Monday 08/31/09

Is the Tyranny of the Mac Fan Boy Waning?
Here at TechCrunch there’s a daily argument in the office, on Yammer and even on the blog about the supremacy of the iPhone versus the Google-Voice-goodness of Android phones. I chalked it up to the usual get-off-my-lawn-style ranting of Michael Arrington, and assumed the average techie was still like MG Siegler– a total Mac-head who will love the iPhone no matter how bad the reception, how bad the battery life and how many times it breaks and he has to get a new one.

But some reporters– long harassed by Mac fan boys when they’ve dared to criticize the company (read: do their jobs) — are saying a sea change is occurring in Apple fan boy nation. Witness Jon Fortt of Fortune’s recent blog post where he says the Valley owes Microsoft an apology and compares Apple to Napoleon the pig in Animal Farm.

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Skype spy Trojan escapes into wild
Only days after Swiss programmer Ruben Unteregger released the source code for a Trojan he wrote...

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Prepare for the new upcoming 2010 AV products.
Many major security companies are about to release their new retail product for 2010. Expect some comparative reviews in the next months, check what you need and stay protected.

Some ‘2010’ products are already out on the web, but unfortunately most of them are FakeAlert
Trojans or Scareware.

Once downloaded, you see pop up windows alerting you about a malware found on your machine and asking you to buy the product. The actual problem is the software you just executed.

We have been reporting about FakeAlert Trojans before – you may remember some products named:

- “Virus Remover 2007”
- “Win AntiSpyware 2008”
- “AntiVirus VIP”
- “AntiSpyware Pro2009”

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Is Apple Opening a Can of Worms?
It has now been widely reported that Apple’s latest operating system, Snow Leopard contains the ability to identify two families of Mac malware–OSX/Puper and OSX/IWService–when the infectious DMG files are downloaded and mounted as part of the infection process.

There are a number of ramifications of such a move that could be discussed, but the intention of this post is to call out the possibility of this being a catalyst for more Mac malware to be created.

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Attorneys Are Not 'Creditors,'American Bar Association Tells FTC
By JANET MCMAHON
WASHINGTON (CN) - The American Bar Association sued the Federal Trade Commission in Federal Court, challenging its "Red Flags Rule" that includes attorneys in the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act's category of "creditors." As creditors, lawyers will be required to create written identity-theft prevention programs, under an FTC final ruling whose enforcement has been repeatedly delayed.

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Woman Who Killed Husband Wants Benefits
By BRIDGET FREELAND
DETROIT (CN) - A woman who killed her husband demands survivor benefits through his retirement plan. Fayette Nale claims that Ford Motor Co. unfairly denied her claim because of her conviction for "voluntary manslaughter under heat of passion."

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UK Parliament Website Hacked
A hacker broke into the database of the UK Parliament website by exploiting an SQL injec...

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"Several British news sources have recently reported on the growing campaign that calls for an apology to Alan Turing for his persecution by the British government. The petition to the Prime Minister was started by John Graham-Cumming, who has also written to the Queen requesting a Knighthood for Turing, but admits that a pardon is 'unlikely,' saying, 'The most important thing to me is that people hear about Alan Turing and realize his incredible impact on the modern world, and how terrible the impact of prejudice was on him.'"

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On London's Surveillance Cameras
A recent report has concluded that the London's surveillance cameras have solved one crime per thousand cameras per year.

David Davis MP, the former shadow home secretary, said: "It should provoke a long overdue rethink on where the crime prevention budget is being spent."

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Business Software Alliance wants in on three-strikes action
August 31, 2:06 a.m. UTC - by Nate Anderson Posted in: Law & Disorder
The Business Software Alliance calls graduated response its preferred plan for dealing with online software piracy, but it wants Internet disconnections to be overseen by a judge and feature due process and a chance to appeal. Well, sort of.
Read more

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Colombia Says President Has Swine Flu
washingtonpost.com — Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has contracted the H1N1 swine flu virus and is being treated by doctors while continuing to work from his residence, government spokesman Cesar Velasquez said on Sunday. More…

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Microsoft Names Top Ten Windows Malware
PC Magazine – Fri Aug 28, 10:27 am ET
A new list of malware just came out from Microsoft based on their MSRT, or Malicious Software Removal Tool.

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Aug 30, 10:48 am
Facebook Users Forefeit their Security, Poll Shows
Only a third of social networkers apply the security safeguards they've been given, a security firm finds.

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Court ruling limits electronic searches

A federal appeals court this week ruled that government investigators cannot retain incriminating information found in electronic searches unless it is within the scope of a search warrant.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in a 9-2 vote, rejected arguments by the U.S. Justice Department that it be allowed to retain and use all of the data that it seized in 2004 as part of a federal investigation into the use of illegal substances use by Major League Baseball players.

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