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Brian Faber, director of operations for the eight-store, Phoenix-based Zia chain

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May 6, 2007 10:10 AM
Windows Activation Trojan


Joe Wilcox
Joe Wilcox

Windows Genuine Advantage is the target of a new Trojan, which pretends to be Microsoft's activation mechanism.

Symantec issued a bulletin in late April on the Kardphisher Trojan, which has a threat rating of "very low." But the Trojan picked up new attention over the weekend, following a Friday post on Symantec's security Weblog.

The Trojan takes advantage of one controversial feature of Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy mechanism: revalidation. To receive most downloads, including Internet Explorer or anything from the Windows Update Web site, end users must validate that their computers are, in Microsoft parlance, "genuine." But one validation isn't enough. Microsoft has Windows clients periodically revalidate. The process is designed to catch new pirated versions as Microsoft continually updates its piracy database.

Revalidation is an increasingly familiar process for many end users and, for some, warnings of counterfeit software should the software fail validation. The counterfeit popup appears when the computer reboots or wakes from sleep. The Trojan plays off both behaviors and even Windows Vista's mechanism of essentially shutting down when product activation fails.

The Trojan launches a Windows Piracy Control Screen on bootup following infection.

"You can choose only 'Yes' or 'No,'" Takashi Katsuki wrote on the Symantec security Weblog. "You can't run Task Manager or any other applications. If you choose 'No' your PC will be shut down immediately."

If the end user chooses "Yes," an "Activation of Windows" box opens, requesting personal information, including credit card number.

Katsuki explains:

"Now you may think 'It can't be true. I have activated my legitimate copy of Windows. MS can't do such a thing!.' Surely almost everyone will notice that something strange is going on, and hopefully very few people will actually become victims by inputting their credit card details. But unfortunately even the people who are not tempted to give up their information this time might well become victims the next time. After all, failure to follow the on-screen instructions results in your PC shutting down immediately."

Microsoft has started selling Windows Vista upgrades online, which is a scenario where the company would ask for a credit card. Like a slick grifter, Trojans seek to create confusion and in doing so lead people to act stupidly. Microsoft would ask for its money upfront. Still, there is plenty of trial software out there for which people would pay after a set time period. So, for some end users there is ingrained behavior about paying for something after a period of usage.

Katsuki warned: "This Trojan teaches us all a good lesson?trust no one."

That's sad advice.

Related Posts:

* I Was Carded by Windows Vista, Microsoft Watch, Feb. 1, 2007

* Another Activation Crack Appears, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 27, 2006

* Mom's Genuine Holiday Surprise, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 21, 2006

* Vista Crack Means Big Trouble, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 8, 2006

* WGA: Friendly Face, Or Saving Face?, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 26, 2006

* My Mother is a Software Pirate, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 14, 2006

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Endangered?

30-day cooling off period? With the rise in sales and trading of music online combined with the selling and buying of used CDs, the stores selling new product took a page from the RIAA and MPAA and are having governments enact laws to prevent this one aspect of their demise under the guise of stopping stolen CD sales. Yup! That?s what the government is for: to protect outmoded business models from new technology and competition. Wouldn?t surprise me a bit if NARM is funded by the RIAA.

And you know this will eventually be expanded to used DVDs shortly.

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New laws create second-hand woes for CD retailers

Independent merchants selling and buying used CDs across the United States say they are alarmed by stepped-up pawn-broker-related laws recently enacted in Florida and Utah and pending in Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

In Florida, the new legislation requires all stores buying second-hand merchandise for resale to apply for a permit and file security in the form of a $10,000 bond with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. In addition, stores would be required to thumb-print customers selling used CDs, and acquire a copy of state-issued identity documents such as a driver?s license. Furthermore, stores could issue only store credit ? not cash ? in exchange for traded CDs, and would be required to hold discs for 30 days before reselling them.

At least one Florida town has enforced the law, resulting in the cited merchant pulling used CDs from its store.

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I heard something so strange the other day and it reminded me of something I heard years ago. I heard that Hitler had actually faked his entire suicide and actually escaped. Could this be possible?

I am actually starting to belief that he is alive and well working for an organization called the Racketeering Idiots Association of America. This group, abbreviated the RIAA is looking very similar to the Gestapo. The tactics are similar. Consider the following:

* First, instill fear by threatening them.
* Second, offer them an easy way to swear loyalty, admit guilt and submit to their will. Even tell them that you are looking forward to future business together.
* Claim ownership of everything!
* Enlist the youths of the nation to fink on others and be brain washed.
* Flood the news with false information, propaganda and conceal information by not reporting how much you collect or pay to the artist, all in an effort to mislead the public.

While you are at it, continue to proceed and increase Gestapo raids when the problem is "contained".

Okay, I am being overly critical. But, I did get your attention and the reality is not far from the above. Hitler used legislation and fear to impose his will on the world. The RIAA is not doing much different to impose it?s will on the world. While they claim to be champions of a cause they are nothing more than bullies. Their latest attempt to collect royalties for all copyrighted material is a scary sign of the times. They are in too good with our Congress and Senate. Not only to they feel they are the law but they behave as they are above the law.

They claim they are protecting the interest of the artist. The reality is simple. They are protecting their disproportionately large share of what the artists earn in sales. They claim that they are trying to keep the market in check so that it does not become diluted and not support the artist. The last claim makes about as much sense as reducing the number of telephones and bringing back telegraphs and the Pony Express. Western Union and the pony teams faded to history because newer technology was better, faster and desired by the general public not because curtailed doers of evil.

The bottom line, their own bottom line, is exactly what they are protecting. Not the artist. They are more responsible for the term &qouot;starving artists" than any other aspect of today?s music industry. To be honest and fair, today?s technology does make it easier to pirate. This is true. The telephone also made it easier to communicate. It also made it easier to conspire for criminal purposes. So do automobiles. Neither is a valid argument to prohibit the new technology.

I think it is great when I read about a ring of DVD pirates getting busted. I do not, never have and never will endorse illegal activity. Today?s situation with the RIAA and the most recent attempt to collect all royalties for all copyrights is not about piracy. It is about attempting to control a market and a distribution model. Unfortunately, the model is dead. Just like singing wires and type key operators.

Supply and demand will, in the end, prevail. The consumer is simply sick of CDs as the only alternative for their desires in music. The artist is tired of being a slave to the label. We want portability, compatibility on all devices and we want to listen to streaming music on our PC. Heck, I have a portable CD player and I don?t even know where it is anymore. I share my legal music on my home network so that I can simply click and play my music on any machine in my home. I can also copy it to my pocketPC and listen to it on the bus or on a walk. I do not want to carry a CD player AND a pocketPC. If it is all about the intellectual property rights did I not already pay that price when I bought the material?

I am confident that the Darwinist nature of a free market economy will eventually crush the out dated mode of music distribution. The newer technologies available will only increase the size of the market. The fear of the RIAA is that their control of the market and piece of the market will disappear. The current strategy is not to control piracy but make the new market disappear and/or capture it.

They are attempting this through lobbyist and instilling fear. As consumers and citizens we can do two things. One is natural and automatic, spend your money elsewhere. If you read this far down, odds are you already do. Next express your concern to your Representative and Senator.

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There are a few things lawmakers have decided really ought to be handled with the "care and oversight" that only the government can provide: e.g., tax collection, radioactive materials, biohazards, guns, and CDs. CDs? No, I'm not talking about financial Certificates of Deposit, though that might make more sense. I'm talking about Compact Discs.


New "pawn shop" laws are springing up across the United States that will make selling your used CDs at the local record shop something akin to getting arrested. No, you won't spend any time in jail, but you'll certainly feel like a criminal once the local record shop makes copies of all of your identifying information and even collects your fingerprints. Such is the state of affairs in Florida, which now has the dubious distinction of being so anal about the sale of used music CDs that record shops there are starting to get out of the business of dealing with used content because they don't want to pay a $10,000 bond for the "right" to treat their customers like criminals.

The legislation is supposed to stop the sale of counterfeit and/or stolen music CDs, despite the fact that there has been no proof that this is a particularly pressing problem for record shops in general. Yet John Mitchell, outside counsel for the National Association of Recording Merchandisers, told Billboard that this is part of "some sort of a new trend among states to support second-hand-goods legislation." And he expects it to grow.

In Florida, Utah, and soon in Rhode Island and Wisconsin, selling your used CDs to the local record joint will be more scrutinized than then getting a driver's license in those states. For retailers in Florida, for instance, there's a "waiting period" statue that prohibits them from selling used CDs that they've acquired until 30 days have passed. Furthermore, the Florida law disallows stores from providing anything but store credit for used CDs. It looks like college students will need to stick to blood plasma donations for beer money.

Why this trend, and why now? It's difficult to say, but to be sure, there is no love lost between retailers who sell used CDs and the music industry. The Federal Trade Commission has scrutinized the music industry for putting unfair pressures on retailers who sell used CDs, following a long battle between the music industry and retailers in the mid 90s. The music industry dislikes used CD sales because they don't get a cut of subsequent sales after the first. Now, via the specter of piracy, new legislation is cropping up that will make it even less desirable to sell second-hand goods. Can laws targeting used DVDs be far behind?

The music industry has never been a big fan of the Doctrine of First Sale, and the rise of digital music sales will only exacerbate the tension between consumers who believe that they "own" what they pay for, and the music industry. As more and more content-oriented goods transition to digital formats that are distributed free of physical formats, this issue is going to get tricky because it will be harder to spot the counterfeits from the authentic products, and consumers will still expect to exercise robust rights with the content that they've paid for with their hard-earned cash.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200...te.html[/quote]

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UP TO 3 FREE MUSICAL PORTRAITS

Once you've completed your registration, you will be entitled to 3 free portrait sittings and free access to this website until July 31st, after which time you will be offered the option to continue access to this site on a subscription basis. During this first 3 month period, though, please enjoy The Method free of charge.

After you've sat for your Method portraits, you can download them, play them back at your leisure, share them with your friends, compare them, noticing the similarities and differences between them, which will vary according to your input into the process. You may not like them, you may love them, you may prefer one to the other two, but, whatever your reaction, they will be authentic portraits, unique to you, based on the information gathered by your interaction with the Method software.

METHOD MUSIC TEAM

The Method Music Software has been developed under the patronage of Pete Townshend by mathematician/composer Lawrence Ball and software developer Dave Snowdon. A team of composers, personally approved by and occasionally including Pete Townshend, will regularly listen to Method Music portraits and select a few for further development/elaboration.

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR PORTRAIT

If one of your portraits is chosen, it does not mean it is better or worse than any other portrait, just considered by the composers to be technically more suitable to be elaborated into a "bigger" piece, possibly even a song.

Although your portrait is controlled by Eel Pie, should we go on to develop or elaborate it you may be invited to further engage and participate. This could lead to us creating commercial applications and if so we plan to reward you with a one-third interest in earnings from your portrait music used in this way.

METHOD MUSIC CONCERT

What you and every other Sitter may well be able to enjoy in the future is a concert at which all the music created by this software is aired in public for the first time. Watch this space!

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May 8, 1886: Looking for Pain Relief, and Finding Coca-Cola Instead
By Tony Long Email 05.08.07 | 2:00 AM

1886: Trying to come up with a headache cure and general pain reliever, pharmacist John Pemberton invents the beverage that will become known to the world as Coca-Cola in a backyard kettle.

Pemberton received a medical degree at 19 and worked as a druggist in Columbus, Georgia, before joining the Confederate army during the Civil War. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel with the Third Georgia Cavalry and was severely wounded in battle.

Trying to control the pain resulting from those wounds, Pemberton became addicted to morphine.

After the war, Pemberton settled in Atlanta, where he began work on a beverage combining coca leaves and cola nuts. His objective was to create a pain reliever but when his lab assistant accidentally mixed the concoction with carbonated water on May 8, 1886, the two men tasted it, liked it, and decided it might make a profitable alternative to ginger ale and root beer.

Pemberton sold the rights to Coca-Cola (twice, actually, but that?s another story) as his behavior became more erratic. He died only two years after his accidental invention and only a few months after the Coca Cola Corporation was incorporated.

It's no urban myth: Coca leaves do indeed contain traces of cocaine, which was then believed to help control one's dependence on opiates, including the morphine that helped end Pemberton?s life at 57.

(Source: Wikipedia)
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries...ch_0508[/quote]