Security Industry News
Hackers Create 57,000 Fake Web Addresses To Trick Or Infect Users ? Every Week!
Luis Corrons( Business Computing World - 9/7/2010 12:00:00 AM )
Every week, hackers are creating 57,000 new Web addresses which they position and index on leading search engines in the hope that unwary users will click them by mistake. Those who do, will see their computers infected or any data they enter on these pages fall into the hands of criminals. To do this, they use an average of 375 company brands and names of private institutions from all over the world, all of them instantly recognisable. eBay, Western Union and Visa top the rankings of the most frequently used keywords; followed by Amazon, Bank of America, Paypal and the US revenue service.
NIST Finalizes Smart Grid Cyber Security Guidelines
Staff Writer( Sustainable Business - 9/7/2010 12:00:00 AM )
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued its first Guidelines for Smart Grid Cyber Security. The guidelines include high-level security requirements, a framework for assessing risks, an evaluation of privacy issues at personal residences, and additional information for businesses and organizations to use as they craft strategies to protect the modernizing power grid from attacks, malicious code, cascading errors, and other threats.
UK police urge NY Times to show hacking evidence
Staff Writer( Yahoo - 9/7/2010 12:00:00 AM )
British police urged the New York Times on Tuesday to hand over any evidence it has about tabloid phone hacking allegations that threaten the position of a close aide to the prime minister. Andy Coulson, Prime Minister David Cameron's director of communications, has denied that he encouraged reporters to illegally hack voicemail messages in his previous role as editor of the News of the World tabloid.
Facebook adds hacker tracker tool
Staff Writer( Tech Central - 9/6/2010 12:00:00 AM )
The primary use for the new tool, currently being rolled out and available via the Account Security section of Account Settings, will be as a remote log-out facility for people that have forgotten to sign off when they have been using a public or friend's computer. However, Facebook said the tool would also be useful in monitoring accounts if they had been hacked and give users the option to kick the hackers out of their accounts and change the password.
Facebook glitch allows spammer to post thousands of messages to walls
Robert McMillan( Tech World - 9/6/2010 12:00:00 AM )
A clever spammer found a glitch in Facebook's photo upload system and used it to post thousands of unwanted Wall messages this week. Facebook confirmed the bug Friday, after notifying affected users of the issue.
Wireless car hacking a direct result of poor security at vehicle software design stage says Fortify Software
Staff Writer( Global Security Mag - 9/6/2010 12:00:00 AM )
Research from the University of California San Diego and the University of Washington - and which concludes that modern cars are susceptible to wireless hacking - is the result of a security issues being ignored at the car electronics software design stage, say Fortify Software. And, says the software security assurance specialist, with the latest cars now coming with as many as 50 or more interconnected computer systems - controlling everything from the brakes to the door locks and ignition system - now that the vehicles are becoming wirelessly-enabled, they are a lot easier to electronically hack into.
Indonesia Turns Up Heat over Encrypted BlackBerry Phones
Ismira Lutfia( Jakarta Globe - 9/5/2010 12:00:00 AM )
Indonesia appears to have stepped up the pressure on BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, as a minister says a team from the country’s anticorruption agency paid a visit to the company’s headquarters in Waterloo, Canada. Law enforcement officials, he said, could be interested in the heavily encrypted BlackBerry communications system. "People say that if [communications on] BlackBerry Messengers were deciphered, it would create a huge buzz because so much secret information is exchanged there," Tifatul said late on Thursday.
US may stop cyber attacks at source
Ellen Nakashima( Washington Post - 9/5/2010 12:00:00 AM )
The Pentagon is contemplating an aggressive approach to defending its computer systems that includes preemptive actions such as knocking out parts of an adversary’s computer network overseas - but it is still wrestling with how to pursue the strategy legally. The department is developing a range of weapons capabilities, including tools that would allow "attack and exploitation of adversary information systems’’ and that can "deceive, deny, disrupt, degrade, and destroy" information and information systems, according to Defense Department budget documents.
Hackers Give Sony Two Finger Salute After PS3 Ban Granted
David Richards( Channel News - 9/5/2010 12:00:00 AM )
Despite being granted a permanent ban on the sale of a PSJailbreak "dongle" Sony Computer Entertainment have been given a two finger salute by hackers who have now released the software for free on the Internet as PS Groove. The ban which was granted on Friday in the Federal Court allowed Sony to block the distribution of a hack for its PlayStation 3 (PS3) console. It also prevents local distributors, OzModChips, ModSupplier and Quantronics from importing or distributing the device in Australia.
Hackers Miss Their Target -- By About 2,000 Miles
Tim Wilson( Dark Reading - 9/4/2010 12:00:00 AM )
Missed it by that much. A group of Algerian "cyber-pirates" found itself a bit embarrassed earlier this week when, in an attempt to deface the website of a well-known Israeli stronghold -- Belvoir Fortress -- it ended up defacing an English tourist attraction --Belvoir Castle.
Firewalls Top Purchase Priority In 2010, Survey Says
Kelly Jackson Higgins( Dark Reading - 9/4/2010 12:00:00 AM )
IT professionals rank mobile computing the number one security threat today, followed by social networks, and cloud computing. But they expect cloud computing to bump social networking for the number two spot within the next two years, a new survey found. The survey of IT pros and C-level executives from 450 Fortune 1000 companies -- commissioned by FishNet Security -- also found that 45 percent say firewalls are their priority security purchase, followed by antivirus (39 percent), and authentication (31 percent) and anti-malware tools (31 percent).
Phishing Campaign Lures McDonald's Fans
Staff Writer( EFY Times - 9/4/2010 12:00:00 AM )
IT security and control firm Sophos is warning computer users to be cautious following the discovery of a widespread spam campaign that is promising cash in return for completing a McDonald's customer satisfaction survey. The emails, claiming to be sent by 'McDonald's Survey Department' and with the subject line 'McDonald's Customer Survey' direct recipients to the survey that poses questions on McDonald's food.
Women did well on Defcon social engineering test
Robert McMillan( Computerworld - 9/3/2010 12:00:00 AM )
Of the 135 people Fortune 500 employees targeted by social engineering hackers in a recent contest only five of them refused to give up any corporate information whatsoever. And guess what? All five were women. That's one of the interesting data points that contest organizers gathered, following their widely publicized event, held at the Defcon hacking conference last month. Organizers are in Washington this week, briefing the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation on what they learned, but they expect to release a report with more details sometime next week.
Darpa's top hacker works to protect Pentagon from WikiLeaks and others
Dan Nosowitz( Smart Planet - 9/3/2010 12:00:00 AM )
After WikiLeaks passed some 77,000 mostly-classified Defense Department documents to three major international publications, the mood at the Pentagon changed. There had until that point been a push from Defense Secretary Gates to make more documents available to enlisted men and women at all levels, under the theory that the more information one has, the better one can do a job. But the WikiLeaks debacle alerted the Pentagon that perhaps this strategy was not the smartest. A solution was needed - a way to allow the military to have as much information as possible without allowing it to be swiped by someone wanting a story.
Apple's Ping succumbs to the spammers
Josh Halliday( The Guardian - 9/3/2010 12:00:00 AM )
Apple chief Steve Jobs's trumpeting of the 160 million credit card holders on iTunes was a siren call to spammers. As if they needed any invitation. The most common incidence of scamming on Apple's latest social venture, Ping, is the offering of free iPhones from a dodgy URL. These avatar-less lurkers are mostly hanging around Ping's more famous participants - Katy Perry, for instance.
India Leads Global Virus Production
Staff Writer( eSecurity Planet - 9/2/2010 12:00:00 AM )
Security firm Network Box reports that India has moved past the US as the world's largest producer of viruses. "The US slipped from first to third in virus production during August, being overtaken by India in the top spot followed by Russia in second," according to Infosecurity.
IT security employees likely to disclose sensitive info on social networks
Staff Writer( Networks Asia - 9/2/2010 12:00:00 AM )
A security expert is warning social networking devotees, among whom are IT employees, to be very careful when accepting friend requests within the network and to mind what data they share with these persons they barely know. According to a new BitDefender experiment, the users of social networking platforms do not appear to be too preoccupied either about the real identity of the persons they meet on-line or about the details they disclose while chatting with these total strangers.
Hackers leak 'Survivor' finalists' names
Eitay Har Or( yNet News - 9/2/2010 12:00:00 AM )
Israel Police Computer Crimes Division - Lahav 433 is investigating a case in which hackers remotely accessed computers owned by producers and participants of the Israeli version of "Survivor," the reality television show, Calcalist reported Wednesday. According to suspicions, two suspects and a minor tried to access inside information before episodes were broadcast, thus granting advertisers a marketing and advertising advantage.