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Jettisoning Java: Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't January 12, 2013 
DHS is urging computer users to disable or uninstall Java due to a serious flaw in JRE 7. The DHS' Computer Emergency Readiness Team warned Thursday evening that it was being exploited in the wild and could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable systems. CERT recommended that Java be disabled in Web browsers.
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Iran Peppers US Banks With Steady Barrage of Cybertraffic January 09, 2013 
Iran is to blame for a wave of distributed denial of service attacks that hit U.S. banks in the past few weeks, according to a report in The New York Times. The amount of traffic flooding American banks' sites was several times the volume Russia aimed at Estonia in a month-long online assault back in 2007, said James A. Lewis, senior fellow and director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
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'Curious' Hack Jailbreaks Windows RT January 09, 2013 
A security researcher has hacked Windows RT to allow it to run desktop applications by bypassing the OS' security systems. The jailbreaking isn't dangerous to users' systems, researcher C.L. Roker insists. "It cannot at this point be exploited without the user actually wanting it, so it's not dangerous."
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US Officials Pin Bank Hack Attack on Iran January 09, 2013 
U.S. government officials and security experts are convinced that a recent cyberattack on American banks was executed by Iran. The U.S. has not yet divulged any evidence to corroborate their accusations, but security experts reportedly say the attack displayed a level of sophistication not possible for an amateur.
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Bogus Google Certificate Exposes Broader Problem January 07, 2013 
Google spotted an impostor certificate on Christmas Eve and took quick action, but the event is calling into question the reliability of Secure Socket Layer security. Turktrust, a Turkish Web certificate authority, acknowledged it gave two entities the power to create certificates when it shouldn't have.
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Stuxnet Strikes Again? Not Likely January 02, 2013 
Iran boasted last week that its malware fighters fended off another attack on its infrastructure by the notorious Stuxnet computer worm. Stuxnet targeted a power plant and some other industries in the southern part of the country, but Iranian computer experts were able to thwart the attack, a provincial civil defense official claimed. The original Stuxnet attack two years was aimed at Iran's nuclear development program.
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Uncle Sam Prefers to Receive Than to Give Security Information December 27, 2012 
The White House last week released its National Strategy for Information Sharing and Safeguarding without much fanfare. The document attempts to address a common complaint lodged against government when it comes to information sharing with the private sector: Uncle Sam likes to receive, but isn't so keen on giving.
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Samsung Galaxy Flaw Lets Hackers Tunnel Into RAM December 17, 2012 
A new security flaw has been discovered in Samsung's vulnerability-plagued Galaxy S III. This time, the problem lies in the company's Exynos 4 series of chips. The flaw was discovered by a hacker with the handle "Alephzain," who posted the information on the XDA Developers Forum. Three hackers have posted solutions for the vulnerability so far.
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UK Won't Prosecute UFO-Hunting Hacker McKinnon December 17, 2012 
Gary McKinnon, the British man who hacked into U.S. government files to search for evidence of UFOs, will not face prosecution in the United Kingdom. In October, UK officials rejected the United States' extradition request in the decade-old case. The UK's most recent decision will apparently end the McKinnon controversy.
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Study: Nefarious Apps Easily Slip Past Jelly Bean Security December 17, 2012 
The findings weren't very sweet when researchers tested Android 4.2 Jelly Bean's beefed-up security. Of the 1,260 malware samples the team at North Carolina State University tossed at the OS, only 15 percent of them were detected by Google's app verification service.
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Apple Maps' 43-Mile Mistake Could Strand Travelers in Outback December 10, 2012 
Apple's new map system on iOS 6, which replaced Google Maps, has drawn plenty of criticism from pundits. Now, it's the subject of a warning by Australian police. Officers in Mildura are warning drivers to be wary of Apple's new maps system, which shows their fair town as being in the middle of Murray Sunset National Park.
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Cops Seek Law Requiring 2-Year SMS Storage December 10, 2012 
A number of law enforcement groups are lobbying Congress to add provisions to a bill revamping the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act that would require wireless carriers to archive text messages for as long as two years. There may be reasons for companies to archive messages -- but simply functioning as a record-keeping arm for law enforcement is not one of them, privacy advocates maintain.
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Offensive Viral Post Defaces Tumblr Blogs December 04, 2012 
The Tumblr microblogging, social networking and online sharing site was hit on Monday by a group that harasses blogs and practices Internet trolling -- the posting of provocative or off-topic messages online. The hackers created an offensive posting that propagated itself relentlessly on Tumblr's network.
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Israel Bombarded by Millions of Hack Attempts November 19, 2012 
More than 44 million hacking attempts have been made on Israel's government websites since last week, when it unleashed 20 air strikes and killed Hamas' top military commander, the Israeli government announced Sunday. Israel's finance minister, Yuval Steinitz, said only one hack was successful, although the affected site was reportedly back online after 10 minutes.
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Skype Fixes Flaw Allowing Easy Account Hijack November 15, 2012 
Skype on Wednesday fixed a vulnerability that allowed users' accounts to be hijacked using the password reset process. The vulnerability was published two months ago on the Russian site Xeksec. Skype has fixed the problem by updating the password reset process. To exploit the vulnerability, all a hacker needed to know was a victim's email address.
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eBay Launches Luxury Site for China's Fashionistas November 14, 2012 
eBay is taking another stab at the Chinese market. The retailer's new Chinese site, which is a joint venture with luxury retailed xiu.com, is described as low-key but stylish, and focuses on mid-range to high-end products such as clothing, handbags and accessories. Banana Republic, Clinique and Guess are among the estimated 5,000 brands already on board with the site.
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Stuxnet Spotted Stateside in Chevron Computers November 12, 2012 
Chevron was infected with the Stuxnet malware in 2010, the company revealed last week, raising concerns about the effectiveness of cyberweapons as a policy tool. Because of Stuxnet's design, it didn't do any damage to Chevron's computers, but the fact that a cyberweapon created to attack Iran's nuclear capability ended up on the systems of an American oil company isn't very reassuring to security experts.
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Many Hacks Claimed, Few Confirmed on Anon's Day of Mayhem November 06, 2012 
Anonymous has been celebrating Guy Fawkes Day by engaging in various acts of mayhem online and turning out in person at sites across the globe to protest. Some of the reported hacks and other acts have turned out to be unsubstantiated. The attack claims include Symantec and ImageShack. PayPal also was reported to have been hacked, but a spokesperson says that's not true.
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Canada Aims to Unmask Rioters When Protests Go Awry November 05, 2012 
The hacker group Anonymous has announced plans for worldwide protests against government surveillance for Monday, Guy Fawkes Day. Canada, however, has a plan of its own. It has imposed a ban on wearing masks during riots -- including, of course, Anonymous' famed Guy Fawkes masks. People will be allowed to wear masks during peaceful demonstrations, however.
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Big US Banks Under Active Attack, Napolitano Warns November 01, 2012 
Hackers are actively attacking some of the largest banks in the nation, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned this week. Napolitano declined to go into detail about the types of breaches or what kind of information -- if any -- had been taken. She brought up her concern about attacks on U.S. financial institutions at a cybersecurity event.
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