Security

Mass popularity has made Facebook a target of hackers for years now. In an effort to combat this problem, those behind the social network have issued a "bug bounty" program that offers monetary compensation to those who find vulnerabilities on the ... social networking website. Many report problems with Facebook on personal blogs and other public forums anyways, in an effort to gain some semblance of prestige within the hacking community. But discussing these issues in public (and before the company has had a chance to address these concerns) puts even more users at risk. Facebook Recruits White- ... (view more)

Chinese hackers are being blamed in the wake of a recent attack on two popular South Korean websites, breaches that together resulted in the loss of personal information associated with 35 million personal accounts. South Korea's SK Telecom, which ... owns and operates both of the websites involved in the attack -- a social networking platform called 'Cyworld' and a web portal named 'Nate' -- was recently forced to apologize for the breach. The number of personal accounts exposed in the attack is quite staggering, given that South Korea's population is only about 50 million. That equates to 70 ... (view more)

According to new research, three in every four computers with a particular nasty form of malware are running Windows XP. The report was compiled by Avast Software. The study looked at operating system rootkits in particular. Rootkits are by ... definition extremely stealthy software that cannot be detected by most forms of anti-virus or anti-malware protection, and thus are very difficult to remove. There are several ways in which a rootkit can operate stealthily. One way is to disguise malicious files by compromising the file management system, such as Windows Explorer. In this way, the ... (view more)

Microsoft has been judged the clear winner in a recent test of how well web browsers block unintended access to malicious software on websites. It's great news for Microsoft's reputation, though some critics suggest the methods used in the test may ... be lacking. Browser Malware Protection Tested, Compared The browser comparison was conducted by independent security firm NSS labs. The test observed a feature known as browser protection, which appears in all the major browsers under various names. In general, browser protection is designed to deal with situations where users are tricked into ... (view more)

The United States Defense Department has openly admitted that it was attacked by a hacker in the spring of 2011, the result being the loss of some 24,000 documents. It remains unclear exactly who was behind the attack, with Deputy Defense Secretary ... William J. Lynn III blaming "foreign intruders". Lynn recently announced the attack during a speech at the National Defense University. It was just one note in a very important discussion of the Defense Department's new strategy for preventing these kinds of attacks in the future. DoD a Perpetual Target for Hackers "The cyber threats we face are ... (view more)

Microsoft has reminded Windows XP users that the system will lose security support from the company in under 1,000 days' time. However, some wonder if that will prove practical. Stephen Rose, who is the community and social media manager for ... Microsoft, wrote a blog post to mark the system's imposing deadline. He said that "Windows XP had an amazing run and millions of PC users are grateful for it. But it's time to move on. Two reasons: 1) Extended support for Windows XP is running out in less than 1000 days, and 2) there's an OS out there that's much better than Windows XP." (Source: ... (view more)

A high-profile hacking group has published what it claims are 90,000 email addresses and password combinations belonging to a government contractor. The group also says it deleted back-up data from the organization's servers. The leak comes from the ... Anonymous group, previously known for its battles with the Scientology movement and the Westboro Baptist Church. Recently, it began a campaign known as "Antisec" (anti-security) alongside members of the previously-disbanded LulzSec group. Anonymous retrieved thee email details from the network of Booz Allen Hamilton, an engineering and ... (view more)

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) source has confirmed that technology made overseas and imported to the US has been known to contain spy tools. There's also a threat from counterfeit hardware. The confirmation came during a hearing by a House ... of Representatives committee into cyber security. It was discussing ways in which private companies can be encouraged to work alongside the government in tackling security threats. Damage, Spying Both A Threat Greg Schaffer, who works in the National Protections and Programs section of the DHS, did not go into great detail about the spying tools, ... (view more)

On Thursday last week, the Washington Post admitted the Jobs section of its website had been hacked in June, a breach that led to the theft of 1.27 million user log-ins and email addresses. (Source: pcworld.com ) According to the Post, an ... "unauthorized third party" laid siege to the employment opportunities section of its website and on two occasions (June 27 and June 28) was able to access user information. Although log-in names and email addresses were lost, the Washington Post emphasizes that no passwords were stolen and that other personal information remained unaffected by the attack. ... (view more)

Around 4.5 million computers have been caught in a botnet that some experts are calling as good as indestructible. Others, however, say that's an exaggeration. The botnet in question is named the TDL-4. In many senses, it's like any other botnet: ... once a computer becomes infected with malicious software, it is now controlled by remote and used for nefarious purposes. Many times the zombie PCs in a botnet (also known as a " botnet army ") are used to send bogus page requests to websites in an attempt to knock them offline --; referred to as a " denial of service attack ", or ... (view more)