Security

Anyone who has ever owned a computer has likely been the victim of spam . But while most of us would be quick to hit the delete button at the first sign of an unfamiliar (and potentially harmful) email, others are analyzing its components in the ... hopes of finding common traits amongst viruses in order to predict the frequency and sophistication of future attacks. Spam-haters around the world recently celebrated when San Jose-based McColo was shut down in November 2008, after it was discovered that the web hosting service provider was trafficking high levels of malware from their servers. The ... (view more)

The security researcher who recently discovered an especially sneaky way of spreading spyware online says Internet Explorer 8 will have "zero impact" on the problem. It comes as attacks using the 'clickjacking' technique spread to other browsers. ... 'Clickjacking' lures users into clicking on a button that at first appears legitimate but actually does something altogether nasty. The usual way of doing this is to hijack a legitimate web page and use frames to overlay it with a transparent web page. This means victims are actually clicking on a button they can't see, which will usually 'authorize ... (view more)

Malware was on the rise last year, and 2009 doesn't look much better. Reports from two different security companies, AVG and F-secure, are painting an increasingly dangerous picture of our online world. F-secure, makers of real-time virus protection ... software, reports that detections of malware have tripled since 2007. Topping their list were botnets -- a network of infected computers, sometimes called zombies -- which can be remotely controlled by hackers without the knowledge of the computer's owner. There is no hard data on how many zombified computers are out there, but by F-secure's ... (view more)

A security firm is warning Mac users to steer clear of pirated versions of Photoshop after discovering a virus in a version available for illegal downloading. It's a variant of the same virus that hit pirated copies of iWork last week. This version ... of the virus works in an even more sneaky way -- it isn't in the program itself. Instead, it works because Photoshop is available to download in full as a time-limited free trial. The pirated copy includes all the original files, but also has an application known as a 'crack', designed to remove the time-limit and leave users with a fully- ... (view more)

Payment processor Heartland Payment Systems reported that it was the victim of a security breach within its processing system in 2008. For unknown reasons, the breach was reported on January 20, 2009 -- inauguration day for the incoming President ... Obama administration. Tens of millions of credit and debit card transactions may have been breached, making the Heartland incident one of the largest data breaches ever reported. (Source: washingtonpost.com ) Heartland believes the intrusion is now contained and that no merchant information or cardholder Social Security numbers were compromised. ... (view more)

Think your Mac is invulnerable to spyware or viruses? That depends on your morals. According to recent reports, a pirated version of the popular iWork '09 suite contains a nasty trojan that has been startling hoity-toity Mac users. The Apple iWork ... '09 suite is fairly self-explanatory. Introduced shortly after the New Year, it performs many work functions, including the construction of documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. It's a slicker version of Excel, in other words. Users can try a trial version for 30 days, or shell out about $80 for the full edition. Making the decision to not ... (view more)

A malicious Internet worm known as Conficker, Downadup, or Kido that spreads through low security networks, memory sticks and PCs without the latest security updates, is infecting machines by the millions. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) The worm was first ... discovered in October 2008 and a security patch by Microsoft was issued at that time. However, a recent, new strain of the worm was developed and has managed to infect an estimated 9 million machines with 1 million new infections per day. (Source: sfgate.com ) Microsoft says the worm works by searching for a windows executable file named "services.exe ... (view more)

Pretty much anyone with a basic knowledge of web security knows to look for the padlock symbol and an address beginning 'https:' before typing in personal or confidential details. But security researchers say the system behind this safeguard may not ... be as secure as believed. You shouldn't panic immediately, however: the workaround was found by legitimate researchers and the full details are being kept secret for obvious reasons. It would also take both intensive computer power and some other hacking tricks for criminals to exploit the loophole. At the moment, the security gap is more of a ... (view more)

The second month of Microsoft's campaign against fake security software has resulted in the removal of the rogue "Antivirus 2009" application from almost 400,000 infected PCs. (Source: computerworld.com ) Microsoft claims that December's version of ... the Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) -- the free utility included in Windows Update every month -- specifically targeted "Antivirus 2009." According to Microsoft, MSRT removed the rogue application from over 394,000 PCs in the first nine days after it was released on December 9. Last month Microsoft claimed it purged programs called "Advanced ... (view more)

For the past few days, users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) have been urged by experts to switch to another web browser until a serious security flaw could be resolved. Microsoft asked its users to remain vigilant while they investigated the ... issue, which could allow criminals to take control of anyone using Internet Explorer and steal passwords and personal information. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) Attacks have been detected against IE 7.0 but the "underlying vulnerability" was present in all versions of the browser, and the problem could well encompass other versions of IE in time. Mozilla ... (view more)