Security

For the past few days, users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) have been urged by experts to switch to another web browser until a serious security flaw could be resolved. Microsoft asked its users to remain vigilant while they investigated the ... issue, which could allow criminals to take control of anyone using Internet Explorer and steal passwords and personal information. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) Attacks have been detected against IE 7.0 but the "underlying vulnerability" was present in all versions of the browser, and the problem could well encompass other versions of IE in time. Mozilla ... (view more)

Despite the efforts of the computer security industry, malicious software is reportedly spreading faster than ever and security researchers have acknowledged that they cannot seem to get ahead of the onslaught. Internet security is broken and it ... appears that nobody knows quite how to fix it. This so-called malware surreptitiously takes over a PC then uses it to spread more malware to other machines exponentially. (Source: informationweek.com ) A conservative estimate by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe says that as more businesses and people move onto the Web, criminals ... (view more)

How appropriate. Koobface, a sinister virus that attacks users with spyware and searches their system for sensitive passwords and credit card numbers, has now been found on Facebook, the super-popular social networking site. Given that most readers ... of this column will either use Facebook today or know someone else who may, Koobface poses a daunting threat to the online community. How does Koobface work? According to reports, the virus spreads via messages sent between friends on the site. When one user is infected, his or her account will send messages to friends like, "you just look awesome ... (view more)

Recently, software development firm Passware Inc. released "Search Index Examiner:" a program that makes all data indexed by Windows Search instantly accessible. Windows Search is part of the Windows Operating System and its function is to "maintain ... a record of any document or application on your PC, and the contents found within those items." (Source: Microsoft.com ) By default, Windows Search is enabled on Windows XP and Vista, but can be disabled by any user with administrative rights. Search Index Examiner from Passware Inc. has the capability to list all documents, ... (view more)

New standards concerning how businesses collect, store and use consumer data for advertising are being developed by a new advocacy group called "The Future of Privacy Forum." The group is comprised of privacy scholars, lawyers, and corporate ... officials and will be led by Jules Polonetsky, who was recently in charge of AOL's privacy policy until earlier this month, and Chris Wolf, a privacy lawyer. The organization is sponsored by AT ... (view more)

They say curiosity killed the cat. Well, apparently it also gets Verizon Wireless workers canned. According to reports, several employees for the popular cellphone provider were suspended under suspicion that they may have peeked at President-elect ... Barack Obama's call records. Verizon Wireless CEO and president Lowell McAdam was forthright with the media when he announced that Obama's personal cellphone account had been accessed by employees. "This week we learned that a number of Verizon Wireless employees have, without authorization, accessed and viewed President-Elect Barack Obama's ... (view more)

According to an online safety group, complete financial identities, including names, addresses, passport numbers and confidential data such as credit card numbers, are being sold online for 80 GB pounds for a bundled package, and as little as 5 GB ... pounds for a single piece of data. The Get Safe Online group, backed by police, government and banks, says ID theft is a serious problem because of an international trade in stolen identities and data. The bundles of data are harvested in concerted attacks against poorly defended computers in wealthier nations and are often sited in countries with ... (view more)

Details of more than 500,000 online bank accounts and credit and debit cards have reportedly been stolen by a virus described as "one of the most advanced pieces of crimeware ever created." (Source: bbc.co.uk ) The RSA Fraud Action Research Lab, ... part of EMC's security unit, discovered log-in information on more than 270,000 banking accounts and 240,000 credit and debit card accounts that had been compromised from hundreds of thousands of financial institution in countries including the U.S. the U.K., Australia and Poland by a cybercrime gang using the Sinowal Trojan, first detected in ... (view more)

Disgruntled Republicans may find some solace in recent news that Chinese and Russian hackers recently hacked the computer systems of president-elect Barack Obama -- unfortunately, they also infiltrated John McCain's system, too. The news appears ... much more serious than it sounds. These aren't your average basement-dwelling nogoodniks, but instead are reportedly sophisticated hackers that may even represent government elements in both China and Russia. The news stunned the Obama campaign. According to reports, the FBI and Secret Service recently visited the Democrats to tell them that their ... (view more)

No matter how protected we think our computers are, no matter how much money we invest in acquiring the latest antivirus software, hackers still find a way to target our computers. While computer viruses are almost as old as computers themselves, a ... new type of spam has surfaced that not only victimizes computers, but shames the good name of the innocent end-user. If you have experienced "undeliverable" email messages that bounce back into your inbox, or if you notice this happening in the near future, it may be the result of "backscatter". The latest rave in the field of spamming is the ... (view more)