W32.Yimfoca.B – Malware Localization

The latest W32.Yimfoca.B variants can target malicious links in no fewer than 44 countries and nearly 20 different languages. It has also increased the number of instant messaging applications (previously Yahoo! Messenger) to include the following popular IM clients: Msn Messenger Google Talk ICQ Paltalk Skype XFire Here is a code snippet from W32.Yimfoca.B: This picks the desired messages based on a comparison with the full list of countries listed below:...

December 6, 2010 Â· 3 min Â· 526 words

The Yahoo-AOL Merger Rumors Heat Up, But What Do They Really Mean?

Mashable: The AOL-Yahoo rumors are heating up once again. This time, they involve splitting up the AOL empire into two divisions before engaging in a merger of the two Internet companies. AOL has two main components: A content and display advertising business, and its longstanding dial-up business. In the past few years, AOL has focused on developing and expanding its advertising arm, its web portal and its media properties (e.g. Engadget and TechCrunch)....

December 6, 2010 Â· 3 min Â· 548 words

Kim Kardashian Tops Bing’s Most Popular Searches of 2010

Mashable: Bing is getting an early start on the “best of 2010” lists, releasing its compilation of the year’s most popular search terms a little more than a month before the New Year. Reality TV star Kim Kardashian tops the list, which is dominated by celebrities; in fact, seven of the top 10 terms are people, as you can see in the list: Kim Kardashian Sandra Bullock Tiger Woods Lady Gaga Barack Obama Hairstyles Kate Gosselin Walmart Justin Bieber free Kardashian’s online dominance extends beyond searches, however....

November 30, 2010 Â· 1 min Â· 181 words

Politics and malware make strange bedfellows

Sophos Labs: There are two stories that have been the focus of much speculation that have come to some closure today. New information confirming many peoples suspicions about Aurora and Stuxnet have been reported by Wikileaks.org and Reuters. As has been widely reported Wikileaks began releasing over 250,000 previously secret diplomatic cables that it is assumed they received from PFC. Bradley Manning. Most of the cables are as uninteresting as reading your friends Yahoo!...

November 30, 2010 Â· 3 min Â· 465 words

Facebook takes on traditional e-mail with Social Inbox

Facebook has announced a new product that will compete directly with the e-mail services provided by Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, and AOL. Facebook believes traditional e-mail is too slow and cumbersome; it needs be brought into the modern world of messaging. The site has thus launched Facebook Messages, which merges texts, online chats, and e-mails into one central hub. Users see all of them in their Social Inbox and can reply in any way they want....

November 17, 2010 Â· 2 min Â· 281 words

Yahoo announces more changes

THE INTERNET SEARCH OUTFIT without a search engine, Yahoo has announced a package of products that it hopes will make it more relevant again. At the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Yahoo showed off a host of products that it claimed would deliver to consumers a more “personally relevant Web experience with new social and local features”. You guessed it, more social networking and more experiences than you can poke a stick at....

November 17, 2010 Â· 1 min Â· 206 words

Google Chrome's Version Number Is Meaningless

Google Operation System blog: Google Chrome is the first browser that has a meaningless version number. Since Chrome is automatically updated, most people use the latest version of the software a few days after it’s released. Google’s help articles aren’t the only ones that ignore Chrome’s version number. Yahoo has recently released a report that recommends developers to assume that Chrome users are running the latest version. “Chrome has been progressing rapidly through versions, and Google has communicated its intent to continue rapid development and short release cycles....

November 6, 2010 Â· 1 min Â· 185 words

Webcam cyber-sextortionist preyed on over 200 women

A perverted hacker who spied upon more than 200 women via their webcams and microphones, after infecting their computers with malware, was arrested earlier this year by the FBI after a two year investigation. The 31-year-old man broke into victims’ personal computers, and stole personal information. Threatening to share the private information with their parents and email contacts, the man pressured the young women (some of them still young teenagers) into providing him with risqué pictures and videos....

November 4, 2010 Â· 3 min Â· 584 words

Microsoft allows checking Gmail through Hotmail

Microsoft’s Hotmail rolled out its new service that allows streaming mail from other vendors like Gmail and Yahoo, in an attempt to make Hotmail the primary destination for email management rather than just a repository of spams. The new service is a feature that is borrowed from Microsoft Outlook that allows adding accounts from other email services. Dick Craddock, Group Program Manager at Windows Live Hotmail, said in a blog post: “We understand....

November 3, 2010 Â· 2 min Â· 335 words

Man cops to botnet-fueled pump-and-dump scheme

An Arizona computer specialist has admitted taking part in a conspiracy that used large networks of compromised computers to inflate the value of stocks so they could later be sold at a profit. James Bragg, 41, of Chandler, Arizona, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and fraud, prosecutors said. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. It wasn’t immediately clear when sentencing is to take place....

October 21, 2010 Â· 2 min Â· 285 words