officials

According to a new report, the governments of the United States and Israel were jointly responsible for crafting and turning loose the new Flame virus . The apparent goal of the project: to disrupt Iran's nuclear weapons program. The report about ... the origins of Flame was published in the Washington Post, which indicates that Flame was originally designed to act as a cyber weapon that could help its creators acquire "sensitive" information from the Middle East region. Flame Project Known as "Olympic Games" The overarching project that ultimately yielded Flame, known as "Olympic Games ... (view more)

A British government official has said the online networks set to carry this summer's Olympic Games could be targeted for online attacks by cybercriminals. No specific threats have been identified, but officials are nevertheless employing ... professional hackers to test the networks' security and readiness to resist various methods of attack. Francis Maude, the UK's Cabinet Office minister, is charged with supporting the workings of the government across all departments. He made specific comments about the possibility of such attacks while visiting Estonia, the eastern European state that has ... (view more)

An international law enforcement effort has taken down 36 websites allegedly responsible for selling stolen credit card information. In Europe, three men were arrested over claims they bought and sold the personal data. The operation was led by the ... United Kingdom's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The two agencies oversaw raids in the UK, US, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Ukraine and Australia. Officials say they have been working on the case for two years. The three dozen disabled websites were allegedly offering packages ... (view more)

A recent Facebook scam has apparently duped professionals closely linked with NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). A spokesperson for the company later confirmed that no confidential information was leaked. Facebook Friendship Unlocks Personal ... Info Recently, an unknown number of Facebook members accepted a friend request from a person they apparently believed was US Navy chief Admiral James Stavridis, who is also the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO. (Source: guardian.co.uk ) Among those fooled into agreeing to the online friendship were several senior military officers and government ... (view more)

A military and security intelligence firm that fell victim to a hacking attack has suffered another embarrassment, even while analysis reveals that hundreds of military and political officials had their digital details exposed by hackers. As ... reported last month , hackers struck Stratfor (or "Strategic Forecasting"), a Texas-based security consulting and analysis firm. They captured details of some 4,000 clients, cheekily using the stolen credit card information to make charitable donations. Stratfor customers recently received an email apparently sent by CEO, George Friedman, asking ... (view more)

Government officials say they'll need more time to tackle a major network of infected Windows computers. The request comes as more details emerge about just how widely affected major organizations were by the Coreflood botnet . Zombie Windows PCs ... Steal Over $100 Million Those responsible had used a Windows-based virus to seize remote control of more than two million machines , most of which were located in the US. The machines were then ordered to collect and transmit confidential data, with one independent estimate suggesting more than $100 million may have been stolen as a result. The FBI ... (view more)

The FBI and Justice Department have shut down a network of infected Windows machines used for stealing money. The 'Coreflood' botnet was one of the largest and most longstanding networks of its type. Despite the network shutdown, the malicious ... software used to infect PCs remains in the wild. Over 2 Million PCs Infected with Malicious Software The botnet at one point held control over two million PCs which were infected by malicious software, often downloaded unknowingly by users online the Internet. The malicious software (also known as "malware") easily penetrated Windows defenses ... (view more)

Microsoft lawyers will be relieved today after the Chinese government appeared to deny reports that the company could fall foul of new anti-trust laws. The denial follows a report in a government-run newspaper, Shanghai Security News, which said ... officials were investigating large software companies. The report claimed local tech firms might bring legal action under laws which come into force on August 1. The main objection seemed to be that Microsoft has used its dominance in the Chinese market to price Windows (the equivalent of US $145-290) and Microsoft Office ($580-725) so high that the ... (view more)