Security Industry News

Metropolitan police leak victims' email addresses

David Meyer( ZDNet UK - 2/3/2012 9:46:01 AM )
The Metropolitan Police Service has apologised to more than a thousand victims of crime, after sending them each others' email addresses. The force made the error when it emailed a survey to the crime victims, only to put their email addresses into the visible CC field rather than the hidden BCC field.

Anonymous hackers access Greek ministry website

Harry Papachristou( Reuters - 2/3/2012 8:28:23 AM )
Hackers associated with the activist group Anonymous posted a protest against Greece's EU and IMF-inspired austerity policies on the website of the country's justice ministry Friday, a ministry spokeswoman said.

Symantec Warns of Android Trojans That Mutate With Every Download

Lucian Constantin( IDG News - 2/3/2012 4:38:00 AM )
Researchers from security vendor Symantec have identified a new premium-rate SMS Android Trojan horse that modifies its code every time it gets downloaded in order to bypass antivirus detection.

Exclusive: Hacked companies still not telling investors

Joseph Menn( Reuters - 2/2/2012 10:13:48 AM )
At least a half-dozen major U.S. companies whose computers have been infiltrated by cyber criminals or international spies have not admitted to the incidents despite new guidance from securities regulators urging such disclosures.

Ice IX Banking Trojan Steals Info That Enables Fraudsters to Hijack Phone Calls

Lucian Constantin( IDG News - 2/2/2012 7:30:20 AM )
New variants of the Ice IX online banking Trojan program are tricking victims into exposing their telephone account numbers so that fraudsters can divert post-transaction verification phone calls made by banks to phone numbers under their control, researchers from security vendor Trusteer warned. Ice IX is a modified version of ZeuS, one of the most successful and sophisticated online banking Trojans to date.

Apple issues security update for OS X

Shaun Nichols( v3.co.uk - 2/2/2012 2:23:00 AM )
Apple has released a security update for its OS X Lion, Snow Leopard and Server platforms. The company said that the OS X 10.7.3 release would patch Lion systems, while the 2012-001 security update would be made available to Snow Leopard and OS X server machines.

US and China provide home to most hackers

Shaun Nichols( v3.co.uk - 2/1/2012 9:56:00 PM )
Security researchers have found that the US and China are by far the most popular starting points for online attacks. Security firm NCC Group said that its global reports placed the two countries far ahead of all other nations in their share of malicious activity. The US accounted for 22 per cent of all the world's attacks, while China was second with a 16 per cent share.

Facebook Discloses Hacking, Spam as Business Risks in IPO Documents

Fahmida Y. Rashid( eWeek.com - 2/1/2012 8:42:09 PM )
In conformance with recent SEC guidance on disclosing security issues that may have adverse effects on the company's bottom line, Facebook identified hacking and spam as ongoing issues. Facebook outlined some of the security risks and compliance issues the company faces on the social networking platform and related services that could impact its operations in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

HTC Android Phones Can Leak Wi-Fi Passwords

Tim Greene( NetworkWorld - 2/1/2012 2:45:00 PM )
A group of HTC Android phones is susceptible to an exploit that can steal Wi-Fi credentials and passwords and send them to attackers. The exploit relies on attackers creating rogue applications to take advantage of vulnerabilities in the Android build HTC uses on some of its phones, according to a post by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT).

Hackers attack large Brazilian bank

Stan Lehman( Associated Press - 1/31/2012 7:48:44 PM )
A group of Internet hackers said Tuesday it took down the website of Brazil's second largest private sector bank, one day after it did the same with the country's largest private bank. The group that calls itself "Anonymous Brasil" said on Twitter: "Attention sailors: Target hit! The http://bradesco.com.br is sinking. TANGO DOWN."

Banking Trojan breaks captcha to spread bot

Tom Espiner( ZDNet - 1/31/2012 3:15:02 PM )
A banking Trojan now spreading over the internet is able to get past captcha security challenges to send out emails and propagate itself, according to security company Websense Labs. The Cridex Trojan variant infects a Windows PC when a malicious link in an email is clicked, Websense said in a blog post on Monday.

WordPress targeted in malware attack

Shaun Nichols( v3.co.uk - 1/31/2012 12:23:00 AM )
Researchers have warned bloggers over an outbreak of attacks targeting the WordPress publishing platform. Security firm M86 Labs said that the 'Phoenix' exploit kit has been targeting a flaw in the WordPress 3.2.1 platform. The company estimates that in recent days, hundreds of sites have been infected by the attack.

Hacker?s Demo Shows How Easily Credit Cards Can Be Read Through Clothes And Wallets

Andy Greenberg( Forbes - 1/30/2012 12:00:00 AM )
Pull out your credit card and flip it over. If the back is marked with the words “PayPass,” “Blink,” that triangle of nested arcs that serves as the universal symbol for wireless data or a few other obscure icons, Kristin Paget says it’s vulnerable to an uber-stealthy form of pickpocketing.

Google, Facebook and Microsoft in Anti-Phishing Alliance

Matt( The Next Web - 1/30/2012 12:00:00 AM )
Tech giants including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo! have combined forces to form a new alliance that aims to eliminate huge amounts of email spam and reduce the impact of phishing attacks on unsuspecting users.