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If you are coming here for help with a computer problem then you need to post your issues in the forums. The forums can be accessed by clicking forums at the top navigation bar or clicking HERE.

Find the appropriate section then click "Start New Topic" button to start your post within that section.

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The Hartford Insurance Company was Hacked

Hackers have broken into The Hartford insurance company and installed password-stealing programs on several of the company’s Windows servers.

In a warning letter sent last month to about 300 employees, contractors, and a handful of customers, the company said it discovered the infection in late February. Several servers were hit, including Citrix servers used by employees for remote access to IT systems. A copy of The Hartford’s letter was posted earlier this week to the website of the Office of the New Hampshire Attorney General.

Qakbot has been around for about two years. Once installed it spreads from computer to computer in the network, taking steps to cover its tracks as it logs sensitive data and opens up back doors for the hackers to access the network.

With 28,000 employees worldwide, the 200-year-old Hartford, Connecticut, firm is one of the country’s largest insurance companies.

The Hartford’s letters are going out to “users who logged onto an infected server (either through a Citrix session or support purposes)” between Feb. 22 and Feb. 28, 2011, The Hartford said in its letter.

“We do know that the virus has the potential to capture confidential data such as bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, user accounts/logins, passwords, and credit card numbers,” the letter states.

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Samsung confirms their laptops don

Wednesday security consultant's at network world claimed to have found evidence that Samsung was pre-installing a special keylogging program called StarLogger on brand new laptops. A well known tool in the hacker world, keyloggers do exactly what their name implies -- they log every keystroke a user makes, including passwords. More sophisticated versions can even email that information daily or hourly.

After the claims, Samsung's tech support had some confusion about the issue, which raised concerns through the computer industry overnight.

Today is a different story. Samsung has completely debunked those claims with evidence in their blog which can be found http://www.samsungtomorrow.com/1071

Samsung has issued a statement saying that the finding is false. The statement says the software used to detect the keylogger, VIPRE, can be fooled by Microsoft's Live Application multi-language support folder. This has been confirmed at F-Secure and two other publications.

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Tablets Straining Nation's Wi-Fi

The recent explosion of smart-phones and tablets has been a huge boom for electronics makers like Apple, but some technology experts say all that communicating on those devices is putting a big strain on the nation's Wi-Fi computer networks.

Consumers are expected to snatch up 24 million iPad 2's this year, leading the tablet-tech boom that's keeping Americans informed, entertained, and untethered.

"I think people are looking for all the right devices that's connected all the time, that has great battery life, that comes on immediately, it's always on line and can be communicating constantly," says CNET executive editor Molly Wood.

But experts say unlike modern cell phone networks, many Wi-Fi hot spots at locations such as coffee shops and airports can only handle a handful of users at a time. As more people go online, the result can be the wireless equivalent of a traffic jam: everyone trying to use the same road at once and are no one getting anywhere quickly.

It was a problem Steve Jobs himself encountered last year when so many Wi-Fi users at his keynote speech effectively blocked his ability to demonstrate the latest features of the iPhone 4.

"We have all these technology companies pushing wireless gadgets. We need to have an infrastructure to support the use of those gadgets otherwise they're expensive paperweights," said technology analyst Larry Magid.

Tablets made by Apple, Motorola, Samsung and others use a lot of bandwidth, which is limited, and rely on internet access from networks at home, hotels, restaurants, medical centers and schools. But most Wi-Fi networks were built for a relatively small number of laptops -- not for dozens of media-rich, portable devices with video conferencing capabilities that are in continuous use by people who take them everywhere.

Companies like Ruckus Wireless are responding with "smart antennas" designed to improve reliability, and help users maintain their connection when scores of other tablets are in use are in the same area.

Service providers like Comcast and AT&T are also charging users additional fees if they heavily exceed a monthly cap on data. Chip makers are also tackling this overload issue, which is a supply and demand problem that's only expected to grow alongside sales of today's must-have gadgets.



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Avast! 6.0 released: brings automatic virtu...

AVAST Software today announced the release of avast! Free version 6.0, an antivirus solution that's totally free for non-commercial use. This edition includes a protective layer called Script Shield that was previously available only in the Pro edition. It also adds two new features called WebRep and AutoSandbox.

You can download the new 6.0 Avast today from http://www.avast.com...ivirus-download

The new avast! 6.0 will provide no-hassle ‘virtualization’ to all users, giving them even greater security. AutoSandbox is the first time that a free antivirus will offer virtualization technology together with outstanding malware detection.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, January 24, 2011 – AVAST Software is including an array of new technologies in its soon-to-be released avast! 6.0, including virtualization technology for all of its free users.

“AVAST is so committed to free, we are providing all of our users with this virtualization technology for free,” says Ondrej Vlcek, CTO of AVAST Software. “It is not always certain that an item is 100 percent clean but with AutoSandbox virtualization, we’ve created a safe space between the known good and bad content which will make life safer for all avast users – whether they are using our free or paid-for products.”

Virtualization technology enables people to create a ‘virtual’ computer inside their physical machine. If they encounter malware while browsing the internet or running an infected application, the virtual computer will shut down, leaving their real computer unharmed and running. “Most viruses are spread through executable commands and scripts are the entry point. By isolating the binary in a virtual computer, the real machine stays clean,” explains Mr. Vlcek.



AutoSandbox, a free virtualized environment for testing suspicious code, makes virtualization an easy one-click choice. “Virtualization has the potential to significantly increase user safety, but people have been slow to adopt this technology—even when it’s a part of their antivirus package,” says Mr. Vlcek. “AutoSandbox shifts virtualization from being an ‘IT geek’ specialty to an automatic, easily accessible safety feature for all avast users.”

AutoSandbox identifies and prompts users to run suspicious applications in a safe virtual environment. Users have three options: execute the file within the virtual AutoSandbox, run it outside the sandbox, or cancel running the application entirely. “It’s a win-win for users, if the item is dangerous it just shuts down the virtual computer and the user’s real machine remains safe. And, if the item is safe, there is no hassle from a false positive,” adds Mr. Vlcek.

The new feature will be available at no cost to all avast! users – including those with avast! Free Antivirus, Pro Antivirus, and the premium Internet Security suite.

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Zeus Trojan hits ING customers

[indent]A version of the Zeus malware that intercepts one-time passcodes sent by SMS (Short Message Service) is targeting customers of the financial institution ING in Poland.

F-Secure wrote that it appears to be the same style of attack found by the Spanish security company S21sec last September, which marked a disconcerting evolution in Zeus, one of the most advanced banking Trojans designed to steal passwords.

Zeus has changed its tactics, since some banks are now using one-time passcodes sent by SMS to authorize transactions performed on a desktop machine. First, attackers infect a person's desktop or laptop. Then, when that person logs into a financial institution such as ING, it injects HTML fields into the legitimate Web page. [/indent]
The original NetworkWorld.com Article By Jeremy Kirk, February 21, 2011 contains the details.

[comment]As discussed in Methods of Authentication:
One-time token is a password that is random and good for only one session. The next session requires a different token. This avoids any keylogger from capturing and replaying the UserID + Token. The issue is how to securely give the token to the user for that one-time use? Email works as the URL & UserID are not in the email. SMS texting to a cell phone should work if the message could not be intercepted and/or was encrypted (premise is false!). A numeric page to a pager is another possibility.
[/comment]

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VIDEO: Japanese Researches Develop Humanoid Rob...

Computer scientists in Japan are developing a robotic arm, that mimics human movement. They believe the technology will eventually replace the mouse and keyboard, for a 3D interactive experience on future computers.

Tsukuba University's robotic arm can do almost anything a human arm can do.

Two cameras stream real-time video of human gestures to a pair of laptop computers. The laptops process the video signal and send corresponding instructions to the robotic arm so when the human reaches to grab an object, so does the robot.

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Crysis 2 release March 22nd - Leaked Early

Over the weekend, the game appeared on popular torrent websites, where players have since been uploading spoiler-filled gameplay footage to YouTube.

It's unclear at this time how Crysis 2 hit the web nearly two months early, but developer Crytek says the leaked version is a "incomplete build."

Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek, issued a statement this afternoon addressing the leak:

"As you all have heard by now, an early, incomplete build of Crysis 2 has been leaked online. While we are deeply disappointed by these events, we are all completely overwhelmed by the support we have received from you, our community.

Despite this unfortunate incident, we can assure you that PC gaming is very important to us and will always be important to Crytek in the future. We are all still focused on delivering a great gaming experience to our true and honest fans. I hope you will enjoy Crysis 2 on PC, as we think it is our best PC game yet!

We appreciate all of your continued support, and look forward to playing online with you soon!

Thank you,
Cevat Yerli"

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