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May 31, 2007

Mozilla Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities (US-CERT)
The Mozilla web browser and derived products contain several vulnerabilities, the most severe of which could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on an affected system.

The Breach Blog: Hacker steals $450,000 from city of Carson, Nev. (SC Magazine)
A hacker used keylogger technology to steal the passwords of Carson, Nev. Treasurer Karen Avila, then wired nearly $450,000 to North Carolina and Michigan in the next two days.

Mozilla discloses six security flaws (SC Magazine)
Mozilla released six security advisories on Wednesday for flaws in its Firefox, SeaMonkey and Thunderbird programs.
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May 30, 2007

Firms urged to tighten up access policies (The Register)
Survey reveals worrying lack of security Half of us keep our passwords on Post-It notes and over a third of IT professionals say they could still access their company's network if they left their job.

Google buys US Internet security firm GreenBorder (Middle East Times)
US Internet security start-up firm GreenBorder, which specializes in using "virtualization" to create safe zones for online activities, revealed Tuesday that it has been bought by Google.
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May 29, 2007

Small businesses must guard against new breed of technological criminals (The Gainesville Times)
I readily admit it. The older I become, the less some things make sense. The next story I hear or read about trumps the last unbelievable story. This past week, I was talking with a longtime friend who was telling me about having her purse stolen.

SecureInfo Study Finds Information Security Awareness Training for Government Workers Falls Short (Yahoo)
SecureInfo® Corporation, a market-proven provider of Information Assurance solutions, today released the company's first Information Security Awareness Report, providing an independent, cross-agency, quantitative analysis on the effectiveness of the Federal government's Information Security awareness training programs.
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May 28, 2007

China Crafts Cyberweapons (PC World)
The Defense Department reports China is building cyberwarfare units and developing viruses.

May 24, 2007

Virus update 'paralyses PCs' (News 24)
Millions of computers may have been paralysed by a faulty anti-virus update from security software provider Symantec.
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May 23, 2007

Microsoft releases a non-security security update (SC Magazine)
Information security oxymoron alert: Microsoft on Tuesday released a non-security-related security bulletin to fix Windows Update issues.

Hacker exposes info on CU students (Denver Post)
AMA hacked computer server at the University of Colorado has exposed about 45,000 students' names and Social Security numbers, school officials said Tuesday.
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May 22, 2007

Survey: Half Of Windows Vista Adoption Driven By Security (Information Week)
A new study shows that IT managers are intrigued about Vista's new on-board security, along with user account control and an overall sense of better safeguards.

Spyware Bill Passes House (PC World)
The U.S. House of Representatives passed an antispyware bill Tuesday on a voice vote.

Microsoft bolsters Office security (SC Magazine)
Microsoft released updates to its productivity suite this week, adding security features for Office 2003 that were developed for Office 2007.
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May 21, 2007

Unpatched QuickTime is security risk (Macworld)
Although browsers are notoriously juicy targets for hackers, Apple's QuickTime is actually three times more likely to pose a threat than Internet Explorer 6 – and six times more likely to be a threat than Firefox, Danish vulnerability tracker Secunia said this week.

Will Estonia spur govt spending to mitigate DDoS attacks? (Banking Business Review)
Last week saw what, in some circles, was billed as the first example of cyberwar waged by one state on another, as Estonian government agencies, its parliament, big banks and two large newspapers all saw their websites bombarded by distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

Stolen laptop contained personal data on Northwestern alumni (AP)
School officials say a laptop computer belonging to Northwestern University's financial aid office in Chicago was stolen recently, and the Social Security numbers of some alumni may have been compromised.

Bush Worm Dances its Way into Computers (HardwareZone)
A Worm named 'Worm.Win32.VB.au' spreads with the help of messages written in Spanish, which says 'mira esta animacion de bush', coming from known and unknown contacts.

May 18, 2007

Alcatel-Lucent Workers' Info Missing (AP)
A computer disk containing personal information on thousands of Lucent employees and retirees has been missing for at least 10 days, Alcatel-Lucent said Thursday....
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May 17, 2007

Secunia: Nearly one in three corporate applications missing critical patches (SC Magazine)
Nearly a third of all applications on corporate networks are missing critical security patches and are at risk to security breaches, according to a new report from Secunia.

Interop Preview: Chief Security Officer Boot Camp (Information Week)
Taking a few pages from the CSO Boot Camp at Interop, here are five things you should know or be able to do to become a CSO in today's market.

Attention Shoppers: Check Stand 4 Now Open to ID Theft (PC World)
Using your debit or credit card to pay for goods could be expensive if a scammer is bugging your store's keypad.

Interop Preview: Microsoft Vs. Linux, Security To Share Vegas Spotlight (Information Week)
Microsoft senior vice president Bob Muglia will be among the keynote speakers at Interop in Las Vegas on May 20-25.
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May 16, 2007

IBM loses tapes with employee personal info (SC Magazine)
IBM, which invented magnetic tape storage more than 50 years ago and has since emerged as a leading provider of data encryption, has lost an undisclosed number of backup tapes containing the personal information of employees.

Police to summon alleged accomplice of suspected hacker for questioning (The Nation)
Police are set to summon an alleged accomplice of a man suspected of hacking into the computer system of Advanced Info Services (AIS) and manipulating airtime allowances granted to its prepaid cellphone users.
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May 15, 2007

Federal cybercrime bill introduced in House (SC Magazine)
Two congressmen on Monday introduced a bipartisan cybersecurity bill that proponents say will modernize regulations while providing law enforcement with more resources to investigate and prosecute criminals.

Microsoft Details Patent Breaches (AP)
Microsoft Corp. has given the most detailed description to date of the number of open-source computer programs it says infringe on its patents, but the company says it still prefers licensing deals with open-source developers, software distributors and users instead of legal action against them.

China Looks To Tackle Software Piracy (Information Week)
Loses from pirated software to surge 40 percent to $5.4 billion in China last year, but things are getting better, a trade group said on Tuesday.
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May 14, 2007

Some Windows users get system freeze with May patches (SC Magazine)
An unidentified number of Windows users got more than they bargained for with Microsoft's latest round of Patch Tuesday security fixes when their PCs froze for hours while installing the updates.

Verizon Security Services Set To Explode With Cybertrust Acquisition (Information Week)
The move would add 800 Cybertrust employees to Verizon's security services team of 300 and give it access to Cybertrust operations in 30 locations in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.

Windows Update used to download malware updates (SC Magazine)
Hackers have used a Windows Update process to inject malicious code onto a system while avoiding firewalls, according to researchers at Symantec.
 

May 11, 2007

NAC: More Is More (Network Computing)
The results of our latest reader survey on network access control show that initatives are moving quickly from planning to full deployment. But while NAC can tighten security, demonstrating ROI can be a challenge.
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May 10, 2007

Strategic Security: Web Applications Scanners (Network Computing)
As applications evolve, new vulnerabilities emerge. For this Rolling Review series we'll examine how Web application scanners help address the security weaknesses found in RIAs in general, and Ajax in

Rollout: Symantec Mobile Security Suite 5.0
Symantec delivers a host of new security features for Windows Mobile devices. Between a lack of any serious mobile threats and the price tag, however, IT might be hard-pressed into implementation.
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May 9, 2007

University of Missouri falls to hack attack (Infomatics)
A hacker has broken into the computer system at the University of Missouri and gained access to a database containing more than 20,000 personal details.

Strange Wi-Fi Spots May Harbor Hackers: ID Thieves May Lurk Behind a Hot Spot With a Friendly Name (RedNova)
The Dallas Morning News May 9--Open your laptop computer in any airport, hotel or coffee shop, and you'll often find unsecured Wi-Fi networks available for free browsing.
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May 8, 2007

Microsoft Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities (US-CERT)
Microsoft has released updates that address critical vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer, Office, Exchange, Cryptographic API Component Object Model (CAPICOM), and BizTalk. Exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service on a vulnerable system.

Taiwan claims upper hand in hackers' war with rival China (AP)
Taiwan's advanced computer technology helps the military fend off hacker attacks in continuing virtual skirmishes with rival China, a military official said Tuesday.

State may have put personal data on Web (Louisville Courier-Journal)
The state Department of Administration may have inadvertently disclosed the Social Security numbers of dozens of people involved with businesses owned by women or minorities, officials said yesterday.
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May 7, 2007

TSA Loses Hard Drive With Personal Info (CBS News)
The Transportation Security Administration has lost a computer hard drive containing Social Security numbers, bank data and payroll information for about 100,000 employees.

Cybereye | 2007: Year of the antispyware law? (Government Computer News)
Spring is once again here, and with it hope springs eternal. A pair of antispyware bills has been introduced in the House, and there is a chance this year that at least one of them might actually make it into law.

May 4, 2007

Critical DNS fix absent from upcoming patch Tuesday (The Register)
Seven fixes and that's your lot Microsoft plans to release seven patches next Tuesday as part of its regular Patch Tuesday update cycle.
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May 3, 2007

Apple fixes QuickTime security flaw (Computer Weekly)
As Apple releases a fix for the QuickTime flaw at the heart of a Mac hacking contest, Gartner issues a statement saying such contests are bad for security.

The link that binds us: Forgot your password? (Chicago Tribune)
It was when I had to click my third "I forgot my password" link in as many days that I realized I need a Password Strategy.
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May 2, 2007

Apple Fixes 'Highly Critical' QuickTime Bug (Information Week)
Researches say now that a fix is out for the vulnerability, they expect hackers will use it to reverse engineer the flaw and quickly create an exploit.

VeriSign to use one-time passwords for bank cards (InfoWorld)
VeriSign Inc. is looking to offer bank cards with an integrated one-time password generator, a slimmer way than key chains to implement two-factor authentication. The technology would be an improvement over other authentication devices, such as key chains or fobs, which generate one-time passwords but are an extra item that users must carry.

Digg Yields To The Wrath Of The Crowd (Information Week)
Digg users would rather see the site go down fighting than give in to censorship, so Digg officials say they will no longer delete posts that contain a code that cracks encryption on high-definitiion disks.
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May 1, 2007

MarkMonitor: More than a quarter-million cybersquatting attacks in first quarter of 2007 (SC Magazine)
Cybersquatting is an ever-growing threat to brand reputation, with more than a quarter-million such attacks recorded this year, according to a report released Monday by MarkMonitor.

Tracking the 'brandjackers' (Reuters)
A new quarterly report that tracks online threats to the world's top 25 brands finds that cybersquatting is the most common form of abuse.

Best Practices: Fraud Prevention Takes Visa (Information Week)
It's clear that credit and debit cards are rapidly replacing cash and check transactions for many businesses. According to a study sponsored by the American Bankers Association between 2004 and 2006, 45% of U.S. consumers reported using less cash. But while the cards offer new levels of financial flexibility and control, a new breed of criminal is exploiting this trend—to the dismay of both consumers and merchants.