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Eye on Security: News Failure, Windows Malware Detection Failure

Killer Chihuahua



Summary: A few news items about security

First human 'infected with computer virus' (another stupid article from the MSBBC, but other news sites fell for it too)

Captain Cyborg Has A Virus-Infected Sidekick... But Nothing Can Stop A PR Campaign (rebutting the above)

The story is -- as with all captain cyborg stories -- a lot less than the headline suggests. Gasson wasn't "infected with a computer virus." He took a chip that had a computer virus and stuck it in his arm, just like Warwick has done n the past. The parallels to an actual virus are minimal, and the usefulness for anything is even less than that. Gasson presents this as useful for considering the implications for implanted technology such as pacemakers, but that's nothing new. People have talked about potential technology issues from the wireless interface to pacemakers for years. Doing some sort of publicity stunt with an implanted computer chip doesn't further that discussion along.


Alleged $100M scareware sellers facing charges (Windows only)

Three men are facing federal fraud charges for allegedly raking in more than US$100 million while running an illegal "scareware" business that tricked victims into installing bogus software.


Sality, the virus that turned into the ultimate malware

From an analysis performed with a “rogue P2P client” coded to become part of the malicious network, Symantec has determined that the Sality botnet covers something like 100.000 computers. It’s a bots figure below the one achieved by giants like Conficker but similar in size to other botnets as Storm, Pandex and Rustock. What remains clear is the demonstration of Sality’s unique threat, a malware floating around since seven years that shows no intention to quickly disappear from the net.


Recent Techrights' Posts

Let Them Eat 'Apps'
Go Appless
Linux Runs Almost Everything, But They Almost Never Tell You This (No Marketing Budget)
Only about 1% (or at most 2%) of the Linux Foundation's budget goes towards Linux; a lot is routed towards Bill Gates and Microsoft promotion
Free Software Community Folks Are Closer Together Than the Cliques and Opportunists Rallying Around "Open Source" (Openwashing, Marketing, Conniving)
Generally speaking, freedom-loving geeks learn to reject morbid elements and trolls, who end up expelled
Growing Poverty Rates in the United States of America (or Elsewhere) Beneficial to GNU/Linux Adoption
Toxic politics around the world, including the US, may mean weaker economies
European Patent Office (EPO) Illegally Turning to Slop Behind Closed Doors, Staff Objects to This Hidden Catastrophe
Who stands to gain from all this and at whose expense?
After US Government Funding Cuts the Centralisation of the Web (Especially Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt) is at Risk
They try to pull the plug on open protocols with decent encryption available (unless it is outsourced to third parties)
When Microsoft Folks Who Literally Strangle Women Try to Strangle Microsoft Critics
Speaking to Court staff yesterday, they too are shocked about those SLAPPs
Martinique: Windows Down to All-Time Low
we cannot expect Windows to ever recover
 
Links 25/03/2025: Clownflare’s Slop and Bounties on Fake Patents
Links for the day
Links 25/03/2025: Terrace Workbench and Spellcheck in LibreOffice on FreeBSD
Links for the day
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) Might Get 'Forked' Soon
Someone who read our series has already taken a leading role
IBM Layoffs in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2025
Should Free software people trust such a secretive company?
Roku Will 'Lead' Attempts to Abolish the Illegal and Unconstitutional Unified Patent Court (UPC), Which Represents EPO Corruption and Lobbyism Spreading Upwards Inside the EU
When bribery buys policies and courts, even illegal policies and courts
Gemini Links 25/03/2025: Relaxation, Literary "Movements", and Gemini Mentions
Links for the day
Links 25/03/2025: Putin Sends Children to Battle, 23andMe Drowns as People's Highly Personal DNA Data Floats
Links for the day
Anticipated in 2018: Lilie James & Location tracking, Googlists complained
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 24, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, March 24, 2025
IBM (and Red Hat) on a Fast Train to Nowhere
What is the future of Fedora when IBM keeps removing its leadership?
Press Reports Say Almost 10,000 Western IBMers Laid Off
We've been trying to verify/corroborate this somehow
Gemini Links 24/03/2025: "Live Off the Land" and Life Without YouTube
Links for the day
Planet Ubuntu (or Ubuntu Planet) is LLM Slop
Reading chatbots' output is bad use of time
Days Ago yewtu.be Found a Workaround That Made Invidious Work Again. Then Google Broke All the Instances (Again).
"Youtube changed something again, so if a video does not play, it's because of that."
The European Patent Office (EPO) is Slowly Killing Its Own Staff; All It Cares About Is Money
The Office hasn't been run by a scientist for about 18 years already
Links 24/03/2025: US Detaining Innocent People, F-35 Contracts Suspended Due to Hostilities
Links for the day
Cellphones (Mobile Phones) in Classrooms
A recent study confirmed that people's intelligence has dropped in recent years/decades
Is the FSF Being 'Trolled' by Microsofters Pushing C# (Microsoft)?
Who stands to benefit from training people to use and spread Microsoft?
Matthew J. Garrett is "Former Microsoft Researcher", According to Microsoft's Serial Strangler
Their argument is something along the lines of, "what Roy published damaged my career prospects, so I want Roy to pay me...
Links 24/03/2025: Political Catchup and Environmental Concerns
Links for the day
Windows Has Now Fallen to Rather Ridiculous 3% "Market Share" in Iraq (Windows Was Measured at 100% Back in 2010)
Iraq is not a place where Windows can make a comeback
Gemini Links 24/03/2025: Working With Music and Unconscious Influence
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 23, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, March 23, 2025
Critics of IBM's Strategy Aren't Racists, But...
the situation is saddening as it serves to obscure the severity of the problem
Mauritania: Windows Falls to All-Time Low of 6% (It Used to be Over 99%)
Windows is 0% in mobile
New USPTO Memo Makes Fighting Patent Trolls Even Harder
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) just made a move that will protect bad patents at the expense of everyone else
Outline of Open Source Initiative Coverage to Come (Now That Consensus is Changing)
Policing Wikipedia and attacking critics is not a sustainable strategy
An "EU OS" Would Need European Components
There are many European (or Europe-led) distros of GNU/Linux. EU OS developers ought to look at those.
Gemini Links 23/03/2025: "Connor of the Cats" and CSS Naked Day
Links for the day
Links 22/03/2025: Science and Antoine Beaupré on "Losing the War for the Free Internet"
Links for the day
We Probably Served Close to 100 Million Gemini Requests
Many of these requests probably came from bots, but it's hard to distinguish (to block them) ... This coming summer Gemini Protocol will turn 6
Just Because Microsoft Resents Techrights Doesn't Mean SLAPPs Will Silence Techrights
To confront lies the best solution is to speak truth
Windows at New Low Levels in Madagascar (Population About 33 Million)
Madagascar does not need Microsoft
Slop Images Are Bad Optics, Including for Perl.org
Slop devalues one's genuine work
What Happened to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) Elections: Proprietary Software Companies in Control, the Scandals Cannot be Hidden Anymore
We'll talk about it later this month and next month
Slopwatch: Fake News About Security Using LLMs That Make Fake 'Articles' About "Linux" (With Slop for Images)
This cannot end well
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 22, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, March 22, 2025