Vodafone’s update, however, was five hours ago (according to time of writing), and most likely to have sold out. It also appears that Three has also sold out, or orders aren’t starting until they have enough phones to cover both Vodafone and Three.

Both Optus and Telstra are picking up pre-orders for the phone, with Optus reporting a four week waiting period – most likely to get to the orders that have already been pre-registered.

Unlike the iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4 will not be in the hands directly, with a 3 week delay on orders before shipping the phone. However, pricing has been revealed on the Apple Store site. The 16GB model will sell for $859, while the 32GB model will sell for $999 – yes, that is bloody expensive, so it’s better get the one that is already subsided by the carriers.

Similar to the situation in the US, the white model is not available for order.

“Well, it’s possible we could move in different directions,” Swan told the program, also telling listeners that the Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, has taken into consideration the concerns and is looking and responding to the concerns.

“We have responded to the legitimate concerns of many of your listeners in this area and Stephen Conroy is going through that process now.”

Swan also has disagreed with claims that a vote with Labor is a vote for the internet filter.

Conroy announced last month that the filter implementation would be delayed by a year in order to review what content on the internet would be deemed “refused classification” – the official rating by the Classification Board, which has been tasked to review all material, that would ban all content.

However, three ISPs – Optus, Telstra and Primus – have opted to voluntarily bring in a filter to block out child pornography.

The plan to delay is suggested to have been a move to deflect the issue from the election campaign.

The controversial filter plan was announced two years ago as part of a cyber-safety program announced after winning the election in 2007, under Kevin Rudd.

Image from: ABC/Hack

Yes, that does look cool. A researcher, in an attempt to advance the state of artificial intelligence in computers towards a human-esqe approach, has built a shoulder-strap computer simply using a cheap pear of video glasses that were hacked to a fit one lens of the glasses.

Martin Magnusson also utilise a Beagleboard (a computer running on a single board) running Linux and a fold-able Bluetooth keyboard from Nokia. It is also hooked up to his iPhone for internet and a mini USB hub in order to have Bluetooth connectivity and the display.

There are a couple of posts on his blog on how he manages to achieve this – with each component broken down in an individual post.

Well, Safari 5.0.1 has been released by Apple. While it may look like a simple update, this version sees its new promised Safari Extensions turned on. Currently there are a few extensions available – or that we can tell from the website – including some from the New York Times, eBay, Amazon and Microsoft’s Bing. There is also an official Twitter application and some apps that act like separate Greasemonkey scripts – altering a site.

For developers, Apple is touting that developing extensions will be easy as it only uses HTML5, CSS and Javascript. Also, the SDK is free, so why not start playing around.

You can find a whole list of extensions here, while the full press release is after the jump.

CUPERTINO, California—July 28, 2010—Apple® today released Safari® 5.0.1, turning on Safari Extensions and introducing the Safari Extensions Gallery. Apple introduced extensions support in Safari 5 in June so developers could begin creating extensions with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript web standards. With Safari Extensions Gallery, users can quickly find extensions that add powerful new features to Safari, from toolbars that display live web feeds to sophisticated programs that filter web content. Safari 5.0.1 allows users to download and install extensions either from the Safari Extensions Gallery or directly from a developer’s site.

“Safari 5 has been a big hit, and user response to the innovative new Safari Reader has been fantastic,” said Brian Croll, Apple’s vice president of OS X Product Marketing. “We’re thrilled to see so many leading developers creating great extensions and think our users are going to love being able to customize Safari.”

“Millions of our customers already use Amazon Wish Lists to store items they want to buy for themselves or receive as gifts,” said Gianna Puerini, vice president of Worldwide Design and Community at Amazon.com. “With Safari 5, we were able to quickly build the Add to Amazon Wish List extension that lets customers add items from any website to their Amazon Wish List with the click of a button.”

“We’re excited to continue working closely with Apple to bring visually compelling Bing experiences to Safari,” said Jeff Henshaw, general manager of Bing User Experience. “The Bing Extension for Safari brings Bing search intelligence to everyday browsing with Safari. When a user selects text in Safari, Bing instantly recognizes what they might need and pops up helpful, informative tips, from real time maps and driving directions to real time translations to direct web search results.”

“Using web standard technologies and Safari’s extension builder, we developed an MLB.com extension to give fans another way to consume up-to-the-moment baseball content, including live look-ins to games, right from the Safari toolbar,” said Noah Garden, executive vice president, Commerce and Sponsorship at MLB.com.

“Our extension for Safari is a great way for readers to get all of the latest breaking news and all the important stories, blogs and columns they want to see,” said Denise Warren, general manager, NYTimes.com at The New York Times Company. “While you browse other sites in Safari, our extension checks for updates and slides in new headlines and thumbnails, so you won’t miss a thing.”

“Creating our Twitter extension in Safari couldn’t have been easier,” said Jason Goldman, vice president of Product at Twitter. “By providing features like the ability to tweet about a page and view trending topics, we’ve created a simple way to deliver relevant, interesting content to people regardless of where they are on the web.”

The Safari Extensions Gallery is accessible from the Safari menu or at extensions.apple.com. Users can download and install extensions from the gallery with a single click, and there’s no need to restart the browser. Extensions can be automatically updated and are easily managed within Safari. Users can enable or disable individual extensions, or turn off all extensions with one click.

Safari Extensions are built with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript web standards, and can have all the power and functionality of advanced web applications. Every Safari Extension is signed with a digital certificate from Apple to prevent tampering and to verify that updates to the extension are from the original developer. Safari Extensions are sandboxed, so they can’t access information on a user’s system or communicate with websites aside from those specified by the developer. For increased stability, Safari Extensions run solely in the browser.

Safari 5 also features Safari Reader, which presents single and multipage articles on the web in a new, scrollable view without distracting content or clutter. The Nitro JavaScript engine runs JavaScript up to 30 percent faster than Safari 4.* Built on the open source WebKit engine developed by Apple, Safari 5 includes more than a dozen powerful new HTML5 features for creating media-rich experiences, like full screen playback and closed captions for HTML5 video.

The spraying is said to have occurred last Friday and the problem was alerted to management, according to AFP, as workers “experienced sensations of giddiness and nausea.”

Out of all the 250 employees – which represent almost half of the entire workforce in the plant in Chennai, southern India – only 28 have not been released from hospital and are under observation by medical professionals.

The factory is said to resume production in a week.

Foxconn was recently damaged – in terms of its reputation – after a series of suicides at a production facility in China by jumping, ten of which were located near Shenzhen. The deaths, according to the company, are not work related, but several have claimed the suicides were linked to a family payment benefit scheme within the company if someone died from a work-related incident.

The company, hoping to prevent the suicides, increased the monthly salaries of its workforce in China by nearly 70 percent to 2,000 yuan from October 1.

When The Apple Store came back online earlier today, you may have noticed that Apple has released their new Magic Trackpad which has had much speculation over the past month or so. This trackpad is basically an oversized version of the trackpad which has appeared on recent MacBook Pros and is designed to replace your mouse and is selling for $99 on the Australian Apple Store.

The Magic Trackpad connects to your Mac via Bluetooth and also features multitouch functionality. This means that you control your Mac with a series of gestures like swiping through documents and scrolling that senses the momentum in your fingers.

The Magic Trackpad is made out of a wear-resistant glass that Apple state “feels great to touch” and is around 80% bigger than the trackpad found on the MacBook Pros. Apple also state that the Magic Trackpad sits at the same height and angle as their Wireless Keyboard so you can switch from trackpad to keyboard with ease.

I think Apple have started a niche market here which will definitely expand but I can’t see any sort of trackpad replacing my mouse espcially because I can’t imagine what it would be like playing games with a trackpad and not a mouse.

Let us know when it’s back up!

Owners of the iPhone will be able to break electronic locks on their devices in order to download applications that have not been approved by Apple. The government is making that legal under new rules announced Monday.

The decision to allow the practice commonly known as “jailbreaking” is one of a handful of new exemptions from a federal law that prohibits the circumvention of technical measures that control access to copyrighted works.

Apple maintains a support document describing the problems when jailbreaking their operating system. In short, Apple will provide no support if the phone has been jailbroken at any point and therefore warranty cancelled as it is a violation of Apple’s license agreement.

The new act will deny Apple from denying service to customers who have jailbroken for such reasons under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. However, it is still a violation of Apple’s Terms of Service.

Source: MacRumors

Thats right, Vodafone have announced their iPhone 4 plans earlier than originally promised. They where set to be announced tomorrow, Wednesday but straight from the Vodafone blog they have been announced.

Their entry level $29 per month plan includes $180 of calls to any network, 50MB of included data and 500MB of bonus data. The iPhone 4 16GB model will be $18 per month while the 32GB model will be $24 per month on a 24 month contract.

Their unlimited plan has a price tag of $99 per month which includes unlimited calls and text to any network, 2GB of included data and 1GB of bonus data. Both versions of the iPhone 4 will have no monthly instalment charge on a 24 month contract. The 8GB model of the iPhone 3GS is also available on all plans free of charge, except the entry level plan which has a price tag of $12 per month.

Now that Optus, Telstra and Vodafone have their plans out, it is becoming clearer on who to go with for your new iPhone 4. But who would want an iPhone 4 after the antennagate problem?

Vodafone have yet to announce if they will hold a midnight launch.

More information regarding their plans can be found on the Vodafone Australia Blog.

While Optus’ plans start at the $19 Extreme Cap plan, it does have a high handset repayment ($60 for 12 months and $25 for 24 month on an iPhone 4 16GB, while it is $72 and $31 respectively on a iPhone 4 32GB), and only comes in with 100MB of data.

The high end, its $79 Extreme Cap plan has 2GB of data, and with no handset repayments for both versions if you signed a 24-month contract. The $59 Extreme Cap plan also has no repayments for the handset for the 16GB model. The $59 and $79 caps have 2GB of data, and have $550 and $800 included value of SMS, MMS, Voicemail, and standard national calls respectively. You also have unlimited calls to any Optus fixed line or mobile.

If you want more data, Optus also offers the Timeless Extreme Plans, which literally gives you enough data to do some iPhone tethering. The $89 cap comes with 3GB, while the $99 cap has 5GB and the $129 cap has 6GB. All three have no handset repayments on a 24-month contract.

All plans, however, are designed for a social-savvy person, so customers on these plans will have unlimited access to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, eBay and Foursquare.

But Telstra has gone on the offensive with a latest blog post about the Optus’ plans.

“As iPhone adoption soared, some Australian networks buckled under the load. Customers reported slow page loads, extended buffering while streaming online media and age-long waits as they tried to update their social networking profiles. For many it was a mobile internet experience closer to dial-up than mobile broadband,” Ross Fielding, Executive Director of Mobility Products over at Telstra, said in a blog post on the Telstra Exchange

“Telcos with foresight invested in their networks to stay ahead of the demand for data. For instance Telstra has now invested more than $2 billion in the Next G network to best ensure customers get the speeds, coverage and reliable access to online services they paid for.”

“Speed matters. You just have to look at what happened when the iPhone 3GS launched on the Next G network to appreciate this. The speed jump (data speeds are around twice as fast on iPhone 3GS than on iPhone 3G when teamed with a capable network) contributed to a 40 per cent increase in data use,” Fielding continues.

The iPhone 4 32GB will have no upfront cost only on the more expensive $99 Cap. All plans are 24 month plans, not pre-paid, and have a 500MB data cap, with the exception of $49 Cap where it has a 200MB data cap – not that much data for the device.

Telstra will also hold a midnight launch for the device – a first for the carrier and the first for Australia – at selected Telstra stores in Ballarat, Bentleigh, Port Melbourne, South Yarra, Camberwell, Chadstone, Doncaster and Melbourne in Victoria; Broadway, Bondi Junction, Chatswood Chase, Sydney and George Street North in NSW; Australia Fair, Maroochydore, Brisbane (Queens Plaza), Chermside, Indooroopilly, Pacific Fair and Inverell in QLD, Glenorchy in Tasmania; Mt Baker and Grenfell Street in Adelaide, SA; and Hay Street and Subiaco in Western Australia.

“IBM is alleged to have engaged in illegal tying of its mainframe hardware products to its dominant mainframe operating system,” the European Commission said.

“The complaints contend that the tying shuts out providers of emulation technology which could enable the users to run critical applications on non-IBM hardware.”

“The Commission has concerns that IBM may have engaged in anti-competitive practices with a view to foreclosing the market for maintenance services (i.e. keeping potential competitors out of the market), in particular by restricting or delaying access to spare parts for which IBM is the only source.”

The allegations, according to the Commission, comes from two software vendors T3 and Turbo Hercules, whose products are typically emulators that allow products to be run from IBM on a non-IBM computer. IBM has since labelled these companies as “satellite proxies” of Microsoft, another of its competitors in the server market.

Mainframe computers are very powerful computers that are used by governments and large companies in order to store critical data about their businesses. IBM has approximately over 90 percent of the entire market, and was the main developers of these types of computers in the 1940s and 1950s.

The European Commission is known to give harsh penalties to companies who breach its strict antitrust rules within the European Union. Microsoft and Intel both received record fines just for breaching antitrust rules within the European Union. Microsoft was also fined further just for not changing its practices. Microsoft avoided another fine from the Commission after satisfying a investigation over Internet Explorer by allowing the option to choose what browser a user could install.

Image from: Kansir/Flickr (CC)

Vodafone Hutchison Australia has announced that it will be releasing more information about the iPhone 4 this Wednesday, just days before the phone – which has been getting some negative press within the US over its antenna – is set to be release in an additional 17 countries, including Australia. It is expected that pricing will be revealed for the device.

“We will be releasing more information on Wednesday,” a VHA spokesperson wrote on Vodafone Australia’s Twitter account.

Plans, however, are most likely (in my own mind) to shift from the iPhone 3GS to the iPhone 4, while the iPhone 3GS takes over the iPhone 3G plans – or to remain similar – as the iPhone 3GS becomes the lower tier of the two devices.

By this time next year, experts predict that there will be no IPv4 addresses left. What does this mean? Everything that connects to the internet is assigned an IP address, at the moment it’s an IPv4 address, which is vital to that device being able to communicate with all the other computers on the internet.

When IPv4 was deployed, nobody ever thought that 4 billion addresses wouldn’t be enough. 30 years later, it isn’t enough and now experts predict that within 340 days there won’t be enough addresses to go around.

The problem is that 30 years ago personal computers weren’t really around but nowadays even some refrigerators want an IP address. If this is not solved we might end up with a group of computers that have the same IP address and that would not be good.

If that does happen, many sites that you use daily wouldn’t work. Take Facebook and Google Docs. They both rely on the fact that every computer has an individual IP address in order to know which computer to send the information to, as do many other sites you may use daily. The sharing of IP address might also cause problems like being banned from websites that you haven’t been on before. This is because a web server/webmaster creates a blacklist of IP addresses of the people that have abused their site in the past and if you share an IP address with someone who has been banned from a group of websites, you will end up being banned as well just because you both share the same IP.

Another problem with sharing IP addresses is VoIP. If you share IP addresses with other people that use VoIP, you could end up getting calls from god knows who when that call was actually meant to be directer to a different person with the same IP address as you.

But not all hope is lost. There is a new addressing system called IPv6. IPv6 has been out for a while and is slowly being deployed world-wide. The problem with that is the fact that there are still heaps of devices out there that don’t support IPv6. I know that my brand new Motorola DEXT only supports IPv4 and most gadgets around the average house would only support IPv4 like my modem. Does this mean that I have to buy a new modem just to get on the internet in a years time?

There are also rumors that they may add a number in front of the address like Sydney added the 9 for the shortage of phone numbers though whatever solution they come up with, it may mean that we have to upgrade our networking devices in some way and in the end the cost will be put on us wither though the ISP and/or our new networking equipment.

No, we are not talking about the winners of Masterchef or the winner of the election, we are talking about who has won our nifty competition for one of ten copies of BitDefender’s Total Security 2010 security suite package. Yes, that one – the one that has been promoted on our website.

We closed the competition, we chose ten entries and we have read them out – in the same style we usually do our podcast, with little knowledge what we’re going to talk about and with in-joke humour that you will never understand. But here are the winners. You will have to listen and find out (after the jump).

Don’t forget, you can subscribe to our podcast via this feed.

DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE (MP3)

Yes, what you are seeing is a brain, and while we left you pondering with a brain cupcake for zombies, turns out it will protect your noggin as well. Don’t worry, it is all fake. Yes, this is just an image of a brain that has been stuck on a motorcycle helmet. There are also other styles in the series, including the Black 8 ball, someone’s bald head, a bum, a breast with pierced nipple, a tennis ball and a cracked walnut.

Very stylish? Very weird? Well, if it isn’t, we’re out of a job. You can find the rest of the series of motorcycle helmets from a Kazakhstan website called Good! (We don’t think that this deserves a NSFW warning, but just in case – it is NSFW!)

Click here to view the details.

The new payment option, which we can relate to (Jamster ringtones anyone?), is currently available in the US with T-Mobile, but more carriers are expected to participate in this new option is made available.

Image from: lwallenstein/Flickr (CC)

Currently there are no reports on what has been modified but something drastic must have been done if Halo: Reach now has an MA15+ rating here, where the other Halo titles only received an M15+. Has Bungie added in anything too mature for Australian gamers?

“Strong Violence, Gaming experience may change online” – The only given reason why it has been modified.

After years in the wilderness, Motorola has come back with a resurgence. From its RAZR days, it seems to have broken the curse it left behind, a la the Seinfeld Curse, with a powerful lineup of Android-powered phones. While we’re not likely to see the Droid X any time soon, the Motorola DEXT (CLIQ) is seems to do the job in promoting its Android message. TECHGEEK.com.au takes it for a spin.

One of the big features of the phone is its social networking capabilities with its Motoblur service, an Motorola-exclusive feature for its Android line. When you first start up the phone you are forced to create a Motoblur account, which you can then add your social networking accounts too. Your accounts can be accessed via the ‘Happenings’ app. This means you have one feed from all your social networking accounts and you can do things like update all your statuses at once.

Motoblur also a remote wipe so that if you have your phone stolen, there will be nothing personal left on it. Motoblur backs up all your contacts, messages, emails and social networking so that if you get a new Motoblur compatible phone, everything will be transferred to your new phone.

The DEXT features a full QWERTY keyboard which is quite easy to use, even with my fat thumbs, though the space bar is quite small and sometimes I find myself hitting the search button. The DEXT also managers to squeeze in a 5MP camera, which can produce nice photos but is quite grainy when taking photos in low light situations due to the lack of a flash.

The phone itself feels solid though there is an issue with the slider where when the keyboard is hidden; the top of the phone doesn’t feel secure and tends to wobble quite a bit. The interface of the phone is well organised and the menu layers are methodical. But this is let down by the fact that the phone is under powered, running a 528Mhz Qualcomm processor, so if you travel in and out of apps and menus too quickly, you will find the phone lags behind.

The DEXT runs Google’s open source mobile operating system known as Android, though it only runs version 1.5, while other Android phones run 2.1. This may cause some compatibility issues with some apps, which are designed to run on 2.1 but around 60 apps later, I still haven’t found a compatibility issue.

The phone has GPS capabilities which are all well and good but because the phone only runs Android 1.5, you’re stuck with an old version of Google Maps with which you can only get written directions from your current position and no voice navigation. The WiFi works well when connected but doesn’t like being disconnected, and to reconnect it you have to restart the WiFi which can become quite annoying especially when you are on the move.

Another let down is the appalling battery life. I find that my DEXT only just manages to get though a day on a full battery. This is because of the all the widgets that are constantly connecting to the net and updating themselves. The phone can also get quite warm which can be a bit off putting while using it.

All in all, the Motorola DEXT only runs Android 1.5, has no multi touch and is a tad underpowered but comparing it to the other phones in its price category, it is one of the best budget phones and after using it for nearly a month, it is so hard not to recommend when comparing it to other phones in it price range.

The Motorola DEXT is an Optus exclusive phone.

Various stores in the US will be holding different pre-order costumes based on characters from the game creator’s partners.  Also, all of the pre-order bonuses will include four different animals costumes, which are a Cobra, Vulture, Mandrill, and Crocodile costume.

From Amazon.com, the pre-order partner costumes are Ratchet and Clank’s own Ratchet and Clank, while from Best Buy, it is Toy Story 3′s Little Green Alien.  From Gamestop, it is Tron Legacy’s Clu.

The announced DLC will include a costume based on the lovable Muppet, Gonzo.  However, more Muppet will be available via the Playstation Store, soon after the release.

Other than that, it has been announced that there will be a Collector’s Edition, but only a limited stock.  The Collector’s Edition will include the game, a 7 inch Sackboy plushie, exclusive Little Big Planet 2 games end, which are just book ends but for games; all the exclusive costume from the various stores, as well Gonzo and the four animals; two exclusive costumes, Jax and Daxter, and five exclusive Little Big Planet 2 Avatars, for the Playstation Network.

While many Xbox 360 fanboys are awaiting the release of Halo: Reach – and yes, I know one, Microsoft has unveiled a brand new game-themed version of the Xbox 360 Console which will be released as part of the “Limited Edition” bundle. The bundle will come with two wireless controllers and a wireless headset – both also featuring custom designs based on the upcoming game. It also includes an episode of Halo Legends, a token for the Limited Edition Elite Amour set.

This will come out at the same time as the game, September 14, with a price tag of US$399. The Controller and Headset will also sold separately with a price tag of US$59.99 and US$49.99 respectively. They will also come out in late August with pre-orders starting today.

This article is part two of two covering blog hacking for Security Month, a month-long look in the importance of security. You can read the previous part (one dealing with prevention) here. Part Two covers what to do after your blog just got hacked. Enjoy!

This article was written by Catalin Cosoi.

Recovering from a hack can be a painstaking experience, and the effects of a hack may be felt over a long period of time. The faster you identify and solve the issues though, the less damage will be inflicted to your blog. Here is a short list of immediate actions to be taken after a potential attack has been discovered.

I. Block traffic and don’t delete (just yet)

First and foremost, you need to render your domain inaccessible to users and search engine crawlers. Since all the website files will be required for later analysis and (probably) for restoration, deleting any of them is not recommended. You can block all traffic instead by placing a .htaccess file inside the root directory of your website. If using .htaccess files is not supported, or your webserver is not running Apache, you are advised to rename the index.php file and create a blank one in its place. Beware: do not forget to create a dummy index.php page or you risk exposing other files in your FTP account. The .htaccess file should contain a single line reading: deny from all.

Stopping traffic and search engines is an essential part of the process. You don’t want to lead any more of your users to malware or to attack another website, nor do you want to get flagged by Google® as a malicious website.

II. Backup, Backup, Backup!

Make a full backup of your home folder. This usually includes not only all the files in your hosting account, but also the SQL dumps of the databases you may have. If you are unable to create a full backup, download the contents of your account using a FTP client and then manually export the database(s) as SQL file(s). You might want to run a deep scan using your favorite antivirus on the downloaded files too, since some of the malicious scripts injected by cyber-criminals are picked up by string scanners.

III. Check your logs

Pull off the access logs from your webserver and store them in a secure place. The faster you get them, the better, as most webhosting providers keep them only for a limited period of time (usually 12 to 24 hours). You will need the logs for investigating what exactly the attackers have done on your website. This forensic analysis on your hosting account will likely be able to reveal where exactly your website has failed and, subsequently, will hint you towards what actions to take in solving the issue.

IV. Copy your themes and plugins

Make a copy of whatever customised files you may have. Customised files may include themes, plugins and files uploaded as content – practically everything that can’t be downloaded from the web again. Just keep whatever you consider necessary for a fresh start without losing any content.

V. Start digging

Start looking inside every plugin and theme file for suspiciously-looking fragments of text. Pay special attention to lines of text like ‘eval(base64_decode)’, followed by a series of illegible numbers and letters, as well as any script inclusions from domains you don’t know (such as <script src=”http://[unknowndomainname]/scriptname.php”>. Base64 obfuscation is the method of choice for concealing malicious code from the human eye. If you have found something like that, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is malicious, as some theme designers use Base64 encoding to protect their copyright notices from being altered. However, you should compare your modified theme to the original one – if there is no Base64 code in the latter, you should clean it from the modified file.

VI. Check the database

Go through the database table by table and look for any sign of suspicious linking. Pay extra attention to the tables holding the administrators, the configuration settings and the blog post articles. If you find any administrator you are unaware of, remove it at once. The last two tables might contain a Javascript-based redirect. Delete any JavaScript calls you are unaware of (by default, WYSIWYG editors do not output JavaScript, so it’s safe to assume that any trace of JavaScript inside blog posts is malicious).

VII. Now delete

After the inspection and cleaning process is completed, you should remove any files from your webserver. If the database was also affected, you should drop it and restore the copy you have manually checked.

VIII. Start (almost) from scratch

Start uploading your blog script back onto the server. Make sure you have downloaded it from the official repository and the archive’s MD5 hash is identical to the one displayed on the official website. It is mandatory that you download the latest version of the blog script. Modify the config file to match your web server’s details (SQL user, database, password, file path and the rest of your settings).

As a side note, many of the commercially-supported CMS scripts can be downloaded from ‘warez’ boards and BitTorrent sites, with their commercial protection defeated. Please note that using ‘nulled’ scripts is extremely dangerous, as they usually contain ‘bombed’ code (backdoors) set in place by the ‘nuller’ (the one who hacked the original code) to be able to take control over the user’s website.

IX. Permissions

Make sure that you do not set file and folder permissions higher than the script actually needs to run properly. Setting files and folders to CHMOD 777 may allow an attacker to actually write to them and re-inject malicious code. Check the script’s technical documentation and set the right permissions for each file and folder. Also change the blog’s administrator passwords and the FTP ones.

X. Final Steps

Push your modified files back to their right place via FTP. If you have blocked access to the site’s root with a .htaccess file, please remove it now. Flush the browser’s cache and access your website. Additionally, look your blog up in a search engine using your name or the blog’s title as keywords and follow the search result provided by the engine. Most of the time, blog malware checks the referrer to see if the visitor accessed the website directly or via a search engine and only manifests itself to referred visitors.

Catalin Cosoi is BitDefender’s antispam research labs.

Did you know, you can actually win one of ten copies of BitDefender Total Security 2010 for free. Yes, you heard that right. For FREE! You can enter the competition right here.

Image by:Jacob Bøtter/Flickr (CC)

Remember that Dell concept with that 5-inch screen? Well, turns out it’s no longer a concept. The Dell Streak (yes, weird name) is set to hit the US in late July after launching previously in the UK. Featuring the Android operating system – and sadly will be version 1.6 and not 2.2 – it also features a five-megapixel camera with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a microSD card slot and 2GB of internal storage.

And yes, I know, it is an oversized phone. It may look like a slate, but it’s not. It is an actual phone. And I thought the HTC Evo was big.

Pricing has not been revealed, nor when will Australia get the device. Hope we do though, keep your fingers crossed.