[LINK] Google engineer finds British spyware on PCs and smartphones

[Jan Whitaker]

At 01:46 AM 3/09/2012, Fernando Cassia wrote:
>These technical details are very interesting. I have to say, I had no
>knowledge of a "right to left override" character and that thanks to
>the windows shell´s good design (sarcasm) it´d allow a exe to
>maskerade as something else like a .jpg) by flipping the characters in
>a file name, so that someone.jpg.exe visually becomes someone.exe.jpg.

Given the lack of knowledge by the general public 
about file names, particularly the new crop of 
people buying entry level equipment like tablets, 
phablets, and smartphones, that is very scary. 
There is little need any more to understand file 
names or software install nuances. "It just 
works" can lead to just these sorts of security problems.

Jan



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the 
world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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