Ryan Naraine

Microsoft late Tuesday confirmed the publication of exploit code for a serious code execution vulnerability in the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Service in Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0, 5.1, and 6.0.
A security advisory from Redmond warned that the vulnerability could allow remote code execution on affected systems running the FTP service and connected to the Internet.  Read the advisory [microsoft.com]  See workaround information on the SR&D blog [technet.com]

Security researchers have intercepted a fake Flash Player update creating a Firefox add-on that spies on the user’s Google search results.
The malicious Firefox extension, called “Adobe Flash Player 0.2,” injects ads into the user’s Google search results pages and even has the capability to monitor the user’s browsing activities, particularly Google search queries using the Firefox browser. It then sends the information it gathers to a hacker-controlled server.

A software engineer who created Trojans for the Swiss authorities to intercept Voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone calls has published the source code to his programs in order to draw attention to the surveillance threat posed by such software. Read the full story [idg.no]

The built-in malware protection in Apple’s Snow Leopard upgrade appears to be nothing more than a XProtect.plist file containing five signatures for two of the most popular Mac OS X trojans — OSX.RSPlug and OSX.Iservice.  Read the full story [zdnet.com]

Security researchers are raising an alarm for a potent malware cocktail — backdoor Trojans and password stealers — being pushed to Windows users from about 55,000 hacked Web sites.

According to Mary Landesman, a researcher in ScanSafe’s security threat alert team, the cybercriminals have embedded a malicious iFrame into tens of thousands of Websites to fire exploits at unsuspecting PC users who surf to one of the rigged sites.

The most trusted websites, such as search engines, mainstream news sites and some blogs, are increasingly at risk of hosting malicious links that pass malicious code to their visitors, according to the latest data collected by researchers with IBM’s X-Force security team.
The report [ibm.com] outlines a sharp increase in new malicious Web links and consistent attacks against Web applications that could undermine the security of some database servers.  Read the full story  [techtarget.com]

Apple’s commercials may give the impression that Macs are virus-free but the company isn’t taking any chances with the newest Mac OS X refresh.

Apple has quietly added a new Snow Leopard feature to scan software downloads for malware, a no-brainer move that coincides with a noticeable spike in malicious files embedded in pirated copies of Mac-specific software. Read the full story [zdnet.com]