Another great TED talk.
It’s been 25 years since the first PC virus (Brain A) hit the net, and what was once an annoyance has become a sophisticated tool for crime and espionage. Computer security expert Mikko Hyppönen tells us how we can stop these new viruses from threatening the internet as we know it.
In this year’s edition of scaring the crap out of people, the NDM-1 is supposed to be the next superbug that’s going to end the world and kill almost everyone. It’s resistant to every antibiotic out there, except two. Expect the news to highlight the fact that it’s resistant to “nearly every antibiotic,” and hyping this superbug up instead of being realistic.
Some think it will be far worse than H1N1, however, since that turned out to be more of a scare than the end of the world, it’s too early to really say whether the NDM-1 will fizzle in the same way. NDM-1 is an enzyme in bacteria that changes the DNA of the bacteria, making it difficult to combat with the normal course of antibiotics. It is typically found inside bacteria, such as e. coli, and can be spread through improper food handling and medical procedures. It is becoming more prevalent because of medical tourism to India where NDM-1 originated.
The 100 most dangerous websites on the internet, according to Norton Symantec, include malware and virii.
While some of the sites have benign names – one is called kingfamilyphotoalbum.com – simply visiting one of the websites on the list would most likely result in a computer being infected with malware or other viruses. Hackers could use these viruses to obtain information from the computer by installing “keyloggers” – software which monitors and records each keystroke made.
Norton says the top 100 sites have, on average, about 18,000 threats with about 40 containing more than 20,000 threats.
About 75 websites were found to be installing malware on other machines for more than six months, with over 50 of the websites containing hard-core pornography.
But other websites do not appear to contain adult material, with some appearing to offer advice on every-day hobbies such as ice-skating, deer-hunting and even catering services.
A sample list of some of the most dangerous sites from Norton includes:
17ebook.co
aladel.net
bpwhamburgorchardpark.org
clicnews.com
dfwdiesel.net
divineenterprises.net
fantasticfilms.ru
gardensrestaurantandcatering.com
ginedis.com
gncr.org
hdvideoforums.org
hihanin.com
kingfamilyphotoalbum.com
likaraoke.com
mactep.org
magic4you.nu
marbling.pe.kr
nacjalneg.info
pronline.ru
purplehoodie.com
qsng.cn
seksburada.net
sportsmansclub.net
stock888.cn
tathli.com
teamclouds.com
texaswhitetailfever.com
wadefamilytree.org
xnescat.info
yt118.com
Govtrip.com is the website that many federal employees are required to use when booking work related travel. The site was shut down after it was infected with a virus.
Sometime on Feb. 11, hackers changed the Govtrip.com Web site to redirect visitors to a site that installed malicious software…..Govtrip.com also is used to reimburse workers via direct deposit, which means that many federal employees’ checking account information is stored there as well.
Fortunately, as soon as the problem was noticed, the site was shut down. On February 12th, many employees were being told how to manually book trips until the problem was solved.
According to an analysis shared with Washingtonpost.com, the compromise of govtrip.com came from multiple sources and was fairly extensive.
The government hopes to have the site fully restored by Monday, February 23rd. Until then, Northrop Grumman, the company that had run the site, has had its authority revoked. It seems that Northrop Grumman isn’t the best company for this sort of situation, yet, they keep being awarded contracts to do so.
