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Windows 7 Activation Technologies Update now live, ready to be dodged
Remember that polarizing Windows 7 Activation Technologies Update we told you about? You know, the one that helps you to "verify that the copy of Windows 7 that is running on your computer is activated correctly and is genuine?" It's available for download now through Windows Update, and it's not particularly easy to spot. The main label simply says "Update for Windows 7," though we'd be sure to avoid KB971033 if you weren't up for having this thing looking into your business. Your call, though. [Thanks, Elijah and bighap]
Windows 7 Activation Technologies Update coming down the pike, will tell you things you (should) already know
Wondering why your PC has been infested with malware, random popups, intermittent shut downs and all sorts of other atypical garbage since the day you installed that downloaded copy of Windows 7? In case you aren't capable of determining that your copy of Windows isn't genuine (as in, you didn't buy it from a legitimate source), Microsoft is about to lend you a serious hand. In the "coming days," the software behemoth will be pushing out a new update for Windows Activation Technologies, which will look for over "70 known and potentially dangerous activation exploits." It sounds as if the update is intended to alert folks who purchased complete PCs from the back of their local White Van that they may have gotten ripped off, but either way, we're not particularly stoked about having yet another item running in the background, consuming system resources and telling us that we've been naughty. Thankfully it's a voluntary update, but keep your eyes peeled if you don't want to okay the installation accidentally. [Thanks, Troy]
How to tell if a GM is whispering you
A guildie got the above whisper Tuesday night. (I have blocked out the website so as not to promote this phishing attempt.) We have reports of this happening to a lot of people in-game right now as yet another attempt to get you to go to a site, so they can steal your login info and defile your characters. Let's dissect the above whisper: It's one whisper made to look like two. This will work if your chat settings match the scammer's chat settings, but if you've fiddled with your font or chat window, then the formatting will be off and the scam will be more obvious. The whisper is from a garbage name. All "players" I've seen with random characters have been scammers or gold selling barkers. So anything after such a name should be considered highly suspect. It says [Game Master]GM. The scammers aren't even trying here. Blizzard GMs have names and have <GM> before their names. It sends you to a non-Blizzard site. Don't go to any website you get in tells or in-game mail as a general rule. If you have received a ban of any kind, you will receive an email to the account you have on file with your subscription info.
IE security flaw exploited in recent Google attacks
This next item's for any rogue states out there that might be planning a comprehensive wave of cyber-attacks: It looks like Microsoft has admitted that indeed it was a security flaw in Internet Explorer that hackers based in China exploited in the recent attacks on Google. As is often the case, the flaw is neatly summed up in the title of the advisory: "Vulnerability in Internet Explorer could allow remote code execution." According to news agency AFP, the incident (which targeted Chinese human rights activists) shows "a level of sophistication above that of typical, isolated cyber criminal efforts." (Which is, evidently, how we like to think of our own cyber criminal efforts.) Microsoft has yet to release a formal software update. In the meantime, if you think your machine could be at risk, hit the source link for all the details. Or just switch to Firefox.
So long, 2500 Modern Warfare 2 Steam cheaters
digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2009/11/30/so-long-2500-modern-warfare-2-steam-cheaters/'; Employing Steam's built-in VAC anti-cheating system, Infinity Ward has dropped the ban hammer on its first round of Modern Warfare 2 cheaters – 2,500 PC gamers, more specifically. In responding to a question on Twitter last Friday, community man Robert Bowling said, "The Steam ban hammer is coming down on about 2,500 confirmed #MW2 cheaters on PC today." We contacted Bowling to find out how frequently the bans will be taking place and have yet to hear back. We'll keep you updated when we have more info, but for now we're going to get back into these hacked private servers to do some superhuman jumping and grenade spamming. You know how much we love our grenade spamming. [Via Big Download]
Dutch hacker seeks out jailbroken iPhones for fame and fortune
Jailbreaking an iPhone certainly brings many benefits, but it's also fraught with some peril, as amply demonstrated by a Dutch hacker who decided to go snooping around for vulnerable jailbroken iPhones in the Netherlands. While he apparently didn't actually swipe personal information or cause any damage, he was able to find some jailbroken iPhones with SSH running, which allowed him to display a message saying "Your iPhone's been hacked because it's really insecure! Please visit doiop.com/iHacked and secure your iPhone right now!" A noble gesture of a white hat hacker? Not exactly, 'cause that site demands €5 for the "fix" to let folks go back to using their phone securely -- or it did until the hacker apparently had a change of heart and posted the instructions for free, along with an apology for his misguided moneymaking scheme.
Play safe because a trojan can get you banned
Remember that "non-personal system information" that Blizzard said they are searching for? Part of it is a search for keyloggers, trojans and viruses that affect WoW. If the system check finds one of those on any of the computers you are using, Blizzard will ban your account for 24 hours so that you can get it fixed.When this happened to a guildie, I must admit I was skeptical. Blizzard scans for viruses? And then sends an email that sounds suspiciously similar to the various phishing emails out there? But my friend sent me a copy of the email and described the whole process to me and I am a believer. Blizzard has some issues it needs to resolve with how it is handling this, however.
Snow Leopard ships with old version of Flash - great for hackers, not so much for the rest of us
As we've seen, for many people the migration to Snow Leopard has been eventful (to say the least). Even if you've been spared most of the growing pains, you'll want to make note of this next item: According to the kids at Adobe, the initial release of Mac OS X 10.6 includes an earlier version of Adobe Flash Player (10.0.23.1), necessitating an upgrade to 10.0.32.18 if you want to take advantage of the enhanced security the latter provides. What's more, even if your plug-in was up-to-date, an upgrade to Snow Leopard will downgrade your Flash Player version -- so much for auto-magically downloading the most recent updates when you install the OS, eh? Our feeling is this: if you're including Flash Player in the OS, you'd better update that as well. As Daily Tech points out, Adobe products (especially Flash) are a favorite of hackers and malcontents everywhere, so if you're serious about security you'll want to get your hands on the update ASAP. And as always, the read link is a terrific place to start.[Via Daily Tech]
The Queue: Nuts and bolts
Oh boy. Most of us are the walking dead after BlizzCon, but let's get back to something resembling normalcy with a Queue. We're going to start off today with an important matter concerning authenticators and account security, then move on to a bit of WoW.com business and Onyxia. I'd also like to direct attention to two really good comments from the last column re: technical issues, Shadow's and Logarth's.Zerounit asks... I recently got an Authenticator in the mail and I noticed something while I was inspecting it: there appears to be no way to open it short of cracking it open with large objects. Is there a battery life on these? If it stops giving me my magic codes, will I have to get a new one? I got an authenticator for my own use recently and have to admit I hadn't thought to look into the battery life, which is a very good question indeed. A dead authenticator means you have no way of getting into the game (or even into your online account) without official help from Blizzard. Turns out the little security doodads are manufactured by a company named Vasco, and after poking around their website, I'm reasonably certain that Blizzard authenticators are a variant of Vasco's DIGIPASS GO 6 model. What makes me so sure? The GO 6 model page is the only one accompanied by an article on fraud and hacking in online gaming. They don't come right out and say that Blizzard is a customer, but unless Hello Kitty Online is a bigger hive of scum and villainy than even we gave it credit for, you don't have to be a genius to figure out that World of Warcraft figures prominently in MMORPG account theft.
Console hacker arrested, faces up to ten years in jail
Just when you thought it was safe to get out your soldering irons, Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants you to know that its agents are still out there, on the lookout for for even more mod chip-wielding nogoodniks and their non-DMCA compliant consoles. According to the AP, a 27-year-old CSU student named Matthew Crippen was recently arrested for "modifying Xbox, PlayStation and Wii consoles in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act" and released Monday on $5,000 bond. The dime was dropped on this perp by the Entertainment Software Association, and the raid conducted by Customs agents sometime in May. He will be arraigned on August 10th, and if convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison. Let this be a lesson to you: while the ICE may have its hands full with human slavery, drug trafficking, transnational gangs, and stolen artifacts, there is always time to make an example out of a man that knows his way around the inside of a Playstation.
ATM scam at DEFCON clearly the work of ironic criminals
The hooligans in this case have a dry sense of humor or are extremely unlucky: Either way, we can't help but get a chuckle out of the fact that someone placed their smart card skimmin' faux ATM at the Riviera Hotel Casino in Las Vegas -- during DEFCON, the world's largest hacker convention. No one can say exactly how long the kiosk was there -- at least the kids were smart enough to place it right outside the security office, one of the few places in the conference center not under surveillance. It was picking up on this last fact that aroused the suspicion of Brian Markus, CEO of Aries Security. When shining a light through the glass panel that should house a camera, he instead found the PC that was set up to skim people's data. He then notified security, who removed the device and once again made the world safe for hackers and their bank accounts.
In San Francisco, hackers park for free
In High School civics class we learned that besides voting, feeding the meter is one of the most important things we Americans can do. But just like e-voting, it looks like you can add parking to the list of things that hackers have spoiled for law and order-types everywhere. According to the kids at CNET, a group of nogoodniks were able to decode the smartcards used by Guardian XLE-series meters manufactured by J.J. MacKay Canada -- from which point it was a simple matter of boosting the card's value to $999.99. Its unclear how the city of San Francisco (one of several around the country that have dealt with the company) is going to address the problem, but one possibility is flagging accounts with suspicious activity and reprogramming parking meters to ignore the offending cards. Is nothing sacred, people?
Mysterious cyber-attacker hits at federal websites, crisis averted?
It looks like a nefarious cyber-attack which affected several federal websites in the United States was a little more far-reaching than initially thought. The attack -- which started on the 4th of July -- targeted websites in both South Korea and the United States, including the Treasury Department, Federal Trade Commission and Secret Service. Various problems were still being reported days later, and while there's no official word on who the attackers were, those "people familiar with the matter" we know and love seem to be pointing their fingers at North Korea. So far as we know, no irreparable damage has been done, but we're not sure anyone would tell us if it had.
Video: 15 year old spends summer hacking iPhones
When we were fifteen we were too busy smoking Winstons behind the Country Fair on Pennsylvania state route 99 to do anything of real value for society, so perhaps that's why whenever we cover one of these "teenager does good" stories it's with a slight tinge of regret. Ari Weinstein, the precocious spawn of a real-estate developer and a social worker, says he began his career as a "hacker" at the age of 7 when he figured out how to get around AOL's parental controls. Since then its only been onward and upward for the lad, who has since made short work of the iPod mini, the iPod touch (which led to the development of iJailbreak) and, with as a member of the Chronic Dev Team, the iPhone 3GS. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, "he's going legit, as he spends his summer tooling up a new app." Sure. As we know, once the hacking bug bites, there's no going back to the straight world. That is, until AriX (as he's known on the street) discovers girls. Jailbreaking fans, please enjoy a rather confused (and wildly conflated) video after the break.
Popular scams and how to avoid them
We have a lot of reports of scams coming in to our tip line and many of us are receiving the same phishing emails you are. Even Scott Kurtz from PvPOnline was tweeting about getting one the other day. These scams can be initiated via email to any one of your email addresses. Or they may start in game. Regardless of where they attack you, most of the scams require some form of social engineering to get your info and therefore access to your in-game valuables.What is social engineering? Social engineering is manipulating victims to volunteer personal information about themselves in order to perpetrate a con, scam, fraud, etc. If you have seen the movie Groundhog Day, then you have seen a very good example of it. Phil, a television weatherman, is living the same day over and over. One iteration of his morning, he asks an attractive woman her name, where she went to highschool and her English teacher. The next iteration of his morning, he "accidentally" runs into her and pretends to know her from highschool, resulting in her going to bed with him.
The truth about Authenticators [Updated]
After getting a glimpse into the operations and motivations of a scammer, a lot of questions have arisen about the Authenticator. Can it be circumvented? Briefly and with your help, yes. Is having an Authenticator worth the hassle? Absolutely. These are just quick answers, and this is a topic worthy of more in-depth questions and long answers.What is the Authenticator?The Authenticator is a small device (pictured right) or an iPhone/iPod Touch app that can be tied to your account and provide an extra layer of security. The application is free, but the physical Authenticator costs $6.50 with free shipping in the U.S. They are also available in other countries.How does it work?The Authenticator generates a code that you must enter after entering your username and password when logging into WoW or when accessing your account management screens. This code is a one use code that is valid only for a limited time. But it is valid for longer than it lasts on the Authenticator. A new code is generated every few seconds, but an unused code is valid for longer than that (I'm not sure how long). For more details about how the Authenticator works, please read our interview with Blizzard.
Palm's webOS root image leaks out, code enthusiasts reschedule their normal nightly plans
Looks like Palm's webOS Reset Doctor, intended for resetting Pre smartphones with a mangled system, has been outed to the public at large along with a very special bonus for hackers and other programming enthusiasts: a complete 195MB root image of webOS itself. Code-inclined individuals on the PreCentral forums have already cracked open the ROM and are getting an unfettered glimpse at the Palm's new platform, which for the layman means it should open the doors for some crazy Pre hacking and possibly hint, by way of unfinished / unused code, of what's to come for the platform -- and if we're really lucky, maybe someone will be able to look at this and move us one step closer to an unlocked Pre that could jump onto Verizon's network. Amusingly, you also get to see all the comments left by the devs in the code, guaranteeing a few good chuckles from others who can relate. Intrepid computer science-ers can hit up the read link to find the appropriate .jar file or just follow along with all the fun in the forum discussion.
T-Mobile tweaks data breach statement again, now says nothing was compromised
Once again, T-Mobile has released a statement regarding the alleged hack into its systems last weekend, and it's backtracked a bit from the last one -- now, it's starting to sound like no data was stolen at all. Here's what we've got this time around from a company spokesperson:"Following a recent online posting that someone allegedly accessed T-Mobile servers, the company is conducting a thorough investigation and at this time has found no evidence that customer information, or other company information, has been compromised. Reports to the contrary are inaccurate and should be corrected. T-Mobile continues to monitor this situation and as a precaution has taken additional measures to further ensure our customers' information and our systems are protected. As is our standard practice, customers can be assured if there is any evidence that customer or system information has been compromised, we would inform those affected as quickly as possible."We're taking this as a good sign for customers at this point, but it's hard to say how many more statements we'll get before the matter's fully closed, so stay tuned.
T-Mobile thinks data leak "not enough to cause harm" to customers
After news broke of a possible breach into T-Mobile's systems over the weekend, subscribers were understandably concerned over claims that personal information (among other things) may have been pilfered by the offenders who later offered the data for sale to the carrier's competitors. An investigation has been launched, and so far, it sounds like T-Mobile is admitting some data was taken -- but that it wasn't enough to be of any concern to its customers. Work is ongoing to determine exactly what the hackers got their hands on and how, but it's a promising sign that subscribers don't need to step up fraud monitoring on their accounts. The full statement is below:"To reaffirm, the protection of our customers' information and the security of our systems is paramount at T-Mobile. Regarding the recent claim on a Web site, we've identified the document from which information was copied, and believe possession of this alone is not enough to cause harm to our customers. We continue to investigate the matter, and have taken additional precautionary measures to further ensure our customers' information and our systems are protected. At this moment, we are unable to disclose additional information in order to protect the integrity of the investigation, but customers can be assured if there is any evidence that customer information has been compromised, we would inform those affected as quickly as possible."
T-Mobile USA's servers breached, subscriber data stolen?
T-Mobile has yet to issue an official statement on the matter, but word on the street is that hackers have found their way into T-Mobile USA's inner workings and made off with a treasure trove of information, including subscriber data, which would make sense considering that parts of T-Mobile's website have been down for most of the day today. The exact nature of the breach is unclear, but the alleged hackers say they "have everything, their databases, confidential [sic] documents, scripts and programs from their servers, financial documents up to 2009." They go on to say that they've been in touch with the carrier's competitors trying to sell the data, but have (thankfully) been turned away, so now they're looking to hawk it to the highest bidder. If this is legit, we can't imagine that trying to sell the data in a public forum is the wisest plan -- but then again, we're not criminal masterminds, so maybe this is standard operating procedure. Here's hoping they're brought down quickly and T-Mob gets to the bottom of the breach.[Via Slashdot]Update: We've gotten an official comment from T-Mobile, and in brief, they're actively looking into the claim but can't confirm or deny whether it's actually happened. "The protection of our customers' information, and the safety and security of our systems, is absolutely paramount at T-Mobile. Regarding the recent claim, we are fully investigating the matter. As is our standard practice, if there is any evidence that customer information has been compromised, we would inform those affected as soon as possible."
