Softpedia Wrote:Some time ago Symantec revealed that the masterminds behind the now-infamous OSX Flashback Trojan madebundles of money. Further analysis, however, has shown that they may have failed to collect as a result of their operations.

Quote:In the meantime, WikiLeaks announced that it’s mirroring the site for users who can’t reach it. They’ve currently set up mirror.wikileaks-press.org where the Global Intelligence Files, Cablegate, Collateral Murder, Afghan War Diary and other report files can be found.

Of course, many users are curious about who may be behind the attacks on both The Pirate Bay and WikiLeaks, but we can’t expect neither of them to simply come forward with accusations without possessing solid evidence.

BBC Wrote:File-sharing website The Pirate Bay (TPB) has been hit by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.

The site has been largely inaccessible for the last 24 hours, and the service is intermittent in the UK.

The Pirate Bay has confirmed the attack on its Facebook page, saying that it did not know who was behind it, although it "had its suspicions".

A provider of DDoS defence systems said that it was unlikely that the attack came from hacking group Anonymous.

"There will be further attacks, but what's significant about this whole story is that people think that it is the Anonymous attacking a site which is typically a type of site that they defend," said Andre Stewart of Corero Network Security.

"It could be the record labels, or a government somewhere that has had enough of not being able to catch The Pirate Bay, it could be just one person who had rented some cloud power from Amazon and is sitting in a cafe, and is able to launch an attack."

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Don't freak out. You'll get your TPB fix tomorrow”

The Pirate Bay
Although some users may have attempted to access the site using proxies, TPB itself warned them against doing so.


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-18095370

Quote:As with previous releases it looks as Microsoft will once again be offering an upgrade offer for those purchasing a Windows 7 computer in the months leading up to the release of Windows 8. And the rumored cost for that upgrade is just $14.99.

According to CNET, Microsoft is to offer a Windows 8 upgrade promotion over the next few months. Anyone buying a machine running Windows 7 Home Basic or higher will be given a coupon allowing them to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro after it hits retail. The offer is expected to begin around the beginning of June and, according to a further report on Windows SuperSite, cost an extra $14.99. So not quite but almost free.

This date is expected to coincide with the unveiling of the Windows 8 Release Candidate. It also means Windows 8 remains on target to hit retail around October.

Sophos Wrote:You would think that if there had been a widespread scam on Facebook two months ago, that it wouldn't be capable of spreading using identical wording now, wouldn't you?

Sadly, it seems the answer is "no".

Messages about a supposedly sleazy sex video of pop songstress Rihanna are being spread on Facebook right now, complete with a lurid hardcore photo.



Read more: http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/05/...ers-again/

Quote:A faulty update for Avira's paid-for anti-virus software blocks harmless processes and may in some cases stop computers from booting. The update results in the ProActiv behavioural monitoring component becoming oversensitive in its treatment of executable files.

According to user reports, ProActiv blocks trusted system processes such as cmd.exe, rundll32.exe, taskeng.exe, wuauclt.exe, dllhost.exe, iexplore.exe, notepad.exe and regedit.exe. In some cases this results in Windows failing to boot properly. It also appears to be blocking non-OS applications such as Microsoft Office, the Opera web browser and Google's Updater program.

All versions which include the ProActiv behavioural monitoring component are affected, including Avira Antivirus Premium 2012 and the enterprise version; only 32-bit systems are affected, as ProActiv doesn't currently support 64-bit operating systems. On the Avira forum, an employee of a company which runs Avira on one hundred computers complains that, "This update has been pretty catastrophic. The whole company ground to a standstill."

Quote:Update: Avira recommends adding exceptions for the affected system processes to the ProActiv's Application filter. However, as the list of processes is rather long, it is still advised for the time being to disable ProActiv.

arstechnica Wrote:You know those FBI warning messages that appear at the beginning of DVDs and Blu-ray discs? They're getting an upgrade—and they're multiplying.

The US government yesterday rolled out not one but two copyright notices, one to "warn" and one to "educate." Six major movie studios will begin using the new notices this week.

The main change is that Immigrations & Customs Enforcement (ICE) has, in the last several years, made itself a key player in the copyright wars. The FBI has shown extremely limited interest in going after individual websites, but ICE has done so with gusto; it has so far seized more than 750 domain names after rightsholder complaints. This new prominence is reflected in the broader logos used.

ICE now appears on both notices. The first notice shows the traditional FBI seal and a warning that "the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by federal law enforcement agencies and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000." The logo for ICE's Homeland Security Investigations unit now appears beside the FBI's.



Banner number one. Now with "more logo"

The second notice shows the logo for the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, which involves 20 different US government agencies. It features one extremely angry eagle who would probably pluck your eyeballs from your sockets if he could get those talons near you. "Piracy is not a victimless crime," says the notice. "For more information on how digital theft harms the economy, please visit http://www.iprcenter.gov."




Read more: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/...-warnings/