Humza Zaman, a co-conspirator in the hack of TJX and other companies,
was sentenced Thursday in Boston to 46 months in prison and fined
$75,000 for his role in the conspiracy. The sentence matches what
prosecutors were seeking. Read the full article. [Wired]
The takedown of 100 servers used to control Zeus-related botnets may
be a short-lived victory, security researchers said after discovering
that about a third of the orphaned channels were able to regain
connectivity in less than 48 hours. The resurrection of at least 30 command and control channels came
after their ISP found a new upstream provider to
provide connectivity to the outside world, autonomous system records
showed. Read the full article. [The Register]
A network frequently used for malware delivery was shut down Wednesday night, probably against the will of its operators. Troyak.org, an Internet service provider well-known for
serving Zeus botnets and other malware delivery methods, went dark
overnight, resulting in the shutdown of as many as 25 percent of the
world’s Zeus botnets, according to researchers. Read the full article. [Dark Reading]
New capabilities are strengthening the ZeuS botnet,
which criminals use to steal financial credentials and execute
unauthorized transactions in online banking, automated clearing house
(ACH) networks and payroll systems. The latest version of this
cybercrime toolkit offers a $10,000
module that can let attackers completely take control of a compromised
PC. Read the full article. [Network World]
In this wide ranging interview, cryptographer, Taher Elgamal, chief
security officer of Axway Inc. and initial driving
force behind SSL, explains how applications may be better adapted to
defend against attacks and how cloud computing may alter data
protection and authentication. Read the full article. [TechTarget]
Cybercriminals are using a fake Windows Update installation dialogue
box to sell a bogus security product called Anti-malware Defender,
security researchers have warned. Read the full article. [Computer Weekly]
An Estonian virus writer has been jailed for two and a half years for
creating a Windows worm family that launched denial of service attacks
on the websites of a local insurance firm and ISP. Read the full article. [The Register]
Pennsylvania’s chief information security officer, Robert Maley, has been fired, apparently for talking publicly at the RSA security conference last week about a recent incident involving the Commonwealth’s online driving exam scheduling system. Read the full article. [Computerworld]
WhitePages.com has stopped ad networks from delivering ads to its site after they were found to contain fake antivirus malware. Visitors to the Drudge Report, The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other Web sites were found to be delivering ads containing malware last year. Read the full article. [CNet]
A Cambridge University study has shown how easy it is to guess the answer to common questions, such as someone’s mother’s maiden name. It found attackers will be able to break into 1 in 80 accounts if they get three chances to guess answers. Read the full article. [BBC]
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