A judge has brought Microsoft's bid to seize ownership of 276 Waledac domains in sight - another blow to what was once one of the most notorious botnets on the Web. A federal judge has brought Microsoft one step closer to seizing control of 276 domains controlled by the Waledac botnet. A magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia recommended recently that a default judgment be granted in Microsoft's favor. The defendants in the case were given 14 days to object; if they do not, the judgment will be final. “In this case, Microsoft presented evidence to the court that alth... Read More »

Adobe on Tuesday warned that attacks were actively exploiting a previously unknown, "critical" vulnerability in Adobe Acrobat and Reader. The zero-day bug has been confirmed in all versions of 8 and 9 Acrobat and Reader releases for Windows, Macintosh, and Unix, including the latest versions, 8.2.4 and 9.3.4. A successful attack will exploit a user's system. Hacker explains how to use non-tech ways to break technical security models Confidential information is everywhere, so it must be protected Rohati, A New Company In The Security Space, Provides Identity and Access Control At Applica... Read More »

A new study by security vendor Symantec reports that Internet crime has grown into a widespread problem globally. It also provides intriguing insights into consumers' lax attitudes toward online piracy, plagiarism, and other illegally or unethical activities. Some 7,000 adults in 14 nations participated in the Norton Cybercrime Report: The Human Impact, which was released Wednesday. The study says that cybercrime is quite commonplace; more than 65 percent of participants say they've been a victim of online crime, including virus or malware attacks, online scams, phishing, social network ... Read More »

Microsoft is apologizing to a town in West Virginia, after a 26-year-old gamer from a town called Fort Gay was suspended from its Xbox Live online game service because of the town's name, the Associated Press reported. Josh Moore says he tried to inform a representative with the company that his listed location was not to meant to be a derogatory slur, and encouraged the company to verify the existence of Fort Gay, a town of about 800 in Wayne County. "I figured, I'll explain to them, 'Look in my account. Fort Gay is a real place,'" Moore told AP. "I'm not even gay, and it makes me feel ... Read More »

Google Inc. unveiled a major upgrade to its search engine on Wednesday, showing off a new feature that promises to shave seconds off most online searches by attempting to predict what users are looking for before they're done typing. The Mountain View search giant demonstrated Google Instant during a morning press conference at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, proclaiming that those seconds will add up to 350 million hours in time savings for its users over the next year. "We're predicting what query you're likely to do," said Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and ... Read More »

Facebook says it fixed flaw that let app-based worm automatically post scam messages Facebook today said it has fixed the bug that allowed a spamming worm to automatically post messages to users' walls earlier this week. The flaw was the second in the past week that let spammers flood the service with messages promoting scams. Last week, Facebook quashed a different bug in its photo upload service that let a spammer post thousands of unwanted wall messages. The newest worm was noticed Monday by researchers at a pair of antivirus vendors, Finland-based F-Secure and U.K.-based Sophos... Read More »

Google's Chrome 6 is 17% faster than the version it replaced, putting it in a virtual dead heat with the speed leaders, Opera and Safari, according to benchmark scores. When Google celebrated the second anniversary of Chrome's launch last week, Brian Rakowski, the browser's director of product management, said: "A lot of things have changed in the last two years [in browsers], but the one thing we've learned is that speed matters." Tests run by Computerworld support Rakowski's claim that speed matters: Chrome 6 is Google's fastest browser ever at rendering JavaScript. But although Chrome 6 ... Read More »

Treyarch has signed two of Hollywood's greatest actors to lend their voice talents to Call of Duty: Black Ops. Gary Oldman (The Professional, The Fifth Element) will repsrise his role as Russian soldier Viktor Reznov, who first appeared in Call of Duty: World at War, making Black Ops a direct sequel to Treyarch's previous World War II shooter. He'll be joined by Ed Harris (Apollo 13, A History of Violence), who will portray CIA operative Jason Hudson. Behind the scenes, Treyarch has employed the services of screenwriter extraordinaire David S. Goyer. Goyer, who worked with Christopher Nolan ... Read More »

Craigslist's decision to shut down its "adult services" listings isn't likely to end the debate over websites' responsibility to filter user-created content. Late Friday, the San Francisco-based classifieds site placed a black "censored" label on its home page over the category that some law-enforcement and other critics said was becoming a virtual red-light district. A Craigslist spokeswoman declined comment on the action. The move, whether or not it's permanent, isn't likely to stem the proliferation of Web prostitution ads. Craigslist executives themselves previously predicted that su... Read More »

Users visiting the search engine's home page this morning were greeted with a flurry of spheres. The balls can be dispersed around the page by moving the mouse, but gradually form into the Google logo if left alone. Pac-Man 30th anniversary marked by Google Doodle Google has released no clues for the reasoning behind the doodle. Usually such designs are created to mark and event or an anniversary. A Google spokeswoman was unavailable for comment on Tuesday. The mysterious Google doodle is the third interactive design released by the tech giant. Last weekend Google marked the 25th anniver... Read More »