Orkut worm demonstrates vulnerability of service
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Google&#39;s Orkut social networking site appeared to have been hit by a relatively harmless worm, but one that demonstrated the continuing vulnerability of Web applications.Some Orkut users received an e-mail telling them they had been sent a new scrapbook entry -- a type of Orkut message -- on their profile from another Orkut user.They only had to view their profile to become infected by the worm, which added them to an Orkut group, &quot;Infectados pelo V&#237;rus do Orkut,&quot; wrote the blogger Kee Hinckley on his site TechnoSocial.The name of the group, in Portuguese, roughly translates to &quot;infected by the Orkut virus.&quot;&#160;Orkut is popular in Brazil, as well as&#160;India, but has not caught on as well outside those countries compared to MySpace and Facebook.The description of the group reveals that the worm was designed to show Orkut could be dangerous to users even if they do not click on malicious links, Hinckley wrote. The worm apparently did not try to steal any personal data.The worm was also noted by Orkut Plus, a site that offers Orkut security tips, and discussed in Google&#39;s Orkut help group.At one time the infected group was adding new members at a rate of 100 per minute, and had reached a few hundred thousand members, according to various postings, but the problem appears now to be fixed, Hinckley wrote.Orkut&#39;s scrapbook feature allows people post messages that contain HTML code, but it may lack a filter to strip out malicious JavaScript, Hinckley wrote.&quot;It does not appear at first glance that the worm does anything more dangerous than pass itself on to one or more of your friends,&quot; he wrote. &quot;I think it unlikely that it would be able to steal your password, although it could potentially access other private information.&quot;&#160;
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Hacker web sites are claiming to have posted proof-of-concept exploit code for the latest critical Microsoft Corp software vulnerability, which is sometimes a precursor to broader attacks using a worm.
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At least one new variant of a worm spread rapidly from Asia and Europe to US computers, filling up people&#39;s email accounts, but otherwise causing little apparent damage.
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A toolkit designed to exploit a recently-disclosed Microsoft JPEG vulnerability has been released onto the net.
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Company says affected servers were running old, unpatched versions of Ubuntu as well as a number of insecure Web applications.
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GNUCitizen is describing an apparent vulnerability that could use VoIP to trick people into revealing personal data.
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An independent researcher finds an Internet Explorer vulnerability that could turn drag-and-drop into drag-and-infect.
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The sophisticated worm, known as W32.pipeline, is setting up a botnet and propagates when an AIM user clicks on a Web link apparently sent from someone in their buddy list.
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Users will receive free warnings of worms and viruses targeting their chat client.
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The security threats against business-technology systems continue to multiply. Not only do malicious worms and viruses such as Blaster and Bagle continue to wreak havoc, but security pros
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Blog: The most serious vulnerabilities allow attackers to run code on compromised machines.
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Anti-virus vendors have raised the threat level on a new Internet worm squirming through Web servers that are running unpatched versions of the popular phpBB Web forum software.
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eTrust Antivirus mistook a critical security process for malware.
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In brief Exploit circulating for unpatched vuln
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InfoWorld - A security researcher has found a serious vulnerability in an aging yet widely used software program used for the Internet&#39;s addressing system, prompting the software&#39;s maintainers to retire the affected version.
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(InfoWorld) - A critical flaw in the way that the AOL's instant messaging client, AIM,Â displays Web-based graphics could be exploited by criminals to create a self-copying worm attack, security researchers are warning. The flaw was discovered by researchers at Core Security Technologies, which has been working with AOL over the past few weeks to patch the problem. AOL's servers are now filtering instant messaging traffic to intercept any attacks, but the company has yet to patch the underlying problem in its client software, security researchers said Tuesday. The flaw has to do with the way the AIM software uses Internet Explorer's software to render HTML messages. By sending a maliciously encoded HTML message to an AIM user, an attacker could run unauthorized software on a victim's computer or force the IE browser to visit a maliciously encoded Web page, said Core CTO IvÃ¡n Arce. This type of flaw could be exploited to create a self-replicating worm attack, according to both Core's Arce and Aviv Raff, a security researcher who on Tuesday reported that he'd discovered a related flaw in AIM. "The frightening thing about this vulnerability is that it can be easily exploited to create a massive IM worm, because it doesn't require any user interaction," Raff said. No attacks based on these flaws have been reported. Computer worms were front page news in 2003 and 2004 when Blaster, Sobig, and Sasser gummed up PCs around the world. And while Web-based worms have been in the news, a widespread instant messaging worm would be something new. Arce says that the safest thing is for AIM users to either upgrade to the 6.5 beta code or to downgrade to a 5.9 version of the software, which does not support the HTML rendering capability. But Raff offered different advice, saying that AIM 6.5 is still vulnerable to the flaw he discovered. According to him the best thing would be for AOL to "fix the underlying code," although AIM 5.9 is "probably not vulnerable to this specific vulnerability," he said. AOL may not be planning to fix its AIM code any time soon, according to a statement provided by the company late Tuesday. "We have resolved all of the issues presented to us by Core Security within all past, current, and future versions of AIM," AOL said without commenting on Raff's findings. Users should still be concerned, however. Core's Arce said that he was worried that hackers could find ways around AOL's filters. What AOL has done is "just one portion of the solution, and that's not the most effective portion," he said. "The most effective solution is to run a client that doesn't have the problem."
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A new worm is making the rounds, attacking some business computers through a known -- and already patched -- flaw in a popular antivirus software suite from security firm Symantec.