Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate

Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 9 Release Candidate in 40 languages. You can download version 9.0.8080.16412 now for: Windows Vista 32-bit and Windows Server 2008 32-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit and Windows Server 2008 64-bit, Windows 7 32-bit, and Windows 7 64-bit and Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit.

The new RC build includes a Tracking Protection feature, which gives users the option to control what third-party site content can track them when they’re online, as well as a new ActiveX filtering option, which allows users to turn on/off ActiveX plug-ins. Best of all, Microsoft has addressed what was arguably the biggest complaint with the new version (the company has gone through over 17,000 pieces of feedback): if you want your tabs on a separate line from the address box, there's now an option to turn that on from the right click menu at the top of the browser.

At the same time, IE9 RC is significantly faster than the beta version. Furthermore, many site rendering issues have been fixed, although we can't say that it's working perfectly. Last but not least, the new build includes hundreds of bug fixes.

Microsoft released the IE9 beta five months ago. The software giant also took the opportunity to announce that the beta surpassed 25 million downloads, making it the most downloaded beta release of Internet Explorer ever. Redmond is likely to release the final version of IE9 at its Mix11 event (April 12 to April 14, 2011).

"IE9 RC supports additional emerging Web standards including CSS3 2D Transforms, HTML5 Geolocation and a set of HTML5 semantic elements," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. "We've added support for the HTML5 canvas global­Composite­Operation property and improved the performance of canvas’s Canvas­Pixel­Array. We've updated IE9 RC to reflect changes to the DOM events and added accessibility to the HTML5 audio and video controls. These additions reflect our pattern of implementing site ready HTML5 while ensuring developers can experiment with new and emerging specifications through our HTML5 Labs. As these specifications become stable, you can expect we will implement them in IE as we have throughout the development of IE9."

By Emil Protalinski

Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/42358-microsoft-releases-internet-explorer-9-release-candidate.html

New Android Market web store could open backdoor for phone hackers

If you follow the Google Android operating system scene, you will probably have heard about the new, web-based Android Market store which was launched a few days ago.

The Android Market website allows the user to browse, search and install Android apps using an alternative to the standard device Android Market app that comes on smartphones.

The user is simply required to sign in with their standard Google credentials and the application will retrieve the details of Android devices registered in your name as well as the details of all the Market applications you have already installed.

Once the user signs in to Android Market the application install is available at the click of a button.



I wanted to see what happens on the device when a request to install a new app is submitted from the web-based store.

I logged into the Android Market and found an application suitable for testing: a popular game that made me waste some time last year when I first played it on an iPhone. This seemed a good opportunity to test its usability on the Android OS too. :)

The most important security aspect of the installation process on Android are the permissions an app requires on a device after the installation. Android users should particularly carefully read the required permissions before they install any applications, from the official Android Market or any other source.

For example, a game which requests unusual permissions such as SEND_SMS or RECEIVE_SMS should be considered highly suspicious and installed only if the user is certain about its functionality.



As expected, the web-based Android Market displays the required permissions so that the user can make an informed decision about whether to install the application.

However, the next step in the installation is where a big red security flag is raised. Once the user clicks on the install button on the website, the mobile device will automatically start downloading the application in the background.

This probably happens using the INSTALL_ASSET intent discovered last year by Jon Oberheide when Google used the Android's GTalkService mechanism to remotely remove a test Trojan application created by the researcher.

In summary - if someone managed to steal your Google password they could trick your Android smartphone into installing software, without you having to grant permission on the device itself.

The result of all this is that a Google password suddenly becomes even more valuable for potential attackers, and I would not be surprised to see even more Gmail phishing attacks as a consequence.

In future, however, the phishers' intention may not be to use stolen account credentials for the purposes of sending spam but to install malware on the user's Android devices instead.

Google should make changes to the remote installation mechanism as soon as possible. As a minimum, a dialog should be displayed on the receiving device so that the user must personally accept the application that is being installed.

Let us hope that the update will come in time to prevent cybercriminals abusing the Android Market for the automatic installation of malicious software.

In the meantime, users should choose a strong password for their Google applications account.

Author: Vanja Svajcer

Source: http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011/02/04/android-market-web-store-backdoor-phone-hackers/

Microsoft makes Chrome play H.264 video

Users of the Chrome browser will be able to play H.264 video - thanks to Microsoft.

Google ditched HTML5 support for H.264 video last month, citing the codec's licensing requirements. Instead, Google said the HTML video tag should favour the freely available WebM.

Today, Microsoft revealed the Windows Media Player HTML5 Extension for Chrome, which will let users of the Google browser play H.264 video.

"At Microsoft we respect that Windows customers want the best experience of the web including the ability to enjoy the widest range of content available on the internet in H.264 format," said Claudio Caldato, interoperability program manager, in a Microsoft blog post.

He noted that Internet Explorer 9 will support H.264 as well as Google-sponsored WebM video - as long as users have installed the codec - and that Microsoft had already created a Firefox extension. "We also recently provided an add-on for Windows 7 customers who choose Firefox to play H.264 video so as to enable interoperability across IE, Firefox and Chrome using HTML5 video on Windows."

The move hasn't convinced everyone. One comment on the post read: "H.264 isn't an open standard and isn't supported by Firefox or Opera, so in what way is this in support of interoperability? Commercial interests absolutely, but interoperability certainly not."

source: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/364948/microsoft-makes-chrome-play-h-264-video

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