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SEO And Technology News Briefs
Mortgage woes no problem for SEO companies
Despite industry concerns, real estate-related websites still among the most highly trafficked
September 24, 2007—Even if a market may be weak, explains Tim Armstrong, president of Google’s North American advertising division, the need for certain services, like mortgage lenders, never really decreases.
“Every single day that someone is looking for a mortgage, says Armstrong, “these (SEO) campaigns from these financial customers are on 24-7, 365 days a year.”
While the mortgage industry has experienced recent instability, the demand for home and property loans still remains strong, fueled in part by the increased effort of SEO specialists and companies to maintain the page rank position of these types of sites
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Ask.com Toolbar found to have fatal flaw
Company responds to software glitch
September 26, 2007—According to a report from the IDG News Service, a fatal flaw has been discovered in the Ask.com toolbar that could potentially allow someone to take control of another person’s computer.
The problem lies in what IDG describes as a “buffer overflow flaw in the toolbar, involving an ActiveX advisory, posted by security vendor Secunia APS.” The report describes the problem as “highly severe,” affecting the 4.0.2 version of the Ask.com toolbar and potentially other versions as well.
The toolbar is located below the address bar and allows users to access weather forecast information, stock quotes, as well as search another person’s desktop and Internet browsing history.
Update
“Ask.com takes security very seriously. We were notified of a buffer overflow issue in the Ask.com IE toolbar, and worked aggressively to resolve it. On Wednesday, we released the fix, and all Ask.com toolbar users were automatically notified of the update. In the addition, we posted information online via our IE toolbar FAQ site that informed Ask.com toolbar users of the issue and resolution. Again, no exploits were known to have occurred.”
—Nicholas Graham, Vice President and Spokesperson, Ask.com
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Vietnam Veterans Memorial Website Vandalized
Update
September 26, 2007—The Vietnam Veterans Memorial website, a place where users can search for casualties of the war by date and name, has reportedly been vandalized by a would-be hacker.
According to the Washington Post, visitors to the site were redirected to a page displaying the Turkish flag, a video, and politically charged messages in both Turkish and English. One such message, roughly translated read “Is there any equal or likeness to our martyrs at Gallipoli?”
The newspaper assumed that this message was in reference to the Battle of Gallipoli, which took place in 1915 during WWII and involved an attempt by the Allies to force a passage through the Dardanelles to supply Russia. This effort was defeated by the Turkish Army, then led by the Ottoman Empire, which sided with Germany and Austria-Hungary during the war against Britain, France, Russia, and other countries.
A person identified only as “Turk Defacer,” reportedly took responsibility for the hack, and the 4/9 Infantry Manchu Association—the group that operates the site, had restored the site to its original state as of press time.
Update
As of press time on September 28, 2007, the person or group responsible for the website hack had not been officially declared, although several persons, as well as radical political groups, have claimed responsibility. The site is now functioning normally, and no further problems have been reported.
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