A man identified as one of the world’s top purveyors of junk e-mail has been imprisoned in Russia for allegedly having sex with underage girls, KrebsOnSecurity.com has learned.
According to multiple sources, Leonid “Leo” Aleksandorovich Kuvayev, 38, was sent to a prison in the Russian Federation roughly six months ago. It is not clear how long his sentence is or precisely where he is being held.
Microsoft issued a record number of software updates today, releasing 14 update bundles to plug at least 34 security holes in its Windows operating system and other software. More than a third of flaws earned a “critical” severity rating, Microsoft’s most serious. Separately, Adobe released an update for its Flash Player that fixes a half-dozen security bugs.
McAfee just published the sixth edition of its Security Journal, which includes a lengthy piece I wrote about the pros and cons of taking down Internet service providers and botnets that facilitate cyber criminal activity. The analysis focuses on several historical examples of what I call “shuns” and “stuns,” or taking out rogue networks either by ostracizing them, or by kneecapping their infrastructure in a coordinated surprise attack, respectively.
One of the more interesting developments over the past week has been the debut of jailbreakme.com, a Web site that allows Apple customers to jailbreak their devices merely by visiting the site with their iPhone, iPad or iTouch. Researchers soon… Read More »
Exploit packs — slick, prepackaged bundles of commercial software that attackers can user to booby-trap hacked Web sites with malicious software — are popular in part because they turn hacking for profit into a point-and-click exercise that even the dullest can master. But one reason I’ve focused so much on these kits is that they also make it easy to visually communicate key Internet security concepts that often otherwise fall on deaf ears, such as the importance of keeping your software applications up-to-date with the latest security patches.
One of the best-selling exploit packs on the market today is called Crimepack, a kit that I have mentioned at least twice already in previous blog posts. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at the “exploit stats” section of a few working Crimepack installations to get a sense of which software vulnerabilities are most productive for Crimepack customers.
I recently highlighted a study which showed that most of the top third-party software applications failed to take advantage of two major lines of defense built into Microsoft Windows that can help block attacks from hackers and viruses. As it turns out, a majority of anti-virus and security products made for Windows users also forgo these valuable security protections.
Microsoft today released an emergency security update to fix a critical flaw present in all supported versions of Windows. The patch comes as virus writers are starting to ramp up attacks that leverage the vulnerability. There are a couple of… Read More »
A business telephone equipment company in Texas is trying to force its bank into a settlement over an attack by organized cyber thieves last year that cost the company $50,000.
Attorneys for Dallas-based Hi-Line Supply Inc. recently convinced a state court to require depositions from officials at Community Bank, Inc. of Rockwall, Texas, to learn more about what the bank knew in the days and hours surrounding Aug. 20, 2009, when crooks broke into the company’s online bank accounts and transferred roughly $50,000 to four individuals across the country who had no prior business with Hi-Line.
