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Brace Yourself for the Post-PC Threat Era January 28, 2013 
It was inevitable. As computing has evolved, so has its nemesis: malware. "2012 is truly the year we entered the post-PC era as cybercriminals moved to embrace Android, social media platforms, and even Macs with their attacks," Trend Micro declared in its annual Security Roundup last week. A characteristic of the post-PC threat landscape is the accelerated growth of malware.
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Oracle's Java Headache Worsens January 24, 2013 
For Oracle and its Java programming language, the hurt just keeps on coming.
Fresh vulnerabilities have been discovered less than a week after Oracle updated Java to address two security flaws being exploited by hackers -- but wait, there's more. Net bandits launched a phishing campaign pushing bogus security updates for the software.
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Saudi Blogger Won't Face Death on Apostasy Accusation January 23, 2013 
A court in Saudi Arabia reportedly has declined to hear the case of Raif Badawi, a liberal blogger who was accused of apostasy. Apostasy,defined as the abandonment of one's faith, is a particularly grievous charge in Islam. Had it been so inclined, the court that turned down the case could have sentenced Badawi to death. As it stands, Badawi's charge was referred to a lower court.
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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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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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Google in Talks to Resolve Antitrust Issues in Europe December 18, 2012 
While Google is poised to agree to changes in the way it displays search
results and skirt an antitrust investigation in the U.S., things are still unresolved with the European Commission. Google is reportedly still negotiating with European Commission antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia.
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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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FBI Takes 10 Alleged Botnet Operators Offline December 13, 2012 
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested 10 individuals from around the world, including the United States, which it alleges are part of an international cybercrime ring linked to the Yahos malware. Yahos is associated with the notorious Butterfly botnet, which compromised more than 11 million computer systems and resulted in an estimated $850 million in losses.
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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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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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EMC Grabs Silver Tail October 31, 2012 
EMC has announced it is acquiring Silver Tail Systems, a provider of real-time Web session intelligence and behavioral analysis. When the acquisition is closed, which is expected in the fourth quarter, Silver Tail will be part of EMC's security division, tasked with extending RSA's enterprise security portfolio.
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It's Not You, Android - It's Your Apps October 23, 2012 
A substantial number of apps available from Google Play had serious flaws in their Secure Sockets Layer implementations and thus were vulnerable to hack attacks, European researchers found. The team downloaded 13,500 popular free apps to study their use of the SSL or Transport Layer Security protocols, with a particular focus on the apps' vulnerabilities against Man-in-the-Middle attacks.
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Standing Your Ground Against Cybermuggers October 23, 2012 
Many people know it's a bad idea to open attachments in email received from strangers, but relatively few know they need to take the same precautions when clicking links on social media sites and even VoIP service Skype. In recent weeks, cybercriminals have been targeting individuals through Skype, and the criminals have been picking up their game and increasingly utilizing so-called ransomware.
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Bogus Apps Litter Android With Malware October 22, 2012 
Android is one of the most popular mobile operating systems in the world. As a result, it's also one of the most popular mobile operating systems to be targeted by malware writers. Malware aimed at Google's Android platform increased sixfold during the quarter that ended in September, according to a report released Monday by Trend Micro.
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MiniFlame Drops Cyberbombs on High-Value Targets October 17, 2012 
Security researchers have identified a new offshoot of the notorious Flame espionage malware. The malware, called "miniFlame," creates a backdoor in the systems that it infects. That backdoor can then be used by an attacker to gain access an infected machine. The attacker can then write files to the compromised computer, snatch files from it or snap screenshots of its display.
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Cyberattack Warning Throws US Banks' Security Into High Gear September 21, 2012 
Citing recent threats of cyberattacks, the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, an industry body set up by the financial services industry, has raised its cyberthreat level from "elevated" to "high." It points to credible intelligence indicating the potential for distributed denial of service and other cyberattacks against financial institutions.
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Mobile Tech Gives Malware Makers Much Bigger Playground for Mischief September 04, 2012 
Twitter-controlled mobile botnets and mobile ransomware are a few examples of what's in store for Internet users, according to the second-quarter McAfee Threats Report. In general, mobile tech has emerged as a major vector for hack attacks, with many that might once have been aimed at PCs now focused on other devices.
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Speeding Up Your PC, Part 5: Getting Secure September 01, 2012 
One of the most dreaded words for any computer user is "malware." Rogue software and
infected files can implant bits of code that log keystrokes, spy on activities, slow down searches and snatch financial information. Users can help protect their PC by installing antivirus software, but even this comes with its own set of issues and is not always foolproof.
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Don't Trust That Text August 20, 2012 
A well-known iOS hacker who uses the handle "pod2g" revealed a flaw in Apple's mobile operating system, iOS, that he says can be exploited to alter the "reply to" information in SMS messages. Such a tactic could be used by cybermiscreants to pry sensitive information from the recipient of a message or divert them to a malicious website.
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