Strangely Perfect

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Introduction A few days ago I got hacked.  I quickly ripped out a heap of dodgy files left by the hackers but for some days now, Firefox, my browser, while viewing pages on this website, has been saying that it’s “downloading data from tructuyenso.vn… “. .htaccess This, of course, was not actually happening, as I’ve put [...]

WordPress Upgraded Following the internal  prompts, I’ve now upgraded all my WordPress installations to version 3. Only one site didn’t want to ‘take’ using the upgrade button so I had to do it the old FTP upload method.  For all of them, after checking wp-config.php I’ve discovered that a whole new raft of security passwords [...]

I got an unusual (for me) comment spam this morning at 01:58 from a Kuala Lumpur spammer.  His modus operandi is to trawl WordPress blogs looking for the word “RapidShare” and then dump a deliberately malformed warez-type URL to a zip file promising unlimited super-fast Rapidshare accounts that have been compromised. I had such a [...]

In a follow up to my earlier post about the current rampant piece of malware, Computer Piracy on the High Seas,  I’ve found that the malware, variously called Downadup, Conficker, and Kido scans an in-built list of well-used passwords. So if your password is on this list, change it now! :-)   Ha Ha. 123 1234 [...]

Relevant Links: Palin e-mail hack details emerge VP contender Sarah Palin hacked US election: Republicans fight to block inquiry into Palin’s ‘Troopergate’ affair Palin’s e-mail problems spread Governor Is Asked To Release E-Mails Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes Group Posts E-Mail Hacked From Palin Account — Update Palin E-Mail Hacker Says It [...]

Concurrently and subsequently with “Mock the Week” last night, there was an astonishing investigation on the security, or rather lack of it, of our data.  This was in the BBC3 show, “Your Identity for Sale” from the Mischief series.  You can catch it here for a few days before it’s pulled; http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ddwmf/ Playing some sort [...]

This is just a little follow up to and earlier post.  Secunia, in their latest weekly summary to me, state this: VIRUS ALERTS: During the past week Secunia collected 215 virus descriptions from the Antivirus vendors. However, none were deemed MEDIUM risk or higher according to the Secunia assessment scale. ==================================================== 3) This Weeks Top [...]

Introduction The dorty hakkaz have spotted something so Microsoft et al have had to roll out a fix.  Specifically, it’s a DNS hack that allows the bad guys to spoof code, pages and even complete websites!  Here are some bits of info today: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms08-037.mspx http://www.itpro.co.uk/604416/light-patch-tuesday-but-server-flaws-serious http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7496735.stm Problem The trouble is either the DNS fix or [...]

Two WordPress trackback spams lead our hero to investigate their source and potential actions.

Hi Constance. You are lucky to get through – you nearly went into the automatic de-spammer with a subject heading of “Greetings and Intro”!!!Your family history is interesting. Trouble is, everyone in England is related to someone – especially in Somerset! They pulled a body out of the bog near here, pre-Stonehenge, and the DNA [...]