once WORM SD cards
SanDisk has been toying with this for eons, but it seems the pieces finally fell in place for the firm to kick out its very first write-once memory card. The cleverly titled WORM (Write Once Read Many) SD card will predictably be aimed at industries where unalterable content is vital, such as police investigations, court testimony, electronic voting, etc. According to SanDisk, there is "no physical way to alter or delete individual recorded files," but we'd wager that hackers at large would have a thing or two to say about that. Nevertheless, said units tout a 100-year archive life when kept under appropriate storage conditions, and while a 128MB iteration is the only one available now (more capacious versions are forthcoming), you'll have to "inquire" to see just how inflated the pricing is.
