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Interesting — a language just for cryptographic algorithms.

Cryptol is a language for writing specifications for cryptographic algorithms. It is also a tool set for producing high-assurance, efficient implementations in VHDL, C, and Haskell. The Cryptol tools include the ability to equivalence check the reference specification against an implementation, whether or not it was compiled from the specifications.

The web site has info including a white paper and case study on the language, and you can download a trial version for Win, Mac, and Linux.

Emergent Chaos has their own review here.

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YOUR-MOTHER-NAKED-hahahaha.pif is a brand new infection that spreads via Skype. This file is being sent from user that you may know or even have in Skype contact list. So it looks like reliable file, but in fact this is a trojan. If you already downloaded it, do not open but delete it immediately. When user activates YOUR-MOTHER-NAKED-hahahaha.pif application it runs very quiet and hides from user and the worst; it sends the same file to other users that is in your Skype contact list without your permission or knowledge. Removal of this parasite isn

Remote workers, shrinking IT budgets and severe vulnerabilities are leaving corporate networks open to malware-infected Web applications, says a new report.

The Purewire survey says key findings include:

• IT security professionals rate the Web as the number one entry point for malware into their networks.
• Even so, nearly 40 percent of companies cannot successfully prevent users from installing Web applications, leaving them vulnerable to all sorts of attacks.
• Web attacks are a clear and present danger: 20 percent of survey respondents work remotely at least part of the time. Of those remote workers infected with malware, nearly half of the infections came from the Web.
• A user visiting infected Web sites is the most significant single threat vector.
• More than 90 percent of those surveyed report that they will not see a budget increase for 2009, despite the increase in threats and vulnerabilities.
• More than 70 percent of survey respondents use SaaS-based solutions for anti-virus and anti-spam, and 25 percent have implemented Web security as a service, indicating a clear shift toward SaaS-based security solutions.

“This survey shows significant gaps in overall network security, yet an overwhelming majority of IT security professionals report that they will not see a budget increase for 2009,” says Purewire’s Mike Van Bruinisse.

Osterman Research says it conducted the survey of web and messaging security professionals, eliciting 139 responses. It says it believes the sample represents a strong cross-section of companies ranging in sizes and vertical markets, with an average of more than 15,000 employees accessing the Internet.”

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Malware attacks a leading concern

Happy new year — it looks like many security bloggers out there have been blogging right up and through the turning of the new year. Here are some of the reported hacks:

• “Vishing” — Ira Winkler explains why Voice Phishing is actually the oldest form of social engineering, not a new exploit at all.
• Printing Money — Today’s latest printing technology allows for banks to print new money on their own to ease the economic downturn — as well as making it easier to counterfeit
• More problems in IE — now being exploited by Chinese hackers
• Twitter – Don’t tweet unless you know how to avoid the phish. Seems like we’re mixing animal metaphors…
• Students are faking speeding evidence to get revenge on each other…what traffic ticket faking is next? If students can do it, so can the local police, to up their city revenue.
• HTTP Verb Brute Forcing–this blog suggests it’s a good idea to shut down HTTP verbs and open them as you need them, to protect from automated attacks.
• Flashy Botnet — A pretty map shows the flashiness of the botnet. The visualization’s a collab between F-Secure and Clarified Networks.
• China starts censoring Google and Baidu. Which makes me wonder, if the US economy crashes and China claims its dues, will we also be under the same censorship? Good times ahead…
• The real Cyberwar — The Middle Easts’s communications via the net, not just web attacks.

Credit:
The First Hacks of 2009

CoolWebSearch is the most widely known and the most annoying browser hijacker. It distributes itself by exploiting security holes in older or unpatched version of Microsoft Internet Explorer. It has many variants (see Variants), each of them with its own performance and actions.

CoolWebSearch

VirusProtect (also known as VirusProtect v.3.8, Virus Protect 3.9) is a rogue anti-spyware program. It is usually installed via Trojans and web vulnerabilities (even though manual download and installation may also occur). VirusProtect pretends to be an anti-virus program, but is in fact a simple scam: it uses scare tactics (fake system notifications and pop-ups) to convince users to buy the full version of VirusProtect. This “full version” is a fake.

Do not download or buy VirusProtect and block VirusProtect’s domain using your HOSTS file.

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VirusProtect

Total Protect 2009 is a fake spyware remover tool. Application is installed into computer through the use of trojans. When Total Protect2009 is on board it begins to load imaginary system reports that claims about infections and system risks. If you click on any of these pop-ups you will be redirected to the website that has rogue content. Of course all this is made to force users into buying of TotalProtect 2009 full version, which in fact do not do anything. Program is configured to start automatically every time you log on into Windows. Manual removal of TotalProtect2009 could be very difficult because it hides from user and do not appears in add/remove list of programs. Also this parasite may be a reason of several problems like system slowdown or even limited internet connection. Remember that all notifications are falsified and only one way to keep your computer safe is to use legitimate anti-spyware software.

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Total Protect 2009

Express Antivirus 2009 is a rogue anti-spyware application probably created by the same group of scamers who created well known fake anti-spyware applicarion called Antivirus 2009, because these two programs have many familiarities and act basically the same. ExpressAntivirus 2009 can be installed via trojans such as Zlob or Vundo. Trojans gain access to computer through security holes. Or this rogue can be installed manually by user from scamers website.
Once installed, this rogue uses well known scheme to scare users into purchasing a licenced version of this fake anti-spyware. It might flood user’s computer with alert windows about fake infections and dangerous security problems. Of course these infections then can be removed only with full version of this rogue. But don’t be tricked this fake anti-spyware is worthless and what is more dangerous. Please remove this parasite if already infected.

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Express Antivirus 2009

Spyware Protect 2009 is a rogue anti-spyware application - fake spyware remover. Usually users infect their systems with this rogue via Vundo or similar type trojans and viruses. SpywareProtect 2009 is configurated to start automatically when system boots. After that, this rogue launches pop-up windows to alert user about fake system infections and security risks. We can even call those alerts standart, because they are very similar to other fake anti-spyware software alerts. Also with alert windows comes officious sound that can be very pesky and overall creates very noisy environment. So, everything is done to scare user into purchasing full version of this rogue, because it is the only way to remove all the infections as they claim. It might be difficult to remove SpywareProtect2009 manually, but it is worth trying, because your private data and information are at risk if the system is infected with this rogue. We recommend you to remove this rogue as soon as possible.

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Spyware Protect 2009