Microsoft Surface 

vs. iPad

Steve Ballmer, HIMSELF, said on stage: "We believe that any intersection between human and machine can be made better when all aspects of the experience — hardware and software — are considered and working together."

That's Apple's mantra, folks - and if Microsoft is following suit, then I wonder what's going to happen to the amazing Windows / PC ecosystem Microsoft fostered with independent companies from the beginning?

I've already gone on record stating that I'm very interested in learning more about the price, battery life, and general usability / experience with a Surface for Windows RT. There are a few commenters who have conveniently forgotten (or ignored) that flat fact.

Microsoft's Tablet PC wasn't ignored by the industry - we all knew about it. Still, the effort flopped due to cost and unwieldy usage issues. I'm guessing that most people who would rush to suggest (incorrectly) that Microsoft created the first Tablet computer never actually bothered to purchase a Tablet PC.

First never matters in a race that never ends - and you, the consumer, should wish for more competition (not less).

 

o

Anonymous claims DNS attacks against Symantec, Apple, Microsoft

 

The Sri Lankan branch of Anonymous claims to have hacked into the DNS servers of Symantec, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and several other large organizations over the past few days.

Posting the news and records of its exploits on Pastebin, the group is taking credit for launching "DNS Cache Snoop Poisoning" attacks against its victims.

DNS cache snooping is the process whereby hackers can query a DNS server to find out which domain names are being resolved into IP addresses.

DNS cache poisoning is a method through which hackers are able to insert malicious and fake records into the cache of DNS servers. As a result, the hackers can then spoof a response to a DNS query, forcing users to go to a phony Web site instead of the real one.

Since DNS, or domain name system, servers maintain the records that assign domain names to IP addresses, attacks against them are especially alarming since they can compromise part of the very foundation of the Internet.

The information posted on Pastebin by Anonymous Sri Lanka shows that the group was able to scan and in some cases expose the DNS information of the companies it targeted, according to Cyber War News. But there's no indication that the hackers were able to modify any of the DNS records that they touched.

In the record of its DNS attack against Symantec, Anonymous Sri Lanka boasts that it breached the "world's second-largest software (antivirus) leader/giant" and says that it captured almost the entire DNS pool, including the company's corporate customers, production servers, and testbeds. The group touted the same DNS Cache Snoop Poisoning attacks against Facebook, Skype, Apple, Cisco, Microsoft, and Novell.

Beyond its attacks against several major tech companies, Anonymous Sri Lanka has also claimed DNS hacks against several groups and agencies in Sri Lanka, including the nation's Parliament, military, and largest telecom provider.

The group tried to justify its actions in some of its comments.

Lashing out at Facebook, Anonymous Sri Lanka said that the way the social network controls and treats its members is not acceptable under any circumstances. Explaining its attack against Skype, the group claimed that the online video service is "eavesdropping the entire VoIP traffic at several nodes for sure."

The attacks appear to have started on August 22 against the Sri Lankan telecom provider and continued on into yesterday with the attack against Skype.

Responding to a request for comment, a spokesman for Symantec sent CNET the following statement:

"Symantec is one of the most visible targets in the world for cyberattacks on a daily basis. We do not delineate the identity of individuals or organizations who may or may not be the source of said attacks. We monitor our networks closely on a 24/7 basis and have not detected any inordinate or suspicious rates of traffic or activity. To date, we have found no evidence that any of our business critical servers have been breached or that any information on our networks belonging to Symantec or our customers has been exposed. We take these scenarios very seriously and will continue to monitor the situation closely to ensure that there are no further attempts to compromise the system and to ensure that any customer information remains protected."

o

Anyone Can Access Microsoft’s Massive Location Database and See Where Your Laptop and Smartphone Have Been

 

Microsoft has been going around and building a database of publicly broadcast MAC addresses (along with their corresponding street address) for location services purposes. That might include those of your phones and laptops. Problem is, Microsoft didn't secure the database.

According to a report from Cnet's Declan McCullagh, Microsoft is gathering data from Windows 7 handsets that connect to wi-fi networks, along with cars that go around sniffing out hotspots, and logging it all here. But because they're being lax in protecting that database, anyone can get access to the data. Cnet entered in various MAC addresses into the database themselves and had very specific location data returned to them.

Here's how it works: iPhone and Android devices automatically change their Wi-Fi MAC address when acting as an access point. Android devices appear to choose a MAC address beginning with 02:1A.

Google's database doesn't include the MAC address 02:1A:11:F2:12:FF. But Microsoft's does, and reports that it is located in the Embassy of Montenegro on New Hampshire Avenue in Washington, D.C.

Why is this bad? If Microsoft has logged the MAC address of your network (along with its location), anyone who has that MAC address could run it through Microsoft's database and potentially find out where you live. That's not good. Furthermore, Microsoft hasn't said whether or not they collect data on the devices connected to a network. If they log the MAC address your laptop or phone, someone with that info can track your location on Microsoft's map. That's really not good.

Cnet also got an official statement on the matter from Microsoft:

Reid Kuhn, a program manger with Microsoft's Windows Phone Engineering Team, sent CNET this statement: "To provide location-based services, Microsoft collects publicly broadcast cell tower IDs and MAC addresses of Wi-Fi access points via both user devices and managed driving. If a user chooses to use their smartphone or mobile device as a Wi-Fi access point, their MAC address may also be included as a part of our service. However, since mobile devices typically move from one place to another they are not helpful in providing location. Once we determine that a device is not in a fixed location, we remove it from our list of active MAC addresses."

What's disconcerting is that there doesn't appear to be any sort of opt out ability for those who don't want their MAC address included. If you're worried about whether or not your information is stored in the database, you can enter the MAC address for any devices you may have at this website created by Stanford researcher Elie Bursztein (if you don't know your MAC address, Use this site for finding out how). And while you won't be able to remove your info, maybe you can yell at Microsoft

o