Top 5 Optimizers technical rumors

As more and more people are using Google Chrome and its functionalities to browse the net and to organize information, cybercriminals are setting their minds on exploiting this environment to spread malware and steal users’ information. The story is simple: Google Chrome users receive an unsolicited e-mail which announces that a new extension of their favorite browser has been developed to facilitate their access to documents from e-mails. An apparently unsuspicious link is provided, and the recipients are advised to follow it in order to download the new extension. Once they click the link, they are redirected to a look-alike of the Google Chrome Extensions page, which, instead of the promised extension, provides them with a fake application that infects their systems with malware. Although the sham application has the same description as that of an original Google Chrome Extension, the first sign the more inquisitive users will get about it not being what they were looking for should be the fact that instead of the expected “.crx” extension, it features a flamboyant “.exe” tail. Identified as Trojan.Agent.20577 the application modifies the Windows HOSTS file in an attempt to block access to Google and Yahoo webpages. Every time users want to access them and write “google.[xxx]” or “[xx].search.yahoo.com” in the web browser, they will be redirected to another IP: 89.149.xxx.xxx . This allows the malware creators to intercept the victims’ calls to reach the respective sites. In this way, the credulous users will be redirected to the cybercriminals’ own malware-laden versions of those sites.

Apple Inc has accepted distribution of Opera Software’s Internet browser for its iPhone after a long review, opening a new and potentially lucrative market it has so far closely guarded. There are numerous versions of Apple’s own browser on App Store, but Norway-based Opera is the first rival to get access to iPhone.  Opera applied on March 23 for its mobile browser to be distributed on iPhone, and it was available for downloading to consumers early on Tuesday, three weeks later. Usually the review process takes up to one week, developers say. Analysts have said the decision was difficult for Apple — whose application store is the only way to distribute software for iPhone users — as its Internet browsing function is key to the success of the iPhone.

Mind reading may no longer be the domain of psychics and fortune tellers — now some computers can do it, too. Software that uses brain scans to determine what items people are thinking about was among the technological innovations showcased Wednesday by Intel Corp., which drew back the curtain on a number of projects that are still under development. The software analyzes functional MRI scans to determine what parts of a person’s brain is being activated as he or she thinks. In tests, it guessed with 90 percent accuracy which of two words a person was thinking about, said Intel Labs researcher Dean Pomerleau. Eventually, the technology could help the severely physically disabled to communicate. And Pomerleau sees it as an early step toward one day being able to control technology with our minds.

The sudden takedown of an Internet provider thought to be helping spread one of the most promiscuous pieces of malicious software out there appears to have cut off criminals from potentially millions of personal computers under their control. But the victory was short-lived. Less than a day after a service known as “AS Troyak” was unplugged from the Internet, security researchers said Wednesday it apparently had found a way to get back online, and criminals were reconnecting with their unmoored machines. Botnets are networks of infected PCs that behave like criminals’ remote-control robots. They steal identities en masse and are used to attack Web sites. But instead of a slam-dunk victory, the incident wound up highlighting the whiplash pace at which criminals can resurrect their illicit businesses after what should have been a devastating setback.

Google Inc. will sell the online services of other business software makers in an effort to fill its own product gaps and persuade more companies to rely on applications piped over the Internet. The online store that was announced late Tuesday marks another step in Google’s crusade to convert the world to “cloud computing”, the idea of running applications in Web browsers instead of installing them on individual hard drives. The information entered in the programs also is stored in data centers run by third parties such as Google.

Apple’s latest move in its big App Store spring clean is to get rid of Wifi scanning applications. It’s already removed porn apps, but now it’s turned its feather duster on ’stumbler’ applications that seek out available Wifi networks. Users can still search for hotspots using apps which take advantage of the iPhone’s GPS capabilities – the ban only applies to those applications which actively search for a connection. The reason isn’t clear, but may be related to the fact that it is in certain circumstances and certain territories illegal to hook into an open Wifi connection – if you’re using your neighbor’s connection, for example. Alternatively, it may be a technical issue related to 802.11 radio functionality.

Evidence from the recent Aurora hack attacks on major American corporations suggest that many may have tightly locked virtual front doors, but no cybersecurity inside their systems, a McAfee expert warned on Wednesday. In a Security Insights blog post, Paul Kurtz, McAfee’s chief technology officer, discussed his study of the December-through-February attacks on Google, Intel, Adobe Systems, and other large firms.

He concluded that “Many organizations have tight security around financial systems and other mission-critical systems, but leave their intellectual-property repositories broadly accessible. The company might have strong perimeter security, but once you’re in, the [source code] is readily available.”

Some 100 million Europeans using Microsoft software will be asked to choose among rival Web browsers by mid-May under a deal the company struck to settle antitrust action. Microsoft Corp. is starting this month to send updates to Windows computers in Europe so that when computer users log on, they will see a pop-up screen asking them to pick one or more of 12 free Web browsers to download and install, including Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

Kaspersky has announced successful patenting of a new hardware-based antivirus system that effectively combats rootkits. The new technology makes use of a hardware-based antivirus solution whose primary function is to neutralize the most widespread type of threat – malicious programs that store themselves or infect files on a computer’s hard drive. The patented antivirus program scans data that is written to the hard disk, identifying and blocking malicious programs. Since it is implemented on the hardware rather than software level, the technology is not dependent on the operating system’s configuration and can effectively combat malicious programs that elevate their privileges in the system, e.g., dangerous malware such as rootkits. Rootkits hook the operating system’s functions, enabling them to actively resist their detection and removal by software antivirus solutions that operate in the same environment. Specifically, rootkits can block an antivirus application from being started, track its actions and recover the malicious processes removed by the antivirus application, modify removal settings in the system registry, etc. Such activity will be ineffective in the case of a hardware solution that does not operate in the infected operating system’s environment, and the rootkit can be quickly neutralized.

Back in December 2007 Opera Software made a request to the European Commission to investigate the strategy that Microsoft uses to promote Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser using the dominating position as the operating system developers. Since then Mozilla and Google also joined the antimonopoly investigation, and as the result from today European Windows users will be able to choose which browser to install when installing Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7.