ThunderNews Blog
Newsgroups Report That More Than 20K HTTPS Sites Insecure
April 27th, 2012
According to a newsgroup posting, Ninety percent of the Internet’s top 200,000 HTTPS-enabled websites are vulnerable to known types of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) attack, according to a report released Thursday by the Trustworthy Internet Movement (TIM), a nonprofit organization dedicated to solving Internet security, privacy and reliability problems.
The survey is the first in what will be an on-going project for the recently formed Trustworthy Internet Movement (TIM). The group are expected to eventually “name and shame” websites that do nothing to address the issue, forcing sites to ensure that their security is tight and up-to-date.
The grim figure was generated by SSL Pulse, a website that monitors the effectiveness of the 200,000 most popular websites that use SSL, also known as Transport Layer Security, to protect e-mail and other sensitive data from being snooped on while in transit. The product of a group of SSL experts from Google, Twitter, PayPal,
Although the Internet Engineering Task Force signed off on a fix in early 2010 and major SSL packages have been updated to include it, only 72 percent of the sites examined by SSL Pulse were found to be safe from renegotiation exploits. Of the remainder, 13 percent were classified as “insecure renegotiation,” one percent was classified as offering both secure and insecure renegotiation, and 14 percent offered no renegotiation at all.
This means that a paltry 9.59% of all websites are genuinely secure, a statistic that TIM consider worrying as the “problem needs to be addressed in configuration and that requires awareness, time and knowledge.
On an Internet where packets often pass over open networks that can be passively monitored, SSL is frequently the only protection preventing passwords and other sensitive data from being intercepted by online criminals and state-sponsored spies. Last year, Google warned Gmail users in Iran to change their passwords after someone used fraudulently issued SSL certificates to impersonate the popular e-mail service. The attack, which stemmed from the breach of the now-defunct DigiNotar certificate authority in the Netherlands, was used to snoop on 300,000 Gmail users, mostly in Iran.
Tablets May Bring USENET To More Of The Masses
April 3rd, 2012
USENET may be coming to more than a million children across 42 countries.
One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is going to debut a $100 tablet at CES, which is a follow-up product to their low-cost laptop according to technology USENET newsgroups. Their laptop has been distributed to about 2 million children across the globe. OLPC’s goal is to provide one laptop or tablet to children that have little or no access to education due to a lack of resources.
The newsgroup posted a message stating “We’re proud to introduce the XO 3.0 tablet, showcasing the design, durability and performance features that make it a natural successor for our current laptops, which have been distributed to more than 2.4 million children in 42 countries and in 25 languages,” from One Laptop Per Child CTO Edward McNierney.
The tablet will feature an 8-inch screen and the price will be at under $100. The XO 3.0 tablet will have a 1GHz Marvell Armada PXA618 system-on-a-chip. Other features include a Pixel Qi sunlight-readable display, 8-10 hours of battery life, circuitry that allows the device to be charged by solar panels, and Android or Linux operating system.
HP to Abandon PC Manufacturing?
August 19th, 2011
HP is one of the best-known PC manufacturers, but it’s been reported on USENET and other news channels that the founders of the company never really wanted to enter the personal computer industry. As many newsgroups and their subscribers note that David Packard was reluctant to focus on PC manufacturing in the early nineties, and Walter Hewlett, son of co-found Bill Hewlett, tried to stop the acquisition of Compaq back in 2002.
So why now has HP finally decided to abandon the PC aspect of its business? MIT Professor Michael Cusumano notes that the founders were never interested in manufacturing commodity computer products, but instead were interested in creating innovative tools and products. The PC business is no longer the site of innovation in the technology business, and HP appears content to abandon it altogether.
With HP set to sell its PC business, another company could come in and become a bigger player in the industry. Any company who can acquire these assets could emerge as a competitor to others already entrenched in the industry.
Now what does that mean for the rest of the PC industry? Well, it could actually mean good things for the consumer. With HP out of the market, it may lead smaller companies to up their game as they try to move in to fill the void. Dell could benefit, as well as Acer and Lenovo. The companies could move in on former HP customers, and competition to do so could be intense.
The competition among PC manufacturers to create bigger and better machines could mean good things for Usenet users eager for a computer capable of handling their demands. Competition for a share of the market often leads to greater innovation, which should have a positive impact on the consumer in this scenario. Usenet users hoping for a computer better equipped to handle their needs could end up seeing this HP spin-off as a good thing.
Newsgroups Report on Google Introduction of Malware Detection
July 21st, 2011
Google has just announced something pretty interesting today that found itself on to newsgroups: that it is using its own data to detect viruses and will as of today be using Google Search results pages to warn users if their computers are infected with a specific form of malware.
Google is putting up a notification at the top of Google web search results to users whose traffic is coming through the proxies. The notice warns uses that their computer is infected with software that intercepts their connection with Google and other sites, Damian Menscher , a Google security engineer said in the post.
Users infected with the virus, which is apparently rerouting traffic to Google and other sites through a proxy, will see the below warning:
It’s good news for people who want to know when their computers have been infected, and bad news for people who think Google already knows too much about them. Whatever your disposition, here’s how it works.Certain strains of malware hijack your internet connection and re-route your destination to sites trying to sell you stuff or further infect your computer. If you’ve ever opened your web browser and been taken to a page other than the page you’ve designated as your home page, that’s malware.
The downside here is that the notification looks kind of like a fake notification meant to trick you into clicking on a link in the first place, so people who have learned to ignore “Your computer appears to be infected” messages may dismiss it altogether. Also, malware developers could theoretically make it so that every time you try to go to a Google site, you’re rerouted elsewhere.
Some USENET newsgroup users and security experts have expressed concern that attackers would soon begin spoofing Google’s notification message for more nefarious purposes.
This isn’t the first effort by Google to help users deter web threats. The company also displays warning messages for search results that have been hacked or appear to be serving malware.
Guide to Updating Software
July 17th, 2011
It’s always frustrating when your computer or certain programs begin to slow down and don’t run as fast as they once did. In a lot of cases, this could be due to outdated software. Fortunately, software programs are constantly releasing updates to fix bugs that may pop up here and there, and to fix any security issues so that you’re protected while using the program. Unfortunately, however, a lot of computer users are intimidated by their own computer or software and are unsure of how to update their computer or software.
Some software programs will send a pop-up notice to the user informing them that an update is available and encouraging them to download it right away. Other times, you may have to manually update your software. So check out the simple steps outlined below to keep your system updated and running properly.
Update Mac system software:
Step 1: Click Apple menu located in the top left of the screen.
Step 2: Choose ‘Software Update’
Step 3: The system will then check if there are any updates available. Click on ‘Show Details’ to see if there are any updates ready to be installed, or simply click ‘Install’ and the update will be installed.
Update Windows system software:
Step 1: Click the Windows icon in the task bar located in the bottom left corner of the screen. This will open the Start menu.
Step 2: Click ‘All Programs’
Step 3: Click ‘Windows Update’
Step 4: When the window opens, click ‘Check for Updates’ located at the top left of the window
Step 5: Click ‘Install’ once the system finishes checking for updates
Step 6: Restart the computer (if asked to do so) once the updates have finished installing
When the update is installing, don’t turn off your computer as this could cause problems. Otherwise, there isn’t any reason to be intimidated by software updates. Windows Update will even create a restore point to protect you if there’s a problem with the update, and Time Machine on the Mac will do the same.
Even though you’ll be prompted by Mac and Windows to install updates when they’re available, many people ignore the messages or put it off for later, forgetting to run the update, so it’s a good idea to see if there are any updates that haven’t been installed every now and then.
Update Other Software:
The term, third-party software, describes any software that did not come with your operating system and was created by a third party. In most cases, this means any software that you installed on the computer. Update instructions vary depending on the program.
Your web browser will probably update itself. This is true of Firefox and Google Chrome. Your other software on the computer may update itself as well, or may notify you when the time comes to update. Programs usually allow the user to manually check for any updates that are available. Check the different menus in the program and look for something along the lines of ‘Check for Updates’. You may find that you’ll have to go to the software program’s web address for a new version of the software. You should find instructions for doing this at the website. Downloads from the Mac App Store may be updated by going to the Mac App Store and clicking the ‘Updates’ tab to see if there are any updates available.
So don’t be intimidated by updating your computer’s software. It’s not difficult to do and your computer will usually run more smoothly and efficiently in the long-run.
Human Magnets on USENET
June 21st, 2011
Humans may have a sixth sense after all, suggests a new USENET newsgroup post on biology newsgroups that include a study finding that a protein in the human retina, when placed into fruit flies, has the ability to detect magnetic fields.
The researchers caution that the results suggest this human protein has the capability to work as a magnetic sensor; however, whether or not humans use it in that way is not known.
University of Massachusetts in Worcester researcher and colleagues study cryptochromes – light-sensitive proteins that regulate the circadian clocks of many creatures. Steve Reppert, head researcher, knew that cryptochromes also help fruit flies and birds sense the Earth’s magnetic fields, and he wanted to see whether human cryptochromes could do the same thing. To find out Reppert replaced those found in fruit flies with a human version, hCRY2, which is found in the retina.
The mutant flies were trained to associate a sugar reward with a magnetic field. When given the option to fly down either a magnetized or non-magnetized arm of a maze they opted for the magnetized one. Flies genetically engineered to lack cryptochrome altogether were indifferent to the magnetic field in one arm and were evenly distributed down both arms of the maze. Apparently, fruit flies have no problem using human cryptochrome to sense magnetic fields, which implies humans have the hardware to do the same, but for some reason do not activate the ability, says Reppert.
The experiments show that CRY2, a human eye protein, can act as a magnetic sensor. But only out of its native environment. In its native environment, CRY2 undoubtedly acts differently, due partially to the fact that it is only one component needed for an internal navigation system. To successfully detect magnetic fields an organism requires an apparatus that processes changes in the cryptochrome, and communicate those changes to the brain. Drosophila obviously has such an apparatus, but whether humans do is doubtful.
These findings demonstrate that hCRY2 has the molecular capability to function in a magnetic sensing system and may pave the way for further investigation into human magneto reception. “Additional research on magneto sensitivity in humans at the behavioral level, with particular emphasis on the influence of magnetic field on visual function, rather than non-visual navigation, would be informative,” wrote Reppert and his colleagues in the study.
Perfect Putt Posted On Physics Newsgroup
June 14th, 2011
With a creak of the knees, you bend a fraction closer to the ball. You identify the gradient of the green, size up the distance to the hole and estimate the length and grade of the grass. Following a couple of finely judged practice swings, you’re ready to sink the perfectly judged putt.
That may be the time honoured way. But it turns out you’ve got it all wrong. Recently posted on to physics newsgroups, a report by Robert Grober, a physicist at Yale University in New Haven and a world expert on the science of golf, there’s a much better way to line up a putt.
How’d he do it? Physics, of course.
Traditionally, golfers aim for a point just beyond the hole, since you don’t want the ball to fall short of your target. Essentially, you want to provide enough power to get the ball just beyond the hole, except it will (of course) fall in once it passes. But in analyzing putting trajectories, wherein the speed of your putt would carry the ball 18 inches past the hole, Grober found that no matter the putting distance, whether your’re five or 15 feet away, there was always an area shaped like a diamond and positioned just above the hole, shaped by the target lines.
To understand this insight, imagine a flat green with a small drop (ie at a small gradient to the horizontal. Now imagine a ball sitting a few feet from the hole on a line that is perpendicular to the fall.
Obviously, the place to aim for is slightly above the hole, so that the fall steers the ball to its target. And that’s about as far as golfers have got with this problem. But Grober has gone further. He places other imaginary balls on an equidistant arc around the hole and then plots the targets to aim for for each one.
Now here’s the the surprise: it turns out that each of these targets lies within a small diamond-shaped area just above the hole. And for longer putts against steeper gradients, the smaller and further away from the whole this diamond becomes.
Grober says this insight can be put to immediate use: “While these computational results may seem esoteric, in fact they suggest a very simple technique for reading putts that can improve the probability of properly choosing the proper target line.”
Instead of determining a target line for a single putt, golfers should determine the target line for several equidistant putts along a 30 degree arc around the ball. The point (or small area) where these target lines coincide, is the place to aim for.
As Grober puts it: “By considering a family of putts all known to share the same target point, the golfer increases the probability of correctly identifying the target point, and thus the correct target line.”
Simple really. From now on, it’ll be impossible to miss.
NEW: iMalware for Apple
May 25th, 2011
Mac now has real malware. First announced May 2nd on many security and apple related newsgroups, it’s similar to numerous fake anti-virus and anti-malware programs on the Windows side. As far as danger, it’s a standard scam to get your credit card number and other identifying information. Unlike some other trojan software it doesn’t do anything to your computer or the data on it.
The malicious software, commonly known as MacDefender, MacProtector and MacSecurity, turned up this month and has found its way onto hundreds, if not thousands, of Macintosh computers.
MacDefender works by taking advantage of default settings in Apple’s Safari browser and attaching itself to a computer’s launch menu. The program downloads itself through a zip file and urges the user to provide their administrator name and password so it can conduct a virus “scan” of the hard drive.
Once a person provides their personal information, the program pretends to scan the computer and then tells the user that a bunch of viruses have been found. Before they can be removed, however, the malware asks for credit-card information.
Having affected increasing numbers of Mac users over the past weeks, Apple originally washed its hands of the problem, instructing support staff to tell customers, “AppleCare does not provide support for removal of the malware. You should not confirm or deny whether the customer’s Mac is infected or not.”
The update to Mac OS X will go live in the coming days, Apple said, and will “automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants.”
In a help page, Apple explains how to avoid the Mac Defender trap, insisting of course on the fact that in no event should users provide banking details. They have also provided instructions on how to clean an infected machine, with the procedure being relatively simple.
The user has to go to the activity monitor to terminate the malicious process and then go to the applications folder to remove the MacDefender, MacSecurity and MacProtector files. Apple also recommends deleting the malwares automatic launch process which runs each time the user logs in.
Warning a user that they’re downloading malware is all well and good, but as time goes on and the list of malware grows that could become pretty unwieldy. Hopefully now that there is a piece of malware for OS X that is real, widespread, and effective at what it does Apple will pay more attention to the reality that, like all other software, OS X is not bulletproof and needs serious attention paid to security.
Twitter Celebrates 5 Year Anniversary
March 22nd, 2011
Today in 2006, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sent off the very first tweet, an unimpressive message that read “just setting up my twttr.” It was not until much later when it hit USENET newsgroup subscribers and the web that it really took notice.
Since then, over 30 billion tweets have been made and Twitter has become synonymous with social networking just like Facebook and LinkedIn. Resembling USENET newsgroup posts, Twitter had been designed to share brief messages with people (under 140 characters) in a social environment online – and it worked.
‘As much fun as we were having, there was always in the back of our heads the idea of the potential of something important coming from it,’ Biz Stone, one of Twitter’s founding members.
In the private market, Twitter has been valued at $8-10 billion although an IPO is not in the cards for 2011.
Just like USENET, Twitters far reaching influence spans cultures, languages, and even extends to outer space as astronaut Paolo broadcasts his portion of the message from his shuttle.
Twitter has over 125 million users, and 500,000 new join each day. Overall, CEO Dick Costolo says there are now 1 billion tweets sent every 8 days. Twitter said it set a record of almost seven thousand tweets per second immediately following the quake in Japan last week.
ThunderNews Offers New Version Of NewsRover
March 14th, 2011
ThunderNews is proud to announce a new version of the NewsRover newsreader, available to all current Thundernews members.
NewsRover 16 has just become available with a host of new enhancements to its already feature-rich newsreader. NewsRover is known as one of the most used newsreaders in the world.
ThunderNews has now made available a new preconfigured version of NewsRover 16 for all members with any purchase or subscription.
Features of NewsRover 16 include:
Performance
Sophisticated, multi-threading caching system that eliminates the need for temp files when downloading and decoding messages. This greatly improves download speed and the impact on system resources.
Images
Pop-up image preview screen to display thumbnail pictures as they’re downloaded. On the configuration settings, you’ll be able to set the amount of time the pictures will be displayed before being replaced by the next and also the ability to detach the preview window from NewsRover.
Output
Some file types are now put into private subsfolders to avoid file name conflicts
Download Speed Display
A new main-screen status bar allows you to easily montior your connections speed to our ThunderNews Newsgroup servers
Newsgroup Subscriptions
New options have been added to help sort and choose which Usenet newsgroups to subscribe to
Usenet search
New features to sort by date, subject and size have been added to the global Usenet search screen.
Other new features are also included with the new version of Newsrover.
All ThunderNews members are able to download there preconfigured copy of NewsRover from their members page.
The new version will automatically upgrade your version of NewsRover and keep all of the configuration settings intact.
You may need to download headers again from certain newsgroups with this revision change. All other settings will remain the same.
If you have any questions on how to access the new version of NewsRover 16 or need assistance in setting up or using the new features, contact the ThunderNews newsgroup newsreader support team – available 24/7.
ThunderNews is dedicated in providing quality services and features to all its customers. The upgraded version of NewsRover is free to all current and new members of ThunderNews as part of any subscription plan.
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