security

Google says the rate at which governments and other groups ask it to hand over user data has more than doubled in the past five years. However, a growing proportion of those requests are proving unjustified. The figures come from Google's ... twice-yearly Transparency Report, which it has been publishing since the second half of 2009. Back then it received a total of 12,539 requests in six months. That figure has risen in every period and the latest data, covering the second half of 2013, shows 27,477 requests. Since the first report, the number of requests made by governments has increased ... (view more)

A major financial news outlet has accused Target of missing clear warning signals that it was being hacked and customer data put at risk. Target is the second largest discount retailer in the United States, next to Walmart. In December 2013, Target ... confirmed that hackers had stolen credit card data from 40 million customers. The attack happened approximately 19 days after American Thanksgiving (November 28, 2013). The theft not only affected customers who had used credit cards online, but in stores as well. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Target had already set up a security center in ... (view more)

Microsoft's latest Patch Tuesday release fixes several security vulnerabilities currently marked "critical" -- the firm's highest security rating. Microsoft's Patch Tuesday fixes are always rolled out starting the second Tuesday of each month, but ... sometimes take longer to reach consumers depending on Internet availability. This month's Patch Tuesday includes five security updates, two of which have been marked critical. One of those critical fixes addresses a vulnerability in Internet Explorer, Microsoft's web browser. This month's updates are particularly ... (view more)

A new study suggests that most Americans favor Apple when it comes to mobile devices, though Samsung isn't too far from the top. The study was performed by KS Mobile, a San Francisco-based app maker for the Android and iOS platforms. The study was ... carried out between February 6 and 10, 2014, and involved 1,000 people aged 18 and older. Apple is for Women, Samsung is for Men: Study Suggests Of the people interviewed, nearly half of all women said they favored Apple mobile products, such as the iPhone. Only women aged 40 to 49 said they favored Samsung products. On the other hand, most men ... (view more)

A new report shows that Yahoo instant messages can be easily intercepted and read by government spies and hackers. The problem: Yahoo fails to encrypt those messages. A recent study by CNET shows that Yahoo continues to transmit message content in ... unencrypted form. This makes the instant messages vulnerable and exploitable by third parties. To compound the problem, a recent article by UK-based The Guardian shows that a number of government agencies are, in fact, spying on Yahoo's unencrypted messages. (Source: cnet.com ) Government Agents Spying on Everyday People Worse still, evidence ... (view more)

Boeing is reportedly working on a new smartphone capable of self-destructing if lost or stolen. Reports suggest the device will be targeted at people -- like politicians, law enforcement officials, and corporate executives -- who store lots of ... sensitive information on their smartphones. At this point Boeing's smartphone, which is simply called "Black", is at the patent filing stage. If it eventually heads into production, the device will run a variant of the Android operating system (OS). It's expected Black will feature USB, HDMI, and SIM storage and will support various ... (view more)

Security firm Kaspersky has released a special web browser for Windows phones aimed at blocking unwanted threats. The browser, "Kaspersky Safe Browser for Windows Phone" app, is available to download free of charge from the official Windows Phone ... Store. The main security feature is to block web links that may take a user to a harmful site. This isn't just sites that house malicious software that could damage a phone, but also "phishing" sites. (Source: kaspersky.com ) A phishing site is one that is set up to look like the real website of a legitimate company, for ... (view more)

Microsoft has released a temporary fix to an important security bug affecting two recent versions of Internet Explorer. The exploit has been linked to attacks that compromised a website for US military veterans. The bug affects Internet Explorer ... versions 9 and 10. It does not affect version 11, nor anything previous to version 9. That said, using an earlier version Internet Explorer less than what is currently available (depending on which version of Windows you're running) is definitely not advised. JavaScript Bug Exploits Drive-by Download Attack The exploit involves JavaScript, a ... (view more)

Is your car less likely than your desktop computer to be infected with malware? The answer may surprise you. Security expert Mark O'Neill believes that automotive companies need to think very carefully about protecting the high-tech vehicles they're ... now offering consumers in greater numbers than ever before. O'Neill currently serves as vice president of innovation at UK-based software firm Axway. His scary prediction for 2014 is that we'll see far more hackers target vehicles than in previous years. More Malicious Attacks Coming, Expert Says "I think we are going to see ... (view more)

If Google's latest acquisition is any indication, sound could be the key to enhanced login security. Set up by former members of the Israeli military, SlickLogin is based around high-frequency tones, virtually inaudible to the human ear. In theory ... the system could be used as the main way to log in to a site, but Google seems more likely to use it for two-factor authentication. The idea of two-factor authentication is to combine two different types of security measure: something you know, and something you have. With the system Google already uses, the 'something you know' is your ... (view more)