Warning! Warning! Pink Mal-ware Rabbit Approaching!
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security found software for Energizer’s Duo USB battery charger can leave computers vulnerable to attack.
The Duo battery chargers for NiMH batteries are safe, but the software that enables the user to monitor the batteries is infected, PC World reported Monday.
The infected software includes a “backdoor” that allows some computer files to be to be remotely controlled, PC World said.
The trouble begins if the consumer downloads Windows software from the Energizer company website If this was not done or if the consumer uses a Macintosh computer, consumer files are safe.
Consumers were advised to uninstall the infected software, reboot the computers and then go to the System32 directory in Windows. There, consumers were advised to delete “arucer.dll,” the file that is the actual backdoor, PC World said.
Energizer has discontinued the software, but you can still buy the DUO at Amazon for about $20.
Tags: energizer error
How Facebook QA/Tests its code !
Last week, Facebook was affected by a glitch that sent what appear to be thousands of private messages to the wrong people — a very alarming security breach given the amount of data 400 million users have entrusted to the service. News of the bug hit the press, Facebook issued a typically vague statement saying very few people were affected and that an investigation was looking into the matter, and that was that.
Most people probably just shrugged their shoulders at the news, but it’s yet another blemish against the company’s security record. This isn’t the first time Facebook has run into security issues, and I’ve grown increasingly concerned that the company might be playing fast and loose with its quality assurance policies because it doesn’t want to sacrifice the rapid iteration it’s famous for. With this in mind, I reached out to Facebook late last week to ask about their protocol for deploying code and how the bug made it through in the first place. The company responded to some of my questions, and refused to answer others. More »
Tags: facebook
Still using XP ? This bug might just make you upgrade !
Microsoft has warned of a new security hole that could be exploited by attackers to take control of older Windows systems running Internet Explorer and for which proof-of-concept exploit code has been released publicly.
The vulnerability affects Windows 2000, XP and Server 2003-based systems, Microsoft said in a security advisory dated March 1.
Microsoft said that the vulnerability in VBScript could allow remote code execution of computers. “If a malicious Web site displayed a specially crafted dialog box and a user pressed the F1 key, arbitrary code could be executed in the security context of the currently logged-on user,” Microsoft said on its Web site, “On systems running Windows Server 2003, Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration is enabled by default, which helps to mitigate against this issue.” Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 are not affected. More »
