Malware writers have used Crossrider, a cross-browser extension development framework, to build a click-fraud worm that spreads on Facebook, security researchers from antivirus firm Kaspersky Lab said on Monday.

Crossrider is a legitimate Javascript framework that implements a unified API (application programming interface) for building Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer extensions.

The API allows developers to write code that will run inside different browsers and, by extension, on different OSes. The framework is still in beta testing and its creators plan on adding support for Safari soon.

"It is quite rare to analyze a malicious file written in the form of a cross-platform browser plugin. It is, however, even rarer to come across plugins created using cross-browser engines," said Kaspersky Lab malware expert Sergey Golovanov in a blog post Monday.

The new piece of malware is called LilyJade and is being sold on underground forums for $1,000. Its creator claims that it can infect browsers running on Linux or Mac systems and that since it doesn't have any executable files, no antivirus program is designed to look for it.

The malware's purpose appears to be click fraud. It is capable of spoofing rogue advertisement modules on Yahoo, YouTube, Bing/MSN, AOL, Google and Facebook, Golovanov said. When users view or click on these ads, the malware's creators earn money through affiliate programs.

In order to spread, the malware leverages its control over infected browsers to piggyback on active Facebook sessions and send spam messages on behalf of authenticated Facebook users.

The links included in LilyJade's Facebook spam messages direct users to compromised websites that load the Nuclear Pack exploit kit into a hidden iframe, Golovanov said.

Exploit kits like Nuclear Pack attempt to exploit vulnerabilities in outdated software -- usually browser plug-ins like Java, Flash Player or Adobe Reader -- in order to infect computers with malware.

The concept of malware running inside the browser as an extension is not new, but it seems to be increasingly popular with malware writers. Last week, the Wikimedia Foundation warned users that seeing commercial ads on Wikipedia is most likely the result of their browsers being infected with malicious extensions.

Social networking worms also appear to be making a comeback. On Friday, Symantec reported about a new variant of a worm called W32.Wergimog, which spreads by sending spam messages on Facebook, Hi5, Hyves, Linkedin, MySpace, Omegle and Twitter.

On Thursday, researchers from Trend Micro reported about a different worm that spreads through several social networks and instant messaging applications.

Lord Triesman has accused four FIFA members, including vice-president Jack Warner, of improper behaviour in the bidding process for the 2018 World Cup.

Triesman made claims about Warner, Nicolas Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi and admitted the bid team should have reported them immediately.

Triesman, who resigned from his role as Chairman of both the Football Association and England's 2018 World Cup campaign after taped conversations about the bid were reported in a Sunday newspaper, claimed that Warner had asked for funds to be diverted into his personal account so he could build a football school in Trinidad.

Speaking under parliamentary privilege on Tuesday, Triesman also revealed how Paraguay's FIFA member Leoz asked for a knighthood, Brazil's Teixeira asked "what have you got for me" and Thailand's Makudi wanted to be given the television rights to a friendly between his country and England.

Speaking before a Select Comittee for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, Triesman said, "We (Triesman and Dave Richards) were invited by Jack Warner to a meeting and he said that he had something he wanted to talk to us about and put to us.

"It didn't take long for him to get to the point. He said that he was concerned that after all his years in Trinidad and Tobago, he had nothing he could regard as his legacy. What he had in mind was some kind of school.

"As he described it, Sir Dave nodded to me and I understood exactly what the nod meant. And I said immediately that in my mind the proposition was out of the question. And Sir Dave said 'You must be joking Jack, you are talking about half a million pounds!' Jack nodded at that and then said that the funds would be channelled through him and he could guarantee that they would be appropriate.

"Some weeks later he got in touch with me after the Haiti earthquake. He said it would lift the people's spirits if they could see the World Cup and somebody needed to make a donation to buy the television rights so large TV screens could be lifted. He believed that if he had a sum of about half a million pounds sent to him he could secure the rights. I then said that was totally out of the question."

Triesman added that he would undertake to provide his evidence to any FIFA inquiry.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter said he would launch an investigation if any evidence of wrong doing by ex-committee members is revealed and that cleaning up FIFA was his "credo".

"If this is true, I will fight this," Blatter was quoted by Sky as saying.

"I am fighting for FIFA to clean FIFA.

"I cannot answer for individual members of our committee. I cannot say if they are all angels or if they are all devils."

"I am the president and I have my own conscience, I can only answer for myself, I cannot answer for the members of my committee," Blatter, who stands for re-election at the FIFA Congress on June 1, added.

Twenty years after HIV geneticist Bette Korber first began tackling HIV, her hard work—some would say "obsession"—may be finally paying off as she and her team gear up for the first round of human trials of an HIV vaccine.

Early tests showed powerful immune responses in animals and raised hopes around the world of finally achieving a scientific breakthrough in the AIDS health crisis.

Now the vaccine is down to the crucial greenlight/red light stage: will human reactions to the vaccine be safe and effective in treatments during this critical trial phase?

"It has been the focus of my life to make a vaccine happen," she said. "At this point, because of the results in animal studies, I'm confident this is a good approach that merits testing in humans."

In a speech in New Delhi last week, Bill Gates argued that newly rich entrepreneurs are more charitable than people who inherit their money.


Bloomberg News
David Rockefeller, a charitable heir.“Our experience worldwide is that first-generation wealth is actually more generous than dynastic wealth,” Gates said. “Both here in India and U.S. and other countries, the biggest givers are those who are receivers of first-generation wealth.”

The speech was part of a campaign by Gates and charity pal Warren Buffett to get rich Indians to give more.  (This won’t be easy). He said that “the fact that India over the last 20 years has developed these incredible success stories means that a very high percentage of them in their own way will be giving back to society.”

Is the claim about generous wealth creators and stingy heirs true?

In this Bloomberg article, Kat Rosqueta of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania said self-made rich people feel more empowered to give their money away. “Those who made their wealth entrepreneurially, there’s a sense in which they feel their wealth is theirs,” she said. “As opposed to those whose wealth has been inherited, where they feel much more of a responsibility as stewards of somebody else’s wealth.”

More importantly, the self-made rich have the confidence that even if they give away the majority of their fortune, they can always earn more. Inheritors don’t always have the same confidence.

But I think it is a stretch to say those who didn’t earn their own fortunes  aren’t charitable. Just look at Brooke Astor, David Rockefeller (or any of the Rockefellers for that matter), the Walton family, the Stryker family or many of the other second- or third-generation wealthy. Since many grew up with charitable rituals in their family, many continue to give.

Unfortunately, no reliable data exist dividing philanthropists into self-made or inherited wealth, so all we have are anecdotes.

Do you think the self-made rich are more charitable than inheritors?

MySQL.com (the official site for the MySQL database) was compromised via (shocking!) blind SQL injection. A post was sent today to the full disclosure list explaining the issue and dumping part of their internal database structure.

    Vulnerable Target : http://mysql.com/customers/view/index.html?id=1170
    Host IP : 213.136.52.29
    Web Server : Apache/2.2.15 (Fedora)
    Powered-by : PHP/5.2.13
    Injection Type : MySQL Blind
    Current DB : web


It seems their customer view application was used as the entry point. This is where the attackers were able to list the internal databases, tables and password dump. If you have an account on MySQL.com, we recommend changing your passwords ASAP (especially if you like to reuse them across multiple sites).

What is worse is that they also posted the password dump online and some people started to crack it already. Some of the findings are pretty bad, like the password used by MySQL’s Director of Product Management, it is only 4 numbers long. Multiple admin passwords for blogs.mysql.com were also posted.

The folks at MySQL have yet to say anything about this attack, but we will post more details as we learn more about it.

However, the Ogun State Police Command spokesman, Mr. Ademuyiwa Adejobi, said, "It is not likely to be a case of assassination because he did not die immediately. He was alive when the vehicle was being taken away. He struggled with the bandits when he was shot.

"The command wishes to appeal to members of the public that when such things happen, they should not struggle with the bandits. The command is investigating a case of armed robbery and not assassination."

Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel, Speaker Dimeji Bankole, In "roforofo" Fight

SaharaReporters[/b] has learned that the embattled Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole and the Governor of Ogun, his home state, Gbenga Daniel, were today engaged in a chicken fight in the Sango-Otta area of the state.  The unscheduled exchange followed the commissioning of a flyover bridge by the minister of works, Sanusi Daggash, and his junior minister.

An eye-witness told SaharaReporters that as soon as the commissioning was concluded and the state governor and the federal ministers got on a bus on their way to the airport, into the area dashed Speaker Bankole and his convoy.  They stopped, and the Speaker entered the bus with his ADC and the chairman of the House committee on works.

The eyewitness said that as soon as Bankole went into the bus, he came face to face with the Minister, to whom he addressed the words, "You! who asked you to come here and commission my project? Mark my words, this is your last assignment as a minister!"

Turning to Gov. Daniel, whose job Bankole is thought to covet, the Speaker said, "You, who do you think you are"?

Bankole, whose aged father is popularly known as "Caterpillar" in Ogun state, then lounged at the governor, ordering the bus to stop in the middle of the road. But the Minister of State pleaded profusely with him to end the fight and allow them to resolve things in Abuja.

The dishonourable fracas lasted about 15 minutes.  Bankole presides over a house of rowdy and feisty legislators who cream off some of the highest allowances in the world.  It is as yet unclear why Bankole thought the project was his.

MrPrsdent:

am in

AjanleKoko:

I can't believe these beef growers are actually celebrating.

Enyeama man of the match, this is official.

hmm, had to stare at the url like 10 times before the chinese part of my brain finally kicked in

yawa-ti-de:

the home page scrolls ad infinitum.  do something about it.  try a 3-column layout

Dual Core:

That should tell you a lot.