Bloggers to stage "internet blackout" to protest new licensing regime

Bloggers to stage "internet blackout" to protest new licensing regime

    By Imelda Saad
    POSTED: 05 Jun 2013 9:07 PM
 
Some prominent bloggers in Singapore will stage a 24-hour "internet blackout" from 12am on Thursday to protest against a new licensing regime for local news sites with substantial reach.

SINGAPORE: Some prominent bloggers in Singapore will stage a 24-hour "internet blackout" from 12am on Thursday to protest against a new licensing regime for local news sites with substantial reach.

The move is spearheaded by a group of at least 32 bloggers and socio-political websites, known as "Free My Internet".

They said the new rules, which require local news websites with substantial reach to come up with a S$50,000 bond and comply with a take-down notice within 24 hours, will limit public discourse.

The authorities have said that they are not intended as a clampdown.

They added that websites can continue as per normal, as they are subjected to the same content standards as before.

- CNA/xq

- wong chee tat :)

Yahoo! breaks its silence on MDA licensing scheme

Yahoo! breaks its silence on MDA licensing scheme

    By S Ramesh
    POSTED: 05 Jun 2013 7:32 PM

Yahoo! has broken its silence on the new licensing rules for online news sites in Singapore, which kicked in on June 1. The response came in a posting on its webpage by Alan Soon, Yahoo!'s country manager for Singapore and managing editor for Southeast Asia.

SINGAPORE: Yahoo! has broken its silence on the new licensing rules for online news sites in Singapore, which kicked in on June 1.

The response came in a posting on its webpage by Alan Soon, Yahoo!'s country manager for Singapore and managing editor for Southeast Asia.

Yahoo! noted that prior to the new licensing framework it was already bound to comply with the Media Development Authority's Internet Code of Practice.

Mr Soon said this key guideline complements Yahoo!'s own internal editorial policies around what is suitable for its readers, and that further regulation is redundant.

Yahoo! noted that the new framework has caused confusion and unsettled both users as well as the media industry.

However, Yahoo! also said the new licensing rules will help pave the way for full accreditation and access for its reporters.

It believed this will help strengthen its editorial reporting.

Yahoo! said as a network, it serves one million unique users in Singapore each day.

Unlike reporters from mainstream media, Yahoo! reporters are not accredited with the Ministry of Communications and Information, and are not given access to government media conferences.

Under the new rules announced on May 28 and which came into effect on June 1, local news sites with a significant reach will require individual licensing.

10 news sites were placed on this list, including Yahoo! Singapore.

These new sites need to put up a performance bond of S$50,000, and will need to comply with any take-down notice from authorities within 24 hours.

- CNA/xq


- wong chee tat :)

Microsoft Security Advisory (2847140)

Vulnerability in Internet Explorer Could Allow Remote Code Execution

Published: Friday, May 03, 2013 | Updated: Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Version: 1.1

General Information

Executive Summary

Microsoft is investigating public reports of a vulnerability in Internet Explorer 8. Microsoft is aware of attacks that attempt to exploit this vulnerability. Applying the Microsoft Fix it solution, "CVE-2013-1347 MSHTML Shim Workaround," prevents the exploitation of this issue. See the Suggested Actions section of this advisory for more information.
The vulnerability does not affect Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 9, and Internet Explorer 10.
The vulnerability is a remote code execution vulnerability. The vulnerability exists in the way that Internet Explorer accesses an object in memory that has been deleted or has not been properly allocated. The vulnerability may corrupt memory in a way that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user within Internet Explorer. An attacker could host a specially crafted website that is designed to exploit this vulnerability through Internet Explorer and then convince a user to view the website.
On completion of this investigation, Microsoft will take the appropriate action to protect our customers, which may include providing a solution through our monthly security update release process, or an out-of-cycle security update, depending on customer needs.
We are actively working with partners in our Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) to provide information that they can use to provide broader protections to customers. In addition, we are actively working with partners to monitor the threat landscape and take action against malicious sites that attempt to exploit this vulnerability.
Microsoft continues to encourage customers to follow the guidance in the Microsoft Safety & Security Center of enabling a firewall, applying all software updates, and installing antimalware software.
Mitigating Factors:

• By default, Internet Explorer on Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2 runs in a restricted mode that is known as Enhanced Security Configuration. This mode mitigates this vulnerability.
• By default, all supported versions of Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, and Windows Mail open HTML email messages in the Restricted sites zone. The Restricted sites zone, which disables script and ActiveX controls, helps reduce the risk of an attacker being able to use this vulnerability to execute malicious code. If a user clicks a link in an email message, the user could still be vulnerable to exploitation of this vulnerability through the web-based attack scenario.
• An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
• In a web-based attack scenario, an attacker could host a website that contains a webpage that is used to exploit this vulnerability. In addition, compromised websites and websites that accept or host user-provided content or advertisements could contain specially crafted content that could exploit this vulnerability. In all cases, however, an attacker would have no way to force users to visit these websites. Instead, an attacker would have to convince users to visit the website, typically by getting them to click a link in an email message or Instant Messenger message that takes users to the attacker's website.

Recommendation. Please see the Suggested Actions section of this advisory for more information.




- wong chee tat :)

32 bit or 64 bit IE?

How do you know if the application running is 32 bit or 64 bit?

Launch Windows Task Manager , those with *32 will show up as the 32 bit application. In this case, my internet explorer is a 32 bit application powered by 64 bit windows 7.


- wong chee tat :)

Microsoft releases patch for critical IE security flaw

Microsoft releases patch for critical IE security flaw
Posted by Dawn Kawamoto

Microsoft released a critical security patch on Wednesday to plug vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer, a move that comes amid malicious attackers taking advantage of the security flaws.

The patch is designed to prevent attackers from downloading malware onto users' computers if they visit a malicious Web site, or a legitimate Web site that has been infected.

This zero-day exploit has been in circulation since the first week of December and potentially could have infected a wide swath of users.

The vulnerabilities are found in not only IE 7, Microsoft's latest browser, but also Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 6, and Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1.

-http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10125593-83.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

- wong chee tat :)