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.
Microsoft said Thursday that it will issue an out-of-band security update on Monday to fix a critical, remotely-exploitable security hole present in all versions of Windows, which the software giant says is fueling an increasing number of online attacks. On… Read More »
Police in Slovenia have arrested a 23-year-old man in Maribor believed to be responsible for creating the Mariposa botnet, a collection of hacked PCs that spanned an estimated 12 million computers across the globe, according to reports. The Associated Press… Read More »
As a rule, I tend to avoid writing about reports and studies unless they offer truly valuable and actionable insights: Too often, reports have preconceived findings and that merely serve to increase hype and drum up business for the companies that commission them. But I always make an exception for the annual data breach report issued by the Verizon Business RISK team, which is so chock full of hype-slaying useful data and conclusions that it is often hard to know what not to write about from the report.
Recently I came into possession of a series of documents showing the financial books of an organization that orchestrates the distribution of rogue anti-virus attacks or “scareware,” programs that hijack victim PCs with misleading security alerts in an effort to frighten the user into purchasing worthless security software. I found many interesting details in this data cache, but one pattern in the data I think explains why scareware continues to be a major scourge: Relatively few people victimized by it dispute the transaction with their bank.
Virus writers and botmasters increasingly are turning to new subscription services that test when and whether malicious links have been flagged by Web reputation programs like Google Safe Browsing and McAfee SiteAdvisor.
Microsoft has released a stopgap fix to help Windows users protect themselves against threats that may try to target a newly discovered, critical security hole that is present in every supported version of Windows.
Adobe Systems Inc. said today the next release of its free PDF Reader application will include new “sandbox” technology aimed at blocking the exploitation of previously unidentified security holes in its software.