SAN FRANCISCO : A Microsoft security report released Monday warns that cyber crooks are digging into computers for weak spots to penetrate with worms – malicious software that steals control or data. Rogue security software remained the top hacker threat to computers during the first half of this year, but the number of infections was dropping while penetrations by worms doubled, according to the Security Intelligence Report. “We still see rogue security software in high volume but not on the rise,” Microsoft Malware Protection Center principal architect Jeff Williams told AFP. “What is on the rise is resurgence of worm activity, particularly Conficker and Taterf.” Worms are programmed to replicate themselves, wriggling from machine to machine by hiding in legitimate applications or piggy-backing on USB drives or other portable data storage devices. Rogue security software, or “scareware,” typically spreads by tricking people with pop-up boxes bearing bogus alerts that their machines are infected. Spooked computer users are then enticed to pay for applications to fix the supposed computer problems. People that fall for the scam wind up paying hackers; providing them credit card information, and installing malware. Automated scareware blocking in Web browsers and efforts by law enforcement agencies to crack down on companies peddling rogue security software has helped curb the threat. “When selecting an anti-virus product, do it from a proven provider, not someone you never heard of who just pops up on your screen,” Williams said. Improving defences of computers was seen as a reason hackers are reverting to worms, which were a top bane about a decade ago. “We see a rise again in worms as profit-motivated criminals are digging deeper, finding more arcane vulnerabilities to execute remotely,” Williams said. A Conficker worm that plagued the Internet at the start of the year was so pernicious that a task force to combat it was formed by computer software and security firms. Conficker and Taterf worms have reportedly wriggled into millions of machines. One of the troublesome ways both worms spread is by stowing away on thumb drives, which are becoming increasingly popular vehicles for people to move music, videos, games, files or other data between computers. “Think about how and where people play online games,” Williams said. “What you tend to see is people remove a drive from home or an Internet kiosk and take it back into the enterprise (workplace).” A memory stick carried in by a worker tends to bypass computer security systems designed to guard against hackers breaking in from outside the walls of a business, according to Williams. Businesses should establish security protocols for removable media drives, and have new arrivals automatically scanned for malware, Microsoft recommends. “The criminals out there are becoming more overt, more malicious and more direct in their attacks,” Williams said. “That emphasises the need for multi-layer protections. It is great we have anti-virus software to remove the threats, but clearly it is better to prevent the threat from getting in.” Cyber criminals are moving with increasing speed when it comes to reverse engineering patches released to fix vulnerabilities in software programmes or operating systems, according to Microsoft. Hackers dissect patches to identify weakness being repaired, then craft malicious code to take advantage of flaws in machines with software that isn’t kept up-to-date. “A patch is released and that is what starts these days of risk” Williams said. “There is a window of vulnerability, so we need to close that window more quickly” he said. “Making sure you are up-to-date on security updates is one strong method of protecting yourself against attack.” Microsoft’s security report is based on data from “billions of scans a day” in more than 200 regions of the world. - AFP/il
SAN FRANCISCO : A Microsoft security report released Monday warns that cyber crooks are digging into computers for weak spots to penetrate with worms – malicious software that steals control or data.
Rogue security software remained the top hacker threat to computers during the first half of this year, but the number of infections was dropping while penetrations by worms doubled, according to the Security Intelligence Report.
“We still see rogue security software in high volume but not on the rise,” Microsoft Malware Protection Center principal architect Jeff Williams told AFP. “What is on the rise is resurgence of worm activity, particularly Conficker and Taterf.”
Worms are programmed to replicate themselves, wriggling from machine to machine by hiding in legitimate applications or piggy-backing on USB drives or other portable data storage devices.
Rogue security software, or “scareware,” typically spreads by tricking people with pop-up boxes bearing bogus alerts that their machines are infected.
Spooked computer users are then enticed to pay for applications to fix the supposed computer problems. People that fall for the scam wind up paying hackers; providing them credit card information, and installing malware.
Automated scareware blocking in Web browsers and efforts by law enforcement agencies to crack down on companies peddling rogue security software has helped curb the threat.
“When selecting an anti-virus product, do it from a proven provider, not someone you never heard of who just pops up on your screen,” Williams said.
Improving defences of computers was seen as a reason hackers are reverting to worms, which were a top bane about a decade ago.
“We see a rise again in worms as profit-motivated criminals are digging deeper, finding more arcane vulnerabilities to execute remotely,” Williams said.
A Conficker worm that plagued the Internet at the start of the year was so pernicious that a task force to combat it was formed by computer software and security firms.
Conficker and Taterf worms have reportedly wriggled into millions of machines.
One of the troublesome ways both worms spread is by stowing away on thumb drives, which are becoming increasingly popular vehicles for people to move music, videos, games, files or other data between computers.
“Think about how and where people play online games,” Williams said. “What you tend to see is people remove a drive from home or an Internet kiosk and take it back into the enterprise (workplace).”
A memory stick carried in by a worker tends to bypass computer security systems designed to guard against hackers breaking in from outside the walls of a business, according to Williams.
Businesses should establish security protocols for removable media drives, and have new arrivals automatically scanned for malware, Microsoft recommends.
“The criminals out there are becoming more overt, more malicious and more direct in their attacks,” Williams said.
“That emphasises the need for multi-layer protections. It is great we have anti-virus software to remove the threats, but clearly it is better to prevent the threat from getting in.”
Cyber criminals are moving with increasing speed when it comes to reverse engineering patches released to fix vulnerabilities in software programmes or operating systems, according to Microsoft.
Hackers dissect patches to identify weakness being repaired, then craft malicious code to take advantage of flaws in machines with software that isn’t kept up-to-date.
“A patch is released and that is what starts these days of risk” Williams said.
“There is a window of vulnerability, so we need to close that window more quickly” he said. “Making sure you are up-to-date on security updates is one strong method of protecting yourself against attack.”
Microsoft’s security report is based on data from “billions of scans a day” in more than 200 regions of the world.
- AFP/il
source :CNA
Window 7 is here now! Today – 22 OCT 2009. I still not in the mood to upgrade it yet! Just hang on till I buy my new notebook …
Not much buzz over Windows 7 Four shops which decided to take pre-orders said they had not received a single one. Thu, Oct 22, 2009 my paper MICROSOFT’S new operating system, Windows 7 – which will be launched here today – appears to be facing lacklustre response. Four shops which decided to take pre-orders told my paper yesterday that they had not received a single one. These four shops and four others that my paper spoke to yesterday also saw much fewer enquiries – 20 to 50 in the past week – compared to the hundreds they received before the launch of an earlier Microsoft operating system, Windows XP. Customers are probably taking a wait-and-see approach because of bad experiences with Windows 7’s predecessor, Vista, the shops said. However, senior director of Microsoft Singapore’s business and marketing organisation, Mr Haresh Khoobchandani, said he is confident that Windows 7 will appeal to consumers because it “has already received very positive reviews from users who have tried it”. IT retail chain Challenger Technologies expects “stellar first-day sales”, said chief executive Loo Leong Thye. At a midnight launch yesterday, it offered the home premium upgrade version to 177 members at $77 each, instead of $219. “We expect Windows 7 to sell faster than Windows XP or Windows Vista during the first three months,” Mr Loo said.
Not much buzz over Windows 7
Four shops which decided to take pre-orders said they had not received a single one.
Thu, Oct 22, 2009 my paper
MICROSOFT’S new operating system, Windows 7 – which will be launched here today – appears to be facing lacklustre response.
Four shops which decided to take pre-orders told my paper yesterday that they had not received a single one.
These four shops and four others that my paper spoke to yesterday also saw much fewer enquiries – 20 to 50 in the past week – compared to the hundreds they received before the launch of an earlier Microsoft operating system, Windows XP.
Customers are probably taking a wait-and-see approach because of bad experiences with Windows 7’s predecessor, Vista, the shops said.
However, senior director of Microsoft Singapore’s business and marketing organisation, Mr Haresh Khoobchandani, said he is confident that Windows 7 will appeal to consumers because it “has already received very positive reviews from users who have tried it”.
IT retail chain Challenger Technologies expects “stellar first-day sales”, said chief executive Loo Leong Thye.
At a midnight launch yesterday, it offered the home premium upgrade version to 177 members at $77 each, instead of $219.
“We expect Windows 7 to sell faster than Windows XP or Windows Vista during the first three months,” Mr Loo said.
Microsoft had just announced that smartphone running the next version of Windows Mobile will hit store shelves worldwide on Oct. 6.
Windows Mobile 6.5 includes a new version of its Internet Explorer browser for phones, and changes that make it easier to use on touch-screen devices. Microsoft also has developed a free service called My Phone that lets people synchronize text messages, contacts, photos and other phone data on the Internet, where it can be edited or transferred to a new phone.
Microsoft is also launching a mobile application store similar to Apple’s store for iPhone apps on iTunes.
Microsoft is betting the updated smart phone system will lure more consumers .
Google announced on its official blog, setting up its own personal computer operating system. Clearly, Google is completing with giant Microsoft.
“We’re announcing a new project,” said the Mountain View, California-based company, revealing the system would be based on its Chrome browser and would be an open source operating system initially targeted at netbooks. The move is “our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be,” Google said in a statement posted late Tuesday. The search engine giant said it would open source the code for “Chrome OS” for user input and that netbooks running the system would be available by the middle of next year. “Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds,” the company said. Google noted that in deciding to embark on the new track, they took heed of its user messages, namely that “computers need to get better.” People “want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them,” and they want to access the Internet instantly, Google said, adding that “we’re definitely going to need a lot of help from the open source community to accomplish this vision.” The Chrome browser was originally launched in September but has failed to enjoy the spectacular success of Google’s search engine. The company floated its first US television advertisements in recent months for Chrome, as the browser has only captured a tiny share of a market dominated by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Microsoft’s freshly launched search engine Bing, meanwhile, aimed to hit back at Google’s gains in the search market, although it still lags behind its rival. Web analytics firm StatCounter said last week that Bing had carved out an 8.23 percent share of the US search market in June, up from 7.21 percent in April and 7.81 percent in May. By contrast, however, Google continued to dominate the search market with a huge 78.48 percent share last month. Google already has an operating system — Android — but the company said in its announcement that while there was some overlap, they were separate entities. Android is only used for mobile phones at the moment, but the software has showcased Google’s keen interest in expanding beyond its search engine base. – AFP/ir
“We’re announcing a new project,” said the Mountain View, California-based company, revealing the system would be based on its Chrome browser and would be an open source operating system initially targeted at netbooks.
The move is “our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be,” Google said in a statement posted late Tuesday.
The search engine giant said it would open source the code for “Chrome OS” for user input and that netbooks running the system would be available by the middle of next year.
“Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds,” the company said.
Google noted that in deciding to embark on the new track, they took heed of its user messages, namely that “computers need to get better.”
People “want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them,” and they want to access the Internet instantly, Google said, adding that “we’re definitely going to need a lot of help from the open source community to accomplish this vision.”
The Chrome browser was originally launched in September but has failed to enjoy the spectacular success of Google’s search engine.
The company floated its first US television advertisements in recent months for Chrome, as the browser has only captured a tiny share of a market dominated by Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.
Microsoft’s freshly launched search engine Bing, meanwhile, aimed to hit back at Google’s gains in the search market, although it still lags behind its rival.
Web analytics firm StatCounter said last week that Bing had carved out an 8.23 percent share of the US search market in June, up from 7.21 percent in April and 7.81 percent in May.
By contrast, however, Google continued to dominate the search market with a huge 78.48 percent share last month.
Google already has an operating system — Android — but the company said in its announcement that while there was some overlap, they were separate entities.
Android is only used for mobile phones at the moment, but the software has showcased Google’s keen interest in expanding beyond its search engine base. – AFP/ir
Microsoft is having a new idea of marketing their new home operating system, Windows 7 Home Premium. This version will the optional “Family Pack”, that represents the possibility, with a small fee, to include up to 3 computers from the same house to have this operating system installed.
Basically if you buy a Windows 7 Home Premium + Family Pack, you will have licenses for 3 home computers. The specific licensing terms are:
“b. Family Pack. If you are a “Qualified Family Pack User”, you may install one copy of the software marked as “Family Pack” on three computers in your household for use by people who reside there. Those computers are the “licensed computers” and are subject to these license terms. If you do not know whether you are a Qualified Family Pack User, visit go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?Linkid=141399 or contact the Microsoft affiliate serving your country.”
Actually Windows Vista included this optional feature but for a very short period of time, that apparently did not have the right impact among users; but you don’t have to be genius to figure this one out, anything that was related to Vista did not have any positive impact among users.
The pricing of Windows 7 Home Premium Family Pack it’s not official, but the speculations say that would be around $189.
I would like to share Themes for Windows 7. Visit the link below:
http://www.ithinkdiff.com/windows-7-themes/
Microsoft has on its website offer Windows 7 at special price for a limited period.
Microsoft will turn off the Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) tap on Aug. 15, the company said today. The Release Candidate download program closes August 15. After that, you won’t be able to get the download, but you can still install the RC and get a key if you need one, Microsoft employee Stephen Rose said on a company blog today.
Reported by Computer World.
source
Microsoft said regulatory wrangling has prompted it to strip Internet Explorer Web browsers from copies of its Windows 7 operating system to be sold in Europe.
Currently, Microsoft plans to release its next-generation operating system worldwide on October 22, but that customers in Europe will have to install Web browsers of their choice.
“We’re committed to making Windows 7 available in Europe at the same time that it launches in the rest of the world, but we also must comply with European competition law as we launch the product,” Microsoft deputy general counsel Dave Heiner said in a written release.
Microsoft had been in with antitrust battle opened by The European Commission, Europe’s top competition watchdog since Janurary 2009.
Microsoft is in accusations of unfairly crushing rivals in the Web browser market.
“Given the pending legal proceeding, we’ve decided that instead of including Internet Explorer in Windows 7 in Europe, we will offer it separately and on an easy-to-install basis to both computer manufacturers and users.”
Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) which was issued in early May 2009, will be expected to become generally available on 22 October 2009.
Today,Microsoft has revealed that it will offer an upgrade option so that PC makers can offer customers the ability to purchase a Windows Vista-based device and install Windows 7 when it’s ready.
What best is …
It’s rumoured that the upgrade to Windows 7 option could come free to Vista users.
