Visitors to technology blog Gizmodo are being warned that they could have picked up more than tips about the latest must-have gadget. A statement on the Gizmodo website admits that it was tricked into running Suzuki adverts which were in fact from hackers. Read the full story [BBC News]
Virus hunters are raising the alarm for a large-scale spam attack
that uses fake Facebook password-reset messages to trick PC users into
downloading a dangerous piece of malware.
The malicious executable is linked to the Bredolab botnet, which has
been linked to massive spam runs and identity-theft related attacks.
It’s not just credit cards and debit cards
that are at risk of fraud: pre-paid gift cards can also easily be
cloned and stolen by cybercriminals, according to newly published
research [pdf] from U.K-based Corsaire.
Why bother breaking down the door if you can simply ask to be let in? The SANS Diary has an excellent entry on just how valuable social engineering is to attackers — whether during penetration testing or as part of real world attacks. It explores the techniques used to marry offline social engineering lures with online attacks and the clever real world attack techniques that can end with malware installation on a computer system. Read the full diary [sans.org]
President Barack Obama has nominated Caryn
Wagner to be the Homeland Security Department s intelligence chief, a
position that oversees information technology systems designed to share
information with federal, state and local officials.
A new report by a Washington policy think tank dismisses out of hand the idea that terrorist groups are currently launching cyber attacks and says that the recent attacks against U.S. and South Korean networks were not damaging enough to be considered serious incidents.
A single cybercrime group called “Avalanche” was responsible for nearly one-quarter of all identity theft-related phishing attacks in the first half of 2009, according to a new report by the Anti-Phishing Work Group (APWG).
It turns out Nigeria is taking measures to fight Internet
scams—law enforcement there has shut down close to a thousand websites
and made 18 arrests as part of a new initiative to save the nation’s
reputation and crack down on Internet scammers. The program, called
“Project Eagle Claw,” has only just begun, but Nigerian officials
expect it to be fully operational in 2010. Read the full story [Ars Technica].
Guest Editorial by Vitaly KamlukMalware writers today always try to
conceal their identities, right? Wrong – even some of today’s profit
driven cyber criminals reveal their identities. We are a bit surprised,
but here is the story of how a blackhat has revealed his identity and
is trying to ‘get compensation’ from Kaspersky for conducting research.
Microsoft Windows 7 is on its way tomorrow, and it is bringing with it a set of security features Microsoft hopes will appeal to enterprises.The Windows 7 security story has three main chapters that have received a fair amount of attention – DirectAccess, BitLocker To Go and AppLocker. With these, capabilities like Branchcache and enhancements to features like user account control (UAC), officials at Microsoft feel they are pushing out their most secure operating system yet. Read the full story [eWEEK/Brian Prince]
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