Millions of Sites Infected By Hacked Web Widget

Updated with Network Solutions response below.
Full story here.

Cybercriminals tend to seek economies of scale: the easiest attack with the largest number of victims. Now one scheme may have set a new record for efficient exploitation: one web-based hack that infected as many as five million individual websites.

Over the weekend, Wayne Huang, a researcher at cybersecurity firm Armorize, detected what may be the largest-ever collection of sites invisibly attempting to download malware to users’ PCs, thanks to just one widget that was compromised by hackers. That widget–an embeddable survey called the “Small Business Success Index”–was injected with malicious code aimed at installing a variant of the Koobface worm.

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Facebook Dislike Scam

Like many scams on Facebook, the “Dislike” button succeeded because people are gullible. Here’s how to not become one of those people.
Facebook

Looking at Sophos’ report on the Facebook “Dislike” button, which has reportedly spread virally through the social network, we noticed a pattern consistent with several other scams. Recognize these red flags, and you won’t be fooled again.

First, it helps to have a pinch of skepticism when your friend posts an uncharacteristic status update. Did your old college drinking buddy just write “OMG Justin Bieber trying to flirt” on his Facebook wall? (Click on the image at left to see what to look for.) For that matter, is “OMG” out of character for your grown friends and family? A little bit of common sense always helps.

Now that you’re skeptical, take a look at the Facebook status update in question. At the bottom, you’ll see time elapsed since post was written and how it was delivered. So if a post comes from the web, it says “via Facebook.” and if it’s an update on someone’s Mafia Wars progress, it says “via Mafia Wars Game.”
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Put up a website / blog in a day! Git ‘er Done

How to put up a website/blog in a day. Launch today, get listed next week.

This ‘Git ‘er Done’ is for those who’d like to launch a site fast and easy and in about a day. Using the WordPress publishing platform, this is easily accomplished by utilizing the tools and plugins available on the WordPress web site.

The recommendations/links below cover the basics along with some of the plugins that will enhance your web site, and prepare for expansion and growth. Simply download, install as directed, then start publishing.

It is assumed you’ve acquired a domain name, and have some content to be published. You will need web hosting that includes mySQL and you will need to point your domain name at your registrar, to the DNS specified by your web host. If your web host provides cPanel hosting with Fantastico or Softaculous, installing WordPress is a simple one click.

If you’re new to WordPress
http://codex.wordpress.org/New_To_WordPress_-_Where_to_Start

Get it and do it.
http://wordpress.org/download/
Download the latest version and read the famous 5 minute install guide.
http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress#Famous_5-Minute_Install

WordPress can be used for both blogging and content management.
Publishing pointers in WordPress – Pages and Posts
http://codex.wordpress.org/Pages
http://codex.wordpress.org/Writing_Posts

Plugins to extend your installation.
Antispam, performance and enhancements. There’s virtually nothing you can’t do with a WordPress CMS. Go social, integrate ecommerce or any need, with a plugin. The below are what we consider the basics of a complete initial setup with smart plugins that will perform most of the basic needs. Your SEO, antispam and performance starters. Installation info is in each plugin pack.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-cache/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/akismet/
http://www.nucaptcha.com/download/platform
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/

Enhancements

Manage Ads
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-insert/

Import RSS
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/rss-importer/

Mobi Version
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wptouch/

Blog Sticky
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-sticky/

Video
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-video-plugin/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/kaltura-interactive-video/

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Android Security

AndroidBetween one and four million users of Android  phones have downloaded wallpaper apps that swipe personal data from the phone and transmit it to a Chinese-owned server, a mobile security firm said today.

According to San Francisco-based Lookout, a large number of free wallpaper apps in the Android Market scrape the phone number; the user-specific subscriber identifier, also know as the IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity); the phone’s SIM card’s serial number; and the currently-entered voicemail number from the phone.

That information is then transmitted to a server that Internet records show is registered to a resident of Shenzhen, a city in China’s Guangdong province, just north of Hong Kong.

Over 80 wallpaper apps created by a pair of developers — “callmejack” and “IceskYsl@1sters!” — include code that accesses users’ personal data, said Kevin Mahaffey, chief technology officer and a co-founder of Lookout.

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Facebook Profiles Leaked – 100 Million Users

100M Facebook Profiles Leaked on Pirate Bay.
Facebook
The personal details of 100 million users of social networking website Facebook are now available for download after they were leaked online.

A security consultant has released data for 100 million users on The Pirate Bay, a torrent-based website infamous for software piracy. Ron Bowes is the security consultant behind the massive leak. He told the BBC that he was able to compile an enormous bounty of Facebook user details as part of a test of the Ncrack network authentication program.

The data posted to Pirate Bay isn’t simply a mish-mash of user names and interests. Instead, the database Bowes has compiled is, ironically, as navigable as Facebook itself, boasting a robust search feature that uses web site links connected to 100 million individual Facebook user pages.

Internet watchdog Privacy International said Facebook had been given ample warning that something like this would happen.

“Facebook should have anticipated this attack and put measures in place to prevent it,” Simon Davies, an official of Privacy International, said.

“It is inconceivable that a firm with hundreds of engineers couldn’t have imagined a trawl of this magnitude and there’s an argument to be heard that Facebook have acted with negligence,” he said.

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Dell Releases Secure Firefox Browser

Firefox Secure

The Secure Browser uses virtualization technology to provide a safer web experience to users and organizations. When using the Secure Browser any changes or malicious files inadvertently downloaded from the Internet are contained within the secure browser, keeping the underlying OS and computer secure from hostile changes. Any changes resulting from browser activity may be quickly and easily reset to effectively “undo” such changes and return it to its initially installed state.

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