Hundreds of thousands of Web sites - including several at the United Nations and in the U.K. government -- have been hacked recently and seeded with code that tries to exploit security flaws in Microsoft Windows to install malicious software on visitors' machines.

The attackers appear to be breaking into the sites with the help of a security vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS) Web servers. In an alert issued last week, Microsoft said it was investigating reports of an unpatched flaw in IIS servers, but at the time it noted that it wasn't aware of anyone trying to exploit that particular weakness.

On Thursday, Spanish anti-virus vendor Panda Security said that it had alerted Microsoft that a flaw IIS was the cause of all the break-ins. When I asked Microsoft whether they'd heard from Panda or if the hundreds of thousands of sites were hacked from a patched or unpatched flaw in IIS, a spokesman for the company didn't offer much more information.

"Microsoft is currently aware of and is receiving reports regarding public claims of attacks on IIS Web servers," said Bill Sisk, a security response manager at Microsoft, in a statement e-mailed to Security Fix. "While we have not be [sic] contacted directly regarding these reports, we will continue to monitor all reports either publically [sic] shared or responsibly disclosed and investigate once sufficient details are provided. We have not yet determined whether or not these reports are related to Microsoft Security Advisory (951306) released last week."

According to Finnish anti-virus maker F-Secure, the number of hacked Web pages serving up malicious software from this attack may be closer to half a million.

Dancho Danchev, an independent security analyst, has a decent write-up on signs that Web site owners can look for to tell whether their site has been hit by this attack. Danchev said all of the hacked sites appear to have Javascript coding adding to their page source that silently pulls down malware from a few domains in China, namely nihaorr1.com, and haoliuliang.net.

Needless to say, if you run a Google search for these sites you will find tens of thousands that contain the script that redirects any visitors to these malicious sites. I would strongly urge people to steer clear of those sites: I mention them here so that Web site owners can more easily search the HTML code in their pages for these domains.

There are indications that this attack is coming in waves, with the bad guys swapping in new malicious downloader sites every few days. According to posts on an IIS user forum, Web site administrators first saw signs of this attack on April 17, the day before Microsoft issued its initial advisory on the IIS vulnerability.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Brief Description
Installing this update enables your computer to automatically adjust the computer clock on the correct date in 2007 and 2008 due to revised Daylight Saving Time laws in many countries.

Overview
Installing this update enables your computer to automatically adjust the computer clock on the correct date in 2007 and 2008 due to revised Daylight Saving Time laws in many countries. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

System Requirements
Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP Service Pack 2; Windows XP Service Pack 3

Although it was released to manufacturing on April 21, 2008, the third and last service pack for Windows XP has yet to make it to end users. Despite this, Microsoft has already made available the first update tailored on XP SP3.

Update for Windows XP (KB942763) is designed to integrate with both Windows XP SP2 and SP3, and to tweak the Daylight Saving Time settings on the operating systems. Microsoft released KB942763 on the same day it RTM'd XP SP3, in an effort to correlate automatically the computer clock with the correct date in 2008, following the changes introduced via Daylight Saving Time laws in markets around the world.

"The update changes the time zone data to accommodate daylight saving time (DST) changes in several countries. This update also includes other DST-related changes, time zone-related changes, and settings-related changes. This is a cumulative update rollup that includes all the changes that were previously released in Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) articles 928388, 929120, and 933360," Microsoft revealed.

Similar updates have been released for a range of operating systems in addition to XP SP2 and SP3, including Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs, Windows Embedded for Point of Service, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003. Neither Windows Vista SP1 nor Windows Server 2008 have anything to do with KB942763. The Redmond company is offering additional information related to the time changes affecting its products via the Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center.

"When you apply this update, you may receive the following message: 'Update cannot be installed as a newer or same time zone update has already been installed on the system.' This message indicates that you have already applied the correct update or that Windows Updates or Microsoft Update has automatically installed this update. No additional action is required to update the Windows operating system software," Microsoft added.

 

 

 

 

 

Concerned that customers are confusing the impending end of Windows XP retail availability with the end of support, Microsoft Corp. has reminded users that the aged operating system will be supported until early April 2014.

Jared Proudfoot, a manager in Microsoft's support life cycle group, reiterated the final support dates for Windows XP in a post to a company blog.

"Recently, there have been a number of posts in the blogosphere about Windows XP and the upcoming end of direct OEM and retail license availability," said Proudfoot. "Some people are interpreting this as the end of support for Windows XP."

Not so, Proudfoot said. Windows XP will remain in what Microsoft calls "mainstream support" to April 14, 2009, and continue in "extended support" though April 8, 2014, he added. The former delivers free fixes -- for both security patches and other bug fixes -- to everyone. During the latter, all users receive security updates, but nonsecurity hot fixes are given only to companies that have signed support contracts with Microsoft.

Those are not new dates, Proudfoot reminded customers last week. In early 2007, for instance, Microsoft extended support for Windows XP  Home and XP Media Center to the 2009 and 2014 dates to match those already set for Windows XP Professional.

Proudfoot reminded customers that the support timelines -- nearly 13 years altogether from the 2001 launch of the operating system to the 2014 drop-dead date for extended support -- are not the run-of-the-mill. "Supporting products for this length of time is not something that is typical in the software industry," he said. Normally, Microsoft supports a product for 10 years: the first five as mainstream, the second five as extended.

Although Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer seemed to say last week that the company might reconsider the decision to end retail and large computer-maker availability of XP on June 30, the company later reconfirmed the date as its current plan.

Some resellers, however, have announced that they will factory-install XP Professional on new machines after June 30 by taking advantage of Windows Vista's "downgrade" rights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Get Ready for the Slipstream - Integrated Windows XP SP3 RTM Disks

 

Following its natural course of evolution, after being released to manufacturing on April 21, 2008, Windows XP Service Pack 3 began shipping to Microsoft's OEM partners, and subsequently to MSDN and TechNet subscribers.

The standalone update package for Windows XP SP3, featuring all the languages supported by Vista's successor, can be accessed through the Top Downloads section on both MSDN and TechNet, according to Chris Keroack, Release Manager, Windows Serviceability. But, at the same time, Microsoft is working to make the slipstream (fully integrated) Windows XP SP3 RTM disks available for download.

"I noticed that Windows XP SP3 is now on the TechNet subscriber download area. To the best of my knowledge, the bits are being provided to TechNet and MSDN subscribers ahead of just about everyone else this time around. This is a direct result of your feedback during the Windows Vista SP1 rollout or lack thereof. For the moment it's the patch for existing systems. I'll see if I can find out when the fully integrated Windows XP disks might be posted," stated Keith Combs, Microsoft IT Pro Evangelist.

MSDN and TechNet subscribers, despite the general rule that their subscriptions provided access in advance to the latest releases from the Redmond company, were initially scheduled to receive the gold bits of XP SP3 after the general public, on May 2. In this context, Keroack informed that the slipstream version of XP SP3 would be offered to MSDN and TechNet subscribers in early May.

"As MSDN/TechNet subscribers, we highly value your feedback regarding Windows XP SP3 availability and one of our top priorities is responding to your requests for Windows XP SP3 bits as quickly as we can. Over the last few days, the team here worked with our bandwidth and system partners to come up with solutions to make Windows XP SP3 available to you as soon as possible. We still plan to begin rolling out the integrated build for Windows XP SP3 during the first week of May. We value your support and enthusiasm, and will continue to listen to your feedback as we deliver the MSDN Subscription service," Keroack promised.

 

 

 

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 NOT ON THERE WESITE FOR DOWN YET AS OF 7:43am GMT UK TIME 25TH APRIL 2008 BE THE 1ST TO DOWNLOAD AT THIS WEBSPACE

 

Yesterday, Grisoft announced that a new version of AVG Antivirus Free would be released today, April 24, that was supposed to come with several new functions beside the ones already included in the application

 

 

 

 

1ST THIS IS THE SOFTWARE 1ST YOU NEED IF YOU DOWNLOAD FROM THIS LINK

IF YOU HAVE A TORRENT DOWNLOADER YOUR OK GO TO THE LINK BELOW AND JUST DOWNLOAD

 

 

 

 

 

Microsoft Corp. on 22nd April Tuesday afternoon said it was delaying delivery of Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to paying subscribers of its IT and developer networks because it had given Windows Vista SP1 higher priority.

Not long before midnight, however, subscribers of both TechNet and Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) reported that the service pack had appeared unannounced on the networks.

"To meet high customer demand for Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), we have optimized available bandwidth and prioritized MSDN/TechNet delivery channels for Windows Vista SP1 downloads in all Windows languages," the company said in an e-mailed statement when asked earlier to explain why it was not offering subscribers the finished Windows XP Service Pack.

"Once we have satisfied this demand, we will roll out Windows XP SP3 via MSDN/TechNet," the statement continued.

Yesterday, Microsoft announced that it had finished Windows XP SP3 and would post the upgrade on Windows Update and its online download site on April 29. Subscribers to the TechNet and MSDN services, however, were told it wouldn't be available for download until sometime "within the next month." Today, Microsoft confirmed that SP3 would be added to the TechNet and MSDN download lists on May 2.

Meanwhile, the delay did not sit well with some TechNet and MSDN subscribers, who took Microsoft to the woodshed over the move. In messages posted to the TechNet support forum, many compared the situation to a February incident when Microsoft refused to let subscribers download Vista SP1, but under pressure, reversed that decision about two weeks later.

Users on the support forum were skeptical of Microsoft's reason for the delay. "Microsoft ... your [sic] one of the biggest companies in the world, and you cannot supply the bandwidth and other network resources, to accommodate your loyal subscribers?" asked a user identified as Happy Tom.

"Time for Microsoft to look at other ways to deploy updates to its paying customers then if it can't handle the load," said another user called OilerNut.

Earlier Tuesday, TechNet subscribers griped that although they could not download XP SP3, the release to manufacturing (RTM) build had already found its way onto pirated software sites. "Congratulations Microsoft, RTM finally found [its] way to the Torrent sites," said Torrentzer. "And our MSDN subscription will definitely run out this year without any renewal."

"Sad when Torrent sites get it before legitimate TechNet subscribers do," said GlassVial. "I honestly don't see the point in renewing my TechNet when it comes due if I can get something via Torrent before I can get it here."

In fact, BitTorrent search sites such as The Pirate Bay now list the RTM build, marked as 5512, for download.

The point became moot late Tuesday when Microsoft unexpectedly added Windows XP SP3 to the TechNet and MSDN download lists, subscribers reported. "I'm downloading the XP SP3 ISO which has just been added to the list!" said jstewart, one of the first to post the news to the TechNet forum, in a message time-stamped 10:10 p.m. Eastern time.

"Nice!!! It's on MSDN as well!" said Brooks around 10:40 p.m. Eastern.

Microsoft was not available late Tuesday to explain what caused the change of heart.

 

Microsoft reverses, posts XP SP3 to TechNet, MSDN

 

But only after it said it would delay XP because Vista SP1 gets priority

 

 

SAID IT NOW - ALL SAID N DONE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Your idea to reverse-engineer the human brain seems pretty far out. Until recently, we haven't had the tools to scan the brain with sufficient resolution. But there are five or six new scanning technologies. For the first time, we can see the brain creating our thoughts.
The amount of data we are gathering about the brain is doubling every year. As we get the data from particular regions, we can rather rapidly create detailed mathematical models of them. It's a conservative expectation that we will have a very accurate detailed simulation of all the regions of the brain by the late 2020s.
Ten quadrillion [10¹⁶] calculations per second is sufficient to emulate all the regions of the brain. Japan just announced two supercomputers that will achieve that by 2010.
The question arises, Are we intelligent enough to understand our own intelligence? Maybe that's a feature of complex systems -- they can't be so complex as to understand themselves. But it turns out that's not the case.
But why re-create the brain in software when we already have it in wetware? It's going to be very powerful, because we'll be able to combine what currently are advantages of human intelligence, particularly our pattern recognition, with ways in which machines are already demonstrably superior.
What's the future of the computer itself? Once we get past Moore's Law, we'll use 3-D molecular computing. [In the late 2040s], one cubic inch of nanotube circuitry will be 100 million times more powerful than the human brain. On the software side, machines [in the 2030s] will be able to access their own source code and improve it via an ever-accelerating, iterative design cycle. So ultimately, these systems will be vastly more intelligent than humans and will combine the advantages of biological and nonbiological intelligence. I don't see this as an alien invasion of intelligent machines; this is emerging from within our civilization.
Well before that, computation will be a worldwide mesh of computing elements, and anytime you want, you'll be able to, for example, access 1 million computers for 400 milliseconds.
Early in the next decade, images will be written directly to our retinas. How can you make screens really tiny but big at the same time? Put them in your eyeglasses and beam images directly to the retina.
What do you mean when you say computers will "disappear"? They'll make their way into our clothing and into the environment, and they'll be very tiny. We'll also move away from the idea that the computers we use are spokes into a network but not part of the network, to where every device will be a node on the network, meaning that not only will you be sending and receiving your own messages, you'll be passing on other people's messages. It will be continually self-organizing, so that all communication links will be continuously finding the most efficient path.
And what do you mean when you say people will "merge" with their technology? We'll be able to put intelligent machines -- nanobots -- into the bloodstream. By the late 2020s, these devices will have significant computing, communications and robotic abilities. Nanobotic white blood cells could download software for a particular pathogen and destroy it in a matter of seconds, compared with hours for our biological white blood cells. And you could have billions of nanobots go into the brain through the capillaries. [They] will enhance our cognitive functions and really expand human intelligence.
We will be able to go beyond the limits of biology and replace your current "human body Version 1.0" with a dramatically upgraded Version 2.0, providing radical extension of life.

What will Version 2.0 be able to do that we can't do today? One scenario would be virtual reality from within the nervous system. Nanobots could shut down the signals coming from your own senses and substitute the signals you would be receiving if you were in the virtual environment. You can move your virtual body in the virtual environment, and this will incorporate all five of the senses as well as neurological correlates of your emotions. You can go there with another person for any kind of encounter. And you can have archival experiences.
So will the importance of our biological intelligence diminish? The nonbiological portion will grow [by a factor] of 1,000 per decade, and the biological portion will ultimately be very insignificant. People look at this and they are alarmed, because they think, I'm going to become a machine. But they are thinking of the machines they know today, which are very crude machines.
What's the future of the IT professional? The good news is IT is going to become more and more important. Ultimately, everything of importance will be comprised of IT. There's a trend toward specialization, so what IT people can do is to try to get professionals in a number of highly specialized pursuits to be able to communicate with each other and have their computer systems communicate with one another.
Are their any downsides to all of this? I'm very concerned about the downsides. We have existential risks already -- the potential to wipe out all of humanity with nuclear weapons. But now we have new existential risks -- the ability to design biological viruses. The tools and knowledge to do this are far more widespread than the tools and knowledge to create an atomic bomb, and the impact could be far worse. In my book, I said the last thing we'd want to do is put the genome of dangerous viruses on the Web, but that's exactly what the Department of Health and Human Services has just done with the 1918 flu virus.
What's really, really far out? In the 22nd century, we will have saturated the ability of matter and energy in and around the Earth to support computational processes, and intelligent computation will spread out to the rest of the universe. Whether this spread to the rest of the universe happens quickly (another century or so) or slowly (billions of years) depends on whether or not we can circumvent the speed of light as a limit on the communication of information. I believe it is likely that we can