Kelly's Tech Nexus

Microsoft has issued an out-of-band patch for Internet Explorer. All supported versions are affected. This is the same exploit used to hack Google as we learned last week. This would be an excellent time to switch to Firefox or Google Chrome, especially since Mozilla have just released Firefox 3.6 which does contain some performance and feature improvements. Be advised though, that just using a different browser does not necessarily make you safe if you do not apply this patch. There are other parts of Windows that use Internet Explorer’s HTML rendering engine, and these cannot be made to use an alternate browser for rendering. Moral of the story? Patch as soon as it is released. We can only hope that China didn’t get anything really valuable from this hack. Supposedly only the information from some human-rights advocates in China were accessed from the hack, but at this point it’s probably better to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Google is not the only U.S. business to be hit by these hacks either. At any rate, this vulnerability is rated as Patch Now! by SANS. Hit Windows Update and patch your machines ASAP.

Some other links to read up on:

http://www.stuckon.co.uk/microsoft-internet-explorer-responsible-for-google-chinese-hack-1603.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-pasternack/google-gmails-china-after_b_421132.html

http://www.sphere.com/world/article/chinese-hack-attack-targeted-google-and-other-us-firms/19317169

http://news.techworld.com/security/3210105/us-taking-china-google-hack-very-seriously/?olo=rss

I’ve tested this out and it does seem to load pages faster and use a little less RAM than its predecessor. As far as I know all of my plugins work with this new version. To download it, either go to http://www getfirefox.com or in Firefox go to Help >> Check for Updates.

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Following five betas, two release candidates and a number of delays, the Mozilla developers have officially announced the availability of version 3.6 of their open source Firefox web browser, code-named Namoroka. The latest major release is based on version 1.9.2 of Mozilla’s Gecko web rendering platform and includes several improvements and a number of new features.

Firefox 3.6 features built-in support for Personas – lightweight “skins” that change the look of Firefox by changing the header and footer areas, and a new alert system that will warn users when their plug-ins, such as Adobe Flash, are out of date. Scripts can now be run asynchronously to speed up page load times and the browser can detect the orientation of devices, such as MacBooks, using the device’s built-in sensor. Other notable changes include support for new CSS, DOM and HTML5 web technologies like the HTML5 File API, improved JavaScript performance – a 20% improvement over Firefox 3.5 – and the ability to display native video in full screen.

via Mozilla officially releases Firefox 3.6 – The H Open Source: News and Features.

Firefox 3.5.7 fixes the following issues:

* Fixed a common stability issue.

* Fixed a problem with how updates were being presented to users.

Please see the complete list of changes in this version. You may also be interested in the Firefox 3.5.6 release notes for a list of changes in the previous version.

via Mozilla Firefox 3.5.7 Release Notes.

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. To quote a line from the Mozilla Firefox crash report helper, “Well, this is embarrassing.” Suffice it to say, security by obscurity not really security. It’s like putting something in a dark room then blindfolding a person and telling them to hit it with a stick. If they swing enough times, they will hit it. The only real surprise in this story is that it hasn’t happened sooner. And truth be told, these “insurgents” probably didn’t pay $26 for this SkyGrabber program; they probably got it from some P2P network.

–Kelly

Militants in Iraq have used $26 off-the-shelf software to intercept live video feeds from U.S. Predator drones, potentially providing them with information they need to evade or monitor U.S. military operations.

Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes systems. Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber — available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet — to regularly capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports on the matter.

via Insurgents Hack U.S. Drones – WSJ.com.

This is good news. I’ve always been annoyed that commercials were so much louder than the programs. I might actually watch them if they were the same volume as the program I was watching. As it stands now, I feel like I’m getting yelled at. A good next step would be to extend this bill to include radio ads as well.

– Kelly

“This problem has existed for more than 50 years, but no one has properly addressed it,” Eshoo said. “Under the CALM Act, consumers will no longer have to dive for the mute button.”

Irritated with loud commercials, the California Democrat found it was also a common complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. So she drafted a bill aimed at preventing TV ads from playing noticeably louder than the programs they sponsor.

via Bill to End Loud TV Ads Passes House – CBS News.

For those of you who are more comfortable using web forums instead of a blog-style environment, I’ve installed bbPress and set up some forums for you to ask your questions. I haven’t found a template yet that I like, but that’s minor stuff. bbPress is kind of new so there aren’t as many templates or plugins as there are for WordPress, but it’ll get there eventually.

Hopefully this will allow for more of a conversation to take place when you ask your questions. Just click the Forum tab at the top of the page, and away you go!