Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

Power over Ethernet (“PoE”) is nothing new.  Usually, PoE is used to power switches and other networking devices.  A company called Baumer Ltd. is using PoE to power cameras over Cat6 cable.  The “TXG camera” can shoot at VGA and higher resolutions and up to 90 frames per second. 

Where would you use something like this?  It probably could be used in surveillance or in some kind of robot.  These TXG cameras are tiny and weigh less than a quarter pound.  You can get a sense of scale by looking at the Ethernet jack on the back of the device.

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Security experts are warning users to be on the alert for a new hacking technique involving fake blogs.  Hackers have begun exploiting Google’s Trends Lab, which lists the days most searched topics.  They use this information to create real news stories which they then place on a fake blog in order to increase page rankings.  Unsuspecting users who click through to the blog are presented with several videos.

From there, the routine uses an old but still effective trick.  When a video is clicked on, a pop up prompts them to download a codec-which is actually malicious software.  The software loads a fake antispyware program which nags and goads the user into purchasing still more malware which exposes their personal info.

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Sections: Computers, Security, Web, Websites, Google

BusinessWeek’s website has fallen under attack by hackers. Security vendor Sophos discovered the attack last week. Hundreds of pages of the popular site have been infected with malicious Javascript that redirects users to a Russian website that attempts to download malware to their computers. While some of the download attempts are being detected by malware blockers, many more are slipping through easily. The stats compiled by Google’s Safe Browsing API are alarming:

Of the 2157 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 214 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 09/15/2008, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 09/11/2008. Malicious software includes 721 scripting exploit(s), 4 trojan(s), 3 exploit(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 2 new processes on the target machine.

Hijacking legit sites for malware attacks is nothing new. In the past USA Today, Facebook, MySpace, and others have been used by hackers for malware delivery. Experts estimate that at least 70% of all web based malware is hosted on legit sites. It is not yet known how many BusinessWeek.com visitors were caught in the attack and infected, and the site has had no comment.

Keep reading for safety tips on how you can avoid malware.

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Sections: Computers, Security, Web, Websites

You have FaceBook and MySpace and YouTube…..and now…A-Space.  Only unless you have top level clearances, you won’t be joining this social networking site. Well, let’s hope that’s how it really goes down. (Kind of scary that the government thinks the internet is secure when you really think about it).

The soon to be launching A-Space program is a site for analysts working within the 16 US intelligence agencies. “It’s every bit Facebook and YouTube for spies, but it’s much, much more,“ said Michael Wertheimer, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for analysis.  “It’s a place where not only spies can meet but share data they’ve never been able to share before,“ Wertheimer said. “This is going to give them for the first time a chance to think out loud, think in public amongst their peers, under the protection of an A-Space umbrella.“  Ummm….an A-Space umbrella? I sure hope it can weather a decent storm.

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Sections: Computers, Networking, Security, Web, Web 2.0, Web Apps, Web Browsers, Websites

Facebook recently came under attack by hackers who are posting malicious links on the Wall section of user profiles. The links urge the user to click on them to view a video hosted by Google, but in reality the link takes them to a compromised page with another link that claims to be an update for Adobe Flash. If clicked it downloads a Trojan called Troj/Dloadr-BPL. Once installed it downloads additional malware onto the infected computer.

The malicious message is made to look like it came from one of the members on the user’s list of friends. It’s likely that many people have already fallen for the hacker’s fake link and had their Facebook account hijacked as a result. This isn’t the first time hackers have targeted a social networking site. MySpace has been targeted more than a few times already, and the pages of several celebrities have been compromised. It appears that Web 2.0 is overshadowing email as a favorite target for hackers and spammers. If you find a link to a video posted on your Wall from a friend, be very suspicious and thin twice before clicking on it!

Read [PC World]

• Are you secure? Here’s a “Top 5” list of free security software downloads
• Social networking sparks more trouble
• Konami takes its music games to MySpace

Sections: Web, Web 2.0, Web Apps, Websites

It’s a veritable heyday for hackers. A playground for those bent on more nefarious purposes. Those nifty little Google gadgets available for users to download and add to their websites are a big part of the Web 2.0 trend, and a big back door that allows hackers to access information on your system. Uh-oh Google gadgets.

It isn’t only Google that is at risk; and it isn’t a matter of them simply being lax with security measures. Any time you have sharing going on in that type of capacity, you are obviously opening up your system to the chance that someone can get in. It’s just that because people find these little gadgets like photo feeds or calendars on a site that is so well known (and usually trusted) like Google; it is pretty much automatically assumed by average Joe user that it must be “safe”. Not necessarily true.

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Sections: Computers, Web, Downloads, Web 2.0, Web Apps, Google

China has moved past the U.S. to become the world’s largest group of Internet users. Over 221 million Chinese currently use the Internet, which is up over 10 million from last year.

“Despite a rapidly increasing Internet population, the proportion of Internet users among the total population was still lower than the global average level.” said the Chinese Information Ministry”

As a whole 16-percent of China’s population are Internet users, compared to an average of 19.1-percent for the world’s total population. All things considers that is a lot of users especially considering the Chinese government heavily censors the net, using a complex system of filters as well as human monitors. Despite that, it is still used as tool by Chinese supporters outraged by the recent rise in anti-Chinese sentiments in the Western world as a result of China’s treatment of Tibet. Just last weekend ago a group of Chinese hackers were able to knock CNN’s website offline in protest of what they called the network’s anti-Chinese propaganda. The upcoming Olympic games in Beijing have also served to bring even more attention to the issue and has led to various protests by pro-Tibet supporters along the route of the Olympic torch relay.

Read [Reuters]

• YouTube goes widescreen
• Social networking sparks more trouble
• Study shows Internet good for teens

Sections: Web, Websites

PCWorld is reporting that chinese hackers appear to be preparing for an attack on CNN scheduled for April 19. The attack is being spurred by the recent pro-Tibet coverage in the media. A Chinese site called Anti-CNN is protesting what it considers anti-Chinese propaganda and is calling for protests in several countries including Germany, France and the UK. The hackers, believed to be members of The Red Hat Alliance, are calling for a DDos (Distributed Denial of Service Attack) against CNN to coincide with the protests. It is not yet known if the group is capable of backing up its attack threats, but security firms and media outlets will be watching closely to find out.

Read [PCWorld]

• Japanese Chrono Trigger copyright protection bested by hackers
• Vista showing its worth
• Ghost Recon gets novel treatment

Sections: Computers, Security, Web, Websites

An anonymous programmer going by the name “John Wane” has claimed to have cracked Yahoo’s CAPTCHA software. CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart) software is used by most major websites, including Yahoo, MySpace, Amazon, and others, to prevent automated systems from creating thousands of accounts to send spam with. Everyone’s seen it. When you register on a site, you’re presented with an image containing a jumbled “code” and you must enter it correctly to continue.  “John Wane” posted code for a decoder he claimed could get around that step and has an accuracy rate of 35%.

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Sections: Web, Websites

US government computers are supposed to be the most secure in the world, but a Romanian hacker proved just the opposite.

A Romanian national was indicted on charges of hacking into more than 150 U.S. government computers, causing disruptions that cost NASA, the Energy Department and the Navy nearly $1.5 million.

While we know hacking is a criminal act, I would like to raise one question: Should hackers be jailed or rewarded? I ask this because computer security consultants employed by big corporations developing security solutions can never match hackers’ intuitive skills. If not for the hackers, no one would be able to prove that the solutions offered by these money-sucking companies actually have many loopholes.

I am proposing that hackers be sentenced to minimal jail terms as a deterrent, but put them behind a high-tech bar and let them hack more supposedly secure government computers in a controlled environment, and then pay them handsomely when they break through the security. The money can come from the government itself or a system where security solutions providers subsidize the cost for their own blunders.

What do you say folks?

Read [Top Tech News]

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• Japanese Chrono Trigger copyright protection bested by hackers
• Mars Pheonix’s journey comes to a depressing end