Big Players To Spy On IPv6-Enabled Users

"Leading Web content providers -- including Google, Yahoo, Netflix and Microsoft -- are conducting early-stage conversations about creating a shared list of customers who can access their Web sites via IPv6, the long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol.

"The DNS Whitelist for IPv6 would be a list of IP addresses that have functioning IPv6 connectivity. Content providers would use this shared DNS Whitelist to serve up content to these IP addresses via IPv6 rather than through IPv4, which is the current version of the Internet Protocol. Web site visitors not listed on the DNS Whitelist for IPv6 would receive IPv4-based content...

"Content providers say they need a DNS Whitelist for IPv6 because the Internet has so many broken IPv6 links due to problematic default behavior and incompatibilities in operating systems, home gateways and customer premises equipment. Without a whitelist to help sort out which customers can and cannot receive IPv6 content, Web developers say they will inadvertently block too many customers from accessing their content."

From NetworkWorld...

Tweeker Busted For High School Hack

"A 21-year-old former Evergreen Public Schools student has pleaded guilty to criminal charges in connection with a computerized payroll security breach in November that put more than 5,000 past and current Vancouver Public Schools employees at risk of identity theft.

"Christopher Berge, a 2006 Mountain View High School graduate last known to live in Oregon City, Ore., was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday by Clark County Superior Court Judge Roger Bennett.

"Berge pleaded guilty to 31 counts, including 24 counts of second-degree identity theft, first-degree computer trespass, forgery and possession of methamphetamine."

More at The Columbian...

MS, Adobe, Apple Bitch-Slapped At Pwn2Own

"The only researcher to `three-peat` at the Pwn2Own hacking contest said today that security is such a `broken record` that he won't hand over 20 vulnerabilities he's found in Apple's, Adobe's and Microsoft's software.

"Instead Charlie Miller will show the vendors how to find the bugs themselves.

"Miller, who yesterday exploited Safari on a MacBook Pro notebook running Snow Leopard to win $10,000 in the hacking challenge, said he's tired of the lack of progress in security. `We find a bug, they patch it,` said Miller. `We find another bug, they patch it. That doesn't improve the security of the product. True, [the software] gets incrementally better, but they actually need to make big improvements. But I can't make them do that.`"

From ComputerWorld...

Unemployed IT Worker Of The Month

"A Frenchman who broke into Barack Obama and Britney Spears' Twitter feeds insisted Thursday he is no hacker but a `kind pirate` seeking to expose security weaknesses.

"`I did not act with a destructive aim ... I wanted to warn them, to show up the faults in the system,` said the 23-year-old, who was arrested Tuesday after an operation by French police and FBI agents.

"The curly-haired unemployed computer technician wore a pair of slippers adorned with smiley faces as he sat in his parents' home in central France and told of how he broke into the popular micro-blogging site.

"Francois C., who spoke to AFP on condition that his full surname not be used, is accused of breaking into Twitter and Google accounts, including ones used by US president Obama and pop star Spears..."

Full article at EXPATICA.com...

Hinky Dink Publishes Koobface Data

"Mr. Hinky Dink, a Big Time Security Professional™ today released an analysis of the spread of the Koobface worm. Based on an exhaustive study of his database of over two and a half million open Web proxies collected over two years, Hinky’s findings demonstrate where the most vulnerable social networking users can be found.

"`With more losers piling into social networking sites this trend is very likely to continue,` said Hinky. `This study highlights the cities with the most gullible users on the Internet. This study will no doubt help cybercriminals, script kidz, and Cameroonian puppy scammers target their next online marketing campaigns.`"

Read the complete report here.

Can You Hack Me now?

"Malware-tainted memory cards may have ended up on as many as 3,000 HTC Magic phones, a greater number than first suspected, Vodafone said today.

"The problem came to light earlier this month after an employee of Panda Security plugged a newly ordered phone into a Windows computer, where it triggered an alert from the antivirus software.

"Further inspection of the phone found the device's 8GB microSD memory card was infected with a client for the now-defunct Mariposa botnet, the Conficker worm and a password stealer for the Lineage game.

"Vodafone said it was an isolated incident, but an employee at Spanish security company S21sec discovered another phone with an infected card, which it sent to Panda. That phone was purchased directly from Vodafone's Web site in the same week as the first phone, according to Panda.

"It is unclear how the batch of memory cards became infected and an investigation is under way, said a spokesman for Vodafone in Spain."

More at ComputerWorld...

SAY IT AIN'T SO, MO!!!

"Mozilla yesterday confirmed a critical vulnerability in the newest version of Firefox, and said it would plug the hole by the end of the month.

"Although the patch won't be added to Firefox before next week's Pwn2Own browser hacking challenge, researchers won't be allowed to use the flaw, according to the contest's organizer.

"`The vulnerability was determined to be critical and could result in remote code execution by an attacker,` Mozilla acknowledged in a post to its security blog late Thursday. `The vulnerability has been patched by developers and we are currently undergoing quality assurance testing for the fix.`

"Firefox 3.6, which Mozilla launched in January, is affected, Mozilla said, adding that it would be patched in version 3.6.2, currently slated to ship on March 30..."

From ComputerWorld...