Businessweek's website has been hit by hackers. Security vendor Sophos discovered the attack last week. Hundreds of pages of the popular site have been infected with malicious Javascript that redirects users to a Russian website that attempts to download malware to their computers.

Of the 2157 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 214 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 09/15/2008, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 09/11/2008. Malicious software includes 721 scripting exploit(s), 4 trojan(s), 3 exploit(s). Successful Infection resulted in an average of 2 new processes on the target machine.

Heres a link to an interesting video explaining the attack.

Just when you thought spammers had thought of everything, the FBI is warning that a particularly disturbing spammer is back. Called the Hit Man Spammer, he first showed up back in 2006. Unlike most spam, which Hawks such things fake pharmaceuticals, sexual enhancement products, cheap knock offs, and credit repair services, this spammer's messages claim he is a hired assassin and threatens to kill the recipient or kidnap their loved ones if they are not paid off. Their payment demands are usually in the thousands. Even more disturbing, the emails contain personal information about the recipient including name, telephone number and address. If you receive such emails, do not reply to them under any circumstances. Instead, report them to the Internet Crime Complaint Center. Sooner or later this scammer is going to threaten the wrong person and when he does, he'll learn a hard lesson.

Here is a video from Black Hat 2008 that provides an update on the infamous Storm Worm and it's botnet.

If you think a firewall is just a nusiance and your antivirus software is enough, think again. There is more t worry about that you think. Check out this recent log from my router:

Mon, 2008-09-08 13:38:27 - UDP Packet - Source:80.50.125.22,18935 Destination:71.167.195.160,19550 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:38:27 - UDP Packet - Source:90.217.215.227,26881 Destination:71.167.195.160,19550 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:38:28 - UDP Packet - Source:86.137.255.127,56107 Destination:71.167.195.160,19550 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:24 - UDP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206,137 Destination:71.167.195.160,137 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:55 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206,59055 Destination:71.167.195.160,4 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:55 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206,59055 Destination:71.167.195.160,5 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:55 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206 Destination:71.167.195.160 - [PORT SCAN]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:55 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206,59055 Destination:71.167.195.160,0 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:55 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206,59055 Destination:71.167.195.160,1 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:55 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206,59055 Destination:71.167.195.160,2 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:55 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206,59055 Destination:71.167.195.160,3 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:55 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206,59055 Destination:71.167.195.160,4 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:55 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206 Destination:71.167.195.160 - [PORT SCAN]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:55 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206,59055 Destination:71.167.195.160,0 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:56 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206,59055 Destination:71.167.195.160,2 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:56 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206,59055 Destination:71.167.195.160,3 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:56 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206,59055 Destination:71.167.195.160,4 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:40:56 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206,59055 Destination:71.167.195.160,5 - [DOS]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:45:56 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206 Destination:71.167.195.160 - [PORT SCAN]
Mon, 2008-09-08 13:50:56 - TCP Packet - Source:4.79.142.206,59055 Destination:71.167.195.160,0 - [DOS]

This is only reflecting 20 minutes of activity, but in that short time my PC was under attack from 4 different hackers. 3 of them were attempting a Denial of Service attack on my network while another was doing a port scan, trying to find an open port to use to hack into my system. Throughout the day there are thousands of these entries recorded, as the bad guys use automated programs to bombard the net, looking for a target. Luckily, because of my firewall, none of the attacks get anywhere-but if you have a wireless or wired network set up and no firewall, you've basically thrown your front door open to the net inviting the bad guys in. So make sure you have a firewall-and while you're at it, make sure your network uses WEP encryption and change those usernames and passwords-every router is sold with the defaults of admin and password, and the bad guys know it!

Hello everyone! Due to Tropical Storm Hanna,posting has been delayed this week. We got hammered pretty hard with heavy rain and wind and my electricity was off and on. Apologies for the delay-posting will resume on Sunday. It looks like the stormy weather won't be leaving for awhile-Hurricane Ike is roaring toward Cuba and Josephine isn't far behind, although it's not a hurricane yet. Our prayers are with anyone in Hurricane Ike's path!