A network of Russian malware writers and spammers paid hackers 43 cents for each Mac machine they infected with bogus video software, a sign that Macs have become attack targets, a security researcher said yesterday.

In a presentation Thursday at the Virus Bulletin 2009 security conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Sophos researcher Dmitry Samosseiko discussed his investigation of the Russian “Partnerka,” a tangled collection of Web affiliates who rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars from spam and malware, most of the former related to phony drug sites, and much of the latter targeting Windows users with fake security software, or “scareware.”

But Samosseiko also said he had uncovered affiliates, which he dubbed “codec-partnerka,” that aim for Macs. “Mac users are not immune to the scareware threat,” said Samosseiko in the research paper he released at the conference to accompany his presentation. “In fact, there are ‘codec-partnerka’ dedicated to the sale and promotion of fake Mac software.”

One example, which has since gone offline, was Mac-codec.com, said Samosseiko. “Just a few months ago it was offering [43 cents] for each install and offered various promo materials in the form of Mac OS ‘video players,’” he said.

Another Sophos researcher argued that Samosseiko’s evidence shows Mac users, who often dismiss security as a problem only for people running Microsoft’s Windows, are increasingly at risk on the Web. Find out more…

If the relationship between Apple and Mac CPU provider Intel was any closer, the two companies might have to start labeling their record collections and discussing whether to keep the wagon wheel table. In an intriguing technology demonstration last week, it was pointed out that the in-development Intel ultrafast optical connection called Light Peak was being shown on a rather elaborate hackintosh, running good old Mac OS X. This raised an eyebrow or two, but the background story seems to be just as interesting.

Engadget reports today, based on conversations with an ‘extremely reliable source,’ that Apple is behind the Light Peak technology, with C-suite-level discussions between the two companies dating back to 2007 about the specific implementation and capabilities of Light Peak. The post goes on to suggest that Apple will be doing rapid adoption of the optical tech a year from now, with Mac introductions slated for autumn of 2010 with the new port, and a low-powered version to follow along in the 2011 timeframe with future iPhones.

With the initial specification set to transfer data at a blistering 10Gpbs full duplex over cables as long as 100 meters (and with speeds up to 100Gbps lined up for future revisions), a single Light Peak connection could replace DVI, USB, gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, eSATA and just about anything else that would connect your computer to its environs.

One cable for everything, reducing clutter and increasing elegance? You have to admit, it does sound rather Jobsian.

Thanks to Josh Topolsky and everyone who sent this in.

Developer Jonathan “Wolf” Rentzsch kicked off his annual C4 indie Mac developer conference in Chicago on Friday night with a provocative claim cribbed from Steve Jobs: He showed a slide of the AppleScript logo in a coffin and declared it dead.

As with Jobs when he declared Mac OS 9 dead back in 2002, Rentzsch was making a point to a group of developers. In this case, Rentzsch was using JSTalk, a JavaScript-based method of scripting applications implemented by Flying Meat Software’s Gus Mueller in his image-editing app Acorn, as a call to arms for developers to embrace a new system for scripting applications and to stop focusing on AppleScript.

It’s an interesting point of view, and one that was tailored to Rentzsch’s audience, since adding AppleScript support to apps is hard and professional computer programmers are comfortable with more formal languages like, say, JavaScript.

I will admit that I’m deeply skeptical of the entire suggestion, not because I think AppleScript is a great language—though I use AppleScript every day, I am painfully aware of how difficult it can be to use—but because I’m concerned that programmers might not truly grasp that their customers aren’t as comfortable writing complex syntax full of brackets and semicolons as they are.

AppleScript, for all its faults, is a language that most power users can understand if they open a script and stare at it for a while. (Its great failing is that this is basically the only way to learn AppleScript.) I can stare at perl or JavaScript for a while and still end up not quite understanding what I’m looking at. Find out more…

CHICAGO—September 24, 2009—37signals is now a $100 billion dollar company, according to a group of investors who have agreed to purchase 0.000000001% of the company in exchange for $1.

Founder Jason Fried informed his employees about the new deal at a recent company-wide meeting. The financing round was led by Yardstick Capital and Institutionalized Venture Partners.

In order to increase the value of the company, 37signals has decided to stop generating revenues. “When it comes to valuation, making money is a real obstacle. Our profitability has been a real drag on our valuation,” said Mr. Fried. “Once you have profits, it’s impossible to just make stuff up. That’s why we’re switching to a ‘freeconomics’ model. We’ll give away everything for free and let the market speculate about how much money we could make if we wanted to make money. That way, the sky’s the limit!”

Find out more…

We a proud to announce the activation of our new REST API. As a priority we converted our account validation and electronic debit mandate capturing features. We are in the process of completing the documentation. Please contact us for assistance if you require more technical information.

Account Validation
The bank account validation test will verify your customers South African ID number, Cell number, branch code and bank account number. This will greatly reduce any initial account errors. The pre check will give you the opportunity to contact your customer to update their details before submitting the debit order.

Electronic Debit Mandate Capturing
A prerequisite for the processing of any debit order is to have a confirmed debit mandate from the customer. We can facilitate this via our electronic mandate capturing feature. You submit the clients banking details and mobile number. We sms the customer notifying them of your request. The customer dials a USSD number and either accepts or declines the request. The request is logged.

Johannesburg – Computer security company Symantec said infections of a virus known as Clampi have been detected in South Africa. The virus targets internet banking users and captures usernames and passwords for banking websites.

According to Symantec, the virus was originally detected early in 2008, but infections have increased substantially since July 2009. British news site Times Online reported on Monday that the virus was spreading rapidly throughout the USA and Britain.

Said Times Online: “Once on the computer, the virus sits unnoticed until the user logs on to bank, credit card or other financial websites. It then captures log-in and password information and sends it to a server run by the attackers. They can then tell the compromised computer to send money to accounts that they control, or they can buy goods with the stolen credit card details.”

Find out more…