Ars Technica is reporting that there was a significant increase in exploitation attacks over the weekend on a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, including the most recent version, IE9. What’s very unusual is that this vulnerability appears to occur in all major versions of Microsoft’s OS, including Windows XP, Vista and 7, and and uses the Adobe Flash Player plugin to gain a foothold on a user’s computer. This exploit has been able to circumvent most commercial anti-virus and anti-malware programs in use currently.
What this means to you:
On an Apple computer like an iMac or MacBook? Nothing you need to worry about – this exploit only affects Windows-based computers.
For all Windows users: Until Microsoft admits to, and then patches this vulnerability (so far they haven’t responded), and until the major anti-malware manufacturers like McAfee, Symantec, etc. can successfully detect and protect against this exploit, using any version of Internet Explorer will come with increased risk, especially if you surf to unknown or undocumented sites (ie. follow a link sent by a friend or co-worker, without knowing whether the link is legitimate). If it’s possible, I would recommend installing and using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, at least until MS can patch this vulnerability.
At minimum:
- Make sure your computer has a working anti-virus program installed, updated and running.
- Avoid browsing websites with which you are unfamiliar.
- Stay alert for unusual behavior on your computer, such as sluggish performance, unusual pop-up windows and inability to surf to websites, specifically anti-virus websites and the alternate browser sites that I linked above.
Keep in mind, if your computer is managed by an IT department, using a browser other than IE may not be allowed, or, if it is allowed, Chrome and/or Firefox may not work with some of your company’s web applications, as many are designed and tested to work with IE only.
Apple announced their much anticipated iPhone 5 smartphone today, confirming that it was indeed the same design as has been appearing in leaked photos throughout the run-up to today’s launch. It goes on pre-sale via the Apple store on September 15, 2012, starting at $199 for the 16GB model, up to $399 for the 64GB version, most likely with a 1 or 2 year contract. Pre-orders will ship the following Friday, September 22.
What This Means to You:
The new iPhone 5 is lighter, thinner and larger than the previous model, the iPhone 4s, (which will now be available for the discounted price of $99). It has a faster CPU, a larger screen (with numerous technical improvements), a better front and back camera, but most importantly, it has a new hardware connector, dubbed “Lightning” that is 80% smaller than the current 40-pin connector that has been in use for years.
It’s probable that the larger case manufacturers have had early access to prototypes of the new iPhone, so you can expect at least a handful of cases will be available for purchase around the time the iPhone 5 ships, but Apple doesn’t anticipate Lightning-compatible accessories to be available until Christmas 2012. Until then, an adapter is available that will allow you to connect iPhone 5’s to “legacy” 40-pin accessories. Keep in mind that the adapter by itself will probably render dock-style accessories unusable with an iPhone 5, as it looks rather large and flimsy.
(Image courtesy of www.gdgt.com)
Once the darling of the business world, RIM’s BlackBerry phone platform has seen a continous erosion of its dominance in the corporate world since Apple’s iPhone first arrived on the scene in 2007. Two recent articles in PC World and CNET underline RIM’s continuing struggle to remain relevant in an iPhone/Android world.
According to those that have seen it, RIM’s impending release of version 10 of the BlackBerry OS will put the company’s phones on par with its competition, but at the cost of incompatibility with the existing Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) infrastructure installed in just about every business that supports them.
On top of this huge stumbling block, retailers are pulling back their commitments to BlackBerries, according to one analyst, signaling a general lack of confidence in the strength of the platform and brand.
What this means for you:
If your company has standardized on BlackBerries for its employees and you have a decent investment in technology and resources to support it, you should have nothing to worry about in the short term, but should closely evaluate future spending to support this platform. Your 2-5 year plan should look into expanding your communication network to include the other smartphone platforms, if they aren’t already in use in your enterprise. The BlackBerry platform still has numerous strengths, mostly in the area of asset managment, security and reliability, but the older devices lack modern appeal and versatility. Today’s modern employee, especially the younger generations, view their phones as an extension of both their professional and personal lives, and the continued lack of innovation on the platform has eroded their credibility, utility and appeal across the board.
While it’s possible that RIM may work a miracle and come back from the brink of extinction, I rate their chances as highly unlikely.
Numerous sources are reporting that web services provider GoDaddy.com is currently suffering from a severe, widespread outage of its DNS and webhosting services, crippling thousands of its customers’ websites. GoDaddy’s website and phone support are also unavailable. Though GoDaddy is not commenting on the reason for the outage, responsibility for the outage is being claimed by hacker “Own3r” who is allegedly the Security Leader of the infamous hacktivist group “Anonymous“.
#tangodown godaddy.com by @anonymousown3r
— Anonymous Own3r (@AnonymousOwn3r) September 10, 2012
What this means to you:
GoDaddy is one of the world’s largest domain registrars, and by default, also one of the largest DNS providers as well. The easiest way to explain DNS is to liken it to a directory that matches the domain name (e.g. “c2techs.net”) with that website’s actual IP address (eg. “76.89.143.130”). Whenever you type a domain name into your browser, you are actually reaching out to that domain’s “name server” (hence “DNS”) so that your browser knows where to find the webserver that serves pages for that particular domain name.
Even if your site isn’t hosted by GoDaddy, if the above attack has taken GoDaddy’s DNS servers offline, your site is still unreachable unless the browser (or the human behind it) knows the IP address of your domain name and uses that instead.
What can you do about it:
While their service is down, not a whole lot. Once they come back online, you can transfer any GoDaddy services to any number of other providers. I use Hover.com and have been very happy with their simple and low-key approach. If you’ve registered domains with GoDaddy, then you are more than capable of handling the transfer process, especially if you start the transfer from Hover.com, but there are a few gotchas here and there that may complicate the process. Website transfers are a bit more complex, and unless you are an accomplished website administrator, I’d suggest you contact us for help. C2 Technology provides a full complement of web services including domain registration, website design and hosting.