Archive for July, 2008

WordPress JS/Downloader.Agent Virus

Jeff Walters July 23rd, 2008

Well, I just got done cleaning my WordPress program.  There were a couple of exploits that I was unaware of for my older v2.1.  Here’s how the story goes. One day I visit my blog and get a Virus Alert from my AVG antivirus program:  JS / Downloader Agent Virus.  I also noticed that I got reported on Google’s block list as an Attack Site. Doh! Doh!

So, I immediate started an upgrade to v2.6, but it didn’t help. After scouring the Internet for information, I came across a WordPress article that mentioned a bit of code in the Themes.  In particular, in the footer.php and index.php files.  I had some crap in the footer.php and also cleaned a strange php write() from the end of the index.php file.  After that, I thought I was good to go, but I was wrong.

Somehow my site was still infected.  Luckily, I noticed that I was downloading something from another Website when I loaded the blog page.  The file was loading from 65.155.8.157 which was somewhere in California, US. So, I figured this was some kind of exploit for link building schemes or something of that spamish nature.

Noticing that the IP address couldn’t be found in any of my blog files, I turned to my database.  I did a search of my entire database using the phpMyAdmin tool: search. It helped me find the blog entry that somehow had an iframe tag added to it. Doh! Doh!  I removed the additional code from my blog posting and the Virus alert finally was gone.  I did one last search for “iframe” in the entire database just to make sure I got all of the problems.  Looks like XSS / iframe attacks are more serious than I expected.

Cheers! I hope this helps someone.
Jeff Walters

Laser Cutter with a Big Return on Investment (ROI)

Jeff Walters July 13th, 2008

Today’s technology is changing at an extremely fast pace and is demanding that companies change with it in order for them to keep their competitiveness. Fiber laser technology is one of these fast changing technologies. Fiber lasers have been developed over the past decade and have replaced many YAG and CO2 laser systems in the United States and across the world. Recently ”high-powered” fiber lasers have began to appear with many benefits.

A high-powered fiber laser cutter is a very energy efficient system as compared to older YAG and CO2 systems. Some claim that they can be more than 10 to 15 times more effecient. Additionally, fiber laser systems require no optical system alignment and are virtually maintenance free, which means little to no maintenance costs. Fiber laser cutting systems are also lighter in design with a smaller footprint, which brings down manufacturing costs. All of these factors are changing the way businesses are looking at cutting systems.