IE7 0-Day Exploit Compromising Thousands of Hosts

By PatB
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Hackers love to play cat and mouse with security firms.  A case in point is the current Internet Explorer 7 unpatched vulnerability being exploited worldwide.  On Tuesday, hackers waited until Microsoft released their monthly patches before revealing an undisclosed vulnerability in the web browser software, giving villains the maximum amount of time to compromise computers before users get patched up in 30 days.  Sans Internet Storm Center has more details here.

Unsuspecting users need only visit a website and they are automatically compromised by the server.  The exploit code takes advantage of a flaw in the XML handling parsers in IE and a trojan is downloaded without the user knowing.  Right now, this trojan is looking for passwords to certain online games, and the exploit is targeting Chinese language users.  But according to Microsoft, just about everyone with IE7 is vulnerable, including Vista users.

Our investigation so far has shown that these attacks are against Windows Internet Explorer 7 on supported editions of Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows XP Service Pack 3, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, Windows Vista Service Pack 1, and Windows Server 2008.

If you are an administrator of an enterprise and want to block the sites that are dishing out this malware, Shadowserver.Org has a list of urls here.  But don’t go being foolish and visit any of the hosts listed because they are hosting active exploit code and will pwn you if you are using IE7.  And judging by the list of servers, it seems that Baidu, the Chinese mp3 fileswapping servers, are the ones dishing out most of the badness.

So how do you protect yourself?  Use Firefox until Microsoft gets a patch out for this.  But a word of caution — make sure you are running the latest patched version of Firefox too.  Most of these websites don’t just exploit IE7 — they try about a dozen different exploits, some of which may work against older versions of Firefox.  If you are running Vista, make sure you run IE in Protected Mode.  Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 should both be protected by default because they run in enhanced mode.

Hackers now know how to use these exploits and I fully expect this to spread quickly to English language systems. Soon enough, this trojan will steal much more than just gaming passwords.  Next will come the online banking password stealers and other malware that will compromise your personal identity.  Surf Safe!



iVerse Comic Reader: Where No Comic Has Gone Before

By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

So far, comics have been a very underutilized media for the iPhone, but it looks like publishers might be considering that option for electronic distribution more and more. Most recently, IDW has released “Star Trek Archives: The Best of Peter David No. 1.” It costs 99 cents through iTunes, and the rest of the comics in the series should follow.

The Star Trek comics, like the others released through iTunes, use the iVerse comic reader. It seems a little odd to me that individual comics are treated like apps, each with its own icon. If you start reading a lot of them and want to keep them on your phone, it could get very crowded very quickly. I think that at the very least it would be better to have different issues of the same title under the same icon.

That aside, the iPhone actually doesn’t make a bad comics reader. Using the iVerse reader sure beats PDFs anyway. The problem, of course, is that the small screen necessitates frame-by-frame reading. As you move through the pages you may have to turn your phone sideways on occasion for landscape frames. If you appreciate comics for the art–especially big pictures taking an entire page–than this medium will do nothing for you. Of course, if that’s the case then you probably wouldn’t be interested in electronic versions at all. For something like the Star Trek comics, I think I can get on board with iPhone distribution, but I can’t see myself using it for, say, Sandman.

The iPhone comics also have the advantage of being inexpensive. Most of them are 99 cents, and sometimes the first issue is free. I also checked out the (free) first issue of the manga Oz. Though for me, black and white is harder to read on the iPhone than color. Also, the selection right now is pretty dire. The Star Trek comics seem to be the first breakout.

Oh, and like any great launch, the product was buggy. When I downloaded the comic yesterday, most of the comments from customers were about how there were pages missing. There has been a fix promised in a free update.

So what do we think? Yea or nay for comics on iPhone? If you have one, I’d recommend downloading one of the free ones just to try it out. If not, check out this video to get an idea of how it works:

Hitman Hal Prank Toy: I’ve got a contract on your head sucka!

Now this is absolutely awesome! If you’re the type of person who likes to play pranks upon others, you’ll definitely want to get your hands on this little guy. Hitman Hal is a tiny motion activated hitman that will bring a bit of surprise in the lives of your friends or co-workers. Just hide him in secret location, and as soon as he senses movement, he’ll fire his Tommy gun while shouting at his unsuspecting victim. Check it out:

Product Features

  • Electronic Hitman character lifts gun and open fires when he senses motion
  • Hide Hal in a cabinet or behind a closed door to surprise your unknowing target
  • Gun Motion and Flashing LED
  • Hal speaks five different gangster style phrases
  • Uses 3 x AAA Batteries (included)
  • Stands 8″ Tall

[Product Page]



End of Days Scenarios: People Love Death and Mayhem

Whether discussing the universe’s origin as host of NOVA’s “scienceNOW” or asserting that Pluto is a not a planet on “The Colbert Report,” astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson translates the universe’s complexities for a broad audience.

In the following hilarious (and interesting) video presentation, Tyson explains what would happen if a large asteroid would hit earth, and how we could avoid such a calamity. Also, he describes how a human being would die if sucked in by a black hole.

Multiple Kill Vehicle-L

This looks downright dangerous! Lockheed Martin developed the Multiple Kill Vehicle-L (MKV-L) to hover and kill. It was put to the test on December 2nd at Edwards Air Force Base.

During an engagement with the enemy, the MKV-L with its cargo of kill vehicles will maneuver into the threat complex to intercept all lethal targets, along with any countermeasures the enemy may deploy in an attempt to trick the system. With tracking data from the Ballistic Missile Defense System and its own seeker, the MKV-L will dispense and guide the kill vehicles to destroy multiple targets.

The full-scale prototype flew at an altitude of approximately 23 feet (7 meters) for 20 seconds, maneuvering while simultaneously tracking a target.

This will be the star of my nightmares tonight.

[Thanks, PAgent!]

Full-Length Terminator Salvation Trailer Hits the Web

It’s here, it’s big, and it looks mean! After many small videos that didn’t show very much, a new full-length Terminator Salvation trailer has finally hit the web. For now, I’ll keep my opinion to myself and wait to see what you guys thought of the new trailer before saying anything.

In the highly anticipated new installment of The Terminator film franchise, set in post-apocalyptic 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

[Via Trailer Addict]

NORAD Tracks Santa on Google Earth

Back in 1955, a Sears store had an advertisement listing Santa Claus’ phone number, prompting children to call and speak with the generous old man. Naturally, thousands of children tried to call. What they didn’t know is that the number had been misprinted, and was actually the emergency number for CONAD, NORAD‘s ancestor.

The man in charge of the organization, in an act of generosity, asked his team to verify Santa’s location using radar echoes, and when children called the number, they were given the speculated position of Santa’s sleigh. From this point, it became a tradition at NORAD to follow Santa’s movement across the world. Naturally, as years passed, NORAD has modernized its technique to follow the bearded fellow, using 47 radar installations and multiple geostationary satellites to carefully monitor his progress.

So this year again, on December 24, for the fiftieth consecutive year (1958 – 2008), NORAD will be following Santa Claus’s journey across the world, inviting kids to follow him on a Web site dedicated to the task, noradsanta.org. And for the second time, the site will be using Google Maps and Google Earth to display the location of the gift-filled sleigh.

Last year, NORAD Tracks Santa received over 10 million unique visitors from 212 different countries.

[Via Branchez-Vous (French)]

BREAKING NEWS: Adults Play Video Games!

By Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Two days ago, the Pew Internet and American Life Project released a report that details the (apparently shocking) phenomenon that about half of American adults play videogames (53%, to be exact). Sounds about right to me, though I just skimmed through a good dozen articles from all over the net that are making it sound like this is some big news. I agree with this Forbes blogger in that it isn’t the numbers that are surprising but how surprised everyone seems to be about them (must be that other 47%). It just goes to show how little understood gaming really is outside of itself.

After all, gaming permeates our culture. Look at Nintendo’s latest ad campaign. Gaming isn’t just for geeks anymore–Carrie Underwood plays Nintendogs! However, the problem, I think, is that this survey doesn’t differentiate between “gamers” and “people who play videogames.” At least, most of the reports on it aren’t. I mean, my mom plays Solitaire constantly on her iPhone, and so she fits into that 53%, but I would never in a million years refer to her as a “gamer.” I think the other 47% are seeing the headline “MORE THAN HALF OF AMERICANS ARE GAMERS” and picturing the other half of the country locked in their basements playing Halo and World of Warcraft.

There were a couple of detailed findings from the survey that I found interesting. For example, older adults (65+) who play games are about 10% more likely to play every day than younger people. Also, college graduates are about 20% more likely to play videogames than those without a high school diploma (the research specialist at Pew says that there’s no obvious reason for this one, but it seems to me that income level might be a skewing factor). And a score for recognition of girl gamers–50% of women play versus 55% of men.

Right now, age is the biggest demographic factor. Nearly every teenager plays videogames (97%) versus 81% of those 18-29 (that’s my box!) and 23% of the senior crowd (65+). My prediction is that this difference will just continue to flatten over time, as it’s more an issue of culture than circumstance. By the time digital natives (those born after 1980) are seniors, I suspect that most of us will be spending our retirements playing whatever the future equivalent of World of Warcraft is (I’m hoping for a metaverse myself).

[Image Source: Flickr]

Tesla Coils used to Play Mario and Zelda Themes

The music you’re about to hear doesn’t come from what most people would consider to be a regular musical instrument. It is generated via a pair of high powered 7-foot tesla coils, which can shoot sparks up to 12 feet in the air. Each coil is attached to a laptop via a fiber optic cable (for obvious reasons), and plays the notes it receives from the non-conductive link.

The Legend of Zelda

Mario Bros. Theme