Technical Tidbits™

I went to do a Google, I mean a Topeka search today and found the website had changed it’s name.

According to the link on the former Google home page, they’ve changed their name to Topeka.

Early last month the mayor of Topeka, Kansas stunned the world by announcing that his city was changing its name to Google. We’ve been wondering ever since how best to honor that moving gesture. Today we are pleased to announce that as of 1AM Central Daylight Time April 1st, Google has officially changed our name to Topeka.

via Official Google Blog: A different kind of company name.

While not one of their better April Fool’s jokes, it did have me a bit confused for a second. I actually forgot today was April 1st!

That being said, do you know why April 1st is called April Fool’s day and why people play pranks on each other?

It all goes back to the older calendars.  The full Origin and History of the April Fools’ Day can be found at Infoplease: April Fool’s Day: Origin and History and that’s no joke!

It’s the first time researchers – Nguyen Cong Cuong, an analyst with Bach Khoa Internetwork Security (BKIS), a Vietnamese security company – have seen the malware overwrite rather than mask itself as an update program.

This is very scary especially since most of our readers can’t tell the difference!

But don’t panic! Here’s how you get the malware according to the NetworkWorld article (see link below):

Users can inadvertently install malware on computers if they open malicious e-mail attachments or visit Web sites that target specific software vulnerabilities. Adobe’s products are one of the most targeted by hackers due to their wide installation base.

So, if you stay away from known harmful sites – in which your security software should be protecting you from anyway – and you don’t open links or mail attachments from strangers, you should be okay.

And I can tell you that my TrendMicro Internet Security Pro does protect me even when I don’t want them too! (SMILE)

To read the full article visit:  New malware overwrites software updaters.

Those of you who are my PC security (Introduction to PC Security) students don’t have to worry about this because in the first few lessons of the course you’ve disabled this!

However, many of you have not taken the course so I thought it was wise to post this.

Oh, and by the MAC users, this affects you too if you are using the Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client to connect a MAC to a windows PC.

According to Microsoft’s Security Bulletin: MS09-044:

This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if an attacker successfully convinced a user of Terminal Services to connect to a malicious RDP server or if a user visits a specially crafted Web site that exploits this vulnerability. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.

via Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-044 – Critical: Vulnerabilities in Remote Desktop Connection Could Allow Remote Code Execution 970927.

There is also known issues after installing this update, so you may want to check the bulletin for a list of those.

I’ve been teaching the Introduction to PC Security course for over 5 years and from day 1 I’ve had the students disable this service! I wonder what else you’re missing?