Short Bits Of IT News - Page 3

white_hat · 22-01-08, 11:19

A security researcher has claimed that Yahoo's system for blocking automated access to its systems - the CAPTCHA image-recognition system - has been effectively cracked.

CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) systems are used by Yahoo, as well as Google, Microsoft and others, to stop automated systems from registering web-based email accounts, filling blog comments sections with spam and guessing passwords. The systems typically present users with a series of characters that can be deciphered by humans, but not by image-recognition software.

Various implementations of automated CAPTCHA-cracking software have been developed, largely by spammers, but Yahoo's CAPTCHA system so far has been ranked as one of the toughest to crack. For example, several Web sites selling CAPTCHA cracks for sites such as eBay said Yahoo's system was next to impossible to decode.

This week, however, a programmer using the pseudonym "John Wane" and claiming to be a Russian security researcher posted code for a decoder system which he said can attain an accuracy rate of about 35 percent. The researcher said Yahoo had been notified about the problem but had not responded.

The decoder could be used by spammers to, for instance, register Yahoo email accounts for spam purposes or to break through anti-spam features, the researcher said. "It's not necessary to achieve a high degree of accuracy when designing automated recognition software," he wrote. "An accuracy of 15 percent is enough when attacker is able to run 100,000 tries per day."

In a statement, Yahoo said it is aware of attempts being made toward automated solutions for CAPTCHA images, and is working on improvements to the system and other defenses.

Last year spammers used a virtual stripper as bait to dupe people into helping criminals crack CAPTCHA codes.

Security researchers warned that a series of photographs shows "Melissa" -- no relation to the 1999 worm by the same name -- with progressively fewer clothes and more skin each time the user correctly enters the characters in an accompanying CAPTCHA codes.

Forrester said recently that spammers are increasingly using artificial intelligence tactics to get their junk delivered to email users. The booming image spam pandemic is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to spammers' use of AI, Forrester said.

The only way to prevent a repeat of the image spam surge as new models using AI come to light, Forrester analysts said, will be for technology vendors and their customers to abandon the current filtering-heavy approach and instead battle the roots of the problem

Source: ComputerWorld

collarian · 30-01-08, 19:48

Sony Europe has released the latest firmware upgrade for its popular PSP handheld which allows gamers to make and receive phone calls using Skype software.

Users of the new PSP Slim and Lite can use the very popular communications package which, for those unfamiliar, allows free calls over the internet to other Skype users and the option to pay to make calls to cellular phones and landlines.

The update also added the Go! Messenger icon to the icon in anticipation of the launch of the service next month. Go! Messenger allows for video calls, instant messaging, voice messaging and voice chat.

Sony announced the addition of Skype to the PSP at CES early this month. There is however, one catch. To use Skype you must have the PSP Headset plugged into the Slim-only remote control which does not come included with the unit. Therefore you must buy it for $30 USD.

collarian · 01-02-08, 09:32

Microsoft has announced today that they have made an offer to buy Yahoo. The long speculated acquisition now has a price tag on it, $44,6 billion, which is significantly more than the current market value of Yahoo. According to Microsoft the deal would improve the operational efficiency and increase value for advertisers, which would create a "more efficient" company.

The forty-five billion is approximately 20 billion more than the market value of Yahoo according to Nasdaq. The current value is $19,18 per share or around $25,6 billion for the whole company. If the deal becomes reality the share's value would be roughly $31.

Microsoft hopes to complete the deal during the second half of the year.
Microsoft launches $A50b bid for Yahoo

collarian · 07-02-08, 11:51

LG Mobile has announced that its very popular Viewty mobile phone has now become the first handset to become certified for recording video using DivX compression.

Although the list of DivX-certified devices continues to grow, the list of mobile phones is very short. There are only two phones that even support DivX playback, the Samsung SGH-F500 and SGH-F508.

The Viewty camera phone captures video at an abnormally large 120 FPS and a relatively large 640 x 480 Resolution. Besides adding better quality Compression the Viewty will no longer need to use conversion software that 3GP video needs.

**Prodigy** · 25-03-08, 18:30

Instead of stuffing everything inside a monitor, like Apple’s iMac, the Cybernet ZPC-GX31 All-in-One PC has all of its computer guts packed inside the keyboard. It’s compact and space saving design surely comes in handy for the cluttered office space. It also has pretty decent guts to boot:

* Your choice of Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad @ 1066MHz FSB or Intel Pentium D/Celeron 1.3GHz - 3.4GHz 400/533/800MHz FSB.
* Up to 4GB PC2-5300 667MHz RAM
* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
* CDRW-DVD or DVD+/-RW
* integrated speakers
* built-in Realtek HD Audio sound card (Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound support)
* 4 USB 2.0 ports
* Audio Out, Line-in, and Microphone
* 1 PS/2 mouse port and 1 PS/2keyboard port
* 1 DVI port
* Dimensions: 18.5 x 9 x 2.5 inch (thickest)
* Weight: 7.4 lbs

The Cybernet ZPC-GX31 ranges from $699.00 to $1,099, but a 19-inch LCD only comes included with the $1,099 version.

See the specs sheet:

collarian · 24-06-08, 11:12

In the quest for ever more ludicrous ways to juice up your phone, Orange has just revealed their latest toy, the Dance Charge.

The concept is simple. Strap the charger round your arm, plug in your blower, dance like a maniac and hey presto, you can call your mates without shouting, “MY BATTERY’S DYING,” while Jay Z does his thang.

white_hat · 28-06-08, 21:47

KeyScrambler Personal

KeyScrambler Personal - Firefox Add-ons

In yek software hast ke beghole khode sazande jeloye 'keyloggers' ro migire. Keyloggers barnamehaye makhfi hastan ke gosh mikonan chi type mikonid, mesalan passwords, va baraye yek nafare dige makhfiane send mikonan.

In version free hast va faghad chizi ke dar browser type mikonid ro safe mikone, versionhaye poolish hamechiz ro (mesalan yahoo, msn, office, ...) safe negah midare.

Review e khobi gerefte, amma chon khodam test nakardam ino zire PersianHub Free Software Collection nemizaram. Darzemn ba inke vojode injor barnameha bad nist o mitone jeloye kheili chizaro begire, amma chizaye advanced ham hastan ke age dakhele system beshan inam harif nist.

white_hat · 30-06-08, 16:27

Sharp 108-inch LCD TV (2.07 million pixels) was first demonstrated at CES in january 2007, but the production and shipping has been delayed until now.

If you got about 100.000 dollars laying around, you can now have this 195 kg (2,2 x 2,5 meter) monster for yourself.

white_hat · 30-06-08, 17:30

A Turkish hacker group (Netdevilz) hacked the domains of Ican and Iana. It was a DNS-attack, which mean they didn't actually hacked the sites, but temporarily stole the domain names by redirecting the traffic to another site.

What is more remarkable, the fact that both Ican and Iana are two very important Internet organizations, dealing with domain-names, handling IP assignments, and controlling Internet root DNS-servers.

This wasn't a malicious attack but a proof of concept, meaning the didn't try to steal any data, or install malware on insecure computers, but it is only a matter of time before malicious malware distributors learn these kind of tricks.

If the people who run the Internet aren't safe, who is? LOL

Source...

white_hat · 01-07-08, 11:04

"The latest version of TinyXP has hit the pirate boards. SP3-integrated and with more tools than you can poke a stick at, it gives XP a new lease on life. Shame it's illegal."

In package ke akharin service pack az MS hamrahesh hast faghad jadidtarin drivers ro dare, va az hargone drivers e ghadimi ya service e bikhod strip shode, baraye hamin mishe roye hade aghal hardware nasbesh kard va bad az install bish az 50 MB memory eshghal nemikone.

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