Preventing Malicious Spyware or Adware from Hijacking Your Computer

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had used existing fair trade laws in asking a federal court to shut down some of the leading distributors of malicious "spyware" or "adware" software. This type of malicious software may be lumped with viruses, worms, and spam, and is all referred to as "malware" - short for malicious software. What are spyware and adware software? Spyware and adware are software that is installed on your computer, generally without your knowledge, that monitors or controls your computer's use. The software may send pop-up ads, redirect you to an un-requested website while you are on the Internet, monitor your Internet activity or record your keystrokes while you are online. This recording of keystrokes may lead to identity theft or credit card fraud.The terms "spyware" and "adware" are the essentially same type of software. They are software that you may not be aware of running on your computer.The online marketers who distribute this type of software maintain that you have downloaded the software to help them better service your Internet marketing needs. They would also state that you received their software as part of another free software package that you downloaded and installed. Lastly, that during the download process, that you clicked on the "agree" button, where there was their statement that you would accept online pop-up ads for their advertised products.This same software that have victimized individuals with a mysterious change in their opening Internet page, a new default search engine, an avalanche of pop-up ads while online, computer slow downs or a computer crash - know the software as spyware.

So neighbors steal your wi-fi net access, kill the connection or have fun

So you find out that everyone in on your block is using your network without your permission. Do you lock it down or...? Or maybe you want to have a little fun. A little creativity with squid and you could turn your everything they browse upside down (literally) More…

The science of making skyscrapers safe.

To the discerning eye, cities and skyscrapers are monuments to the security threats prominent at the time they're built. With new technologies, shortsighted design decisions will leave a legacy of needless challenges for future generations. More…

Cisco administration 101: Understanding Ethernet MAC addresses

While you're probably familiar with Ethernet MAC addresses, how much do you know about working with them in the Cisco IOS? In this edition of Cisco Routers and Switches, David Davis tells you how to determine the MAC address, change it, and use it to filter traffic. More…

Coke Machine Service Manual Leaked, includes coin dump function

[Reported by Diggers as Possibly Inaccurate] Looks like the average joe can now read about Coke machine programing. Seems that the service manual is now readily available. When are companies going to learn to guard this material better? More…

IM Worm Attack Cloaked in Virtual Card Hoax

A new IM worm has been discovered that opens up a picture of a heart when you become infected and attempts to steal your banking data. The heart picture is taken from a site dealing with internet hoaxes..the infection site mentions a "virtual card for you"...which is the name of a famous hoax stretching back to the year 2000. Clever stuff. More…

Apple Airport update?

Description: A heap buffer overflow exists in the AirPort wireless driver's handling of scan cache updates. An attacker in local proximity may be able to trigger the overflow by injecting a maliciously-crafted frame into the wireless network. This could lead to a system crash, privilege elevation, or arbitrary code execution with system privileges. More…