News Security

Beware Of Software Bearing Gifts

If your applications aren't behaving the way you expect, the problem may not be where you think. Peter Judge found that familiar, trusted software may not be quite what it appears

3 min

RFID Puts Us All at Risk

I've never really thought of myself as much of a seer, prognosticator or predictor of the future, but based on a column I wrote back in 2005, I may just have a future in the prediction field.

4 min

Microsoft Changes Windows 7 UAC

Microsoft has agreed that Windows 7 will generate a prompt if there is an attempt to change the user account control settings - in response to pressure from bloggers who claimed the planned OS was vulnerable.

3 min

Where Does Malware Come From?

Anti-virus vendors are getting more than 50,000 submissions of new malware per day now. How can the malware business be so productive? It turns out the numbers aren't really as big as all that.

4 min

Google Privacy Exec Facing Criminal Charges

Italian officials charge Google Global Privacy Counsel Peter Fleischer with criminal charges of defamation and failure to exercise control over personal data two years after Google posted a video depicting fellow students harassing a student with Down syndrome. Unlike Italian Internet service providers, who are not responsible for posted content, content providers like Google can be held liable for delivered materials. According to the International Association of Privacy Professionals, the charges are thought to be the first criminal sanction ever pursued against a privacy professional for his company's actions.

2 min

New ‘Hacktivism’ Highlights Growing Problem

We all saw what the concentrated efforts of a group of politically minded hackers could accomplish in 2007 when Russian attackers took a wide swath of Estonian Web sites offline in response to perceived affronts against the Russian national image by its smaller neighbour.

3 min

Google Search Engine Sends False Security Warnings

A human error caused Google users to received bogus security warning messages for many of the searches the performed for nearly an hour the morning of the 31st January. During that period users received erroneous warnings that their search results were directing them to web sites that "may harm your computer."

1 min

From IE 8 to Google Chrome, Keep an Eye on Clickjacking

First Microsoft touts clickjacking protections in Internet Explorer 8, then a security researcher releases a proof of concept for a clickjacking attack targeting the Google Chrome Web browser. Clickjacking, some say, remains an issue that will require cooperation in the security community.

4 min

Retailer Wireless Devices Largely Unprotected

A new survey shows 44 percent of the wireless devices used by retailers are vulnerable to attacks by data thieves. And that's the good news. A year ago, the same Motorola survey showed 85 percent of retailers were sitting targets for drive-by data attacks. New PCI standards phasing out Wireless Equivalent Protocol--the weakest form of encryption this side of no encryption at all--may hold the key to improved retailer wireless security.

4 min

Websense Buys Spam Protection for Social Web Sites

Websense has acquired Defensio, a spam filtering service designed to protect blogs, social networks and other Web 2.0 sites. According to Websense, the move is in response to the growing amount of spam and malicious content on social Web sites.

2 min

Microsoft Goes After Clickjacking in IE8

Microsoft has introduced a release client version of its latest browser, Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), and the new iteration of the application includes several security improvements, including a noteworthy attempt to address the emerging problem of clickjacking attacks.

2 min

Conficker USB Worm Spreading Quickly

Security researchers are reporting that the Conficker worm virus, which preys on a recently reported vulnerability (MS08-067) in the Microsoft Windows server service, is spreading rapidly even as we speak.

3 min

Firefox Plug-in Lets Users Import Google Notebook to Zoho

Messaging and collaboration SAAS company Zoho updates its Firefox plug-in for Zoho Notebook to make it easy to import a Google Notebook to Zoho's cloud computing environment. The move is a shrewd one on the part of Zoho, which is looking to find favor with peeved Google users put off by Google Notebook's newly halted application development. Any content added to the new Zoho plug-in will be automatically synchronized with the online version of Zoho Notebook.

3 min
Advertising