The most widely used software for sending Internet e-mail has a flaw that may allow a hacker to seize control of large computers that pass messages between networks, a computer-security company said.
The flaw in Sendmail Inc's software puts Internet messages at risk because a hacker could exploit it to read or delete mail or shut down computer networks. Sendmail, the oldest e-mail software, is used to store and forward messages in systems sold by companies including Sun Microsystems Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co, and International Business Machines Corp.
"It's one of the biggest bugs we've ever found," said Dan Ingevaldson, a researcher with Internet Security Systems Inc, which discovered the vulnerability. "Basically, anything that an administrator could do to the machine, a hacker could do."
Sendmail, based on a program developed in 1981 for transmitting correspondence at the University of California at Berkeley, is installed on more than a million server computers, Sendmail Chairman Greg Olson said. The flaw in the software may allow a hacker to gain access to parts of a machine's memory that are supposed to be off limits. It was found in versions of the software dating back to the late 1980s.
"It's been out there for 15 years. It's really obscure," Olson said.
There is no evidence that any viruses have used the flaw to access e-mail systems, Internet Security said. Internet Security has made software available on its Web site that can prevent hackers from exploiting the vulnerability. Internet Security's Web address is http://www.iss.net.
Computer hackers typically write viruses that affect the most prevalently used software, so the flaw in Sendmail, which carries as much as 75 percent of Internet mail, made it a likely candidate for an attack.
The flaw is exploited by attaching a special string of code to the address or subject lines of e-mail that spills into an overflow area, where a hacker can then install code to gain remote access of a computer, Ingevaldson said.
The "Slammer" virus exploited a similar mechanism in Microsoft Corp's server software. That virus was the fastest to spread ever.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts