John Lister

Mozilla says it will take steps to stop advertisers from violating Firefox user privacy. But advertisers have labeled the move an act of war. Mozilla has announced that it will change the Firefox browser so that third-party cookies -- such as those ... from advertisers -- are blocked by default. Cookies are small text files created by websites and stored on your computer. Cookies Key to Website Advertising In many cases cookies help the website visitor. For example, a cookie might store your username to make logging in faster, or it could store your ZIP code so you can instantly get customized ... (view more)

It seems like high-profile Twitter accounts have been under siege in recent days. The newest victim: 'hacktivist' group Anonymous. Anonymous has made headlines over the past few years for a series of attacks on major businesses and government sites. ... The group -- which has no formal structure and is made up of individuals largely acting independently -- practices what's known as 'hacktivism,' or politically-charged hacking. Although Anonymous doesn't have an official spokesman, members do issue public statements through a series of social media accounts, including @Anon_Central on Twitter. ... (view more)

Adobe has issued a fix for what it is calling a top-priority security flaw. The bug could allow hackers to seize control of affected machines. The update fixes problems with Adobe Reader, the software used to open and view PDF documents. It also ... affects Adobe Acrobat, the software used to create PDF files. Although Acrobat is not as popular as Reader, many people will be running at least one of the two programs. The flaws involve memory corruption and buffer flow vulnerabilities which could allow a hacker to force a computer to crash. It's a tactic that's more likely to be targeted at ... (view more)

A security firm claims a Chinese military unit is responsible for mass-scale hacking targeting the United States and other Western powers. Mandiant says the Chinese government is not only aware of the hacking but may even be funding it. ... Virginia-based Mandiant says the hacking group is known online as both the "Comment Crew" and the "Shanghai Group". Mandiant says that this group is a unit within the People's Liberation Army of China. Mandiant suggests that a 12-story building in Shanghai is the hacking unit's headquarters. (Source: nytimes.com ) Secret Document Points to ... (view more)

Facebook has confirmed it was attacked by someone using a particularly sophisticated hacking technique. It says it doesn't appear the hackers were able to access any user data, but the site says it is taking the issue very seriously. The hackers ... didn't use the direct approach favored by many would-be attackers who either try to simply access a website's public servers, or send bogus emails to staff in the hope of tricking them into opening infected attachments. Hackers Lay Trap for Developers Instead, the hackers breached security at an external website used by developers of mobile ... (view more)

Europol has arrested 11 people for allegedly posing as the same police organization that has now picked them up. The alleged scammers are said to have posed as Europol in an attempt to trick people into handing over money. Europol is a police agency ... that operates across national borders. The scam is known as ransomware, which involves spreading malicious software and demanding victims pay a fee to have that software removed. The most common version of the scam involves making false claims that files will be deleted from the computer unless the user pays up. Victims 'Fined' For Illegal Content ... (view more)

An analyst believes Microsoft may be passing up $2.5 billion a year by refusing to make its Office software package available for Apple's iPad tablet computer. The Redmond, Washington-based firm is trying to use the software to make its own Surface ... tablet devices more desirable -- a strategy critics are calling short-sighted. Part of the thinking at Microsoft seems to be that keeping Office off the iPad gives many customers who like to work on their devices a reason not to buy the Apple tablet. That makes them more likely to stick with Windows laptops or to try out Microsoft's own tablet, the ... (view more)

A US government contractor has produced software that can track a person's movements and predict their behavior. The software hasn't yet been sold to commercial firms but has been tested, with success. The project is the work of Massachusetts-based ... Raytheon and the US government. The software is called "Rapid Information Overlay Technology," or RIOT for short. RIOT doesn't do anything that humans couldn't do themselves -- it just does it much quicker. It works by gathering together data from people's online activities. Location-Tagged Photos Help RIOT Software One of the keys to the ... (view more)

Spanish researchers say they've found a way to drastically improve the accuracy of GPS-based satellite navigation. They believe they can track a vehicle's location to the nearest six-and-a-half-feet, down from a current radius of nearly fifty feet. ... The improvements might not only allow drivers to get more accurate directions, but could even increase the viability of cars that can drive themselves. The research was carried out by two departments at the Carlos III University in Madrid: the Applied Artificial Intelligence Group and the Systems Intelligence Laboratory. Researchers Remove GPS ... (view more)

A recently-filed lawsuit claims some of Facebook's main features, including the "like" button, copy ideas patented 15 years ago. In fact, the lawsuit is being brought on behalf of a man who died just a few months after Facebook launched. The lawsuit ... has been filed by Rembrandt Social Media, a company set up to handle the intellectual property of Dutch programmer Joannes Jozef Everardus van Der Meer, who died in 2004. At that time Facebook was only available to students in select colleges, though it had just become a corporation. 'Surfbook' the Facebook Framework? The patents at ... (view more)