Carlo Orlando

Google has designed a new course that teaches students how to hack. Those students of Google's "Web Application Exploits and Defenses codelab" will learn how hackers uncover security vulnerabilities and exploit web applications. Jarlsberg ... Application: The 'Sitting Duck' The entire codelab uses a program called Jarlsberg as the perfect example of a "sitting duck" target. Similarly named as the kind of cheese filled with holes, Jarlsberg is a small, yet full-featured microblogging application with plenty of security holes to boot. While the Jarlsberg application allows users to publish text and ... (view more)

More and more research is proving that those who know how to create viruses and malware are keen on reaching out to others, most likely to cash in on their deceptive knowledge. Such can be proven with TwitterNet Builder: a new tool designed to ... simplify botnet-based attacks over Twitter. Botnets: A Virtual Army of Zombie Computers For those unaware, a botnet is a technical term used to describe a network of computers under the control of a malicious software program. Once a computer has become compromised, the botnet program runs silently and autonomously until issued a command from a master ... (view more)

The curse of Windows Vista may have finally come to an end. Recently, Microsoft not only regained their lost customer satisfaction rating, but also managed to attain their highest rating to date, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index ... (ACSI) survey. All signs are pointing to Windows 7 as being the reason for the happy Microsoft customers. Vista Customer Satisfaction Rate Low Microsoft had much to lose with the release of Windows 7, especially since Vista was considered by many to be a marketing flop. The reaction to Vista became so negative that many credit it as the reason ... (view more)

A zero-day flaw has recently been discovered in the latest version of Apple's Safari browser. The flaw is considered to be "highly critical," the second-highest rating in the five-step threat-assessment system. It also has the potential to infect ... Windows PCs with malicious code. In actuality, the bug is the result of an error in the handling of the browser's parent windows. It can result in a "function call using an invalid pointer". Different Flaw, Same Tactics Malware peddlers might also attempt to exploit the vulnerability by creating a malicious site and coaxing users into coming to the ... (view more)

Microsoft is set to launch their latest software suite, Microsoft Office 2010, which is slated to be released next month. (Source: wikipedia.org ) In an effort to compete with Google's 'Google Docs' software, however, Microsoft is releasing an ... alternative version of Microsoft Office, called Office Web Apps . The Office Web Apps version is available to the public at no charge, but will be supported by advertisements instead of a per-user license fee. Google Docs, Google Apps, compared to MS Office Google Docs is essentially a stripped-down version of a web-based word processing, spreadsheet ... (view more)

Microsoft's jubilation over the fact that Windows 7 has surpassed Vista to become the second-most used OS on the planet could be tarnished by the dreadful news concerning their browser, Internet Explorer (IE). According to the most recent figures, ... IE has officially fallen below 60 per cent market share for the first time in its existence. In 2003, Microsoft sat atop the browser market with a whopping 95 per cent market share. The remaining five per cent was impacted by users of other operating system platforms (since Internet Explorer is a Windows-only browser). Seven years later, more than ... (view more)

Adobe has issued a rebuttal in relation to recent comments made Apple CEO Steve Jobs, calling them nothing more than "smokescreens". In a blog last week, Jobs hurled a number of allegations against Adobe (and more specifically, their Flash product) ... claiming that iPhone and iPad users were better off without it. Initially, Adobe appeared to be taking the high road. In an early follow-up statement, President and CEO Shantanu Narayen stated that Adobe would be "committed to bringing Flash to any platform of which there is a screen". For all intents and purposes, Adobe seemed to be following the ... (view more)

The Apple iPhone and iPad boast countless apps and features. However, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, there is one particular feature that will not be appearing on the aforementioned Apple devices: Adobe Flash technology. In a 1,685-word ... offensive against Adobe (titled "Thoughts on Flash"), Jobs mentioned that Flash has too many "bugs", drains batteries too quickly and is too oriented to personal computers to work on the iPhone or iPad. Jobs went on to state that Flash was designed "for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers." (Source: yahoo.com ) Still, many believe that the ... (view more)

Symantec Message Labs has uncovered some interesting information in light of a new research project. Apparently, Linux computers are sending a disproportionate amount of spam in comparison to other operating systems. The news comes as a surprise, ... since Linux retains only a small market share. The research project consisted of Symantec taking a "snapshot" of spam rates from November 2009 through March 2010. This is done through a method called "passive fingerprinting" which involves analyzing the network traffic of a remote host, in turn revealing the operating system of that host. Linux's ... (view more)

Most people believe that hackers are tech-savvy, evil geniuses who toil away hours designing sophisticated pieces of malware. In actuality, spam and other virus tactics can be simplified thanks to illicit services like those offered by a Russian ... hacker named 'Kirllos,' who claims to have up to 1.5 million hacked Facebook accounts in his possession. The typical asking price for such criminal services range from US $25-$45 per 1,000 accounts, depending on the total number of accounts hacked. Still, security researchers at Verisign's iDefense are not entirely sure if the Kirllos accounts are ... (view more)