Researchers identify command servers behind Google attack

Stay Classy China !!

So, was it Adobe Reader, or Internet Explorer? MS seems to think it was Internet Explorer...

It was primarily an exploitation of code in Adobe Reader, this vulnerable code we have been advised of many times this past year. Now MS is announcing to PC users a request to update their Adobe products and the objective is to remove the vulnerable computers from the feed occurring.

Adobe Reader 0-Day Critical Vulnerability Exploited in the Wild

New BackDoor Attacks Using PDF Documents Feb. 2009

Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 zero day exploited in the wild ZDNet Feb. 20 2009

Also XP SP2 editions with Adobe Reader included have special vulnerability to "zero-day" attacks and warnings have been issues many time s over the last year too.

Just last night a customer called for service and description fits this scenario, I advised them not do use the unsupported products nor P2P social networking but of course it's their equipment.

So, it was Adobe reader attached to Internet Explorer...Good. I am using a non-Adobe pdf viewer with Firefox. I wonder if that makes me any safer? Or does my security lie in the fact that I don't really have anything that anyone else wants?

Having an Internet connection means your computer is valueable to cyber-criminals, checkout this neat small program -- RUBotted

Here's a proper link RUbotted

6.2mb isn't small, no way to tell if it's malware, being an exe. & it installs a icon on the taskbar, which I hate...even freeware should give you the option of where & how it installs... still says I don't have any botware

I've been using the foxit reader which actually seems to convert to text better than adobe. the controls are certainly much easier to use, The install lets you opt out of all the stuff you may not want

Any suggestions for a flash player substitute?

adobe isn't our friend, unless you like bloatware

I didn't provide a link because some are so skittish of their security they would prefer to initiate on their end.

It's small enough for the price

Flash alternatives; try here http://osflash.org/open_source_flash_projects

I can find them [flash readers]

I was hoping for a recommendation from some one who actually uses one, like CW

I tried a bunch of different PDF readers before going with foxit.

adobe & windows are not our friends when it come to bloat & security

"Or does my security lie in the fact that I don't really have anything that anyone else wants?"

What about the computer itself? A computer that can be made into a zombie right under your nose and you wouldn't be any the wiser for it? Zombies are invaluable in the right hands. Just a few 'for instance's: your computer as a relay in an anonymizer network whose purpose is to veil the true source(s) of malware and other 'payloads' from government & law enforcement agencies.

As a 'sleeper' awaiting orders, possibly to participate in a future mass DoS attack against critical national, financial and/or military assets. Professional hackers routinely build armies of zombies numbering in the hundreds of thousands and sometimes into the millions, and lease these mercernary armies, in whole or in part, to the highest bidder.

Bidders like China.

You have a computer and an Internet connection. As long as your computer is turned on and has a live connection to the Internet, someone out there wants it. Trust me.

No, don't trust me. You have no idea who I am.

What a surprise!

We have seen here on CR4 the Chinese Government at work last year!!!

Politically incorrect or not, I don't like Red China, I don't trust Red China, I try not to buy things made in China, their government is evil, wicked, mean & nasty. Their government fears its own people. The smiling dragon is showing its fangs & claws!

My feelings too. The letters "PC" stand for me only for "Personal Computer".....

I have friends who won't shop at Walmart -- the China factor just being one of the reasons. But please realize that it has been the move toward "globalization" that has spawned so many of our problems. It might have even been non-evil intent on political leadership's part (although that's a big stretch -- money and/or power are usually the motives) but the repercussions have been devastating.

My comments may seem oblique to the posted article link, yet a case can be made that had we not surrendered so much of our knowledge (via university educations for foreign students who then return to live in their country) AND THEN also gave away our manufacturing jobs to other countries, China may not have the capabilities to even do this sort of thing. To qualify this a bit, most of the Chinese people I've met and worked with do not seem to have nefarious motives. But the psyche is definitely different -- especially from a governing perspective. The Chinese government recently EXECUTED a Brit who was convicted of bringing heroin into the country.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8433285.stm

Regarding the original subject matter: Is this how China repays Google for Google succumbing to China's demands to limit searches from within China? But who knows what cyber-warfare is going on from all sides? Do I think we engage in similar activities? Of course. And we are so proud that we sit atop the evolutionary tree?? Shame on us.

The Brit was stupid and a criminal. He was so stupid he seemingly did not know it was a "Topping" offence in China......

I am also a Brit, I have no sympathy for someone smuggling drugs....here or there....

In Britain he would have cost the taxpayer millions of pounds to house and feed over the next 50 years or so......

Not to mention the Chinese have a long historical hatred of Brits bringing drugs into their country...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars

How true!!

I had completely forgotten!!!

An interesting point. When we were in China, our tour guide knew all about the Opium Wars, but he had never heard about the Boxer Rebellion. This occured in early 1900s when the Chinese decided to get rid of the "foreign devils" in their country. It ended up with several nations sending troops into China including the US, UK, Italy, Japan, and several others, to protect their people in China. This lasted until the 2nd world war broke out.

Bill

they get it

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01082010/watch.html

We also need to place some of the blame on all of us that buy anything made in or by the Chinese. I still don't believe there is anything we really truly need from them. And I and my family go out of our way to NOT buy anything made in China whenever possible.

Amen!

The U.S. is in the difficult position of "riding the tiger". China owns so much of the U.S. government's free-spending generated debt that any effective boycott of Chinese exports will bounce right back into a major financial problem for the U.S. We have met the enemy and he is us.

Why? I don't see the connection......We are only talking about the exports to Europe and the USA, not buildings/businesses within the USA...

Bah! Same old, same old ...

Countries out to modernize their industries, especially the East Asians, have done this often enough already.

The classic approach: raise tariff walls to protect domestic industry; steal/retro-engineer existing technology; educate a workforce; subsidize industry and R&D; figure out a way to make some things better, cheaper, or faster to manufacture (e.g., shipbuilding in S. Korea); lower tariff walls and join the fight.

Japan and South Korea are examples of this, and it worked just great for them. For that matter, Europeans and Americans did that for the longest time, too.

The difference between then and now is that industrial spying can be done electronically now. It still has to be fought, but one has to keep things in perspective.

That being said ... the West's nuclear forces ought to have their 'paperwork' all stored in locked filing cabinets a mile underground, etc.; and typewriters only, no computers!

Cheers! DZ