Malware


Schmidt Says the U.S. Is Not in a Cyberwar

Howard Schmidt, the new cybersecurity czar for the Obama
administration, has a short answer for the drumbeat of rhetoric
claiming the United States is caught up in a cyberwar that it is losing.

“There is no cyberwar,” Schmidt said. “I think that is a terrible metaphor and I think that is a terrible
concept,” Schmidt said. “There are no winners in that environment.” Read the full article. [Wired]

Hijacked Brands Grew in 2009 Phishing Attacks

The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) released its Q4, 2009 Phishing Activity Trends Report, which reveals that eCrime syndicates are expanding the base of brands they exploit for online fraud far beyond major financial institutions and online merchants, with the number of hijacked brands reaching a record 356 in October, up nearly 4.4 percent from the previous record of 341 in August 2009. Read the full article. [Help Net Security]


Congress and other government agencies are under a cyber attack an
average of 1.8 billion times a month, a number that has been growing
exponentially since President Barack Obama took office. In 2008, security events caused by vectors including worms, Trojan
horses and spybots averaged 8 million hits per month. That number
skyrocketed to 1.6 billion in 2009 and climbed to 1.8 billion this
year, according to Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer. Read the full article. [Politico]

A security vulnerability identified in Opera can be exploited to crash users’ browsers, but probably can’t lead to the remote execution of malware, a company spokesman said. Read the full article. [The Register]

Cisco has released a number of reports on vulnerabilities in its products. It is possible to disrupt the transfer of voice data in the Unified Communications Manager using crafted SIP, SCCP and CTI packets. Read the full article. [The H Security]