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Tech security company Fortify and security consulting firm Cigital are getting ready to release a set of best practices that tech companies and other businesses can follow to ensure that the software they develop is secure.

The authors developed the model by studying the security practices at Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and other tech companies, as well as non-tech companies that write their own software like Wells Fargo, and Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.

By Andrew Storms

Transparency is a common theme in politics and Wall Street these days. The 2008 elections, dealings of TARP, financial institutions run a-muck are all places where we hear the word transparency bandied about on a daily basis. While many security professionals speak about transparency when it comes to information security, very few definitions fit the overarching idea of transparency. I believe that the time has come for information security professionals to both dig deeper and out of the idea of transparency to gain a better understanding of this concept.

Dark Reading has the skinny on a new Gmail vulnerability that lets an attacker change a Gmail user’s password, wage a denial-of-service attack on the account, or even access other Gmail users’ email.

Brian Krebs’ terrific reporting on the targeted malware attacks against small businesses in the U.S. continues today with a closer look at the way “money mules” operate and their roles in the cybercrime operation.
In this article, Krebs interviews a “money mule” and shows the layers of online job recruitment, the sign-up process that includes bank account details and the way money is siphoned from stolen bank accounts and wired to international locations.  This is a must read article [washingtonpost.com]

The number of identification theft cases surged in 2008, according to a report (.pdf) based on the Federal Trade Commission’s annual data. 

In 2008, ID theft was by far the biggest complaint to the FTC, representing 26 percent of complaints. The next biggest complaint — third party and creditor debt collection scams — represented only 9 percent of complaints.

With the economy cratering, staffs and budgets being cut and resources scarce, cloud computing has quickly become the prettiest girl at the prom. IT managers love its convenience and power and accounting departments are quite fond of its cost efficiencies.

But what of security and privacy? Where do they factor into the equation, if at all?

Tens of millions of people have lost their jobs in recent months, and a huge number of them are taking proprieatry company data with them when they leave, according to a new study. The study shows that almost 60 percent of people who leave or are fired from a job are swiping information.

Brian Krebs at The Washington Post has the full story on the report, which is the work of the Ponemon Institute.