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PATH: BS | Technology

Run Fire Off Water; Sacrifice Fuel Efficiency For Coolness Posted by Pile (7922 views) [E-Mail link]	[Faulty Products] [Technology]
Tired of lugging firewood around? Want to spend $50,000 to impress your friends and show you can disproportionately waste huge amounts of energy while appearing to embrace alternative fuel sources? Then you need the Aqueon, a goofy high-tech fireplace that uses 220v/60amps to create hydrogen fuel via electrolysis to fuel its flames.
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Microsoft Enlists Outside Aid for New IE7 Browser Posted by Pile (9856 views) [E-Mail link]
Microsoft has enlisted some outside help for one of the most anticipated new features of its updated web browser: the ability to alert people that they may be about to enter a fraudulent website. It was announced today that Microsoft has retained the services of anti-fraud expert, LARRY ODOGWU of the Nigerian National Petroleum and Computer Security Corporation.
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Microsoft Blacks Out Area 51; Google Doesn't Posted by Pile (8562 views) [E-Mail link]	[Beating Dead Horses]
In the war between Earth image browsers, it doesn't seem like much of a challenge. Microsoft's satellite imagery shows vintage stuff like the twin towers and the nonexistence of things like Apple's headquarters (presumably due to old satellite data) whereas Google's system is up to date and in color. Another interesting tidbit is that the infamous Area 51 shows up on Google but Microsoft has it blacked out. No word yet if Microsoft has also blacked out Barbara Striesand's home.
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Russia's Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered Posted by Pile (8712 views) [E-Mail link]	[Spam]
Vardan Kushnir, notorious for sending spam to each and every citizen of Russia who appeared to have an e-mail, was found dead in his Moscow apartment on Sunday, Interfax reported Monday. He died after suffering repeated blows to the head.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2005-08-02 21:19:38 \| Comment on this Article

North Carolina Whores Itself to Dell for 1600 Jobs Posted by Pile (8172 views) [E-Mail link]
Winston-Salem politicians wanted so much to woo Dell to their state they gave away land, then created a phony payback scheme to cover their tracks. After pumping North Carolina for more than $270m, Dell decided it wasn't done yet. Actually pay for the land its new factory will sit on? Hell, no! In a confusing exchange deal, Dell will "pay" the city of Winston-Salem $7m for land in return for $7m worth of roads and grants from the city to Dell, so it gains the 200-acre factory site for free. Dell currently faces a massive lawsuit over other parts of the North Carolina package.
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Fox Acquires MySpace.com Posted by Pile (8470 views) [E-Mail link]
New Corporation, run by Rupert Murdock & Co., which also owns Fox, has acquired Intermix Media, Inc., operators of the popular MySpace.com online community. This move heralds the formation of a new division within Murdock's empire, Fox Interactive Media. News Corp shelled out $580 Million in the transaction. It wouldn't be difficult to speculate that the motive behind this was to recapture the audiences that have been lost to New Corp's other television, print and cinema divisions. The big question is whether people will start a mass exodus from MySpace if they start seeing Bill O'Reilly ads all over the place? Can we now expect MySpace.com to be "Fair and balanced?"
READ MORE \| 2 comments since 2005-07-21 23:38:13 \| Comment on this Article

Lame Anti-Spyware Bill Passed House, Stuck in Senate Posted by Pile (8884 views) [E-Mail link]	[Spam]
Computer users MAY be excited by H.R. 29: Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act, which passed (393-4) the House and is currently stuck in Senate committee. Also known as the Spy Act (no intended reference to Karl Rove), would outlaw the act of taking over a computer in order to send unauthorized information or code, as well as diverting a Web browser without the permission of the computer owner. Unfortunately, as is typical in D.C., all is not what it appears. This Anti-Spyware bill does more to take away peoples' security and give comfort to spyware companies, but hey, it's got a catchy title that sounds effective, so maybe nobody will notice?
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Popular Web Site Desperately Tries to De-Promote Itself Posted by Pile (8715 views) [E-Mail link]
SomethingAwful got a segment on G4-TechTV and the order came down from high up, "If we see an increase in traffic as a result of your TV appearance, you've failed." Watch as the hilarity unfolds as a popular counterculture web site, desperately tries to de-emphasize its significance on a burned out cable channel.
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New Microsoft Anti-Spyware Tool Ignores Spyware Posted by Pile (9683 views) [E-Mail link]	[Spam]
In the wake of the availability of Microsoft's anticipated anti-spyware tool, closer examination indicates that Microsoft is ignoring their own rules for what classifies as spyware and what should be removed from a person's PC if found. Apparently major spyware purveyors have talked Microsoft into letting them off the hook, and there are rumors that Microsoft is in the process of acquiring a major spyware vendor itself.
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AMD Suing Intel Over Claim Their Compiler Sabotages AMD Software Posted by Pile (10256 views) [E-Mail link]
AMD has filed suit against Intel claiming the company is employing monopolist-like powers in sabotaging AMDs efforts to be competitive. Among the many claims is that Intel's compiler which prepares software to run on both Intel and AMD machines, checks to see which CPU is being used and intentionally generates less-efficient and slower code for machines running a non-Intel/AMD CPU. IMO, considering how much faster and more-efficient AMD CPUs are over Intel, we may be looking at even more performance gains when using AMD CPUs if this claim is proven true and Intel has to correct their AMD-sabotaging code.
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Dell Shuts Down Part Of Its Online Customer Service Posted by Pile (8233 views) [E-Mail link]
Want to complain on Dell's website about its customer service? Too late - the Customer Support Forums, operational until last Friday, have been shut down, apparently to try to quell bad publicity there about Dell products and especially after-care service.
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Researchers Say Spam Is Good For You Posted by Pile (10013 views) [E-Mail link]	[Dubious Research] [Spam]
According to a report published at LiveScience, A steady diet of spam -- the electronic variety -- can be good for you. Researchers split a group of more than 2,100 Canadians into two groups. One group got emails that promoted healthy lifestyles, the other got none. Those who were 'spammed' apparently saw their body mass go down.. Unfortunately, these boneheads sent out daily affirmations, not a barrage of teen sex, mortgage and stock scams, and cheap medications. It's quite a stretch for these people to call their research on "spam" as most of us define it.
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Koreans Launch Cyber-Attack Against Ill-Mannered Woman Posted by Pile (7128 views) [E-Mail link]	[Activists]
Ok, you're on a train in Korea carrying your little doggie and he makes a mess on the floor. What do you do? a) Clean it up b) Ignore fellow passengers requests that you clean up your dog's mess, tell them to F-off, have someone take pictures of you from their cameraphone and post it all over the Internet, creating a country-wide witch hunt, exposing your identity and ruining your life. If you answered A, you'd be smart. If you answered B, you'd be this girl.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2005-12-04 16:44:21 \| Comment on this Article

Online Gamer Murdered Over Theft of Virtual Sword Posted by Pile (9272 views) [E-Mail link]	[Mean People]
You know you're taking gaming too seriously when you go out and stab someone because they snatched a sword from your fictional role-playing-game character, but that's exactly what happened in China. Qiu Chengwei stabbed Zhu Caoyuan in the chest when he found out he had sold his virtual sword for 7,200 Yuan (~ $700). The sword, which Mr Qiu had lent to Mr Zhu, was won in the popular online game Legend of Mir 3. Qiu was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in China. I guess Zhu didn't have time to buff before the melee started.
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BSA Publishes Fantasy Figures on Software Piracy Posted by Pile (9463 views) [E-Mail link]	[Dubious Research]
The Business Software Alliance, a group dedicated towards controlling software piracy, has come under fire for releasing a report claiming that 35% of software installed on computers is pirated and costs companies more than $33 Billion a year in lost revenue. The Economist and others have blown the lid off the BSA's research methodology, which is apparently based on the illogical premise that any program someone would pirate, they would otherwise pay for.
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Hotmail Users' Security/Privacy at Risk Posted by Pile (9003 views) [E-Mail link]
Microsoft took part of its MSN Web site offline over the weekend, after it learned of a flaw that could let an attacker gain access to Hotmail accounts, the company said.
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Hackers Shut Down Phishing Sites Posted by Pile (8323 views) [E-Mail link]	[Activists]
In the wake of the government and law enforcement's seemingly profound inability to enforce fraud laws and go after spammers and scammers online, computer people are taking matters into their own hands and taking action against online scam operations.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2005-05-26 14:48:01 \| Comment on this Article

Anti-Virus Update Wipes Out Hundreds Of Thousands of Computers Posted by Pile (9030 views) [E-Mail link]
A faulty update to anti-virus software released over the weekend by Tokyo-based Trend Micro has caused PCs to slow down or stop working around the world.
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Microsoft DNS Exploit Hits IE Users All Over Posted by Pile (9907 views) [E-Mail link]
While most of the Internet is using Unix-based DNS servers to handle hostname resolution, some companies and ISPs using Windows servers have been hit with a nasty attack that redirects .com addresses to special web sites that look for users running Internet Explorer and loads their systems with spyware and other malicious programs. Reason # 34,987,343 why you should be using Firefox and stay away from ISPs who are foolish enough to be running Microsoft servers for stuff like DNS.
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PA Republican Wants To Stop Free Weather Reports Posted by Pile (8018 views) [E-Mail link]
Pennsylvania representative Rick Santorum, under the control of corporate interests who run commercial weather services, is introducing legislation to shut down the free weather information available online from the National Weather Service. This is taxpayer-funded, valuable information available to the people that is encroaching on profits of select corporate interests and they're buying politicians to shut it down. Shame Shame.
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Comcast Sued For Selling Out Their Customers Posted by Pile (11564 views) [E-Mail link]
A Washington mother of two is suing Comcast for releasing her personal information to the RIAA, who then unleashed a collection agency to extort $4500 from her for downloading copyrighted music, or face legal action. The issue here is that Comcast burped out customer information without appropriate legal due process. Let this be a lesson to cable Internet customers... companies like Comcast don't respect your rights. At least DSL from telephone companies are more respectful of customers' privacy.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2005-04-18 19:19:46 \| Comment on this Article

Your Macromedia/Flash Browser Plug-In Has Been Spying on You! Posted by Pile (7788 views) [E-Mail link]
Who knew? Though we probably should have suspected, that Macromedia's Flash Plug-in, which most browsers are using to view cute animation and annoying ads, also has the ability to store personal identification information and even listen in on your computer's microphone or internet-enabled camera!
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How To Destroy A Web Page For Fun Posted by Pile (14164 views) [E-Mail link]	[The "Buzz"]
A new site promises an interesting and creative way for people to take their frustrations out on web sites. Still no cure for cancer, but it's refreshing to know that more technical people are spending so much time and energy on important pursuits like these.
READ MORE \| 2 comments since 2005-07-17 18:22:54 \| Comment on this Article

Transparent Wallpaper Posted by Pile (9501 views) [E-Mail link]	[Art]
Is it an amazing new monitor technology, or just some nerds with a little too much time to kill?
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Utah Governor Forces ISPs To Filter Internet Content Posted by Pile (8414 views) [E-Mail link]
Utah's governor has defied criticism from technology firms and free speech activists to sign into law a bill designed to protect children from Internet pornography, which forces ISPs to block access to web sites deemed "harmful to minors". Utah huh? I thought the Mormons were supposed to be the model family structure? Are they now admitting that they need state-sanctioned help in controlling what media their children have access to? Then again, this state also has the highest prozac consumption in the country, so methinks this bubble has finally burst.
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Online Banks' Poor Web Design Compromises Customers' Security Posted by Pile (7791 views) [E-Mail link]
The "net-smart" consumer knows better than to fall for phishing scams where dubious people try to con you into submitting personal information into a mysterious web form, but now thanks vulnerabilities and poor design in many online banks' web sites themselves, crooks can use the bank's web site, such as Charter One to display the illegal activity within a frame from their own web site! To add insult to injury, Netcraft reports that most banks are among the slowest entities to fix these types of problems.
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DailyKOS offline/down/sabotaged Posted by Pile (10177 views) [E-Mail link]	[Activists]
The infamous left-oriented web site DailyKOS, for whatever reason, is currently offline. It's actually still online but due to site design, poor choice in domain registrar, they are being kept offline.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2012-11-02 19:27:11 \| Comment on this Article

Java Flaw Exposes Firefox Users to IE Vulnerabilities Posted by Pile (9129 views) [E-Mail link]
In an ironic technological twist, users who have switched from IE to Firefox for their browser may find they can still be infected by rogue Java programs that can spawn an instance of Internet Explorer to download a malicious program. However, the user will still need to approve via a dialogue box, the execution of the Java applet. In this day and age, I still don't understand why anybody would want to use Java. Most users should be highly suspicious of any Java application which needs any special permissions on your system to run.
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Blow Yourself Up Posted by Pile (11055 views) [E-Mail link]	[The "Buzz"]
Are you feeling a little small? Maybe you want to blow yourself up? Maybe you and some friends or your favorite subject?
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Latest T-Mobile Bad Security Victim: Fred Durst Posted by Pile (5370 views) [E-Mail link]	[Technology]
Last week it was Paris Hilton; this week it's Fred Durst, who has had his phone account cracked and those who have done it have posted a video he took of him having sex. Looks like he gets another 15 minutes...
READ MORE \| 2 comments since 2005-02-27 03:51:34 \| Comment on this Article

Spimmer Gets Busted By Company He Thinks He's Contracting With Posted by Pile (4639 views) [E-Mail link]	[Technology]
An 18-year old from New York was arrested last Wednesday when he discovered a way to send unsolicited messages to peoples' personal information managers (called "Spimming" because someone apparently thinks we don't have enough goofy names for various procedures). He sent out "spam" messages to people threatening to publicize the technique unless an exclusive marketing deal was signed with him, legitimizing his activity. Of course, when he flew to California to "legitimize the deal", he found a legitimate pair of handcuffs waiting for him.
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Amazon seeks to patent search history, and never delete it. Posted by Pile (8491 views) [E-Mail link]
The USPTO has published Amazon.com's patent application for Persistently storing and serving event data, a fancy way of saying Amazon wants to own the process of remembering everything a user searches on. What's even more interesting is that as part of the patent application, Amazon's version of allowing a user to "delete his search history" merely renders the information "undisplayable" but still makes the information available for other (potentially dubious?) uses. Furthermore, Amazon requested the USPTO to not make the application public.
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Gangsta Cultcha Hits Da Search Engines Y'erd Meh! Posted by Pile (15452 views) [E-Mail link]	[The "Buzz"]
You say you want to do some research for your term paper, but you want it with an urban, gangsta rap edge that so beautifully epitomizes your Infro-mational needz? Well, worry no mo, mah nizzle... Gazoogle iz in da howze!
READ MORE \| 15 comments since 2007-11-30 11:39:38 \| Comment on this Article

Louisiana Man Pleads Guilty to Launching WebTV 911 Worm Posted by Pile (5562 views) [E-Mail link]
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that, roughly a year after his arrest, David Jeansonne pleaded guilty Tuesday to two criminal counts in a scheme that sent email to users of Microsoft's WebTV Internet service containing an attachment that, when opened, reprogrammed their computers to dial 9-1-1 without their knowledge. It still unclear what motivated this 43-year-old to launch such a bizarre worm, then again, we are talking Louisiana.
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Symantec's Antivirus Products Become Prey For Viruses Posted by Pile (8509 views) [E-Mail link]
Symantec, makers of annoying mafia-ware anti-virus software was dealt a further blow when independent teams published a security advisory showing Symantec's products to have vulnerabilities that would allow viruses to compromise PCs.
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SCO's Days Are Numbered Posted by Pile (8798 views) [E-Mail link]
SCO, the company suing IBM claiming that Linux infringes on their intellectual property, narrowly escaped a summary judgement in what most call a grossly bogus case brought by the ailing software company that is desperate to litigate itself back into solvency. "Despite the vast disparity between SCO's public accusations and its actual evidence - or complete lack thereof - and the resulting temptation to grant IBM's motion, the court has determined that it would be premature to grant summary judgment," Judge Kimball wrote. However, any time now, SCO's song-and-dance will end.
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Who was Raymond Scott? Posted by Pile (10930 views) [E-Mail link]	[Essential Factoids] [Technology]
This is the first of a series we're launching here at BSAlert called "Essential Factoids". The idea is to call attention to something or someone important that most people know little about. In this case, do you know who Raymond Scott was? Why should he be remembered?
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Musical Degrees of Separation Posted by ttt (9643 views) [E-Mail link]	[Music]
Some French people have come up with a very clever and creative web site which shows graphical representations of music artists, their influences and other bands they've been in. A very ingenious and creative use of technology.
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AOL unsubscribes its users from Usenet Posted by Pile (6071 views) [E-Mail link]
The world's largest ISP is cutting off direct access to one of the oldest, coolest -- and strangest -- parts of the Internet.
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For the Ultimate Couch Potato Posted by Pile (7029 views) [E-Mail link]
So you're looking for the ultimate in comfort as you atrophy while playing Unreal Tournament or watching CSI: Silicon Valley? A UK company, Bluebroc, may have what you're looking for. Rumor has it their next model has an optional catheter attachment.
READ MORE \| 2 comments since 2005-02-16 08:37:58 \| Comment on this Article

Finally a state Attorney General sues some spammers Posted by Pile (8808 views) [E-Mail link]	[Spam]
In what appears to be a long, long, long overdue move on the part of state attorney generals to get off their asses and start taking action against spammers, the state of Texas and specifically AG Greg Abbott has stepped up and is suing two men believed to be among the largest spammers in the United States. Unfortunately this is only a civil case... but hopefully there will be criminal prosecution to follow.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2005-01-14 16:13:40 \| Comment on this Article

Another Microsoft vulnerability: cursors and icon files Posted by Pile (9035 views) [E-Mail link]
CERT writes, "Microsoft Windows contains multiple vulnerabilities in the way that it handles cursor and icon files. A remote attacker could execute arbitrary code or cause a denial-of-service condition." In other words, yet more vulnerabilities in core Widnows routines which make IE and other systems vulnerable to exploitation by visiting web sites which load these files. Be especially wary now of the favicon.ico files which most web sites load which give you those cute little icons next to the web address in your browser.. they can cause your computer to be compromised.
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Google blog reveals lonely life of techies Posted by Pile (8590 views) [E-Mail link]	[Lonely People]
"At Google we take user email seriously. If you ask us for help with a Google-related problem, we'll do our best to solve it. If you send us product feedback, we'll consider and perhaps implement your suggestion. And if you impugn the artistic integrity of the guy who draws the Google doodles, you can expect a very direct and very public smackdown."
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Another ex-employee of TechTV/G4 speaks out Posted by Pile (8088 views) [E-Mail link]	[Television]
Dan Huard started out as a nerdy intern at TechTV, the San Francisco-based cable channel dedicated towards all things tech. He worked his way up to associate producer and tells us what things were like, including after the takeover of the network by a bunch of "suits" who merged it with "G4" and tried to package the once-proud network into a stupid and insipid shill for the video game industry.
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Stealth satellite program exposes stealth money accountability Posted by Pile (3888 views) [E-Mail link]	[Technology]
The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee has been trying to shut down a "top secret" satellite program that he claims is wasting huge amounts of taxpayer money. It's convenient that what's even more top secret about these national security programs is the way in which taxpayer money is spent and not accounted for. In keeping with the spirit of the way our government runs things, I'd like to announce the BSAlert.com "National Anti-Terrorism Fund" - I urge you all to contribute generously to this fund. Know that it will help fight the war on terror, but I cannot comment any further on what I'm doing with the money for reasons of national security.
READ MORE \| 4 comments since 2005-01-05 09:43:16 \| Comment on this Article

Use Windows' media files: get infected Posted by Pile (8023 views) [E-Mail link]
Think you're downloading a new song or video? Watch out--that file may be stuffed with pop-ups and adware. Unscrupulous organizations, some of whom have been helping the RIAA and MPAA fight online piracy are now exploiting holes in gasp Windows media file formats to hide malicious programs and spyware. It should be noted that while this is yet another scare tactic designed to stagnate all forms of media trading, including legitimate, licensed music, MP3 files are immune to these issues. Like anyone needed additional reasons to avoid .WMA, and other Windows-specific file formats.
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Grass roots web site eats into corporate profits Posted by Pile (7734 views) [E-Mail link]
The popular underground classifieds web site Craigslist, recently partially acquired by eBay, is now getting attention as mainstream media are complaining that Craigslist is costing them millions in lost revenue.
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The year's worst tech gadgets Posted by RantMaster (5818 views) [E-Mail link]	[Technology]
While the hot item this year was Apple's iPod, The New Zealand Herald ran an interesting story on the most ill-conceived tech devices companies had the cajones to foist upon the public. From Sony's portable music player that wasn't compatible with MP3s, to Proctor & Gamble's goofy "Sentstories" product in which gullible consumers can "play" a series of fragrances.
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Merry Christmas from Bill Gates: 4 new Windows flaws! Posted by RantMaster (9505 views) [E-Mail link]
A Chinese security group has released sample code to exploit two new unpatched flaws in Microsoft Windows. The advisory comes in the week before Christmas, a time when many companies and home users are least prepared to deal with the problems. Security firm Symantec warned its clients of the vulnerabilities on Thursday, after the Chinese company that found the flaws published them to the Internet.
READ MORE \| 1 comment since 2004-12-30 12:13:16 \| Comment on this Article

Exploit launched for most popular web messageboard app Posted by Pile (7918 views) [E-Mail link]
CERT has sent out a security bulletin outlining what appears to be a major flaw in phpBB, the Internet's most popular messageboard software. There appears to be automated scripts seeking out vulnerable messageboards on the Internet, whereupon they are compromised or defaced. Mediocre webmasters all over the world will end up having some holiday headaches if they don't update their systems.
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