security

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 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)

Two major hacking collectives have announced they've forged a partnership. Anonymous and LulzSec say they are targeting high-profile classified information. The two groups do not carry out hacking in order to make money, either by stealing card ... details or selling bogus security software. Instead, they carry out a blend of hacktivism (a portmanteau of hack and activism), attacks made for a political purpose, or simply for amusement. The Anonymous group has carried out several politically-motivated operations in recent months. Among its most famous activities have been attacks on the homophobic ... (view more)

The United States government has offered help after defense contractor Lockheed-Martin suffered a "tenacious" cyber-attack. It appears to be linked to problems with a system used for authorizing access from external locations. Lockheed-Martin, which ... is the leading supplier of IT services to the government, says the attack was the latest in a line of frequent attempts to breach its security, which certainly makes sense given the confidential nature of some of the material it handles. But it has described the latest attack as "significant." As a result, the company has reset all user passwords ... (view more)

A security firm reports that hackers have intercepted email messages from Hotmail user accounts after manipulating a bug found deeply rooted within Microsoft's website. While security officials admitted that victims needed to be logged into Hotmail ... for the attack to work, the virus was also found to affect those that had previewed the message for a short period of time before logging out. Attack Source: Cross-Site Scripting Flaw (XSS) The source of the attack was revealed to be a common web programming error called a cross-site scripting flaw . As security firm Trend Micro explained in a ... (view more)

An Italian security researcher has found a new security flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser that could allow hackers to steal login information and passwords. The threat comes in the form of a 'cookiejacking' scheme (related to session ... hijacking ), which allows hackers to review website history and then use that to enter protected domains. Rosario Valotta recently demonstrated his cookingjacking findings at security conferences in Switzerland and Amsterdam. He acknowledged that exploiting the flaw isn't particularly easy, requiring a hacker to convince an online user to drag and ... (view more)

In hindsight of the successful "Mac vs PC" TV commercials, Microsoft has launched a new "PC vs Mac" website. The Microsoft website is entitled 'Do The Math', and greets users with two images: one has an open MacBook Pro 17, while the other is an HP ... Pavilion DV7 -- adorned with a Hawaiian lei, accompanying surfboard and palm tree backdrop. Microsoft: Buy a PC, Take a Vacation The idea behind this latest scheme is to provide a 'side-by-side comparison' of two products (one of which happens to be a Microsoft-endorsed and reported price savings of $1,350), and that by buying a PC, ... (view more)

A recent report revealed that many businesses still have no plans to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, leaving their ailing PCs at higher risk for malware. That may change, however, with a new report suggesting that Windows 7 is five times less ... likely to be infected by malware than its predecessor. Windows 7 Five Times More Secure than XP The study comes from Microsoft's own Security Intelligence Report, which is released annually. The report not only revealed that Windows 7 is five times more secure against malware than a machine running Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), but it was also ... (view more)

Microsoft unveiled a modest Patch Tuesday collection of fixes for its software products this month. However, at least a few of the patches address security holes that experts say could be easily exploited. On Tuesday, Microsoft's series of May ... patches addressed just three bugs, only one of which is marked "critical," the company's highest security rating. The most serious patch is labeled MS11-035 and is intended to fix a vulnerability in the Windows Internet Name Service (WINS), a component in every edition of Windows Server. Critical Update Not Automatically Deployed The way in which ... (view more)

A French security firm says it now knows how to hack its way into Google's Chrome browser. If the claim turns out to be true, it would represent a surprising weakness for a web browser considered by some to be the safest available. The hack report ... comes from France's Vupen, which says it was able to sidestep Chrome's defenses -- including the highly reputable sandbox design -- as well as Windows 7's built-in anti-exploit infrastructure. Report Stuns Security Experts The exploit is "one of the most sophisticated codes we have seen and created so far, as it bypasses all security features ... (view more)