Here’s a short video from CNN that can give you a fast reading as to whether you need to be concerned for your computer

Actually, if you want something to worry about, probably better spend your energy on the economy.

Image via Wikipedia

If you’re using Internet Explorer, the suggestion that you try another browser is likely always good advice, but more so now that there is an unpatched security fault plaguing the browser.

This from a bbc.co.uk report:

“Microsoft is continuing its investigation of public reports of attacks against a new vulnerability in Internet Explorer,” said the firm in a security advisory alert about the flaw.

Microsoft says it has detected attacks against IE 7.0 but said the “underlying vulnerability” was present in all versions of the browser.

Other browsers, such as Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari, are not vulnerable to the flaw Microsoft has identified.

“In this case, hackers found the hole before Microsoft did,” said Rick Ferguson, senior security advisor at Trend Micro. “This is never a good thing.”

As many as 10,000 websites have been compromised since the vulnerability was discovered, he said.

Said Mr. Ferguson: “If users can find an alternative browser, then that’s good mitigation against the threat.”

But Microsoft counseled against taking such action.

(Not surprisingly – EM note)

Around here at Enquiring Mimes acres we generally recommend using a browser other than IE anyway. Pick your reason – security, extendability, ease of use or speed. Good alternatives are always Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome.

Read the story from BBC.

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We’ve written about possible malware on Macs and the built-in Mac user belief that those bad things only happen to folks who use Windows.

The debate continued recently as Apple updated their tech note advising which anti-virus programs worked with Mac. A minor firestorm started with folks writing that Macs were now becoming more vulnerable to attack by malware, and the deluge was ready to start, articles full of PC schandenfreude.

Next up several writers read a little more closely and realized that Apple had just updated an old advisory with the new versions of the anti-virus programs — and then the Mac-faithful counterattack was launched — along the lines of “of course Macs can’t have viruses — OS X is too secure”.

Well maybe Apple didn’t issue a new advisory, but eventually it will happen. There will be malware on Macs. Mac users represent an increasing audience to monetary-incented malware authors and just too good a target to the rest.

For me, this is not schandenfreude, I’m writing this on a Mac (with no anti-virus running).

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Probably just as well a wake-up call clangs every so often.  Last week it did in the form of a new Trojan and a new “backdoor tool” aimed at Mac users.

Here’s what ZDnet News says about the Trojan:

The Trojan — called ‘OSX.RSPlug.D’ by Intego, the Mac security specialist that discovered the threat — is a variant on an older piece of malicious code but with a new installer, Intego said.

“It is a downloader, and it contacts a remote server to download the files it installs,” Intego said in an advisory. “This means that, in the future, the downloader may be able to install payloads [other] than the one it currently installs.”

In other respects the Trojan is similar to previous versions of RSPlug, which first surfaced in October 2007, Intego said. It installs a piece of malicious code known as DNSChanger, which routes the user’s internet traffic through a malicious DNS server, leading users to phishing websites or pages displaying advertisements.

The Trojan is found on porn websites posing as a codec needed to play video files, a technique used to trick the user into downloading and installing it.

While the threat from this Trojan is not great (and besides you probably need to be digging around low budget porn sites to have the chance to be contaminated – naughty, naughty).  It’s good for users to remember that as the Mac platform gets more popular, it will eventually catch the eye of the real virus authors and then chaos.

Image by ibuzzo via Flickr

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