CRITICAL – Buffer overflow in VML used by IE and Outlook

Summary

Threat Level: Critical Zero-Day Vulnerability

This threat is currently active and spreading in the wild. Most Windows-based computers, even if fully up-to-date with all the official Microsoft patches, are vulnerable right now unless certain actions are taken to protect yourself (see below).

What it does: Various websites, including advertising sites that generate advertisements appearing on trusted websites, become infected. These sites use a specific type of attack to slip through your computer’s security, leaving a big hole for your computer to be further attacked. Since some versions of Outlook and Outlook Express use Internet Explorer to display some types of e-mail, you can become infected just by displaying infected e-mails you receive.

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Secrets Often Stay on Cell Phones and PDAs

It seems people swap cell phones, smart phones, and PDAs about as frequently as they change their smoke detector batteries. These miniaturized devices hold a large amount of personal data inside their tiny silicon brains. So what happens to all that data when you trade in your cellular phone for a new one? Or what if you sell it on eBay to help offset the cost of your replacement device?

If you’re like a lot of technologically challenged people, you don’t even think about purging the memory before you hand it over, and if you do think about it, you might not know how to erase the data.

If you are a bit more tech savvy, you might delve into the manual (you didn’t throw it away or lose it, did you?) or search the Web for instructions. It’s not like most devices have a big red “ERASE ME” button on them. It’s kinda tough to delete all your data. And for good reason (I’m referring to the technologically challenged button pushers that can’t resist big red buttons).

The scary thing is that after finding out how to delete the data and pushing the right menu options, the data still might not be completely gone! According to an AP story reported in the Dallas Morning News, secrets often stay on cell phones even after the data is supposedly deleted. That might be good news if you accidentally erased everything, but it would be bad news if you are a government official, a cheating spouse, or just someone who doesn’t like people snooping through their personal information.

Read the article. It’s a bit shocking, has a touch of humor, and it just might help people to “decide whether to auction their used equipment for a few hundred dollars – and risk revealing their secrets – or effectively toss their old phones under a large truck to dispose of them.”