Security experts have discovered a worm that targets Apple’s Macintosh OS X operating system.

While not in the wild, the SH/Renopo worm is still fairly malicious as it attempts to turn off firewall and other security software, says Brett Myroff, CEO of local Sophos distributor Netxactics..

“The worm, also known as Opener, can turn off the Mac OS X firewall and other security software; will download and install hacker tools for password-sniffing and cracking; will make key system directories world write-able; and will create an admin-level user for later system abuse.�?

Renepo also turns off accounting and logging to help hide its presence, adds Myroff. “You do not want the Renepo worm anywhere near your Mac OS X network, as it makes so many security-related changes to your systems that all bets are off once you have been compromised.�?

Internet users at home are not nearly as safe online as they believe, according to a nationwide inspection by researchers. They found most consumers have no firewall protection, outdated antivirus software and dozens of spyware programs secretly running on their computers.

One beleaguered home user in the government-backed study had more than 1,000 spyware programs running on his sluggish computer when researchers examined it.

The study being released Monday by America Online and the National Cyber Security Alliance found that 77 percent of 326 adults in 12 states assured researchers in a telephone poll they were safe from online threats. Nearly as many people felt confident they were already protected specifically from viruses and hackers.

When experts visited those same homes to examine computers, they found two-thirds of adults using antivirus software that was not updated in at least seven days.

Two-thirds of the computer users also were not using any type of protective firewall program, and spyware was found on the computers of 80 percent of those in the study.

Read Full Article at MSNBC

Stepping up the heated battle of online search and services, Yahoo Inc. and Adobe Systems Inc. have joined forces to tap each others’ customers and put Web search features into Adobe’s popular Acrobat Reader software.

For San Jose-based Adobe, the partnership will add online features to one of the software maker’s core products, Acrobat. The program is used by more than 500 million people and has become a common format for viewing documents over the Web and in e-mail attachments.

Under the deal, Adobe will first introduce a cobranded Yahoo browser toolbar that users can choose to install on their computers when prompted to download an update of Acrobat Reader.

The toolbar will feature links to Yahoo products and services as well as Adobe’s Web-based subscription service that lets people convert documents into the Adobe PDF file format.

Later, the companies said, the toolbar will add features such as the ability to quickly convert Web-based content into Adobe PDF files. Yahoo search will also be built into a future version of the Acrobat Reader, allowing users to search for more information from within the document without goiing through the extra steps of launching a Web browser.