TheJunction.net

Skype has almost 500 million users, and attracts over 300,000 more a day, and it’s almost inconceivable that someone could weed through all the meaningless chit-chat and intercept something incriminating or compromising – BUT THET ARE !!!

Skype is generally considered to be almost impenetrable to hackers, due to its encryption software, but it’s now evident that a “wiretap Trojan” virus will allow eavesdroppersto record, and listen to, the VoIP calls before they are encrypted.

A new survey released by Internet security firm Trend Micro today found that smartphone users are more worried about losing their phones or the personal data on them than being alarmed of the threat of Web infections or phishing software that is be increasingly found on them. (Full Report Powerpoint)

The Windows 7 technology allows XP applications to run in a virtualized (XP mode), environment within Win7. This offers backward compatibility with applications, but comes at the expense of security, according to Richard Jacobs, Sophos chief technology officer.

This “zero day” vulnerability affects Internet Explorer (IE), users whose computers run the Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 operating software and affects a part of IE used to play video. See the Zero Day Initiative Disclosure policy here. This vulnerability was discovered by Peter Vreugdenhil who informed Microsoft on January 26, 2009 and prompted Microsoft’s public announcement (Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-019 – Critical), first on June 9, 2009.

Is this excessive lag time between when a security flaw is first discovered (usually by 3rd party sources like Zero Day Initiative), and the paying consumers becoming informed of the problem by large multi-national companies like Microsoft… much less the problem getting a legtimate fix – an issue of off-shore out-sourcing to places like India that does $84 Billion of IT outsourcing annually.
Some speculate that this equates to over $220 Billion in transferred U.S. dollars off-shore “annually” in the IT business sector alone…

Thousands of random web sites have been hacked over the past week in which this malicious software that exploits the un-patched IE vulnerability has been setup by various hackers. Innocent people are then lured to these infected sites after clicking on a link in spam e-mail. Currently Mozilla’s popular Internet browser – Firefox is NOT affected.

When you think you’ve see it all and are sick of it up to your eyebrows… here comes more internet hell. This time the malware utilizes click fraud by hijacking the results displayed when users search for something online. So prepare to make changes to your Internet habits yet again to avoid a terrible fate…

Botnets aren’t just dangerous because they can steal massive amounts of personal data and launch denial-of-service attacks. They can also self-destruct, leaving the owners of affected machines in the dust. The controllers of one such botnet recently hit the kill switch for one reason or another, taking down some 100,000 infected computers with it.

The cyber criminals behind the ongoing blackhat search engine optimization attacks, have re-introduced an old social engineering tactic – the use of fake and malware friendly search engines.

And your web surfing can become truly miserable once you have become malware infested from these cyber thugs…

Windows 7 Release Candidate continues a long-running Microsoft practice that puts users at risk, a security researcher said Wednesday.

The findings from a April 2009 Threatscape Report by a prominent network security provider – Fortinet®, painted an alarming increase in malware attacks worldwide.

The report shows the highest monthly malware volumes detected this year – with online gaming and adware threats prominent.

China received the brunt of malware attacks in April, doubling its share from the previous month.