Printers betray document secrets
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US scientists have found a way to indentify exactly which desktop printer produced which document.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft has released its monthly set of security patches, fixing a critical flaw in Office. Attackers could exploit the bug by tricking Office users into opening a maliciously encoded .pub document, which would then allow attackers to run unauthorized software on a victim's PC. These .pub documents are created by Microsoft's Publisher software, an Office component used for designing print and online business publications. The flaw isÂ described here. Microsoft rates the bug as critical for Publisher 2000, but this warning has been downgraded to "important" for the Publisher 2002 and Publisher 2003 products. Although Publisher is the application being patched, Office users should also be mindful of the issue because Publisher is part of the Office Professional Edition suite, said Christopher Budd, a program manager with Microsoft's Security Response Center. Some security experts expected Microsoft toÂ fix a similar bug in Word, which has been used by online attackers over the past few weeks, but that problem remains unfixed. Microsoft acknowledged the Word problem last week but was unable to run a fix through its quality assurance tests in time for September's updates, according to Budd. "It was just not feasible from an engineering standpoint ... to get the quality testing in," he said. Both the Word and Publisher bugs rely on the same type of attack to work: an attacker e-mails a malicious document and somehow tricks the victim into clicking on the attachment. Security experts have been seeing more of these Office flaws exploited of late. "This is one of the trends that we have observed," said Amol Sarwate, director of the Qualys Inc. vulnerability research lab. "The growing number of client-side vulnerabilities where you have a malformed Publisher file or Word file or Excel file." Tuesday's patches also include less-critical fixes for two Windows components: the PGM (Pragmatic General Multicast) protocol used by Microsoft's Reliable Multicast Program software to transfer data, and the Windows Indexing service, which is used by the operating system's search engine. Microsoft's security bulletins offer more information. September may seem like aÂ bit of a reprieveÂ for harried system administrators who were given 19 updates to test and deploy over the past two months. Microsoft was forced toÂ reissue one of its August patchesÂ after it caused Internet Explorer to crash when working with a Web-based enterprise applications such as PeopleSoft and Siebel. But before Microsoft patchers get too relaxed, they should brace for the possibility of another patch later this month, Qualys said. Because attackers are actively exploiting the Word problem, Sarwate believes that Microsoft may issue an "out-of-cycle" patch for the problem, ahead of its next scheduled security updates, which are due Oct. 10. That prospect seems unlikely, however. Microsoft's Budd characterized the Word attacks as "very limited in terms of scope," saying, "at this point in time, we've not made any determination to do anything out-of-cycle."
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As consumers increasingly rely on digital media to secure their important documents and valuable personal content, they often fear that changes in technology may render their data inaccessible. Western Digital Corp.
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This manufacturing company replaces a lot of large, high-speed printers in the factory and decides to lease instead of buy. One key requirement: They must be PostScript compatible.
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Photographers looking to spruce up their desks, mantels and coffee tables with their favorite digital snapshots have a more high-tech, albeit pricey, option to printing.
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HP introduces a security technology that ensures printed documents get to the right people and protects against malware.
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Blog: The most serious involves poisoned PDF files. The update also includes patches for Bind, Fetchmail, and GNU Screen.
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Program showing how to use flaw in Windows' handling of graphics files hits the Net--back up your family photos and beware.
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Users of Adobe's programs are taking issue with an apparent feature within the company's products that is sending out some type of data to an outside service.
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Massachusetts-based start-up has come up with a way to print photographs or documents without ink or an ink cartridge. And that means smaller devices.Photos: Teeny tiny printers
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PDF peril Adobe Reader may be subject to a security hole that creates a means for hackers to take over vulnerable Windows boxes simply by opening a maliciously constructed PDF document.â¦
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I can't urge you strongly enough to read the article entitled How Vista Lets Microsoft Lock Users In. It details how Microsoft has built into Vista the "trusted computing" ability to lock down Office files via DRM such that no unauthorized document reader will be able to decrypt and read them. This is perhaps one of the biggest hidden weapons Microsoft has in its arsenal that could sabotage Linux and OpenOffice.org if Microsoft succeeds in its attempt to plug SUSE and all Novell's "interoperability" bonuses.   Think of this, if you will, as the Tivoization of Office files, only with malicious intent.  Microsoft could, indeed, open up the document format completely and swear before God that it will never sue anyone for patent infringement.  However, this does not prevent Microsoft from locking Office files in such a way that only Vista users can read them.  No one else will be able to do so without the proper authorization, thus rendering the open format and Microsoft compatibility entirely meaningless.
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Some people have started using registered e-mail systems to prove that specific documents were sent or received.
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Welcome to our world A flaw in Citrix's Presentation Server Client creates a means for hackers to compromise machines running the popular thin-client application.â¦
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Security researcher demonstrates a way to use cross-site scripting to remotely spam an internal network printer.
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Many of us are bewildered by common documents -- with dangerous results.
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Ever wonder why office-supply stores will offer a ream of paper or $3 for empty inkjet printer cartridges?