Windows 7 RC Self-Destructs

Just in case any of you are still using the free release candidate (RC) version of the operating system, you will start noticing strange goings-in. The trial period has now ended and it begins with warning pop-ups, and unannounced twice-hourly shutdowns; anything you are working on will not be saved. This will continue until June 1st when it goes into ‘non-genuine’ mode, at which point a permanent warning notice appears on the screen, the wallpaper disappears and it will no longer be possible to download updates. Be warned, there are a number of fixes on the Internet that claim to be able to fix Windows 7 Release Candidate’s suicidal tendency but as far as I’m aware none of them work properly and some of them contain viruses or malware.

Apple Keyboard Hack Proved Possible

Slashdot reports that Apple keyboards are vulnerable to hackers’ attacks due to the complexity of their inner workings, which include RAM and flash memory. According to the report, the hack can potentially place keyloggers and malware directly into the device’s firmware.

To make matters even worse, the author of this “proof of concept” has also published the presentation and code in a PDF that’s free to download for anyone on the planet. The vuln is undoubtedly enticing to hackers, some of which are likely to create one or more exploits for the flaw in question. To better understand how this discovery has turned into a potential security issue, we offer you a few excerpts from the published document.

For ethical reasons, the firmware modification we describe is benign. The firmware is modified so that the LED under the CAP S LOC K key of the keyboard will flash momentarily when the keyboard is first plugged into a system. However, malicious payloads can be developed by individuals with mal-intent. Read more

Windows 7 RTM Crack Confirmed by Microsoft

Microsoft confirmed the first crack for Windows 7 Ultimate RTM that surfaced in under a week since the official sign-off date of the latest iteration of the Windows client. For the time being, the Redmond company has not supplied product keys to activate the gold development milestone of Windows 7, except for the OEM-SLP (System-Locked Preinstallation) product keys offered to original equipment manufacturers, as an integral part of the OEM activation 2.1 process. It is in fact a leaked OEM-SLP product key from Lenovo that is the backbone of the first activation hack of Windows 7 RTM. Reports in the wild indicate that the crack is capable not only to bypass the antipiracy measures set in place by Microsoft and activate the operating system permanently, but also pass Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) validation.

“We are aware of reports of activation exploits that attempt to circumvent activation and validation in Windows 7, and we can assure customers that Microsoft is committed to protecting them from counterfeit and pirated software,” a Microsoft spokesperson revealed. Read more

Rooting Out Rootkits

We’ve spoken about Rootkits before, they’re nasty little pieces of malware that can open up your PC to hackers, but are also really difficult to detect and eliminate because they hide inside legitimate applications and files. McAfee, the antivirus people have come up with a new Rootkit removal tool, called Rootkit Detective. It’s still in its prerelease beta version but it seems stable enough and compared with other Rootkit removal tools we’ve tried, it’s blindingly fast. Although it didn’t find any infections on our office PCs it did flag up a few files, belonging to uninstalled applications, that shouldn’t be there, so it’s definitely worth a try, especially if you have any concerns about the security of your PC.