Once again Windows Vista has been the target of the hackers and crackers and just generally fun loving people with very little time on their hands.

Using a linux distro called BackTrack (BackTrack is the most Top rated linux live distribution focused on penetration testing) a person can gain system level access to any machine running windows Vista by following a couple of simple steps.

All you need to do is navigate to the windows directory of the machine and into the system32 folder. You then make a backup of the utility manager (utilman.exe) which is used to run the various utilities that allow people with sight problems to access a computer (screen readers etc..).

When this is backed up you rename cmd.exe to utilman.exe and reboot. When you boot up windows then and you reach the log in screen you can get the option to use the utility manager by pressing ctrl+u. Since utilman.exe is now basically cmd.exe you get a command prompt which you can now use to run explorer and thus gain system access without having to know any usernames or passwords.

This exploit apparently only works on Windows Vista and does not affect XP, 2000, 2003 and NT.

Here is a video that shows how to do it.

I wonder how long it will be before Microsoft fixes this issue.

So right now the boys over at bittorrent.org are working on ways to bypass the filtering set up by Comcast. The socalled Sandvine stuff that they use that is. Now this is going to be a very tough thing for them to get done but if they succeed then things could get very interesting.

Personally I believe that theyre right to try and bypass these security measures. I think they should because I dont wanna wait longer than i have to to download the several gigs that makes up the latest Fedora Build. I salute their vigilence and their dedication to the ways of bittorrent. Now read on for details on their plans.

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These days, nothing worries an internet service provider more than peer-to-peer file trading. Depending on where you live, P2P can account for between 50 and 75% of broadband internet traffic. We mostly have the popularity of BitTorrent to thank for this crazy amount of data going to and fro.

This amount of traffic can raise the ISPs daily costs of delivering service, cause congestion either in your neighborhood or on the ISP’s network, and force the ISP to buy increased bandwidth capacity.

But if you’ve been paying close attention to your BitTorrent transfers lately (or if you’ve simply been reading the news) you’ll notice that ISPs have begun to take drastic measures to slow that flood of data currently clogging up their pipes.

Even though many of them deny it, most ISPs actively engage in traffic shaping, bandwidth throttling, connection denial or some such tactic to keep the amount of bandwidth consumed by high traffic applications on their networks to a minimum. While this does often ensure better performance for everyone in the neighborhood, it can mean painfully slow transfer speeds for those dabbling in P2P — legit or not.

While there are valid arguments for and against shaping, we’re not here to debate. We just want the fastest BitTorrent transfers possible.

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Sexual predators and online pedophiles are a growing concern among parents whose children use the internet. The FBI estimates that there are now over one million pedophiles active online. With many of them involved with child pornography. The majority are and chatting with children online daily.Here is a simple checklist that you can review in order to determine if your child’s habits online should cause you concern for the safety of your child and even your family.

Teaching your child not to reveal any personal information in chat rooms or over the internet which might lead a predator to the child can go a long way to ensuring their safety. Knowing what to look for is the first step.

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The International Herald Tribune reports ‘EU plans to require biometrics of all non-European visitors‘

The plans - arguably the biggest shake-up of border management in Europe since the creation of an internal travel zone - would apply to citizens of the United States and all other countries that now enjoy visa-free status.

We in Ireland know the debacle created by the electronic voting system. This current trend of consuming every last bit of private information about a person, whether it comes from governments or social networking websites, which extend so far as to their very biological nature, is a disturbing one to say the least. Just imagine if the database holding the biometrics of all europeans, and non-european visitors, was operated as successfully as the electronic voting system in Ireland.

[more at iht]

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Google announced yesterday that they have expanded their Google Apps platform with “a series of security products Powered by Postini™ that deliver message filtering, encryption and archiving for any business environment.”

Available in three teirs of usership, ranging in priced at $3, $12 and $25 per user per year respectively, the security products are available immediately at www.google.com/a/security

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