F-Secure says stop using Adobe Acrobat Reader

by Elinor Mills April 21, 2009

With all the Internet attacks that exploit Adobe Acrobat Reader people should switch to using an alternative PDF reader, a security expert said at the RSA security conference on Tuesday. Of the targeted attacks so far this year, more than 47 percent of them exploit holes in Acrobat Reader while six vulnerabilities have been discovered that target the program, Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer of security firm F-Secure, said in a briefing with journalists. Just last month, Adobe issued a fix for an Acrobat Reader hole that attackers had been exploiting for months, after issuing a patch for a critical vulnerability in Flash player the month before. In 2008, the favored targeted attack vector was Microsoft Word, which had 15 known vulnerabilities (compared to Acrobat Reader's 19) and which represented 34.5 percent of the attacks (compared to 28.6 percent for Acrobat Reader), he said. Top-level executives, defense contractors, and other people who have access to specific sensitive corporate or government information are subject to targeted attacks where an attacker sends a file that has malicious code embedded in it. Once the file is opened, the computer is infected typically with a back door that then steals data.

Read more here -->Link

Is Your PC or HDTV an Energy Hog?

By Jeff Kuta and Lauren Barnard, Apr 21, 2009

When you make a major electronics buying decision, you traditionally think about price, quality, and brand reputation. But few consider one additional criterion when browsing in the store: power consumption. The ongoing costs of powering a desktop PC, HDTV, laptop, or LCD monitor--even if the device turns out to be a high-energy user--probably won't blow anyone's budget. However, if many users opt for equipment that sips less energy, it could make a considerable difference to the environment and perhaps to the bottom line of a small business. So, if it doesn't make a difference to your computing or entertainment experience, why not give an energy-saving device some consideration? The PC World Test Center recently started testing new HDTVs, laptops, desktops, and LCD monitors using the Watt's Up? PRO meter, a device that measures how many watt-hours a product uses. A watt-hour is an electrical energy unit of measure that is equal to 1 watt of power passing through an electric circuit over the course of an hour. The lower the number, the better.

Read more here -->Link

AMD: Six-core Istanbul server CPUs moved up to May

By Scott M. Fulton, III April 21, 2009

During the early part of this afternoon's conference call with analysts this afternoon, AMD CEO Dirk Meyer told analysts -- one day ahead of a momentous product call scheduled for tomorrow afternoon -- that strong reception and testing for its Istanbul-architecture server CPUs will enable the company to start orders for its first six-core products next month. This will enable shipments of six-core systems from suppliers as soon as June, said Meyer. This despite a continuing, if somewhat diminished, loss for the first quarter of the year of $416 million, on revenue that was 21% lower annually. The server side of the business, Meyer admitted twice, was something of a downer for the quarter, while sales of CPUs and graphics chips in the desktop and mobile segments rose to compensate. The company continues to be cautious about its outlook, and disputes Intel's claim earlier in the week that the fallout in the technology industry had hit bottom.

Read more here -->Link