Internet Security News
This Internet Security news feed is provided through a partnership with E-Secure-IT. E-Secure-IT provides a wide range of IT-related news feeds. Visit them at www.e-secure-it.com for more information on their available services.
Please note that Team Cymru does not manually review the contents of these articles, and the views and opinions expressed within them do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Team Cymru.
Last Updated: Sat Jul 4 03:28:00 2009 UTC
Skimmers at work in Tayside (from Evening Telegraph at Sat Jul 4 03:28:00 2009 UTC)"Criminals, using bank card skimming technology, have struck at cash machines in Dundee and Perth (writes David Clegg). In one incident, at least four people had their card cloned while withdrawing money from the ATM at the Asda Kirkton. The details were then used to withdraw hundreds of pounds from their accounts...." (Read more) |
Latin Best Buy surfers sprayed by drive-by download malware (from The Register at Sat Jul 4 02:56:00 2009 UTC)"Hackers have invaded the Best Buy website to plant exploit code targeted at South and central American surfers. The villanos have manipulating the page that allows surfers, visiting the site from Latin America, to select language preferences between either Spanish or English. Beneath layers of concealment, surfers are redirected towards a site that serves up exploit code - specifically the Luckysploit web exploit kit - via an iFrame...." (Read more) |
Kentucky payroll phishing scam nets small fortune (from The Register at Sat Jul 4 02:54:00 2009 UTC)"A gang of cybercrooks has made off with $415,000 from the coffers of Bullitt County, Kentucky following the conclusion of an elaborate phishing scam, The Washington Post reports. Crackers in Ukraine are reckoned to have stolen a county treasurer's login credentials using a Trojan keylogger before using them to transfer funds to the bank accounts of local victims...." (Read more) |
Mobile phones at the mercy of hackers and viruses (from mediaupdate at Sat Jul 4 02:40:00 2009 UTC)"Increased access to the internet via mobile phones has increased the risk of being targeted by the viruses and hackers that prowl the internet. Security experts today all concur that mobile phones are the least-protected devices in the entire computing arena, leaving them at the mercy of internet evils. The need for mobile phone protection has jolted security software companies such as Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab into action to focus aggressively on mobile security development for both consumers and businesses using mobile phones as an internet source...." (Read more) |
Data Security Firm McAfee In High Ground (from Investors at Sat Jul 4 00:17:00 2009 UTC)"McAfee (MFE), which sells software that makes computers safer, enjoyed a nice pop earlier this week, taking its stock to a level not seen since 1999. The stock surged 4. 7% on June 29 in more than double its usual trade after an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Ore., said there was speculation that a larger company might buy McAfee...." (Read more) |
New Guidelines for Web Tracking Ensure More Privacy (from Mashable at Sat Jul 4 00:15:00 2009 UTC)"Surf the web for a couple of minutes, and usually without anyone asking you you re giving away a lot of personal data to the various companies that are tracking your browsing habits. Yes, you can set your browser security to high and turn off cookies, but then half of the web won t work properly. In the end, people just accept the fact that they re being tracked and stop caring about it, even if it has serious implications for their privacy...." (Read more) |
NSA to "Screen" .gov Now, I Predict .com Later (from TaoSecurity at Fri Jul 3 22:57:00 2009 UTC)"The Obama administration will proceed with a Bush-era plan to use National Security Agency assistance in screening government computer traffic on private-sector networks, with AT&T as the likely test site... President Obama said in May that government efforts to protect computer systems from attack would not involve "monitoring private sector networks or Internet traffic" and Department of Homeland Security officials say that the new program will only scrutinize data going to or from government systems...." (Read more) |
Judge Temporarily Dismisses MySpace Cyberbully Case (from CIO at Fri Jul 3 22:23:00 2009 UTC)"A U.S. judge on Friday overruled a jury verdict and dismissed a case against a Missouri woman convicted last November in a cyberbullying case that led to a teenager's death.U.S. District Court Judge George Wu granted a defense motion for a directed acquittal of Lori Drew, 50, who was convicted last November on three misdemeanor counts of unauthorized computer access. After reviewing transcripts of the case, Wu overturned the jury's verdict, saying that if Drew were found guilty then anyone who violated MySpace's terms of service could also be found guilty of a misdemeanor...." (Read more) |
Mitnick Security Re-Direct Incident Reported (from InfoSecurity at Fri Jul 3 21:57:00 2009 UTC)"News, of another DNS compromise, web defacement and subsequent re-direct, of the primary site of Mitnick Security. This is now the second reported DNS re-direct incident of the security consultant s host provider hostedhere. net...." (Read more) |
Click fraud Trojan cheats Google Adsense (from ComputerWorldUk at Fri Jul 3 20:04:00 2009 UTC)"A new piece of malicious software has been discovered that cheats Google and potentially other search engines out of money. The Trojan horse perpetuates click fraud, a scam in which web advertisements are clicked in excess or under misleading circumstances in order to generate revenue for those who own the web pages the ads appear on...." (Read more) |
There s no such thing as net neutrality (from P2Pnet at Fri Jul 3 19:52:00 2009 UTC)"In the last decade I owned and managed various ISP s and Co-Lo businesses. I used to get a buzz out of sitting in front of the monitors and watching the MRTG graphs never peaking. Peaking was bad...." (Read more) |
Trojans fastest growing security threat, research shows (from BCS at Fri Jul 3 19:51:00 2009 UTC)"Trojans are the fastest growing type of data-stealing malware threat, new research has revealed. A study by Trend Micro showed that in 2007 52 per cent of data-stealing malware were Trojans and the figure increased to 87 per cent in 2008 and 93 per cent during the first quarter of 2009. Data from the research revealed that Trojans are the most predominant] type of malware in Europe, Asia and the US...." (Read more) |
Betrayal of a naive hacker - the ins and outs of the extraordinary extradition battle for Gary McKinnon (from Daily Mail at Fri Jul 3 19:50:00 2009 UTC)"Gary McKinnon's life fell apart on April 14, 2003, as he sat, nervous and scared, opposite U.S. prosecutor Scott Stein in the intimidating surroundings of the American Embassy in London. Make no fuss and agree to extradition for crimes of computer hacking and supposed 'cyber-terrorism', and Gary's punishment would be three or four years in jail, mostly spent in the UK, said Mr Stein...." (Read more) |
Declaration of Independence (from archives.gov at Fri Jul 3 19:24:00 2009 UTC)"Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most enduring monument. Here, in exalted and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people. The political philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Continental philosophers...." (Read more) |
Bluetooth 'Big Brother' tracks festival-goers (from Canada at Fri Jul 3 18:54:00 2009 UTC)"Researchers are using Bluetooth technology to observe the meanderings of tens of thousands of festival-goers at a top European rock festival, hoping their findings will launch a new generation of tracking devices. The team from the University of Ghent in Belgium believes the research could yield new satellite navigation applications for the retail and security sectors."We have installed 36 Bluetooth scanners across the site and along a few surrounding roads, as well as bus stops," the university's Nico Van de Weghe said on Friday of the project at the Werchter festival, northeast of Brussels this weekend...." (Read more) |
PC Invader Costs Ky. County $415,000 (from washingtonpost at Fri Jul 3 18:33:00 2009 UTC)"Cyber criminals based in Ukraine stole $415,000 from the coffers of Bullitt County, Kentucky this week. The crooks were aided by more than two dozen co-conspirators in the United States, as well as a strain of malicious software capable of defeating online security measures put in place by many banks...." (Read more) |
Apple may patch serious iPhone vulnerability (from ComputerWorldUk at Fri Jul 3 18:19:00 2009 UTC)"Apple may be working to fix an iPhone vulnerability that could reportedly allow an attacker to remotely install and run unsigned software code with root access to the phone...." (Read more) |
Google talks spam trends, spiffs up Gmail labels (from Betanews at Fri Jul 3 18:10:00 2009 UTC)"The first of the month always brings a bountiful harvest from Google's blogging troops, and two posts yesterday pointed us to some nifty changes to Gmail's labels features and passed along some cheerful numbers concerning spam levels as measured by the company's Postini group. With one notable exception, those who rely even moderately on Gmail's labels ought to like where things are going...." (Read more) |
Search Party: Why Security Pros Should Master Google (from Computer World at Fri Jul 3 18:09:00 2009 UTC)"One of the reasons security is fun and interesting is that it requires a constant upgrade of your skills and knowledge. Here is a skill that you may not have realized you need, but you need it: Become a master of Internet search. Obviously I'm talking about a lot more than tossing a few words in the Google box and pushing the search button...." (Read more) |
Cyberwar threat (from dailybulletin at Fri Jul 3 18:04:00 2009 UTC)"It shouldn't come as a surprise that the United States and Russia are having a hard time agreeing on how to counter the threat of cyberwar. U.S.-Russian relations are at one of the lowest points since the breakup of the Soviet Union. President Barack Obama wants to strengthen cooperation among international law enforcement groups to prevent cyber-attacks...." (Read more) |
Beware the MJ virus (from asiaone at Fri Jul 3 17:57:00 2009 UTC)"The world's obsession with superstar Michael Jackson's sudden death is being exploited by a range of digital crooks who - in at least one instance - are using it to infect computers with a virus that can steal bank-account numbers and passwords. According to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Spam Data Mine, cybercriminals are embedding the data- stealing virus in an e-mail "that claims to link you to a website that will reveal Michael Jackson's killer"...." (Read more) |
Why does your business need security systems? (from fitness-model at Fri Jul 3 17:50:00 2009 UTC)"In a recent incident, a shop in a busy intersection was robbed. The thieves had managed to open the safe and take away several thousand dollars in hard cash. But, more damaging was the fact that they stole several computers...." (Read more) |
Cyberbullying Report Opposes Regulation (from WSJ at Fri Jul 3 17:47:00 2009 UTC)"A recent report on cyberbullying suggests that, unlike other Internet scares, this one is well-founded, but questions some of the regulatory efforts that are gathering steam around the tactic. The report, by the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a right-leaning Washington think tank that focuses on technology public policy, says that data from child-safety researchers indicate that much of the furor over online predators is overblown. For example, a University of New Hampshire paper found that while arrests grew from 2000 to 2006, most were of offenders who approached undercover investigators, not kids...." (Read more) |
Month Of Twitter Bugs exposes microblogging flaws (from The Register at Fri Jul 3 17:44:00 2009 UTC)"The Month Of Twitter Bugs has begun with the publication of a flaw in a URL shortening service often used in conjunction with the microblogging service. Four cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in the bit. ly URL-shrinking service were published on Wednesday...." (Read more) |
Advancing health reform with Health Information Technology (HIT) (from MSDN at Fri Jul 3 17:41:00 2009 UTC)"This week s Presidential Town Hall meeting , a National Discussion on Health Care Reform, brings even greater focus to an issue that s been consuming the headlines for the past few months. As healthcare reform heats up in the halls of Congress and within the administration, there s no doubt our nation s health care system is broken. Yet the very way that technology and social media are playing a role in the dialogue tells us that the power of IT can and should be part of the solution...." (Read more) |
Net neutrality gets a boost from the feds (from CNet at Fri Jul 3 17:38:00 2009 UTC)"Net neutrality advocates got a boost of support Wednesday from the Obama administration when it released grant guidelines for spending the government's $7. 2 billion broadband stimulus package. Companies winning grants to help build new broadband infrastructure will have to follow the Federal Communications Commission's Internet Policy statement, which prohibits companies from deliberately blocking or slowing Internet traffic on their networks...." (Read more) |
Scam email hits the Australian Federal Police (from CRN at Fri Jul 3 17:18:00 2009 UTC)"The good name of the Australian Federal Police was used for a scam email that informed recipients that their credit cards were detected as being used in transactions linked to criminal organisations. It went on to tell recipients to click a link in the email. It told recipients not to contact their banks or the local authorities under threat of legal action...." (Read more) |
Volume Of Michael Jackson-Related Internet Scams Rapidly Increasing (from CRN at Fri Jul 3 16:49:00 2009 UTC)"Computer security experts are sounding the alarm that the number of Internet scammers exploiting the death of pop superstar Michael Jackson is growing rapidly. The most common ploys are e-mails offering a peek at what's said to be unseen pictures and videos of Jackson performing or samples of music the "King of Pop" never released. The e-mails contain attachments that when clicked on release a worm or virus, or provide links to bogus Web sites that collect personal information...." (Read more) |
China: We will force through Green Dam Web filter programme (from ComputerWorldUk at Fri Jul 3 16:45:00 2009 UTC)"China has not lifted its requirement that an Internet filtering program be shipped with all computers sold in the country, even though the plan was postponed this week, according to state media. It is just "a matter of time" before the mandate for PC makers to ship the program takes effect, the website of the official newspaper China Daily cited an unnamed official as saying yesterday...." (Read more) |
Troubles Plague Cyberspy Defense (from WSJ at Fri Jul 3 16:20:00 2009 UTC)"The flagship system designed to protect the U.S. government's computer networks from cyberspies is being stymied by technical limitations and privacy concerns, according to current and former national-security officials. The latest complete version of the system, known as Einstein, won't be fully installed for 18 months, according to current and former officials, seven years after it was first rolled out. This system doesn't protect networks from attack...." (Read more) |
European Commission sets out tech-driven action plan for derivatives trading (from Finextra at Fri Jul 3 16:09:00 2009 UTC)"The European Commission is calling for a technology-driven overhaul of the derivatives markets in a sweeping set of proposals designed to strengthen the safety of the financial system. In a policy response that broadly mirrors the regulatory initiatives expounded across the Atlantic, the EC says the financial markets should invest heavily in post-trade automation and standardised data management systems to reduce risks in the free-wheeling derivatives markets. The set of papers released by the Commission highlight how derivatives in general and credit default swaps in particular have created a web of mutual dependence that makes it difficult to understand, disentangle and contain risk in the immediate aftermath of a default."The characteristics of OTC derivative markets - the private nature of contracting with limited public information, the complex web of mutual dependence, the difficulties of understanding the nature and level of risks - increase uncertainty in times of market stress and accordingly may undermine financial stability," says the EC...." (Read more) |
'Hacker's hacker' from San Francisco pleads guilty in $86 million fraud (from pittsburghLIVE at Fri Jul 3 16:02:00 2009 UTC)"A mild-mannered computer geek people once believed could do no wrong admitted Monday to stealing nearly 2 million credit card numbers, which he and others used to rack up more than $86 million in fraudulent charges. Max Ray Vision, 36, of San Francisco pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, Downtown, to two counts of wire fraud. He faces up to 60 years in prison when sentenced Oct. 20 by Senior U.S. District Judge Maurice Cohill."Max is kind of a hacker's hacker," said federal public defender Michael Novara, explaining that his client -- known by the Internet aliases "Iceman," "Aphex," "Darkest" and "Digits" -- hacked into computer systems not only of financial institutions and credit-card processing centers but also those of other hackers, to steal information they stole...." (Read more) |
Cyber crime cases are on the rise in Pune (from punekar at Fri Jul 3 16:01:00 2009 UTC)"The number of people coming forward with cyber crime complaints is on a significant rise. In a year after the cyber cell of Pune police was started in July 2003 we had received only nine complaints of cyber crime. There is a manifold rise as in the year 2008, we have received 2007 cyber crime complaints, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (cyber cell) Rajendra Dahale, during the opening ceremony of Cop Tech forum at Pune police commissionerate on Tuesday...." (Read more) |
From 9 to 2,000, cyber crime rises (from indianexpress at Fri Jul 3 15:59:00 2009 UTC)"The number of people coming forward with cyber crime complaints is on a significant rise. "In a year after the cyber cell of Pune police was started in July 2003 we had received only nine complaints of cyber crime. There is a manifold rise as in the year 2008, we have received 2007 cyber crime complaints," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (cyber cell) Rajendra Dahale, during the opening ceremony of 'Cop Tech"'forum at Pune police commissionerate on Tuesday...." (Read more) |
Cybersecurity Plan Means New Jobs (from Bankinfosecurity at Fri Jul 3 15:40:00 2009 UTC)"So, the Obama administration has presented its cybersecurity plan establishing the practice as a major, new national priority. What does this mean for information security careers? Security experts that work closely with the government offer insights on the direction the new administration has taken regarding its security policies and how these can impact security careers...." (Read more) |
A treasure trove for hackers (from irishtimes at Fri Jul 3 15:26:00 2009 UTC)"NUMEROUS LAPTOP thefts have highlighted poor corporate security practices and privacy protection in recent months. Companies however may be overlooking a source of potentially serious data leaks: employees who work at home, writes KARLIN LILLINGTONForensics experts at the Dublin office of consultancy Ernst & Young have found evidence that prominent companies in Ireland are allowing home-based employees to download sensitive company and client data to their personal computers...." (Read more) |
Gamer embezzles virtual cash to settle real debts (from The Register at Fri Jul 3 15:22:00 2009 UTC)"As if high-profile investment scandals and the economic downturn weren't bad enough here on Earth, now folks have to deal with it outside our galaxy. Virtually, at least. Impoverished from real-world debts, the CEO of the largest player-run financial institution in the sci-fi MMO Eve Online stole thousands of dollars worth of the game's currency and traded it for real money on the black market...." (Read more) |
Japanese regulator 'could consider tougher penalties' for failures (from bobsguide at Fri Jul 3 15:02:00 2009 UTC)"Japan's financial regulators may have to introduce tougher penalties for financial institutions that fail to properly adhere to data protection and anti-money laundering requirements, the country's finance minister has warned. Kaoru Yosano made his comments following a data breach at Japan's largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), which saw a former employee of its brokerage unit allegedly steal records relating to approximately 1. 5 million customers, Bloomberg reports...." (Read more) |
Stolen Malaysian Credit Cards Found In Aussie Raids (from Bernama at Fri Jul 3 15:01:00 2009 UTC)"An elaborate fraud syndicate allegedly masterminded by a Sydney man has been brought down, after millions of dollars were spent using more than 1,200 fake credit cards, the Australian Associated Press reported. Personal information was stolen from card holders in Australia, Malaysia, Spain, and Britain, then allegedly used by the syndicate to manufacture fake credit cards, Aussie Medicare health cards and driver's licences in Australia. Armed with the fake cards and a shopping list, a team of shoppers purchased goods, many of which were sent overseas, predominantly to South East Asia, police said...." (Read more) |
Pxxxography, government and the Internet (from SunbeltBlog at Fri Jul 3 15:00:00 2009 UTC)"The Green-Dam saga continues. China delayed indefinitely the requirement that new computers have an installation of Green Dam-Youth Escort filtering software to protect young people from pornographic and violent Internet content. The big question seems to be: will the delay be temporary or permanent...." (Read more) |
Manchester City Council pays $2.4m in Conficker clean up costs (from ZDNet at Fri Jul 3 14:57:00 2009 UTC)"How severe can the impact of the Conficker worm be on a single city council that has apparently not implemented basic security solutions in place? Pretty severe according to a recently released a report entitled Service interruption resulting from ICT disruption in February 2009 which details the financial costs of a Conficker incident affecting Manchester City Council s network - 1. 5 million pounds in clean up costs and lost revenue from the downtime...." (Read more) |
Bing searches to include Twitter results (from v3 at Fri Jul 3 14:55:00 2009 UTC)"Microsoft has announced a new feature for its Bing search service, which will allow users to receive information on Twitter posts. The new service generates results from thousands of "carefully selected" Twitter users, according to Microsoft, including its own employees, search experts, bloggers and personalities such as Al Gore."Today we are unveiling an initial foray into integrating more real-time data into our search results, starting with some of the more prominent and prolific Twitterers from a variety of spheres," wrote Sean Suchter, general manager at Microsoft's Search Technology Center, in a blog post...." (Read more) |
Jay Leno wins cybersquatting case (from MSNBC at Fri Jul 3 14:53:00 2009 UTC)"Comedian and talk show host Jay Leno has won a cybersquatting case against a Texas man found by a U.N. agency to have misused the domain name thejaylenoshow. com to direct Internet users to a real estate website. In a ruling issued on Thursday, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said Leno had common law trademark rights to his name after a 30-year career in entertainment, even though Guadalupe Zambrano registered the site in 2004...." (Read more) |
European researchers create largest quantum key distribution network (from homelandsecuritynewswire at Fri Jul 3 14:49:00 2009 UTC)"Researchers from several European institutions unite in creating the largest quantum key distribution network ever built; a big step toward practical implementation of quantum encryptionQuantum encryption holds the promise of unbreakable communication, but, so far, it could not compellingly show how it could overcome the problems of distance and scalability. There may be a solution in the offings. Researchers from across Europe have united to build the largest quantum key distribution network ever built...." (Read more) |
Virus Bulletin names top spam blockers (from v3.co.uk at Fri Jul 3 14:47:00 2009 UTC)"Security magazine Virus Bulletin has issued the results of a new test of spam blocking software. The second edition of the test pitted anti-spam filters against an archived collection of spam messages, and a live stream of email from addresses set up by testers. Products were scored for the percentage of spam messages detected and the number of false positives returned...." (Read more) |
Hackers take aim at ColdFusion development tool (from v3.co.uk at Fri Jul 3 14:45:00 2009 UTC)"A new wave of attacks is targeting web applications written with the ColdFusion development tool. Researchers with security group Sans said that the company has received multiple reports of attacks which target vulnerabilities in older versions of ColdFusion. The attacks are said to target two components in ColdFusion applications: the FCKEditor text editing tool, and the CKFinder file management tool...." (Read more) |
Judge overturns MySpace bullying conviction (from v3.co.uk at Fri Jul 3 14:14:00 2009 UTC)"A US judge has moved to overturn the conviction of a Missouri woman accused of bullying a teenager who later committed suicide. District Judge George Wu has ruled that Lori Drew was not guilty of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, overturning an earlier jury decision that convicted Drew on three misdemeanour counts of unauthorised access to a computer...." (Read more) |
US media organisations collaborate on online privacy rules (from Telecompaper at Fri Jul 3 14:12:00 2009 UTC)"The largest media and marketing associations in the US have jointly released self-regulatory principles to protect consumer privacy in ad-supported interactive media, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said. The principles stipulate advertisers and website should clearly inform consumers about data collection practices and enable them to exercise control over that information. The collaboration represents the entire marketing-media industry and includes the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's), the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBB), a organization dedicated to advancing marketplace trust...." (Read more) |
Online games face filter ban (from News at Fri Jul 3 14:09:00 2009 UTC)"ONLINE games played by millions of Australians could be blocked by the Federal Government's controversial new internet filter plan. Existing laws that currently refuse classification, and therefore ban the sale of any games that exceed an MA15+ rating, will be rolled over to the internet filter under a proposal by the Government, mX can confirm. That means browser-based or downloaded games, or online roleplaying games such as the popular World of Warcraft, will be blocked in Australia if it contains content deemed inappropriate for anyone under the age of 15...." (Read more) |
KnownSec stores tens of thousands of viruses found on Chinese websites (from thedarkvisitor at Fri Jul 3 14:06:00 2009 UTC)"The database covers more Chinese Web sites and provides more up-to-date information about their security than any other, Zhao said in the interview. China produces the majority of the world s malware, he said. A history for each site in the database lists dates of malware infection, the strings of malicious code placed on the sites and which antivirus products defend viewers against their attacks...." (Read more) |
