The latest Java exploit has given another view into the workings of the cybercrime economy. Although I should not be, I am always startled at just how open and robustly capitalistic the whole enterprise has become. The business is conducted more or less in the open.

Krebs on Security has a nice piece on an auction selling source code to the Java exploit. You can see that there is a high level of service provided, and some warnings about now to ensure that the exploit you paid for stays valuable.

hacking · java · vulnerability

I did not post on the recent Java vulnerability because the fixes came out so quickly, however, it looks like I relaxed too soon.

Apparently there was a second vulnerability that did not get fixed. At this point, you should probably just disable Java in your browser. Gizmodo has a short article on how to do that for the various browsers.

Very few websites actually require Java any more. If you absolutely need to visit one of them, I suggest enabling Java on just one of your browsers and using that browser exclusively for visiting that trusted site with Java.

java · security · vulnerability