Finjan uncovers hijacked PC network
Finjan Inc, which specialises in security on the web, particularly as a provider of solutions and products, announced today that its Malicious Code Research Centre detected and researched a trade network that operates from a botnet to sell compromised computers for profit. The security threat was published in the second issue of the company’s 2009 “Cybercrime Intelligence Report”, when it was exposed as the Golden Cash network, which careful... [Read More...]
Morro Free Security Will Be Released Soon
Following an announcement last year that Microsoft will stop using the Windows Live OneCare security suite in favour a free security suite, it looks as if the free security program may be released soon. The first announcement regarding the free security suite was made in November of last year, and the most recent statement from a Microsoft spokesman stated that the company is currently testing the product to prepare it for a free trial version open... [Read More...]
Chinese Green Dam Porn Blocker May Be Security Risk
New parental software called the Green Dam Youth Escort is raising concern from net privacy activists and security watchers, as they believe the remote code access can be used to create a botnet that can use the PCs to target government computers. According to the Chinese authorities, the chip, which will be installed on all PCs that are shipped to China, starting 1 July 2009, is bundled as an application that will block ‘harmful content’, such... [Read More...]
Teens have free rein of family PCs
More than half of UK parents are clueless about what their children get up to online, a new survey has revealed. Only 3% of Brits monitor the online behaviour of their children, the study found, leaving 97% of teens free to do as they please whilst connected to the Internet. Parents are particularly worried about the amount of time their kids spend on social networks, with 55% of parents wishing their children would spend more time studying, than... [Read More...]
Two thirds of consumers rarely back up data
Two in five PC users in the UK have lost valuable files from their computers, a new survey revealed this week. A poll by security specialist Symantec found 38% of consumers have lost data from their PCs, yet two thirds (66%) rarely back up their data. Only one in five (22%) of those surveyed regularly backs up all the data on their PC; a higher percentage regularly checks the oil and water in their car. Over half (52%) of those polled said they find... [Read More...]
Origin comments on TDK’s solid state technology bid
TDK’s announcement that it plans to oust magnetic hard drives with its new range of solid state drives (SSDs) is interesting, but the plan may not work, says Origin Storage, the storage systems integration specialist. “SSDs definitely have their place in the storage hierarchy, but their applications - in rugged and other specialist situations - cannot hope to replace the flexibility and longevity that a magnetic drive offers most laptop users,”... [Read More...]
Email that’s impossible to hack
StrongWebmail has launched the world’s first email account that’s impossible to hack without stealing the user’s password and mobile phone. Access to StrongWebmail accounts requires a username, a password, and a phone call. When a user successfully enters their username and password, they receive a phone call or text message with a three digit access code. For sake of convenience, the phone call is only needed when the user is logging... [Read More...]
Torbay Care Trust Selects SanDisk Encrypted USB Flash Drives
SanDisk Corporation today announced that Torbay Care Trust in Torquay has selected SanDisk’s Cruzer Enterprise secure USB flash drives to help protect mobile data stored on the drives from unauthorized access. The SanDisk Cruzer Enterprise flash drives use data encryption and password-protection to safeguard confidential data while providing the convenience of storing private data on portable USB drives. Torbay Care Trust provides community health... [Read More...]
Finjan Discovers 1.9 Million Malware-Infected Computers
Finjan Inc., a leader in secure web gateway products and the provider of unified web security solutions for the enterprise market, announced that Finjan’s Malicious Code Research Center (MCRC) has discovered a network of 1.9 million malware-infected computers. Corporate, government and consumer computers around the world were infected by the malware. This discovery is part of a research conducted by MCRC when investigating command and control... [Read More...]
Education needed to help SMEs combat e-crime
During the past World Economic Forum, cybercrime was identified as the number one rising threat to businesses. Experts called for a new system to tackle well-organised cybercrime because online theft costs $1 trillion a year, the number of attacks is rising sharply and too many people do not know how to protect themselves, they said. With cybercrime reaching such rampant levels, most small and medium sized businesses know that they have to protect... [Read More...]
One in three UK teens would hack for money
One in three British teenagers would consider hacking or spying on people online if they knew they’d make money from it, new research revealed this week. Today’s kids lack ‘e-morals’ and ‘netiquette’, the research concluded, as they spend time online looking for ways to make fast cash. Forty percent of the teens polled said they have hacked into another person’s online account to read emails, look at bank... [Read More...]
QualysGuard now remotely detects Conficker
IT security provider Qualys announced yesterday that it has added remote detection of the Conficker Worm to its QualysGuard security audit service. The upgrade enables QualysGuard users to detect multiple variants of the Conficker Worm and to control its spread within enterprise networks. Wolfgang Kandek, Qualys CTO, said: “This security breakthrough will help many organizations tame Conficker and stop it from spreading within their networks. “The... [Read More...]
K7 releases updated Conficker neutraliser
Security software firm K7 Computing today released a new free tool to neutralise the latest version of the Conficker Worm. Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, has already infected over 200 million PCs around the world. A new manifestation of the worm is expected to launch today, illicitly hosting itself on weak-security websites. Conficker seriously compromises the security of infected PCs by blocking access to all security websites, including... [Read More...]
West Midlands Police choose Sysec PKI
Sysec Security Group has won a contract with West Midlands Police to provide a secure Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) as part of the authority’s Gateway programme. Sysec’s PKI will provide secure access to Gateway that complies with the requirements of the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) and the PND. West Midlands Police, the second largest police force in the UK, plans to use Gateway to integrate access to computer systems and... [Read More...]
Employees see work laptops as personal property
Work laptops and mobile phones are increasingly being treated as personal property outside the office, potentially exposing businesses to security threats. A survey by Vodafone found that nearly half of business people use their work laptop to access the internet outside the office, whilst a similar number considered their work issued laptops or mobile devices as their own property whilst away from the office. Seven in ten (68%) said using a work-supplied... [Read More...]
Australian Government data loss avoidable
Cyber-Ark says the deletion of more than 10,000 Government records in Australia’s Northern Territory by the drunken ex-fiancee of an IT staffer highlights the need for protection of critical user IDs and passwords. “Reports are coming in of the deletion of 10,475 user accounts on the Northern Territories’ health, court and prison service’s computer systems in a drunken rage after one member of IT staff terminated a relationship... [Read More...]
Tufin gains global momentum
Tufin Technologies, the market leading provider of Security Lifecycle Management solutions, today announced David Aminzade as Regional Director for Northern Europe and Calum MacLeodas Regional Manager for Benelux, France, and South Africa. With deep roots in their respective regions and more than 60 years of combined sales and operations experience, Aminzade and MacLeod will extend Tufin’s already substantial competitive advantage in Europe. Tufin’s... [Read More...]
Compliance deadline looms for local authorities
Credant Technologies is coming to the rescue of local authorities, education and emergency services who are being faced with ex-communication from Government networks as the March 31st compliance deadline approaches. The Government Connect Secure eXtranet (GCSx) and Code of Connection (CoCo) rules kick in on March 31 and any local authority not meeting the rules could run the risk of losing data and being cut-off from Government networks. “Many... [Read More...]
40% of kids don’t know their chat buddies
Pupils are using their PCs at home for two main reasons: online chatting and downloading and sharing music. 40 percent admit that they have “chat buddies” who they do not know in real life, and half admit using peer-to-peer software (P2P) to download music illegally. That’s according to research out today, which was conducted amongst 800 pupils in secondary schools over the last two years by UK-based IT security consultancy firm Global Secure... [Read More...]
Japanese cybercrime at record levels
Finjan Inc. says that 2008 cybercrime figures from Japan - details of which have just been published and show a 15.5 per cent year-on-year annual growth - do not bode well for e-crime in Western nations. “Anecdotal evidence suggests that the volume and value of cybercrime has soared again in 2008 and, with the current economic recession, we fully expect the number of Internet scams, hacks and malware-driven infections to increase even faster... [Read More...]