Innovations in botnet technology threaten the usefulness of honeypots, one of the main ways to study how bot herders control networks of zombie PCs. Computer scientists led by Cliff Zou and colleagues at the University of Central Florida warn that bot herders can now avoid honeypots – unprotected computers outfitted with monitoring software – set up by security firms. Read the full article. [The Register]
A new report shows malware attacks through Web 2.0 applications continue to be the largest
concern for IT professionals with 69% of organizations reporting at least
one Web 2.0-related attack. Fourteen percent report data leakage over social networks and 18%
indicate incidents occurring over social networks where disciplinary
action was required. Read the full article. [Help Net Security]
Crooks have developed a man-in-the-middle-attack designed to circumvent authentication kit used by dedicated World of Warcraft gamers. The ruse relies on tricking gamers into installing Trojans disguised
as gaming ad-ons. Once applied the malware allows hackers to capture
and relay authentication commands next time a victim logs on to
Blizzard’s servers. Read the full article. [The Register]
The personal health and financial information stored in thousands of
North American home computers may be vulnerable to theft through
file-sharing software, according to a research study published online
in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. Read the full article. [ScienceDaily]
The Lotus iNotes ActiveX control for reading email from within a
browser contains a programming error which can result in a buffer
overflow. This could be exploited by an attacker to infect an iNotes
user with spyware on visiting a crafted web page. Read the full article. [The H Security]
A ring of ticket brokers has been indicted in connection to an elaborate hacking scheme that used bots and other fraudulent means to purchase more than 1 million tickets for concerts, sporting events and other events. The defendants made more than $25 million in profits from the resale of the tickets between 2002 and 2009. Read the full article. [Wired]
A German research team has now developed a true random number generator that
uses an extra layer of randomness by making a computer memory element,
a flip-flop, twitch randomly between its two states 1 or 0. Immediately
prior to the switch, the flip-flop is in a “metastable state” where its
behavior cannot be predicted. Read the full article. [ScienceDaily]
Researchers at Florida State University have discovered crystals that could lead to super security chips. The security chips could store encrypted data written two different ways — electrically and magnetically — making extraction of the data more complex and so more difficult for attackers to decrypt. Read the full article. [NetworkWorld]
Hackers broke into computer systems at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts recently, stealing sensitive customer data. The break-in occurred between late October 2009 and January 2010, when it was finally discovered. This is the third data breach reported by Wyndham in the past year. Read the full article. [Computerworld]
Renukanth Subramaniam, 33, who had previously plead guilty was sentenced to 46 months for conspiracy to defraud and 10 months
for five counts of mortgage fraud, the terms to run consecutively. Also
sentenced was Darkmarket user John McHugh, 66, who had the sign in “Devilman” and created fake credit cards
that were sold through the site. Read the full article. [BBC News]
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