Category Archives: Computing Discussion

#RefRef – The new (old) tool from Anonymous.

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Anonymous is developing a new DDoS tool which is said to exploit SQL vulnerabilities to support the group’s future campaigns. So far, what they have is something that is platform neutral, leveraging JavaScript and vulnerabilities within SQL to create a devastating impact on the targeted website. Previously, Low Orbit Ion Canon (LOIC) was the go to weapon for Anonymous supporters during various Operations .However, LOIC is also the reason scores of people have been arrested in the last year, so many feel its time is at an end.

According to developer:

RefRef is a revolutionary DoS java site. Basically, by using an SQL and .js vulnerability, you can send a page request packet from your home computer with embedded .js file, because of the vulnerability in the SQL/Javascript engine on MOST websites, the site actually TEMPs the .js file on its own server. So now the .js is in place on the host of the site. Next since you still have the request, it picks up the .js file, and all of the requesting for packets power happens on the server, not the requestee. I send two packets from my iphone, and everything else happens on the server. Basically eats itself apart, because since both are on the server, its all a local connection.

As I know, the tool is very effective, a 17-seconds attack from a single machine resulting in a 42-minute outage on Pastebin yesterday. As expected, the Pastebin admins weren’t very happy with their platform being used for such tests and tweeted ”Please do not test your software on us again.”

#RefRef is  available on the internet for all people. Everyone can test it.

You can also view this video uploaded by Anonymous to show #RefRef in action

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMEIhLOnh9E[/youtube]

 

 

Now, what do you think about #RefRef? I want to know your opinion. Leave comments below the news.

‘Anonymous’ hackers will shut down the Internet this Saturday!!

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       Once Again, the notorious hacker group “Anonymous” has mentioned last week that they have intentions to shutdown the internet  on Saturday, March 31st, as a form of protest. “To protest SOPA, Wallstreet, our irresponsible leaders and the beloved bankers who are starving the world for their own selfish needs out of sheer sadistic fun, on March 31, anonymous will shut the Internet down,” the group mentioned last week. “Remember, this is a protest, we are not trying to ‘kill’ the Internet we are only temporarily shutting it down where it hurts the most.” Anonymous will shutdown  the Internet by disabling its core DNS servers, hence websites will be inaccessible. Cyber security experts claim that “it is unlikely that such an attack would be effective:

“The Anonymous hackers can certain cause local pockets of disruption, but these disruptions are going to be localized to networks where their attack machines are located, or where their ‘reflectors’ are located”, said Robert Graham of Errata Security. “It’s unlikely they could take all of them down, at least for any period of time. On the day of their planned Global Blackout, it’s doubtful many people would notice.”

Graham does issue a cautionary note, however. “Just because I say Anonymous can’t do it doesn’t it mean it can’t be done,” the security expert said on Errata’s blog.

 

 

Will Windows 8 Be A Hit Or A Miss?

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 I’ve been testing out the consumer preview of Windows 8 during the past week or so and I can say that it’s OK. It definitely needs some work. I think that using a touch screen monitor or a tablet would make the Windows start menu more useful, but not everyone has a tablet or touchscreen monitor.
      A few things I liked was the start menu.  I like the metro UI, but I found myself not using it as much as I’m sure it was intended to be used. I like the idea of still having the Aero side of Windows, but the Start menu and the Aero desktop need a lot better integration. If Microsoft would allow re-mapping functions to your keyboard or mouse, I would probably use the start menu and other functions more often. For example, mapping the search button to a key on the keyboard or even your mouse if you have a compatible mouse. Mouse and Keyboard manufacturers like Logitech should have software updates so that the consumer can use one of the buttons on the mouse for the start menu. For example, the Logitech Performance Mouse MX has a large thumb button that you can map for application switching and other functions, but I found myself never using the button. If Logitech updated their Set Point software for Windows 8, I could map the large thumb button to launch the start menu, hense using the start menu more.
     Several things I didn’t like was the application multi tasking and right side slide out “Charms”. I would enjoy those options a lot more if Microsoft wouldn’t have made the launch “hot area” so precise. By hot area, I mean the area of the screen you need to hover over for the “Charms” to slide out/ appear. I personally think that Microsoft should add in options so that consumers can adjust the “hot area” in which they need to hover over for the “Charms”to appear. Options like size of the “hot area” and length of time you must hover over the “hot area” for the menus/Widgets to appear.
All in all I think Windows 8 is ok so far. It needs work, but it’s only a consumer preview right now, so hopefully it will improve tremendously. Check out my video below that goes over what I do and don’t like about Windows 8!   Thanks for reading and watching!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxARacLqYnI&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

10 Gadgets To Look Forward To In 2012

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So, that was 2011. Well, OK, it’s not over yet, and many people will no doubt be hoping for one of this year’s best gadgets for Christmas, but for big, game-changing releases, we’ve already moved on to looking at 2012 now.

In some ways, we’re reminded of the excitement during the build up to the 2012 gadget season, but everything’s bigger and flashier. Where once we were waiting on the influx of dual-core tablets, now we’re looking at a quad-core revolution on the horizon. We were looking forward to Android 3.0 and Google’s Chrome OS, but now we’re clamouring for Android 4.0 and Windows 8.

Gaming also looks set to have a bumper year, with new consoles and technologies coming, and this is all before we get the usual raft of awesome announcements at CES 2012 in January.

Here’s our pick of the 10 we’re most excited about so far.

1. Amazon Kindle Fire

Kindle fire

You might wonder what this is doing at the top of our list when it’s quite clearly already out – heck, we’ve even already got an Amazon Kindle Fire review on TechRadar. But it’s only out in the USA so far, so for the UK and the rest of the world, it remains a gadget for 2012.

So what’s got us so excited about the Kindle Fire? Our review called it “a brilliant media consumption device that doesn’t break the bank”, making it “perhaps the best gadget bargain of this era”.

We’ll be interested to see what video streaming options and other content it launches with outside of the US, and it’ll be fascinating to see if it spurs tablet adoption with its relatively tiny price.

2. Wii U

Wii u

There’s no doubt the Wii sparked a motion-control revolution when it launched, with all three major consoles now sporting some sort of wavy-arm option. However, despite phenomenal sales for much of its life, it isn’t still banging out the hit games in the way the Xbox and PS3 are.

Enter the Wii U, then. The Wii’s successor looks set to be a powerful HD console, offering 1080p output and 3D support, with yet another interesting new controller. The Wii U comes with a kind of small tablet – a controller with all the usual buttons, but a touchscreen in the middle as well. The touchscreen can be used to control games, or you can actually play the game on that screen, leaving your TV free for Masterchef.

Nintendo-quality games, awesome HD graphics, support from lots of third-party games developers, and a handy way to play in any room in your house? Count us in.

3. Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

Transformer prime

This is where tablets really start to grow up when it comes to horsepower. The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is the first Nvidia Tegra 3 tablet, which means quad-core processing and amazing graphics performance for a portable device. Somehow, it’s also unbelievably thin and light, and comes in a bundle with keyboard dock for typing on the go.

Our Eee Pad Transformer Prime review found that it had good battery life, a great screen and amazing performance, especially for games. It’s probably going to be just the first step in what’s to come for Tegra 3 tablets in 2012, but it’ll be a hell of a way to start the year when it’s released in January.

4. Windows 8 tablets

Windows 8 tablet

There are still a lot of unanswered questions when it comes to Windows 8 tablets, but the information is starting to come out, and there’s no doubt Microsoft is prepared to make a real go of this tablet malarkey.

Windows 8 will use a Metro interface that’s much like Windows Phone 7 for when it’s used on touch devices, with separate Metro apps. It will support ARM processors, such as Tegra 3, as well, which means manufacturers have options for the hardware they include.

Whether the addition of a new touch interface on top of the traditional Windows look will entice developers and customers is hard to say, but it seems to have the manufacturers on board, and we’ll be able to see more when the public beta arrives early next year. If Microsoft pulls it off, it may suddenly become a big mobile player again.

5. Apple’s 2012 tablet

We could fill this article with what Apple’s supposedly got in the works for next year, but since they’re all officially fictional until the moment Tim Cook walks on stage and reveals them to the world, let’s not get too wrapped up in them. Rumours of an iPad 3 with a Retina display are stronger than ever, and it’s fair to say that we’d be drooling all over a tablet with a screen as highly detailed as the iPhone 4S‘s.

iPhone 5 rumours persist too, though at this point we suspect it’ll be called something else, since it won’t be the fifth iPhone. A thinner design with a larger, possibly edge-to-edge, screen is supposedly the order of the day, which will be unusual, but we’d love to see if Apple can pull it off.

Apple itv

And then there’s the Apple TV. No, not the Apple TV you can buy now, the newApple iTV television set that’s supposed to be in the works. Of course, it’s hard to say how good an Apple TV would be from a visual point of view, but we like the sound of a TV with AirPlay and iCloud built in, with Siri functionality as a remote control option.

Want to read more? Information supplied by Tech Radar- Checkout http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/10-gadgets-to-look-forward-to-in-2012-1046703?artc_pg=2.