Microsoft has made some effort into buttoning up Windows 7’s security model compared to Vista which should see the operating system as the most secure Windows version to date. DailyTech delves into what the changes mean for users and some of the side benefits XP Mode brings to the table:

Many malware programs will also be crippled by XP-Mode.  This is because in the past Windows security software has used hardware virtualization extensions to detect malware.  It is common practice for malware to be written to not run on machines where hardware-assisted virtualization is detected.  However, as all Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate licenses come with XP Mode, this malware won’t run on a large portion of Windows 7 installs.  Modification is possible, but this will be time consuming and frustrating to attackers.

Given the amount of absolutely malicious software floating around out there that targets XP operating systems a move to Windows 7, or any other secure operating system, are sure to cut into botnet activity and other fraud…as long as the end user doesn’t willingly install the stuff that is. Yeah we’re all doomed anyway.

If you’re the security conscious type, the sort of person who believes the world is out to get them or at the very least likes to protect their business, or other properties, you might want to check out what the Sports Museum of Los Angeles has done with many D-Link 2-way Audio Internet Cameras and some D-Link Power over Ethernet adapters.

An interesting usage of commodity hardware to protect some very valuable sports memorabilia.

Hit the break for the full PR.

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Adobe’s Flash Player (versions 9.0.159.0 and 10.0.22.87) had a bit of a security issue that could have allowed malicious individuals to crash Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems and run arbitrary code which could compromise a system.

Given how pervasive their software is they’ve found it prudent to patch their software so heading over to their flash site and installing the latest version (10.0.32.18) as it is a critical security issue.

One has to wonder how quickly this flaw will be exploited, this could get messy.

Microsoft strives to make things easy on its less than savvy OS users. Case in point is their (rather annoying) AutoPlay feature which, when tied to AutoRun, automatically launches applications on all manner of plug-in devices and discs. Unfortunately an increasing number of USB keys and devices with on-board memory have been sold with malware and viruses that take advantage of this fact leading to some widespread PC infections.

The company is planning on turning off its AutoRun support by default for removable drives like USB Keys but they’ll still keep it enabled for the old trusted optical media. A welcome change although we might just see discs used as a new attack vector too.

Source: Microsoft Security Response Center Blog

Adobe has announced that all currently shipping and supported versions (Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.1, 8.1.4, and 7.1.1 and earlier versions) of its Adobe Reader and Acrobat PDF browsing applications are vulnerable to an exploit which may allow for malicious code to be executed on your PC. This issue affects Windows, Mac, and Unix versions of the software and their current plan to defend customers is to have them disable their application’s JavaScript functionality.

The process goes a little something like:

1. Launch Acrobat or Adobe Reader.
2. Select Edit>Preferences
3. Select the JavaScript Category
4. Uncheck the ‘Enable Acrobat JavaScript’ option
5. Click OK

There’s no current timetable for a fix so stay alert.

Source: Adobe PSIRT Blog

There’s nothing quite like another round of vulnerability scares to take your system security worry levels to the next level. Security researchers have come up with a way to load code into the System Management Mode which, by no simple means, can be snooped into. The Register has more details:

The Intel caching hack is all the more serious because it burrows into SMM space, which is more privileged than a hypervisor area. As such it is a possible mechanism for creating “incredibly stealthy” rootkits, security blogger James Heary adds.

Invisible Things Lab’s paper touches on the long-running debate about security disclosure. According to Rutkowska, Intel’s own employees first wrote about how this class of CPU caching vulnerability might be exploited back in early 2005.

Things should get interesting very quickly.