News

So what is more frightening than having a worm or a virus infect your network? How about a virus or worm that can infect the hardware that controls your network. According researchers at Cambridge this could be possible through the use of hard coded back doors in control processors. Although the idea of being able to reprogram the microcode inside computer chips is nothing new it has never been viewed as a threat before. After all most companies are very careful about allowing someone other than themselves to have access to the paths that would allow the original code to be overwritten.

There is nothing like a little drama, just as there is nothing quite like seeing the big copyright holders having to actually prove their case. In no other recent case has this been more important than the in the criminal copyright case against MegaUpload. If you remember the Us DoJ went after the file sharing site some of their managers and the owner Kim Dotcom. Since the seizure of all of their servers property and money there have been some pretty major issues with not only actual evidence, but the warrants, seizure and more. There is even some talk that the DoJ committed some pretty bad procedural errors that might get the whole thing thrown out.

An interesting report has popped up about a rather large attack on a group of Middle Eastern countries. The attack (called Flame) appears to be a targeted attack against Iran, Israel, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt with the most effected being Iran, Palestine, and Israel. The attack was reported by Kaspersky Labs and looks to be intended to collect all kinds of information (not just data on computers). Kaspersky believes that Flame has been operating for at least two years in this region.

In a world (insert dramatical music here) where the forces of greed, evil and bad comb-overs are plotting to control the very lines of communication used for free speech there stands one group of rag tag heroes ready to fight them. Coming this summer … Ok so enough of the cheesy intro. After the headaches and pains of fighting both SOPA and PIPA some of the core activist groups (activists for a free and open internet) have decided to get together and create a method for notifying website owners that are interested in fighting this type of legislation when a new bill comes out.