New Trojan Korhigh South Korean Government Attacked By Korhigh

South Korean Government Attacked By New Trojan: Korhigh Posted: 30 Jun 2013 08:00 AM PDT Amid a new wave of attacks hitting government and media networks in South Korea, researchers at Symantec have uncovered yet another piece of malware that destroys sensitive hard drive data and renders computers unusable. The new malware program is called Korhigh (named by security firm Symantec) and contains the same kind of functionality that simultaneously shut down the networks of a half a dozen banks and broadcasters in March. Korhigh’s discovery on Thursday came a day after researchers at Symantec said they had identified the hacking group responsible for the March attacks. This newly identified DarkSeoul group is also responsible for a wave of attacks that hit South Korea on Tuesday and were apparently timed to coincide with the 63rd anniversary of the state of the Korean War. Like the earlier Jokra malware Korhigh can overwrite a hard drive’s master boot record, which contains information required for the computer to reboot and also permanently destroy stored data.  Korhigh can accept several commands that allow attackers to inflict additional damage inside a system, one such “switch” can change passwords on compromised computers to “highanon2013″ according to a blog post published Thursday by Symantec.  Another, wipes specific types of files, including those that end in .php, .dll, .gif  and 21 other file extensions.  Symantec researchers also wrote in their blog on Wednesday’s post “We can now attribute multiple previous high-profile attacks to the DarkSeoul gang over the last 4 years against South Korea, in addition to yesterday’s attack…The attacks include the devastating Jokra attacks in March 2013 that wiped numerous computer hard drives at South Korean banks and television broadcasters.’  The DarkSeoul group was also held responsible for the attacks on South Korean financial companies in May 2013. As is almost always the case with network computer attacks, positively identifying the perpetrators is extremely difficult and sometimes prone to errors. It’s still not clear that the DarkSeoul gang is behind the newly discovered Korhigh Trojan. It’s also unknown if there are connections between the various groups identified and if any of them are sponsored by governments from other nations such as North Korea or China. That having been said, these recent discoveries indicate that politically, nationalistically, or ideologically motivated computer attacks, often with the goal of causing physical destruction, are a growing and dangerously problematic threat.

Augmented Reality Education Posted: 30 Jun 2013 05:00 AM PDT Scientists at Spain’s Universidad Carlos III en Madrid have developed software for augmented reality glasses that will allow professors to visualise how their students are understanding class material. The proposed system, called Augmented Lecture Feedback System (ALFs), requires professors to wear augmented reality glasses in order to facilitate communication between students and professors and see symbols above students’ heads.  These symbols are activated by students via their cellphones, which allow them to indicate whether they are following the professor’s explanations. In addition, professors will also be able to view a pie chart with the aggregate of students’ answers. Telmo Zattaonandia, one of the researchers at the university said in an email “Many of the students are not keen on or feel inhibited by participating in the class. Sometimes they feel shy or they have fear to expose themselves in front of their classmates…An AR [augmented reality] device provides a communication channel unavailable previously between students and teachers which is private.” A tenured professor in the computer science department, Ignacio Aedo, said that more ergonomic models are in development for easier use as the only problem currently is the devices weight. “Although the models of AR glasses available at the moment are suitable for research, they are still too heavy and cumbersome to be used on a daily basis,” he said.  The glasses currently in use are a pair of Vuzix STAR 1200, but an integration of the ALFs into devices such as Google Glass seems to be a logical next step for the implementation of the technology.  Aedo continued “We are really looking forward to having a pair of Google Glass with us so we can develop a version of the ALF system for them. Of course it will be necessary to carry out some adjustments, as it seems that in this device only a small portion of the user’s vision is augmented. It is very likely that we will have to sacrifice the symbols over the students’ heads in favour of using pie charts and other ways of representing the summary of the responses from the students”.  Ultimately, the developers behind the software hope to use the ALF system in other areas, such as office presentations and conference talks.”

HTC One Windows Phone 8 On The Horizon? Posted: 30 Jun 2013 01:30 AM PDT This new rumour regarding the variant of the HTC One will look very similar to the metallic flagship model, but will be powered by Microsoft’s tile-based operating system, Neowin reports. The phone won’t be a clone or carbon copy of the original HTC One, but will have a similar look.  The screen is reckoned to be around the four to five inch mark. Sporting a metal frame (like the original) and no doubt carrying HTC’s ‘Ultrapixel’ camera technology, (which captures 300% more light) the new model should also carry Beats audio with dual front stereo speakers to match. If this is the case, we would also expect the usual features such as the home screen layout (now tiled windows) and the Blinkfeed feature, just like the original Taiwanese company’s handset. This mysterious mobile will reportedly make use of a previously rumoured update to Windows Phone (known as GDR3) that is reckoned to make the operating system compatible with 1080p displays and if it is furnishing a quad core processor, it would be some serious piece of kit. This new model Windows HTC One handset is tipped to make its grand debut in the autumn and arrive later this year.   As with all tech rumours, until we hear more, stay tuned for further updates! HTC’s Windows’ Phone efforts have felt a little lacklustre in the past, with devices like the HTC 8X doing little to make the customer happy compared to the likes of Nokia’s Lumia mobile series. The HTC One has been praised for its design; however, I would definitely be keen to see a manufacturer other than Nokia lavish a lot of energy on a Windows Phone which has struggled to gain market leadership against technology giants like Apple and Samsung. Tech Beat South Korean Government Attacked By New Trojan:Korhigh Augmented Reality Education HTC One Windows Phone 8 On The Horizon?