Security: Hackers & Spammers -- Fixes -- Biofuel

Besides the hackers out of China using some of the addresses from IP blocks that begin with 222 and 61 (if I recall correctly) which I have mentioned in the last couple of weeks, there is must be some in Korea. Watch for hackers from this block.

IP block of addresses:: 211.107.232.0-211.107.232.127
Connect ISP name: KORNET




Mastercard let the cat out of the bag

MasterCard: Only 68,000 cards at high risk -- Accounts among 40 million exposed in security breach

[. . . . ] MasterCard traced the breach to CardSystems [. . . . ]

CardSystems’ chief financial officer, Michael A. Brady, said Friday that his company was “blindsided” by the MasterCard release, adding that his company was told by the FBI not to release any information to the public.

To whose advantage would it be to quckly lay the blame, disregarding or misinterpreting instructions from investigators? The result is that revealing this might compromise the investigation.

Think money and who would be in a position, either because of reputation or because they were involved and desirous of getting a warning out to others, so they would not be caught. Who work on the computer systems?


Check your credit card company regularly for unusual activity. As a rule of thumb, I don't use credit cards online; of course, considering my hatred for shopping, I don't need to. It is still worth considering.




Adobe PDF Patch Plugs Data Leak Threat

blogs.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/ Brian Krebs on Computer Security

According to Adobe, the latest version gets rid of a fairly serious security flaw. By convincing a target to download a specially crafted PDF document, attackers could "discover the existence of local files," -- i.e., read documents on the victim's computer.

[. . . . ] By the way, if you browse the Web using Mozilla's Firefox Web browser and have always had trouble loading PDF documents, you might consider following the advice here to fix the problem.

Search: Archer Daniels Midland Co. , tax subsidy

Scroll down that same page.

Search: "Canada, Australia Echo U.K. Cyber Attack Warnings" and follow the link to Canadian Cyber Incident Response Center.

Search: "Trojan horse" program , custom-made for each target, focusing on individuals who , attacks focusing on Canadian companies




Targeted Trojan E-mail Attacks -- "In particular, data on the size and times of HTTP or TCP port 80 connections"

Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) -- www.ocipep.gc.ca, "Information Note Number: IN05-001", 16 June 2005 -- via Washington Post

The Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre (CCIRC) has received reports of a new e-mail-based technique for spreading Trojan horse programs. Because of the nature of this technique, standard defensive measures such as anti-virus software and firewalls are not completely effective. [. . . . ]

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Brazil biofuel strategy pays off as gas prices soar -- Oil substitutes include sugar cane, corn, soybeans, beets, cornstalks Dan Morgan, Washington Post, June 18, 05

[. . . . ] Efforts to gain wide acceptance in the United States have faced political, economic, and technical obstacles not present in Brazil.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has vowed that his country will become the world's leader in renewable energy. It is already the largest producer and exporter of ethanol, sending half a billion gallons a year to a dozen countries, including the United States. [. . . . ]

Ground corn produces less ethanol than sugar; the tropics have sugar to burn.

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