Gawkwire: Web Hosting and Internet News Resource

The Rise of Rootkits

2008-01-09T16:48:00-05:00

Prevx, Automated Malware Research and anti-malware company, has uncovered a large increase in the number of rootkit infections. According to their new research data as many as one in five PCs are infected.Rootkits are buried malware that go undetected by most security products.

They modify the operating system in order stealth the actions of themselves and other malware, giving cyber criminals complete access of a user’s computer. Rootkits are used in a wide variety of malicious attacks from phishing scams to zombie botnets. "Consumers and businesses now have a significant new threat to security and privacy to worry about. Rootkits are often undetectable and extremely difficult to remove.

Both detection and removal are well beyond the capabilities of traditional Antivirus, Antispyware and so called Internet Security Suites," said Jacques Erasmus, Director of Malware Research at Prevx.The informal research presented by Prevx is based on the number of companies and individuals who use their online scanner. More than 725,000 PCs were scanned during a two month period. Of the number of PCs scanned during October 2007, one in six computers was infected.

In December of the same year that percentage increased to 22% or more than one in five computers were infected by some form of malware.Also in December, the research showed that roughly 1 in 70 computers had a significant rootkit infection. This is fifteen times higher than the previous estimate of 1 in 1,000 computers infected by rootkits. "Computer security products are not foolproof.

Many PCs may be infected even though users and businesses have up to date antivirus and antispyware products," stated Mel Morris, Prevx CEO. "Users often don't realize something is amiss until they run a full antivirus scan of their PCs with updated signatures. Even then, rootkits will often go undetected.”However, the research does not take into account that individuals and businesses who actively seek out antivirus tools are in a high risk category for having possible malware infections in the first place.

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Spam at an All Time High

2008-01-09T17:42:00-05:00

According to Symantec’s State of Spam Report, spam hit an all time high encompassing 72% of all email traffic during the month of November. As a comparison, only half of email was spam in the second half of 2005 and only 59% of all email was spam in the second half of 2006.

Latest trends in spam include the exploitation of the success of the Storm worm. November saw a surge in spamming efforts to increase the overall capacity to send more spam email. "The fact that spam volume continued to increase and stayed up seems to signal they were having some success,” Doug Bowers, a senior director at Symantec.

This year included many spammer firsts as well as a resurgence of image spam. Some of those spammers’ firsts include launching attacks using Google alerts, SMS, and massive-multiplayer online games (MMOs). New types of spam include video and audio files and the use of bot herders.

Though image spam started out popular at the beginning of the year, it slowed to a near crawl towards December. Accounting for more than 50% of all spam in January 2007, it accounted for less than 10% in December of that same year.

Even with a heavy amount of government and private company policing, Pump and Dump Stock Scams remained one of the top categories for spam. Fraudulent scams such as phishing, has increased and evolved.

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Facebookâ€™s Beacon puts Blockbuster in a Pickle

2008-01-10T02:35:00-05:00

Blockbuster’s status as a Facebook Beacon partner may land them in serious hot water for violating the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). The VPPA specifically states that movie rental companies are prohibited from disclosing personally identifiable rental records of anyone who rents or buys through them, unless the customer consents in writing.

Through Beacon, Blockbuster shared user’s rentals to their friends across the Facebook network. The only way to avoid having your rental records shared would be to use Facebook’s opt out, which is the exact opposite of the VPPA law which clearly says you must opt-in, in writing.

"The case against Blockbuster is quite straightforward," said James Grimmelmann, associate professor at the New York Law School. "I'm surprised that there haven't been lawsuits already in terms of Blockbuster. The one against Facebook requires a couple more steps.”

Facebook’s Beacon ad service was released in early November and was considered the cornerstone of the new Facebook Ads platform. Beacon was designed to track user activity on more than 40 participating Web sites and to report activates to the Facebook user’s friends. The platform served multiple purposes. It gave advertisers viable marketing information. It sent targeted advertising to Facebook users and also added a means of giving “recommendations” for advertisers’ products to members of the Facebook network.

During the time period between the start of Beacon and the recent public outcry for privacy concerns, Blockbuster was in clear violation of the VPPA law due to passing movie choices without consent. Also the exchange of information took place on the backend of the site, far removed from the user’s sight and without the user’s knowledge.

If found to be in violation of the VPPA law, Blockbuster could face fines of up to $2,500 per each violation. Facebook’s culpability in the matter is less than clear. According to Grimmelmann, since Blockbuster and Facebook are partners than Blockbuster’s liability becomes Facebook’s responsibility as well.

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Google to Face Off Against Wikipedia

2008-01-09T11:26:00-05:00

In a not too surprising announcement, Google looks to square off against Wikipedia, the web’s largest communal reference web site. The new Google service, knol, will allow people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it”, Udi Manber, a Google engineer, said.

Knol will be free to read, however Google will allow authors to attach advertisements to their articles and will give them a share of any revenues. This is in sharp contrast to Wikipedia, who uses a nonprofit business model with no advertising found on their site. Instead Wikipedia relies on donations to keep it in the black.

The service knol is derived from the word “knowledge” and its articles will be called knols. “The goal is for knols to cover all topics, from scientific concepts to entertainment,” Mr. Manber said. Knols will be rated by readers and by the Google search engine. Google intends for the various knol posts to be at or near the top of a keyword search in Google, making it the next horizon for SEO enthusiasts. Mr. Manber said: “A knol is meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read.”

Google will have to go a long way to make knol work. Wikipedia is visited by more than 107 million people, roughly one third of the active Internet population, according to Nielson Online. According to Alexa, Wikipedia is the 8^th most popular site on the Web. Google’s previous reference site, Google Scholar, only has 4.5 million users.

Unlike Wikipedia, knols will not be editable, nor will Google serve as an editor in anyway. Nor will Google stand by any knols. The company explained that it “will not serve as an editor in any way and will not bless any content. All editorial responsibilities and control will rest with the authors.”

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, questioned the ability of Google’s new project to deliver quality content. “They are not going to allow collaboration and aren’t going to go for Wikipedia’s neutral style,” he said. Also, the knol format will have multiple articles competing against each other.

Currently, knol is in an invitation-only test phase, but should open to the public within months.

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