p2pnet World Headlines: Sept 9, 2010
Google Instant a potential bonanza for search scams The Register
Security watchers are concerned that scareware scammers may quickly adapt to the introduction of real-time search technology from Google to develop even more potent search engine poisoning attacks. Google Instant speeds up search results by working as users type into the Google search box. The technology predicts what users are trying to type and rapidly makes suggestions on which search term is most relevant, all in real time. Blackhat SEO threats typically seek to make sure links to malicious sites are returned close to the top of searches for topical terms. The problem has bedevilled search engines for years and more recently has become the main tactic in promoting rogue anti-virus (AKA scareware) scam portals. Sean-Paul Correll, a security researcher at Panda Security, warns that this contamination of search results might become even worse with the advent of ‘real-time’ search.
Obama: Qur’an burning boosts al-Qaida Reuters
President Barack Obama warned Thursday that a Florida pastor’s plan to burn copies of the Koran is being used as an al-Qaida recruitment tool and he urged the minister to reconsider the decision. ‘This is a recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida,’ Obama said in an interview with ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ program. ‘You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan or Afghanistan. This could increase the recruitment of individuals who would be willing to blow themselves up in American cities or European cities.’ Terry Jones, the leader of a tiny Protestant church in Gainesville, Florida, is planning to burn copies of the Islamic holy book on Saturday on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Phantom of the roadway has West Van drivers breaking Vancouver Sun
Parents dropping their kids off at school Tuesday morning in West Vancouver were caught by surprise when a little girl appeared to chase her ball into the street in front of their cars. Canada’s first 3-D optical illusion designed to make drivers slow down will be in place for the next week on the road in front of Ecole Pauline Johnson school in West Van. [...] Seven-year-old Lauren Fisher, the model for the 3-D image, which is a decal painted on the road, stopped by Johnson elementary on Tuesday afternoon with her parents. “She had fun being the model, and she liked what it was for as well,” said Lauren’s mom Sharon Fisher.
Apple lays App Store rules bare for developers BBC
Apple has said that it will publish the guidelines it uses to determine which programs it will sell in its App Store to appease critical developers. The firm, known for its keen oversight of products, has been the subject of complaints from firms who have had apps blocked from the store. Some developers have complained that the company’s rules seem inconsistent. Some have found apps blocked after seemingly minor updates, or for having content deemed inappropriate by Apple.
Apple IOS 4.1 update ‘still susceptible to jailbreaking’ Telegraph
Hackers say they have found a way to jailbreak iPhones running Apple’s iOS 4.1 software, and that it will be difficult for Apple to patch the exploit Photo: Rex Hackers have identified a way of ‘jailbreaking’ iPhones running Apple’s new IOS 4.1 operating system, just hours after the software update was released. A team of hackers, known as pod2g, said they had found a possible exploit, which takes advantage of a loophole in devices running Apple’s IOS platform. Other hackers said it would be difficult for Apple to plug the exploit, because the company would need to make significant changes to the underlying code of the operating system in order to resolve the problem, rather than simply patch the flaw.
New Adobe PDF zero-day under attack ZDNet
Adobe today sounded an alarm for a new zero-day flaw in its PDF Reader/Acrobat software, warning that hackers are actively exploiting the vulnerability in-the-wild. Details on the vulnerability are not yet public but the sudden warning from Adobe is a sure sign that rigged PDF documents are being used by malicious hackers to take complete control of machines with the latest versions of Adobe Reader/Acrobat installed.
Craigslist Pulls ‘Censored’ Label From Sex Ads Area New York Times
Is Craigslist’s adult services section gone for good? The classifieds site, which shut down the sex ads section last weekend and replaced the link with a ‘censored’ bar, has now removed that label. The sex ads section is still gone. Craigslist has refused to discuss the move and on Thursday, Susan MacTavish Best, its spokeswoman, would not say anything beyond confirming that the ads were still blocked. [Also see Ban Craigslist erotica in Canada! RCMP]
‘Frankenfood’ spuds in Sweden due to ‘error’ The Local
Seeds of a genetically modified potato ended up in a Swedish field due to ‘human error’, chemical giant BASF said on Thursday. The German company admitted the mistake to investigators in Brussels after the discovery of the seeds in a field in south central Sweden. The German company, which is authorised to grow a strain called Amflora but not the new, experimental Amadea variety, told the European Commission that the wrong seed was fed into the wrong tube, according to commission spokesman Frederic Vincent. BASF in Germany also cited “confusion” in a statement released there, after it was summoned to Brussels by the body which is responsible for licensing products long labelled ‘Frankenfoods’ in media. Vincent said that while Brussels “took note” of the explanation, it wanted answers on quality control checks at laboratory level in Germany as well as in the fields where Amflora is grown in the Czech Republic, Germany and Sweden. Commission officials will travel next week to “clarify the magnitude of the contamination in all seed lots of Amflora,” Vincent added.
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September, 2010
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