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Showing posts with label Computer Science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Computer Science. Show all posts

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Super Software Secrets Tricks

Super Software Secrets Tricks


The applications you utilize most--your Web browser, benefit devices, media chiefs, and Windows and its manufactured-in extras--are more moving than you grasp. They are stacked with unpublicized offers that make your PC less demanding to utilize, they react to superquick console shortcuts that you've never known about, and they back join-ons and attachment-ins that can shave moments or even hours off of unremarkable day by day errands. At the same time spotting the aforementioned shortcuts and darken offers for the most part connotes scrutinizing dusty manuals or shoveling through threatening help menus, and a large portion of the most incredibly convenient tips are ones that you could never have thought to search for in the ahead of everyone else. Luckily, you don't need to do the hunt yourself--we've done it down you. Peruse on for the jackpot of master product insider facts.

Thursday, 15 September 2011

13-inch MacBook Air

13-inch MacBook Air

There was a time when you finished the cycle of change shopping for a laptop that you could need to regard every last trace of the things you needed to do with the machine and kill models dependent upon those criteria. Things like having enough capacity to record music or procedure an intermingle are a thing of the past.

Saturday, 3 September 2011

Laplink PCmover Software Review

Laplink PCmover Software Reviewes

Laplink PCmover is a Windows 7 upgrade assistant application that migrates all user programs, files and settings from an older version of Windows to the new version. The PCmover Pro is designed to be consumer friendly and extremely easy to use, so that the upgrade process is simplified for everyone.
There are completely different versions of PCmover to allow for varying upgrade situations ranging from home and personal use to business and enterprise edition upgrades. Obviously a business upgrade will involve multiple devices so the price is significantly higher.
The idea with the PCmover software is to directly migrate a user’s favorite applications and programs as well as custom user settings into the new operating system. As most people have a few programs and applications they can’t live without, Laplink’s goal was to make it easy for said consumers to upgrade without losing their preferences.
Some folks may be reluctant to try the migration so we’re going to review Laplink’s PC Mover software and decide if it’s worthy for use.

Laplink PCmover Migration Software Review

There are six different versions of the PCmover software all with varying settings and features, available starting from $29.95 for the standard Upgrade Assistant to $59.95 for the Professional version. Anyone interested in utilizing the Business and Enterprise edition must call Laplink customer support for a price quote.
Laplink PCmover Migration Software with Data Transfer KitUnfortunately the software requires a high speed data connection between the new and old PC, however this can be done through a simple network, network device or portable (external) storage device. The boxed copy of Laplink’s PC Mover software comes bundled with a high speed ethernet data transfer cable, but the digital version leaves consumers to fend for themselves; so only purchase the digital software if there’s already a method available to transfer data between PCs.
In our testing environment, migrating settings from an older Windows XP business laptop to a new Windows 7 home desktop, we were required to install the Laplink PC Mover software on both machines.
The user interface of PCmover is very simple, and will definitely be navigable for anyone- even those folks who know nothing about computers. Moving from step to step in the migration process simply required us to read through well defined instructions and perform a few simple button clicks (which for the most part only required us to choose “next”). Depending on the PC Mover version selected, users may also have to choose which programs they would like copied over to the new machine. In our case, we chose a few applications and programs we knew would copy over successfully.
Laplink PCmover Migration Software Application ChoiceThe general knowledge of what will copy over successfully is not required to take advantage of the PCmover software. The application itself gives a warning for select programs and applications that may have issues during the migration process. The few programs that cause issues during a transfer are namely Microsoft .net framework related files and DRM (Digital Rights Management) protected software. But most DRM protected files can be downloaded and installed directly to the new operating system via other methods, so there’s really nothing to worry about there.
The PCmover software provides several different options for actually migrating applications and transferring files (through a network, via portable media or an external storage device, through a high speed data transfer cable, or through a high speed USB 2.0 connection). We chose the option to migrate our “old” settings to our new machine via a home network, which in turn required us to choose which programs are transferred (not all software versions allow this selection process).
PCmoverAs you can see from the image on the left the file transfer is really quite simple, anyone can take advantage of the software- even those who aren’t computer savvy. It’s pretty much a three step process, install the application on both related machines, connect the PCs and make sure data is ready to be synchronized and then start the migration process.

PCmover Software Successful Application Transfers

To more specifically detail what types of files can be moved, we’ve compiled a small list of application types that copied over successfully during our testing session.
– Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint) copied over flawlessly as well as the individual settings.
– Personal files and documents copied over successfully with no problems whatsoever (Photos, Videos, Music, Podcasts).
– Several PC games we had installed copied over successfully, however games that require DRM protection methods must be installed locally on the new machine. The Steam game environment and all related games must also be downloaded locally via the new machine as a transfer via PCmover won’t work correctly.
– Financial and tax related software was copied successfully, including all user settings, information and related spreadsheets.
– Thankfully, all browser settings (including bookmarks and saved login information) were successfully copied to the new machine as well; we copied over settings from IE, Firefox, Google Chrome, and Rockmelt.

PCmover Migration Software Review

Upon completion of our system and application migration, we did not run into any further problems; which means the entire transfer was completely successful. That being said, we’ve had some experience with migration software in the past, so we had a basic understanding of what programs and applications could be trusted to PCmover for a migration. We didn’t directly attempt to copy any DRM protected files or information, nor did we copy anything that could be installed locally via the new machine thanks to a simple download.
Laplink PCmover Migration Software Transfer MethodsNonetheless, there really isn’t an alternative to Laplink’s PCmover software and Microsoft doesn’t offer native migration options when installing or upgrading to Windows 7 (they do somewhat but the migration is very limited). This doesn’t mean that the PCmover software would be at the bottom of the list if it were pitted against some competition; we’re just merely pointing out there are no other options.
Rightfully so, the PCmover migration software is perfect for a plethora of different users and working environments. Home and personal users looking to upgrade will enjoy the personal file and settings migration as well as the migration of some favorite applications and programs. Business and Enterprise users will likely enjoy the migration of important business software and platforms, as well as the migration of important network and connection settings.
All in all, the Laplink PCmover migration software saves a lot of time, and can subsequently transfer over important information to a new PC with little to no hassle. In fact, if we would have known an upgrade could be this simple thanks to PCmover we probably would have taken the dive a lot sooner.
To elaborate even further, it’s safe to say for those few users out there who have been waiting to upgrade because it can be a hassle, PCmover software is what you need! The Laplink PCmover software is simple, intuitive, and it really doesn’t cause an even bigger hassle during the migration process (which in this day and age is truly a revered feature).
The cheapest place we found for buying PCmover is the official PCmover site. There is no other place you should go to get it. Click here to choose the version you want and order it now!

Friday, 26 August 2011

Mac OS X Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

Mac OS X Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

Apple announced that Mac OS X Lion — the eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system — is available today as a download from the Mac App Store for $29.99. Lion offers more than 250 new features, including Multi-Touch gestures; systemwide support for full screen apps; Mission Control, a bird’s eye view of everything running on your Mac; Launchpad, a new home for all your apps; and a completely redesigned Mail app.

Technical Specifications

General requirements

  • Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
  • 2GB of memory
  • OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended)
  • 7GB of available space
  • Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.
  • Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.

Feature-specific requirements

Time Machine

requires an additional hard drive or Time Capsule (sold separately).

Photo Booth

requires a FaceTime or iSight camera (built in or external), USB video class (UVC) camera, or FireWire DV camcorder. Backdrop effects when using a DV camcorder require fixed focus, exposure, and white balance.

FaceTime

Video calls require a built-in FaceTime camera, an iSight camera (built in or external), a USB video class (UVC) camera, or a FireWire DV camcorder; and a 128-Kbps upstream and downstream Internet connection. Making HD video calls requires a built-in FaceTime HD camera and a 1-Mbps upstream and downstream Internet connection. Receiving HD video calls requires a supported Intel-based Mac.

Screen sharing

in iChat and the Finder requires a 128-Kbps Internet connection (300 Kbps recommended).

iChat

Audio chats require a microphone and a 56-Kbps Internet connection. Video chats require a FaceTime or iSight camera (built in or external), USB video class (UVC) camera, or FireWire DV camcorder; and a 128-Kbps upstream and downstream Internet connection.
Backdrop effects when using a DV camcorder require fixed focus, exposure, and white balance. Some iChat features offer better performance and quality with higher system capabilities. More details

AirDrop

supports the following Mac models:
  • MacBook Pro (Late 2008 or newer)
  • MacBook Air (Late 2010 or newer)
  • MacBook (Late 2008 or newer)
  • iMac (Early 2009 or newer)
  • Mac mini (Mid 2010 or newer)
  • Mac Pro (Early 2009 with AirPort Extreme card, or Mid 2010)

Boot Camp

supports existing Boot Camp installations with Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. New Boot Camp installations require Windows 7 (sold separately).

Exchange support

requires Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Update Rollup 4 or Exchange Server 2010. Auto-setup requires enabling the Autodiscovery feature of Microsoft Exchange Server.

QuickTime X movie capture

requires a FaceTime or iSight camera (built in or external), USB video class (UVC) camera, or FireWire DV camcorder.

OpenCL

requires one of the following graphics cards or graphics processors:
  • NVIDIA GeForce 320M, GeForce GT 330M, GeForce 9400M, GeForce 9600M GT, GeForce 8600M GT, GeForce GT 120, GeForce GT 130, GeForce GTX 285, GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce 8800 GS, Quadro FX 4800, Quadro FX5600
  • ATI Radeon HD 4670, ATI Radeon HD 4850, Radeon HD 4870, ATI Radeon HD 5670, ATI Radeon HD 5750, ATI Radeon HD 5770, ATI Radeon HD 5870
  • AMD Radeon HD 6750M, AMD Radeon HD 6770M, AMD Radeon HD 6970M

Gestures

requires a Multi-Touch trackpad, Magic Trackpad, or Magic Mouse.

VoiceOver gestures

require a Multi-Touch trackpad or Magic Trackpad.

Mac App Store

is available only to persons age 13 or older in the U.S. and many other countries. Requires compatible hardware and software and Internet access; broadband recommended (fees may apply). Terms apply.

What’s Included in OS X Lion

Applications

  • Address Book
  • Automator
  • Calculator
  • Chess
  • Dashboard
  • Dictionary
  • DVD Player
  • FaceTime
  • Font Book
  • iCal
  • iChat
  • Image Capture
  • iTunes
  • Launchpad
  • Mail
  • Mission Control
  • Photo Booth
  • Preview
  • QuickTime Player
  • Safari
  • Stickies
  • System Preferences
  • TextEdit
  • Time Machine

Utilities

  • Activity Monitor
  • AirPort Utility
  • Audio MIDI Setup
  • Bluetooth File Exchange
  • Boot Camp Assistant
  • ColorSync Utility
  • Console
  • DigitalColor Meter
  • Disk Utility
  • Grab
  • Grapher
  • Keychain Access
  • Migration Assistant
  • Network Utility
  • Podcast Capture
  • Podcast Publisher
  • RAID Utility
  • AppleScript Editor
  • System Information
  • Terminal
  • VoiceOver Utility
  • X11

Languages

  • English
  • Japanese
  • French
  • German
  • Spanish
  • Italian
  • Dutch
  • Swedish
  • Danish
  • Norwegian
  • Finnish
  • Traditional Chinese
  • Simplified Chinese
  • Korean
  • Brazilian Portuguese
  • Portuguese (Portugal)
  • Russian
  • Polish
  • Czech
  • Turkish
  • Hungarian
  • Arabic

Lion Recovery

OS X Lion includes a built-in set of tools for repairing your Mac in the Recovery HD, a new feature that lets you repair disks or reinstall OS X Lion without a physical disc. Hold down Command-R during startup to boot into the Recovery HD, or hold down the Option key during startup and select Recovery HD. You can restore from a Time Machine backup, reinstall OS X Lion over the Internet from Apple's servers, or use Disk Utility to repair or erase a disk.

Full-Screen Apps

OS X Lion offers systemwide support for gorgeous, full-screen apps that use every inch of your Mac display. You can have multiple full-screen apps open at once — along with multiple standard-size apps. And it’s easy to switch between full-screen and desktop views.

Mission Control

Mission Control brings together full-screen apps, Dashboard, Exposé, and Spaces in one new feature that gives you a bird’s-eye view of everything on your system. With a single swipe on the trackpad, your desktop zooms out to Mission Control. Think of it as the hub of your system: View everything and go anywhere with just a click. 

Mac App Store

The best way to discover apps for your Mac is now on your Mac. Just like the App Store on iPad, the Mac App Store lets you browse and download thousands of free and paid apps that you can start using right away on all your Mac computers authorized for personal use. New apps install in one step right to Launchpad, and the Mac App Store keeps track of your apps and tells you when updates are available.

Launchpad

Launchpad gives you instant access to all the apps on your Mac. Just click the Launchpad icon in your Dock. Your open windows fade away, replaced by a display of all your apps. Arrange your apps any way you want, group them together in folders, or delete them from your Mac with ease. And when you download an app from the Mac App Store, it automatically appears in Launchpad, ready to blast off.

Resume

Now apps you close will reopen right where you left off, so you never have to start from scratch again. And when you install software updates, you no longer need to save your work, close your apps, and spend valuable time setting everything up again. With Resume, you can restart your Mac and return to what you were doing — with all your apps in the places where you left them.

Auto Save

It’s time to stop worrying about saving your work. Because now your Mac automatically saves what you’re working on so you don’t have to. It’s not just an improvement for OS X, it’s an improvement for anyone who’s ever lost hours of hard work after forgetting to press Command-S.

Thursday, 25 August 2011

A Trillion Pageviews for Facebook

A Trillion Pageviews for Facebook

facebook stats
Google today released an updated list of the most-visited sites on the web and it should not come as any surprise that Facebook takes the top spot with 870 million uniques. YouTube and Yahoo are next with 790 M and 590 M uniques respectively.
Google, maybe for competitive reasons, doesn't share traffic data of its own site, or that of Gmail, in the Ad Planner report. Google+ is growing but the user base is still relatively small for the site to become part of this report.
A Trillion Page Views
Facebook hit a new milestone in June this year - the site touched a trillion page views from the 870 million* people who visited Facebook that month. Check this infographic to get an idea of how big a trillion – or a million million – is.
[*] Officially, Facebook has 750+ million users but the number of unique visitors who flock Facebook every month is much higher because certain section of the site – Facebook Pages and Profiles for example – are open to non-users as well.
Facebook says that people spend over 700 billion minutes per month on the site and now we also know that, on an average, one user visits 1150 pages on Facebook in a month. That's impressive considering that YouTube, with all the entertaining and viral content, manages only 126 views per unique visitor per month.

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

Step by step instructions to Remove Passwords from your PDF Files

Step by step instructions to Remove Passwords from your PDF Files

You have a bunch of PDF files on your computer that are protected by a long and complex password. You know the passwords but it still feels inconvenient and boring typing them each time you have to open a PDF file.
Is there a tool available that can remove password protection from PDF files? Someone asked me this question on Twitter the other day and the answer is obviously yes.
pdf password

Removing Password from a PDF File

There's a unlimited Windows utility called BeCyPDFMetaEdit that can help you evacuate passwords from PDF files* but without construct whatever possible update to the report. (I am not confident why the planners picked the embodiment of a unpredictable name for this suitable utility).
Here's what you need to do:
1. Launch the program and it will ask your for the location of the PDF file.
2. Before you select and open the PDF, change the mode to "Complete Rewrite."
3. Switch to the Security tab and set the "Security System" to "No encryption." Click the Save button and your PDF will no longer require a password to open.
[*] If you would like to test this tool but do not have a password-protected file, use this sample PDF (the password is labnol).
For more tips, check this detailed guide on PDF tools.

Sunday, 21 August 2011

Accompany Facebook Pages Secretly [How To]

Accompany Facebook Pages Secretly [How To]


follow facebook pages secretly Follow Facebook Pages Secretly [How To]
This post would be helpful to those Facebook users who don’t would like to impart what Facebook pages they are emulating to their contacts. It perhaps owed business explanations, or a political stunt, or would be you need to conceal any page taking after from your ma. Your security can be kept up hence following perusing this piece. But also yes, you are just 4 strides at a distance from taking after Facebook pages namelessly.

Tricks to follow Facebook Pages Secretly :

FIRST OF ALL :-
The primary thing to do is to pilot the Facebook page that you have a desire to take after covertly. Recall, the page might as well have a ‘Wall’ so that
the overhauls of it comes your direction. Typically, the vast majority of the conglomerations, either medium or impressive, do have a ‘Wall’ on their Facebook page.SECONDLY :
Parchment down the Facebook page that you yearning to accompany furtively and recognize “Subscribe via RSS”. It should be on the other side sidebar in the middle of
‘Create a Page’ and ‘Report Page’.follow facebook pages secretly Follow Facebook Pages Secretly [How To] 
THIRDLY :
Basically right-click on ‘Subscribe via RSS’ channel. Some program might have order-click as a substitute for right-click. Select there ‘Copy channel address' or its comparable of your browser.
AT LAST :
Now head off to your best RSS book lover for example Google Reader and glue the connection in the ‘Add newfangled subscription’ field. Countless folks don’t have RSS bookworm. Making one is exceptionally straightforward. In the event that you feel a distinct desire to have Google Reader, basically on any Google record page for example Gmail and there you possess the choice of Google Reader.
That would be all. Now you hold the protection to accompany any Facebook page subtly without working toward getting tracked by any of your contacts. Do remark beneath your tips and tricks about Facebook.

To Get Old Version OF Facebook Chat Back

To Get Old Version OF Facebook Chat Back


Get Old Facebook Chat How To Get Old Facebook Chat Back

Get Old Facebook Chat Back …. ?? Yes its possible.

You love Facebook but you may hate few of its features, and probably, as to many, the recent roll-out of video calling feature. With this, Facebook also rolled out a new chat sidebar, and this is sometime annoying to many.
It is no new that Facebook sometimes annoy people with its newer design changes. Last time it annoyed its users with image viewer feature called Facebook Theater mode.
Now, how to get back the old Facebook chat design which were eye-soothing and people were more comfortable to it than the newer one. Here is the answer how you can get back the old Facebook chat.
Get Old Facebook Chat How To Get Old Facebook Chat Back
Image Credit : Proknowliz
1) First login into your Facebook account, and then open a new tab. Open below link in the new tab:
http://www.facebook.com/presence/popout.php
Here you will get back the old Facebook chat where the online and offline contacts are sorted out.
However, this is not the perfect solution to it as everytime you have to open the link in a new tab. Below is a better option:
2) Install Greasemonkey script from the below link and restart your browser:
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/107159
There is one more way for getting back the old Facebook chat on different browsers. Install the below given addons on your respective browsers:
Google Chrome - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bfipfkeoidmndggnnpobeenlamiclald
Mozilla Firefox - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/fb-chat-sidebar-disabler/
Opera - https://addons.opera.com/addons/extensions/details/facebook-chat-sidebar-disabler/1.3/?display=en
Why people want to go back to old Facebook chat is a big question if you are not aware of the disadvantages. Below are the details of disadvantages:
Every time you login into your Facebook account you have to manually disable the Sidebar Chat if you are not liking it.
The new chat only shows list of those contacts of yours with whom you interact most. It shows them even if they are offline. This may be annoying to you sometimes.
Online and offline list of contacts are unordered. It needs to be sorted in manner.
Do comment below what you say about the new Facebook chat feature. Are you liking it? If no, then what are the other ways, you might be knowing, to get back to old Facebook chat.

Friday, 19 August 2011

The Customers Guide To Buying A New Computer

The Customers Guide To Buying A New Computer


Buying A New Computer The Customers Guide To Buying A New Computer
Buying a new computer today depends on a lot of things. But the overriding factor, perhaps, is budget. Recent technology advances have brought down the prices for most of the computer's internal components, and there is no good reason why one shouldn’t have a capable machine for under or around $500. This is good news for those brought to bear under the current economic malaise.
  • Do Check: Why Buying A Cheaper Computer May Be A False Economy
Buying A New Computer The Customers Guide To Buying A New Computer
What the computer is to be used for is another important factor. Most people would want a computer for basic Web surfing, handling email, doing homework, record keeping and the such. Others would want a machine that could carry the heft of the multimedia possibilities, playing games, editing photos or video, downloading and burning music and movies.
A little technical stuff will help the buyer in a good way. This article will explain components making up a basic computer model that could be had for around $500.
The computer's main component is the CPU (central processing unit) chip. Today’s basic computer would have a CPU made by standard bearer Intel, or its sister AMD. Two-core or quad-core means the CPU acts as ’2 CPUs’ or ’4 CPUs’ at one time. This is good for the multitasking involved in games and video, and other heavy processing tasks. The CPU processes billions of bytes of data, gigabytes (GB), per second. ‘Hz’ stands for ‘hertz’, one processing cycle. An average, good performing computer would have a processing speed around 2-GHz, or less.
The other important component is memory. There are two kinds, RAM memory and the hard drive. While it is working, the CPU stores everything temporarily in RAM. Today’s RAM typically comes in the form of DDR-2 chips, ‘DDR’ standing for ‘double data rate.’ Using RAM sticks with 1 GB storage capability, and depending on the computer’s operating system, the basic computer will have one or two sticks of 1 GB RAM. Optimal operating systems, such as Windows Vista, or Windows 7, require 2 to 4 GB. The more RAM the computer has, the better runs the CPU.
Data is permanently stored on the computer’s hard drive. Technology on hard drives has improved explosively. Storage space has become cheap, with 250 GB, 500 GB, and terabyte (1,000 GB) drives becoming common. The budget machine would easily have around a 500 GB hard drive.
These components make up the basic computer. Adding to them the mouse, keyboard, and monitor results in the basic 'desktop.' Several other accessories are standard with this model. They include a DVD-RW drive for reading and writing CDs and DVDs, USB ports for hooking up USB components, and a modem for internet connectivity. All this can be had for, around, $500, and enhanced for a few hundred more.
Today's trend, influenced by the tablature design, is to pack the components into one unit with the monitor, the all-in-one model. The jury is still out on this phenomenon, but it certainly bears watching. The desktop model enables easy, accessible care and repair, and pretty good affordability.
Dell Inspiron 15R 1570MRB 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mars Black) will be the perfect fit for those who are looking to buy computer within the $500 price mark.
Looking for computer stores Perth? Austin Computers have 6 convenient locations across the Perth Greater Metro area, and if you ever need computer repairs, upgrades or servicing each store has it’s own service center.

Saturday, 5 February 2011

Informatics students discover, alert Facebook to threat allowing access to private data, bogus messaging

http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/informaticss.jpg
A Facebook security vulnerability discovered by a pair of doctoral students at Indiana University Bloomington's School of Informatics and Computing that allowed malicious websites to uncover a visitor's real name, access their private data and post bogus content on their behalf has been repaired, Facebook has confirmed.
The vulnerability discovered by Rui Wang and Zhou Li enabled malicious websites to impersonate legitimate websites, and then obtain the same data access permissions on Facebook that those legitimate websites had received.
Wang and Li said the vulnerability occurred when a user informed Facebook of his or her willingness to share information with popular websites like ESPN.com or YouTube. Whenever a website makes such a request to Facebook via the user's browser, Facebook passes a secret random string called an authentication token back to the requestor for identification. Whoever holds that authentication token can convince Facebook that they are, say, ESPN.com and then gain unfettered access to the shared data.
Facebook confirmed the discovery and in a statement said the problem was repaired and that the belief was that no sites had been compromised.
"Researchers at Indiana University reported a vulnerability in our Platform code to us, and we worked quickly with them to resolve it. It was fixed shortly after it was reported. We're not aware of any cases in which it was used maliciously," the statement said. "We thank the researchers at Indiana University for bringing this to our attention, and for demonstrating the value of responsible disclosure."
The researchers identified a flaw in the way the token was transmitted using two Flash objects: one inside Facebook's iframe passes the token to the second, which in this case would be embedded at ESPN.com. The transfer mode can be selected through "transport='flash'" with the security guarantee being that both flash objects are supposed to come from the same domain (i.e., Facebook) before they can talk.
The researchers found, however, that such a same-domain assumption is not always valid because Adobe Flash allows cross-domain communication with an unpredictable domain name that is prepended by an underscore symbol in the connection name. This allows an attacker website to steal an authentication token by choosing the transport='flash,' replacing the receiver flash with its own and then initiating a cross-domain communication with the flash inside the Facebook-controlled iframe to get the token and send it to the attacker's flash.
"This vulnerability has several implications," Wang said. "Basically, any user with a valid Facebook session loses anonymity and privacy to any website, even one with embarrassing or sensitive content."
Facebook allows some websites like bing.com to directly access a user's public data without explicit consent. This enables the malicious website impersonating that site to do the same. Moreover, if the user has ever granted any website, such as The New York Times, YouTube, Farmville or ESPN, the permission to connect to their Facebook account, further damage can be inflicted, including disclosure of private data that the user does not want to share with others, and impersonation of the user to post bogus news or comments on friends' walls. This form of propagation resembles the famous MySpace worm released in 2005, they said.
"Our attack utilized a feature of Adobe Flash called unpredictable communication, and an important distinction between an unpredictable communication and a normal communication is that the former is done through a connection where the name starts with an underscore symbol," Li said. "Therefore, Facebook could check for this symbol to determine if a potentially malicious website tries to do unpredictable communication."
And that is exactly what Facebook started to do once they were alerted to the problem by Wang and Li, who were working under the supervision of School of Informatics and Computing Associate Professor XiaoFeng Wang and Shuo Chen, a researcher in Microsoft Research's Internet Services Research Center.
XiaoFeng Wang, the students' adviser, said Facebook relies on same-domain communications that allow websites to specify Adobe Flash as the communication mechanism.
"In a normal situation, two flash objects can only do same-domain communications, and, in fact, security of Facebook's authentication crucially depends on same-domain restrictions," he explained. "However, Facebook allowed the Adobe Flash communication mechanism but did not disallow the unpredictable domain names. This is how a malicious website could establish a channel to enable two flash objects in different domains to communicate."
To portray the seriousness of the vulnerability, the team made a video demo that can be viewed here.
Facebook officials noted that a contact form at both the Facebook Help Center and from the "Whitehats" tab on the Facebook Security Page are available in the rare instances in which vulnerabilities are found.
"We also recently rewrote our responsible disclosure policy to make it even easier for researchers to let us know when they find a vulnerability, so we can fix it quickly and before it's exploited. Our new policy was praised by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in a recent blog post here," the statement said.