There appears to be a growing trend in exploitation of online game accounts.

http://www.linuxinsi....html?wlc=1221382448

As massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) such as "World of Warcraft" (WoW) and virtual worlds such as Linden Labs' Second Life continue to attract millions of users, they have also begun to attract cybercriminals, according to a recent report from ESET, a software security vendor.

"Criminals follow the money trail, regardless if it's physical or not," Jeff Debrosse, director of research at ESET, told TechNewsWorld.

The security risk to online gamers has topped ESET's threat list for the past few months and the firm's statistics indicate the problem is growing.

Full Story

Secure websites are vulnerable to a new man-in-the-middle attack that takes advantage of cookies with the secure bit set.

http://www.theregist...ookiemonstor_rampage

Websites used for email, banking, e-commerce and other sensitive applications just got even less secure with the release of a new tool that siphons users' authentication credentials - even when they're sent through supposedly secure channels.

Dubbed CookieMonster, the toolkit is used in a variety of man-in-the-middle scenarios to trick a victim's browser into turning over the authentication cookies used to gain access to user account sections of a website. Unlike an attack method known as sidejacking, it works with vulnerable websites even when a user's browsing session is encrypted from start to finish using the secure sockets layer (SSL) protocol.

Full Story

Blu-Ray, I hardly knew ya; thank goodness I never bought one!

Samsung: Blu-ray has 5 Years Left, OLED HD on the Way:

Samsung has said that it sees the Blu-ray format only lasting a further 5 years before it is replaced by another format or technology. "I think it [Blu-ray] has 5 years left, I certainly wouldn't give it 10", Andy Griffiths, director of consumer electronics at Samsung UK told Pocket-lint in an interview.
________________________
My big dilemma: On what storage medium should I store my [long-term] data, since it's perpetually being replaced?

A new tool makes it easy for users to spread malware through YouTube.

http://news.cnet.com...9_3-10039974-83.html

Cybercriminals are getting more and more business-like. The latest examples involve a tool that automates the creation of fake YouTube Web sites that can be used to deliver malware and password-cracking services for sale.

Panda Security said it has uncovered a tool circulating in underground hacking forums, dubbed YTFakeCreator, that enables anyone to easily create a fake YouTube page that surreptitiously installs a Trojan, virus, or adware on a visitor's computer, said Ryan Sherstobitoff, chief corporate evangelist of Panda Security.

Full Story
Technical Details

1. Newsletter Editorial - Your Participation Requested!

For this newsletter we have a special request.  We're asking for your help in creating something fun. We've installed a map on the DonationCoder.com forum on which members can indicate their geographic location.  You can be as precise or as imprecise as you want, and there's no real practical value to anyone in participating -- but it's proven to be a real thrill to see all the different avatars across the globe, and it enhances the friendly atmosphere and sense of community.  So I hope you will take a minute to check out the new map and plant your pin.  Help us cover the map!

• View the New Member Map (see link at bottom of page to place your pin)

Split words is a compelling little casual word game, sort of similar to a word search, except you have to assembled pairs of partial words into full words that match a theme.

What makes it fun is that as you put together more words you have less and less pieces which help you solve the trickier words as the clock ticks down.  Quite good.

http://www.boomj.com...default&brainGame=87