Dennis Fisher

The attackers who compromised Web hosting provider Linode used a zero day vulnerability in Adobe ColdFusion and were able to access the company’s database, source code and customers’ credit card numbers and passwords. The company said that the customer credit card numbers were encrypted, as were the passwords, but it forced a system-wide password reset after the attack was discovered.

Google has fixed a series of serious vulnerabilities in its Chrome OS, including three high-risk bugs that could be used for code execution on vulnerable machines. As part of its reward program, Google paid out more than $30,000 to a researcher who found three of the vulnerabilities.

MIAMI BEACH–Stephen Watt was involved in a series of attacks on retailers and restaurants that federal prosecutors called the largest identity theft in U.S. history. He wrote the sniffer used by some of his friends to steal millions of credit card numbers. After federal agents raided his apartment, confiscated all of his computer equipment, he eventually was indicted on a series of charges related to the attacks on TJX, Dave & Buster’s and others and was facing several years in prison. So he took a plea deal, hoping to reduce his prison time and the financial burden on his family. In all of that, what he regrets most is taking the plea.

MIAMI BEACH–The security teams that have to defend enterprise networks are faced with a broad and deep threat landscape populated with all manner of malware and targeted attacks. Those teams often have to react quickly to new threats, well before vendors respond with new technologies. By the look of things on the offensive side of the ball, much of which is on display at the Infiltrate conference here, things are not likely to get any easier for network defenders anytime soon.

MIAMI BEACH–The U.S. military has been attempting to build up the offensive cybersecurity capabilities in its various services for several years now, but is running into the same obstacles and challenges that private sector firms in the same space are: a shortage of skilled workers and not enough money to hire the ones who have the skills. Those deficits could portend a reevaluation in the way that the military handles cyber operations and who is involved in them.

The United States government for years has been developing and deploying offensive cyber capabilities, most of it done without much in the way of public notice.  That’s been changing of late, as government and military officials have become more open in discussing these capabilities and under what circumstances they might be used. Now, the U.S. Air Force has said that it has classified six unnamed tools as weapons, mainly as a way to improve the chances of those tools receiving the funding they need.

Bitcoin may still be a virtual unknown quantity for most people, but the digital currency has not escaped the notice of attackers, many of whom are turning their attention to finding ways to use the system for their own gains. The attacks against Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox and hack of Instawallet this week are the latest evidence, but now there is a piece of malware in circulation that is using Skype as a spreading mechanism and then using infected machines’ processing power to mine Bitcoins.