Security

International cybercriminals with advanced hacking skills are continuing to launch cyber attacks on American banks. That's why the Federal Bureau of Investigation is encouraging United States financial institutions to work together to prevent such ... attacks from succeeding. At a recent press event held by Reuters, FBI executive assistant director Richard McFeely said his agency has been working closely with U.S. bank leaders to devise a strategy for preventing the successful execution of cybercrimes. Cooperation Key to Protecting Against Cyber Attacks McFeely said his primary message in those ... (view more)

A new study has found that Microsoft's Internet Explorer 10 is the best browser when it comes to defending against malware threats. The study, which was carried out by NSS Labs, involved more than 700 different types of malware. NSS collected data ... over the course of 28 days by studying the impact malicious software had on the built-in protection measures found in Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari. Internet Explorer 10 Blocks 99% of Malware Threats NSS says it found that Internet Explorer 10 blocked 99 per cent of the malicious threats tossed its way. (Source: pcworld.com ... (view more)

Microsoft earlier this week released a Patch Tuesday security update that addressed two 'critical' security flaws, one of which was found in its Internet Explorer browser. Now, Adobe has released its own security update package. The goal: to fix ... vulnerabilities in its Reader, Acrobat, and Flash Player products. Remote Code Execution a Concern Adobe's security update for its Reader and Acrobat software involves almost thirty different vulnerabilities. Most of those flaws are related to potential arbitrary code execution vulnerabilities that, if exploited successfully, could allow a hacker to ... (view more)

Microsoft has issued a warning about a new type of malware that assumes the form of a Google Chrome extension and Firefox add-on. The Trojan horse is reportedly designed to target the Facebook accounts of its victims and, once a machine is ... compromised, performs a number of automated social media tasks, including "liking" certain pages and posting comments. The malware, which was first detected in Brazil, is named 'Trojan:JS/Febipos' and operates by checking to see if the current user is logged into Facebook. If this is the case, the bug attempts to download a configuration file that contains ... (view more)

Academic institutions need to take steps to protect themselves against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, a new report finds. Right now, many online systems used by colleges and universities are vulnerable to hacker hijacking. REN-ISAC, ... the Research and Education Networking Information Sharing and Analysis Center, has completed a report which finds that academic institutions must begin reviewing their Domain Name System (DNS) and network configurations or face hijacking by sophisticated hacking techniques. Universities Unprepared for DDoS Attack REN-ISAC is a membership of more ... (view more)

Eight men have been accused of using bogus bank cards to empty ATMs worldwide. In one single-day attack, the gang allegedly took $40 million. The crimes were kept quiet while investigators hunted down those believed responsible. Only seven men will ... stand trial, with the other having been shot by unknown attackers in the Dominican Republic. He's thought to have masterminded the operation. And the hunt isn't complete: prosecutors believe a total of two dozen people were involved in the highly sophisticated operation. Prepaid Cards Key to Heist It appears the first step was for hackers to gain ... (view more)

Kaspersky Lab product specialist Wayne Kirby says that the complex design of Microsoft's newest operating system (OS), Windows 8, increases its vulnerability to hackers. Not helping the situation, according to Kirby: the availability of multiple ... versions of Windows 8, including Windows RT. Kirby says that, by offering consumers several different editions of its new OS, Microsoft has increased the number of flaws in the platform. Multiple Operating Systems, Multiple Vulnerabilities Kirby says that the multiple OS approach gives hackers more vulnerabilities to exploit. "Because it contains ... (view more)

We've all had problems with our bosses. But few of us would react to such a dispute by hacking our employer's network. And yet, that's exactly what a 41-year-old Long Island man did after being passed over for promotion. Michael Meneses is a systems ... manager living in Smithtown, New York. Until early 2012 he was employed by a local firm that builds high-voltage power supplies. Man Allegedly Hacks Former Employer's Network While working for his former employer, Meneses was responsible for implementing and maintaining customized software designed to keep the firm's production and inventory ... (view more)

According to reports, hackers recently infected the United States Department of Labor website with malware. Security experts have indicated that the attack may have originated in China, since the strategy employed by hackers is very similar to ... tactics used by Chinese hackers in the past. The hackers targeted the Site Exposure Matrices (SEM) page within the U.S. Department of Labor website. According to two security firms (AlienVault and Invincea), that page features data related to the storage of toxic substances at United States Department of Energy sites. Attack May Have Originated in China ... (view more)

Mozilla is attempting to stop a British company from masking its spyware program as the Firefox Internet browser. Mozilla has reportedly sent a cease-and-desist letter to the firm. Mozilla has sprung into action after learning from PC security ... researchers that a spyware program called FinSpy has been masquerading as the Firefox web browser. The issue was discovered by Citizen Lab, a group of researchers associated with the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs. FinSpy is just one part of a spyware toolset called FinFisher, which is produced by a British firm called Gamma ... (view more)