There is a bug in Mozilla’s flagship Firefox browser related to the way the browser handles obfuscated URLs in iFrames. However, a Mozilla official said the bug poses “very low” risk to users.
Johnathan Nightingale of Mozilla said in a blog post late Tuesday that the bug poses little risk to users. “This issue poses very low risk to users. This attack relies on user confusion about the true destination of a link, and only someone examining the HTML source of the page would ever see the deceptive URL. Most users do not view the source of loading pages, and are therefore unlikely to be impacted by this attack,” Nightingale, the director of development for Firefox, wrote.
He added that the company doesn’t plan to fix the bug, as there is little chance of it being exploited. “There is currently no fix in plan since Mozilla does not believe this can be used to attack users. Firefox ships with built-in phishing and malware protection that warns users if they are attempting to visit a dangerous URL, and these attempts at deception do not impact that protection,” he wrote.
The problem of URL obfuscation is not a new one, and neither is it novel for attackers to use iFrames as an infection vector for visitors to a compromised Web site. Web-based attacks have been employing various forms of URL obfuscation for years now, and iFrames are a favorite of attackers because of their ability to perform malicious actions in the background of a victim’s Web session.
The new flaw, which already is in the Mozilla Bugzilla system, is in all of the current versions of Firefox, according to researchers at Web application security firm Armorize. URL obfuscation often is used by attackers to hide the true address of a malicious site that they’re directing users to, typically as part of a phishing or drive-by download attack. But browsers now check for this behavior and will warn users when a URL appears to have been tampered with, explaining that this may not be the site they’re looking for.
4 August 2010—The race to replace copper wiring with optics in chip-to-chip communications reached a new milestone last week as Intel announced it had produced a system using silicon-based photonics to transmit data between printed circuit boards at 50 gigabits per second.
”We’re bringing silicon manufacturing to optical communication,” says Mario Paniccia, director of Intel’s Photonics Technology Lab. ”It changes the way in the future that we’re going to connect.” Until recently, optical communications was done using exotic semiconductors and other expensive components. Making such systems in silicon should lower their price and allow for easy integration into computers.
The prototype, which was announced at the Integrated Photonics Research Conference in Monterey, Calif., takes several discrete technologies that Intel has invented over the past few years and combines them into one package. These include a hybrid silicon/indium phosphide laser, a silicon modulator operating at 40 Gb/s, and a germanium detector, also operating at 40 Gb/s. The company has brought those together into a four-channel link, with each channel operating at 12.5 Gb/s, for a total bandwidth of 50 Gb/s. ”We’ve always said the real value of silicon photonics is in integration,” Paniccia says.
Nissan’s unveiling of the LEAF jolted green car fans on the web. No longer an amorphous concept, Nissan’s electric car is stacked up against other plug-in cars and hybrids for its look and feel and features. The reviews from the blogosphere—usually an irreverent crowd—have been mixed.
The Nissan LEAF’s closest comparable future all-electric car is the Ford Focus EV. The two vehicles are remarkably similar in size and capabilities. Both vehicles are expected to offer 100 miles in driving range. The Nissan LEAF’s lithium ion battery pack has a capacity of 24 kilowatt hours, while the Focus EV holds 23 kilowatt hours of energy. Both vehicles will carry five passengers and measure 175 inches in length, while the Nissan LEAF has a longer wheelbase by about three inches.
Although the Nissan LEAF is expected to beat the Ford Focus EV to the market by about one year, LEAF’s first customers will be fleets and consumers participating in Department of Energy evaluations. The LEAF’s distinguishing characteristic could be design. When we spoke last November with Mark Perry, Nissan’s director of product planning, he said, “We want to make sure [the design] is iconic, as something different, unique and futuristic. But not in a Blade Runner, George Jetson kind of way.”
The Nissan LEAF will be arriving almost exactly when the Chevy Volt is introduced in late 2010—although it appears that the Volt will be priced several thousand dollars higher than the Nissan LEAF. While more expensive, the Chevy Volt is a plug-in hybrid offering a driving range equal to or beyond most gas-powered cars, while the Nissan LEAF, Ford Focus EV, and other electric cars will be limited to approximately 100 miles in range. The new plug-in cars will also be competing against conventional hybrids, like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, which are priced in the low- to mid-$20,000s.
When all these choices become available, consumers interested in cutting-edge fuel-efficient technologies will have to make sense of the new automotive landscape—balancing considerations for driving range, price, fuel efficiency, drivetrain technologies, and design.
It’s hard for me to deny that I wish this automotive future could kick in sooner than later. I’m growing disgusted of the amount of pollution that’s literally changing the looks and feel of every town/city. I still remember when 10/15 years ago traffic was non existent in the country side, and I have a pretty clear picture of the difference from then and today. Driving up-hill is a revolting experience nowadays, shall I find a gasoline fueled vehicle pumping its nauseating gases in front of me. One day, soon I hope, this MUST be the future of city cars. I am pretty sure my next car (whenever I’ll happen to be buying a new one) will be electric.
There is a bug in Mozilla’s flagship Firefox browser related to the way the browser handles obfuscated URLs in iFrames. However, a Mozilla official said the bug poses “very low” risk to users.
Nissan’s unveiling of the LEAF jolted green car fans on the web. No longer an amorphous concept, Nissan’s electric car is stacked up against other plug-in cars and hybrids for its look and feel and features. The reviews from the blogosphere—usually an irreverent crowd—have been mixed.