Extremely critical vulnerability in PDF reader

Is already being actively exploited by criminals.

Adobe has been made aware of the existence of a vulnerability in its PDF products, and Acrobat Reader, which is already being exploited by malicious.

According to the security firm Secunia the vulnerability is due to an error in font-analysis in CoolType.dll library to the Windows version of the software, but Adobe says that the vulnerability is not operating system dependent. This is apparent in all versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat to version 9.3.4 and earlier.

Using a specially crafted PDF file occurs a stack based buffer overflow bugs that get the software to crash, which could give the attacker full access to the system. This PDF file can be offered to the user as an attachment to an e-mail or via a website.

Read more »

Connect 24 monitors to your PC

AMD launches new graphics card for the pros.

AMD announced the launch this week a new top model among the company's video products for professional users. ATI Firepro V9800 is the most powerful professional graphics card from AMD to date.

The card is aimed at users of digital content production, CAD and visualization. It supports, among other things Eyefinity technology which allows one adapter to connect to up to six screens at once, by offering a resolution up to 5760 x 2160 pixels.

This can however be extended by using synchronization module ATI FirePro S400, which makes it possible to synchronize the screens from four such video cards. Thus, a single PC could deliver images up to 24 different screens.

The new card is equipped with 4 gigabytes of GDDR5 memory, which is a new record for AMD. The large memory will primarily be useful for users in industries where they treat very large data sets, including the oil and gas industry, medicine and animation.

Read more »

Fake banks abound on the Internet

Each week scammers create 57,000 new URLs.

The Spanish IT security company Panda Software has conducted an analysis of malicious Web addresses worldwide over the past three months. These are URLs that contain malicious code, which is created to spread viruses, worms and trojans, and to drain service users for personal information.

These fake URLs to mimic legitimate services addresses, and they positioned and indexed on leading search services with a view to trick users into clicking on them instead of the actual services. At times they come very high on the list of search results.

The survey reveals that the Panda every week laid out 57,000 fake URLs. These URLs concentrates on 375 different and high profile brands, such as misused to lure users. The leading brands are abused eBay, Western Union, Visa, Amazon, Bank of America, Paypal and U.S. tax authorities.

65 percent of the 57,000 fake URLs will be posted each week belongs to banks. The next most popular category of fraudsters is the online shops and online auctions.

Read more »

Another Google acquisition investigated

Fear of twisted competition with the purchase of specialist search for flights.

Google took the inner bend of a number of other suitors, when the early summer bought the ITA, a provider of solutions for organizing and presenting information on flights, as well as buying and selling of travel, seat reservation and more. After the agreement, Google will provide 700 million U.S. dollars for the ITA.

ITA compete with, among other things, Amadeus. Client list includes the airlines and websites that offer services around the search and sale of flights, including Alitalia, Continental Airlines, Lot, U.S. Airways, Aeroplan, Microsoft Bing, Kayak and Orbitz.

U.S. Justice Department recently decided to expand its first investigation of the purchase.

Google has made sure that they do not even intend to sell tickets, but that they are thinking to sell ads linked to search for travel. Several Web sites selling airline tickets, uses software from ITA. Several of them, including Continental Airlines, Kayak and Orbitz, have said that their business is not dependent on the ITA, since there are more adequate alternatives. On the other hand fear Kayak, like Microsoft, that may affect adversely the competitive situation that Google controls the ITA.

Read more »