Mark Savage

Flashback Trojan Reportedly Controls Half a Million Macs and Counting

Savage — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 20:26:45 +0000

via Daring Fireball by John Gruber on 4/5/12

Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica:

Variations of the Flashback trojan have reportedly infected more than half a million Macs around the globe, according to Russian antivirus company Dr. Web. The company made an announcement on Wednesday — first in Russian and later in English — about the growing Mac botnet, first claiming 550,000 infected Macs. Later in the day, however, Dr. Web malware analyst Sorokin Ivan posted to Twitter that the count had gone up to 600,000, with 274 bots even checking in from Cupertino, CA, where Apple’s headquarters are located.

Cheng links to F-Secure, who has instructions for checking if your system is infected. If you don’t have Java installed (or have it installed, but keep it disabled in your web browsers) you should be safe.

The weird thing to me is that if true, this sounds like the worst malware problem Mac OS X has ever seen — yet there doesn’t seem to be any hysterical media coverage about it. Hypothetical Mac security problems often get hysterical coverage; now we apparently have an actual security problem and it’s no big deal?

Update: I’m curious to hear from any readers who determine that their system’s been infected by this thing.

Update 2: Via email and public Twitter replies, I’ve seen reports from about a dozen or so DF readers who’ve been hit by this. And they all seem like typical DF readers — sophisticated, experienced, if not downright expert Mac users. It’s not an epidemic, but it’s definitely real, and insidious.

And regarding the lack of hype surrounding Flashback, DF reader Paul Hoffman (via email) has a theory:

I suspect that there hasn’t been that much hype is that the hype is normally generated by the anti-virus companies, and (from what I have heard) none of the Mac AV software caught this until yesterday. Whoopsie.

Sync iCloud to Dropbox! Giving it some thought, should be easy to get it to any number…

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 21:11:19 +0000

Sync iCloud to Dropbox! Giving it some thought, should be easy to get it to any number of services. Going to have to play with this.

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Sync iCloud to Dropbox
Mac and iOS users are going to be increasingly pushed to choose between storing their documents in iCloud or Dropbox. I expect that Apple will continue to push more and more features to iCloud that will make people want to use it, and I expect that Apple will continue to make iCloud easier and easier for iOS and Mac developers to use, so developers will want to support it.

I like the idea behind iCloud, but I don't really trust iCloud yet. Apple's previous attempts at online services have l…

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I really like this product, and it's nice to see other companies, such as LastPass,…

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:55:47 +0000

I really like this product, and it's nice to see other companies, such as LastPass, integrating this into their login process.

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An improved Google Authenticator app to celebrate millions of 2-step verification users
Posted by Sara "Scout" Sinclair, Associate Product Manager, Google Security Team Since we first made 2-step verification available to all Google users in February of 2011, millions of people around the world have chosen to use this extra layer of security to protect their Google Accounts. Thousands more are signing up every day. And recently, we updated the feature’s companion smartphone app, Google Authenticator, for Android users. 2-step verification works by requiring users to enter a veri…

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This looks wonderful!

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:10:03 +0000

This looks wonderful!

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HOWTO mix a grody-looking Alien Brain Hemorrhage cocktail
This revolting thing is a cocktail called an "Alien Brain Hemorrhage": "To make an alien brain hemorrhage cocktail, fill a shot glass halfway with peach schnapps. Gently pour Bailey's Irish Cream on top. After the shot is almost full, carefully add a small amount of blue curacao. After it settles, add a few drops of grenadine syrup." Looks like it could be improved with a couple lumps of dry ice.

Alien Brain Hemorrhage Cocktail Recipe 2012 Drink Pic

(via Neatorama)

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I might have to get some of these

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:04:59 +0000

Great idea!

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Kidco PeaPod Plus
The PeaPod is a travel bed for kids. My kids have outgrown it now, but this was the best thing when they were little and we were on the road a lot.

It replaces the traditional travel crib (sometimes called a pack-and-play). We had one of those, and it was huge and heavy. When my daughter was young, I think we flew 14 times her first year of life. The first few times we checked the old travel crib. It was heavy, bulky, and difficult to deal with when we had her as well. Impossible if it was o…

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That sounds SOOO good!

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:21:47 +0000

That sounds SOOO good!

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Italian Beef Sandwiches, and other Super Bowl- Type Food
I must admit that I don't watch very much football. I grew up in a 49er household, and that's pretty much the only football I'll watch, and even then I kind of daze in and out unless it's a rather exciting game. I did watch last week's game, and followed along until the bitter end.
when we lost.
That said, I'm a sucker for parties, and for hearty comfort food. We aren't hosting a super bowl party this year because 1) it snuck up on me, and 2) I'm not even sure exactly who is playing. Those Ea…

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Ugh

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 04:37:23 +0000

thank god! This was driving me NUTS!

Reshared post from +Maximilian Majewski

(Tue 03) Get new Google Bar right now!

1. Go get this extension to change cookies. http://goo.gl/CeKtT
2. Load Google.com and right-click to edit the cookies.
3. Change "PREF" to this:
ID=03fd476a699d6487:U=88e8716486ff1e5d:FF=0:LD=en:CR=2:TM=1322688084:LM=1322688085:S=McEsyvcXKMiVfGds
4. Don't forget to save your changes at the bottom.
5. Reload and you have the new Google bar.

Add me if you like this hack
#google

+Robert Pitt +matthew rappaport +Amanda Blain

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Beautiful!

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:54:37 +0000

Beautiful!

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Lunar eclipse of December 10, 2011
The longest lunar eclipse in over ten years animated the night sky on December 10. The red hue resulted from the sun's light passing through the earth's atmosphere. Viewers in Asia had the best view of the total eclipse, while those watching in Europe saw part of it at moonrise, and North Americans caught part of it as the moon set. It was not visible in South America or Antarctica. The next total eclipse will occur in 2014. — Lane Turner (27 photos total) The moon casts a reddish hue over L…

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Yeah, I like the new bar

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:47:35 +0000

much better throughout all Google apps/sites/pages.
Could take a little less room/padding in G+ me thinks.

Also, I'm finally used to the new Gmail layout. Got it to look and feel pretty much how I want.

Reshared post from +Think with Google

Has anyone spotted the new Google UI? We think it's pretty zippy! What do you think?

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Nice to see a radiologist can just whimsically take 1000's of scans of whatever…

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:57:02 +0000

Nice to see a radiologist can just whimsically take 1000's of scans of whatever the hell he wants (albeit kinda cool). I'm sure all the people out there that need CAT scans and can't afford them are overjoyed by the replica Stradivarius!

When I needed a CT Scan a few years ago, it consumed my entire annual deductible on my insurance. I can only imagine the cost to those with higher deductibles or no insurance.

Way to be douchey Dr Money Bags!

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Stradivarius violin recreated from CAT scan, 'sounds amazingly similar'
We've seen all kinds of crazy things being printed — from bones to blood vessels — and now you can add antique violins to that list. Music loving Radiologist Steven Sirr popped his into a CAT scanner to see what it was made of, then showed the results to a violin-making friend. Curiosity soon led them to scan everything from guitars to mandolins, so when the chance to take a peek inside a 307-year-old Stradivarius came up, how could they resist? 1000 scans later, the files were converted to…

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