Hasta La Gadget!

Just how good is the security of your computer? Do you have really, really strong passwords, so much so that it is virtually impossible to crack them even with brute force computing? Well, you know what they say about security – a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In one of the more recent security snafus to date, more than two million passwords have been posted online after a botnet managed to successfully infect thousands of machines, while relying on a keylogger to obtain those passwords. These passwords do not hail from a particular online service, but rather, will include Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others.

We do know that out of the 2 million passwords which have been leaked online, around 300,000 of those happen to be passwords of Facebook accounts. Security firm TrustWave have reason to believe that the botnet, known as Pony, had managed to infect thousands of computers, and could even be in action still as you read this. After analyzing the data, Trustwave picked up something interesting – more than 15,000 instances of a password being ‘123456’ made up part of the compromised passwords, now how about that? Malware is always tough to look out for, don’t you think so?

2 Million Passwords Compromised After Botnet Infection Spree original content from Ubergizmo.

A team of computer scientists has developed a new breed of malware, which can leap between devices using inaudible audio signals—then covertly transmit passwords and other sensitive data without a network connection.

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Symantec researcher Kaoru Hayashi has posted a report to the effect that a sizable portion of the “Internet of Things” is now vulnerable to a worm called Linux.Darlloz. The worm attacks CPUs running on devices like routers, set-top boxes, security cameras and industrial control systems, as well as PCs. The worm relies on a pre-May […]

Ad agency TDA_Boulder came up with Happy Hour Virus, a website that fakes computer problems. The idea is that you’ll be able to use the “problem” as an excuse to leave work. I don’t think it actually has a chance of getting you off of work, but you can use it to punk your non-techie colleagues for a few seconds.

As you can see in the screenshot above, Happy Hour Virus has three tricks. There’s the ol’ Windows nemesis, the Blue Screen of Death, complete with pseudo code cascading down the screen:

Then there’s the rare but dreaded kernel panic prompt from OS X:

Finally there’s the system agnostic broken screen glitch:

The hilarious thing about this fake malware is that it will disappear when you press the Escape button. Even the most clueless office worker is bound to stumble upon that “solution” and help you be productive again. But as I said, it can work as a harmless prank. Try out Happy Hour Virus here.

[via OhGizmo!]

The international space station’s computer systems were infected by an unspecified virus this year, according to Kaspersky. The malware made its way into space on a removable device carried by Russian astronauts, and though the extent of the damage hasn’t been specified, it has been revealed that on occasion, the station has suffered “virus epidemics”. […]