security

Several security advisors are warning Skype users to watch out for bogus messages with links that install malicious software. Once installed, a worm virus may pretend to hold the user's files hostage and demand payment for releasing them. Graham ... Cluely of security firm Sophos warns that the scam involves instant messages rather then voice or video chats. Potential victims receive a message containing phrases such as "lol is this your new profile pic?" The message includes a link that takes the user to a Google website featuring their own Skype name. In fact, the link points to "Goo.gl ... (view more)

Over the past week major American banks -- including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo -- have faced a torrent of cyber attacks. At the moment, no one seems to know who was behind the campaign. Besides JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, Bancorp, ... Citigroup, and Bank of America were also targeted by hackers. It appears the attacks did not capture any customer information, though they did affect online banking services. DDoS Attacks Launched by Advanced Hackers Rodney Joffe, a security expert and senior vice president of the Virginia-based Neustar Inc., says the attacks were carried out by highly ... (view more)

Microsoft has admitted hackers are carrying out targeted attacks to exploit a newly-discovered bug in its popular Internet Explorer web browser. The company is working on a fix, but suggests users consider technical workarounds in the meantime. The ... bug affects all versions of Internet Explorer from version 6 (which shipped with Vista) to version 9 (the current edition). It won't affect Internet Explorer 10, which will first become available with Windows 8 in late October, 2012. Eric Romang, a security researcher, discovered the bug while examining a web server used by hackers. Romang found ... (view more)

After initially indicating that it would not fix an Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) security bug until Windows 8's official October, 2012 release, Microsoft now says it will provide a patch "shortly". The problem is associated with Adobe Flash, software ... that supports multimedia and interactive content for web pages. A recently discovered bug in Flash led to Adobe issuing a security update for the Flash Player. The security update addressed six individual security flaws, all rated 'critical' by Adobe. Any one of them could allow a hacker to crash a computer when trying, for example, to disrupt a ... (view more)

A hacking group says it has acquired personal information associated with 12 million Apple user accounts, and that it got those details by hacking into an FBI agent's computer. So far, the group has published data from one million of those Apple ... accounts. The publication comes from LulzSec , a group whose name is a combination of "security" and a slang term for carrying out online activities for the sake of amusement ("Lulz"). Last summer, the same group leaked documents belonging to Sony Pictures. LulzSec claimed it ceased operations after a 50-day campaign. But later it re-emerged ... (view more)

Google is looking for elite engineers capable of protecting the privacy of the company's users. The nature of the recruitment ads suggests the engineers will be defending users against all threats, even those posed by Google. The ad is for a "data ... privacy engineer." It says that the successful recruits will join a team of "back-end ninjas: protecting your privacy, ensuring your security and leaving no trace behind." Successful applicants will be required to "identify, research, and help resolve potential privacy risks across all of our products, services, and business processes in place ... (view more)

Microsoft has revealed that a new Virtual Private Network (VPN) hack could be used to steal passwords and other sensitive information. It's called a "man-in-the-middle" attack. Security researcher Moxie Marlinspike first disclosed this VPN hack in a ... security advisory earlier this month. After investigating the issue, Microsoft has acknowledged that the threat is legitimate. Hacker Could Take Control of System, Network "An attacker who successfully exploited...cryptographic weaknesses could obtain user credentials," Microsoft said in its own advisory, released earlier this week. "Those ... (view more)

It will be a busy week for IT administrators as Microsoft rolls out fixes for five critical vulnerabilities in its products -- including both Windows and Internet Explorer -- and as Adobe issues patches for similar flaws in its Reader and Acrobat ... programs. As part of its monthly Patch Tuesday update, Microsoft plans to release nine security bulletins on August 14, 2012. Five of those nine bulletins have been designated "critical", the Redmond, Washington-based firm's highest security rating. Windows, Internet Explorer Receive Updates Those five critical bulletins address serious ... (view more)

Imagine waking up one day and finding that the digital contents of your smartphone, laptop, and tablet computer have all been wiped out by hackers. This nightmare recently became reality for Wired.com writer Mat Honan, who later discovered that ... major holes in Apple and Amazon security had allowed the hack to occur. The hackers did a lot of damage. Not only did they wipe the contents of Honan's iPad, MacBook, and iPhone, but they infiltrated his Gmail account (and deleted it) and his Twitter account, where they posted a number of unseemly comments. (Source: venturebeat.com ) Amazon's Swiss ... (view more)

An international security campaign has taken down Grum, a hacker-controlled botnet responsible for the daily release of 18 billion spam emails. The takedown effort began two weeks ago, when authorities in the Netherlands pulled the plug on Grum's ... two main servers. Other servers in Panama went offline earlier this week. Grum's last servers were disconnected in Russia, effectively killing the botnet. Group Effort Stops Grum The demise of the Grum botnet was confirmed by security vendor FireEye in a recent blog post. Grum's termination apparently resulted from a group effort. To kill the ... (view more)