Security Information
Social-engineering contest reveals secret BP info
Hacking human gullibility at Defcon
Defcon A hacker competition that challenges contestants to trick employees of large companies into divulging potentially sensitive information aims to show how human gullibility is the biggest security vulnerability of all. During its first day at the Defcon hacker contest in Las Vegas, it had clearly achieved its goal.…
Posted on 31 July 2010 | 3:29 am
Futurologist defends 'malevolent dust' warning
Dust up over supposed evil particles
A futurologist has defended his controversial warning that "smart dust" is liable to become a future information stealing threat.…
Posted on 30 July 2010 | 4:59 pm
Delegate hacks into Black Hat streaming video
What happens in Vegas...
Security shortcomings in Black Hat's newly established streaming media service allowed a security consultant to hack into the system and see presentations for free.…
Posted on 30 July 2010 | 3:08 pm
UK.gov sticks to IE 6 cos it's more 'cost effective', innit
Stunned web developers die a little inside
Computers in Whitehall will largely continue to run Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6, which will make web coders spit out their cheese‘n’pickle sarnies this lunchtime.…
Free On-Demand Webcast - Virtualizing the Hard Stuff
Posted on 30 July 2010 | 1:23 pm
Fake Firefox update used to sling scareware
Watch where you click
Online con artists have developed a strain of scareware that poses as a Firefox update.…
Posted on 30 July 2010 | 11:23 am
Fake Firefox update used to sling scareware
Watch where you click
Online con artists have developed a strain of scareware that poses as a Firefox update.…
Posted on 30 July 2010 | 11:23 am
Turkish pranksters load Facebook Translate with swears
The rudeness of crowds
Facebook's attempts to crowdsource translations have gone awry in Turkey.…
Posted on 29 July 2010 | 11:07 am
Cell phone eavesdropping enters script-kiddie phase
Get your GSM snooping tools here
Black Hat Independent researchers have made good on a promise to release a comprehensive set of tools needed to eavesdrop on cell phone calls that use the world's most widely deployed mobile technology.…
Posted on 29 July 2010 | 8:02 am
Scareware victims seldom fight back
Too embarrassed or too ignorant?
Victims of rogue anti-virus scams rarely attempt to claw back fraudulent credit card payments for worthless software packages, according to new research.…
Free On-Demand Webcast - Virtualizing the Hard Stuff
Posted on 28 July 2010 | 11:50 pm
Smart meters pose hacker kill-switch risk, warn boffins
Who turned off the lights?
A leading computer scientist has warned of the security risks of using smart meters in controlling utility supplies.…
Posted on 28 July 2010 | 2:50 pm
Reboot key Brit 'ready to save internet'
Seven keys to BIND them all
The Brit charged with holding one of seven digital keys necessary to re-establish a system of trust in the highly unlikely event of a collapse of the DNSSec (DNS Security Extensions) system has spoken of the practicalities of his responsibility.…
Free On-Demand Webcast - Virtualizing the Hard Stuff
Posted on 28 July 2010 | 12:57 pm
Russian gang uses botnets to automate check counterfeiting
Old-school crime with 21st century twist
Black Hat A researcher has uncovered a sophisticated check counterfeiting ring that uses compromised computers to steal and print millions of dollars worth of bogus invoices and then recruit money mules to cash them.…
Posted on 28 July 2010 | 3:24 am
Aussie hacker pleads guilty to banking Trojan scam
3,000 computers infected? Strewth
An Australian hacker has pleaded guilty to infecting 3,000 computers with an information-stealing Trojan.…
Posted on 27 July 2010 | 3:24 pm
Zeus bot latches onto Windows shortcut security hole
bLNKing hell
Miscreants behind the Zeus cybercrime toolkit and other strains of malware have begun taking advantage of an unpatched shortcut handling flaws in Windows. It was first used by a sophisticated worm to target SCADA-based industrial control and power plant systems.…
Posted on 27 July 2010 | 1:21 pm
Battle joined for future of open source IPS
Snort bares teeth at DHS-backed project
Analysis The battle to develop the next generation of open source intrusion prevention systems (IPS) technology is intensifying between incumbent Snort and a US government-backed project, the Open Information Security Foundation (OISF).…
Posted on 27 July 2010 | 10:50 am
Minister calls for more cyber security experts
'Holistic national response' needed
The minister for security has said the government has to do something about a shortage of emerging cyber security professionals.…
Posted on 27 July 2010 | 10:44 am
EU climate exchange website hit by green-hat hacker
APB for Neil from The Young Ones
An EU Climate Exchange website was hacked as part of a political protest against carbon credits by a green-hat defacement crew.…
Posted on 26 July 2010 | 3:13 pm
Firefox update fixes plug-in snafu
Stabilising patch rushed out
Mozilla has responded to plugin stability issues with a new version of Firefox.…
Posted on 26 July 2010 | 10:46 am
Unpatched shortcut vuln exploited by mainstream malware
'Bottom feeders' latch onto zero-day bug
Virus writers have begun using the unpatched shortcut flaw in Windows first exploited by the Stuxnet worm, which targets power plant control systems, to create malware that infects the general population of vulnerable Windows machines.…
Free On-Demand Webcast - Virtualizing the Hard Stuff
Posted on 23 July 2010 | 11:13 am
Dell blames staff for malware infection
Bloody humans
Dell said human error was to blame for mistakes which led it to ship a number of replacement server motherboards to customers pre-loaded with spyware.…
Posted on 23 July 2010 | 9:23 am
