From Network World (Jeremy Kirk)
Millions of PCs infected with the Conficker virus have received a series of updated files over peer-to-peer connections that improve the worm’s defenses against security products and also include a sniffer and some fake anti-virus software.
Malware that attacks mobile phones and other handheld devices has been the Next Big Threat for most of the last decade. And much like the Year of PKI, it’s never really materialized. Security experts have postulated that this is mainly because there’s not enough valuable data on these devices to attract the money-motivated attackers. But a new paper, “Understanding the Spreading Patterns of Mobile Phone Viruses,” from a group of scientists shows that the barriers are more likely market saturation and geography.
From InformIT (Gary McGraw)
This article originally appeared on InformIT.com as part of Gary McGraw’s Software [In]Security series.
Using the Software Security Framework (SSF) introduced in October, we interviewed nine executives running top software security programs in order to gather real data from real programs.Our goal is to create the Building Security In Maturity Model (BSIMM) based on these data, and we’re busy going over what we’ve built with the executives who run the nine initiatives (stay tuned here for more).
From Purdue University’s CERIAS
The economic crisis has affected virtually every facet of society, and information security is no exception. In a new report titled Unsecured Economies: Protecting Vital Information, researchers from Purdue University’s CERIAS security center lay out the fairly bleak view of what the tough times have done to corporate IT security.
From Arbor Networks (Danny McPherson)
The DNS system is one of the key underpinnings of the Internet, but because the system isn’t owned by any one entity, no one is responsible for the security of the entire network. The owner of each DNS server secures it as he sees fit, but as the discussions at the recent Global DNS Security, Stability and Resiliency Symposium showed, there is a clear need for some leadership on DNS security.
Security researchers at Kaspersky Lab (our corporate sponsor) are warning about a new potentially unwanted program [viruslist.com] targeting Symbian-based smart phones.
The program, called iPornPlayer (screenshot at right), promises sexually-explicit content on handsets but there’s a hefty price attached because it calls international premium rate numbers.
Read the full story [viruslist.com]
Dino Dai Zovi has gained a reputation as one of the top Apple security researchers in the industry and is the author of a new book on Apple security, “The Mac Hacker’s Handbook.” In this interview, he talks about the state of Apple security, why the company hasn’t implemented better memory protections and his ‘no more free bugs’ meme.
Microsoft has issued an advisory to warn about an under-attack zero-day vulnerability affecting its PowerPoint software.
According to the pre-patch advisory, the flaw allows remote code execution if a user opens a booby-trapped PowerPoint file. The company described the attacks as “limited and targeted.”
From The New York Times, by Saul Hansell
Microsoft is at work on a couple of new technologies that may finally help enterprises unravel the giant ball of yarn that is user identity management. The head of the company’s server and tools business, Bob Muglia, said Microsoft’s Azure technology, as well as a tool called Direct Access in Windows 7, will give enterprises the help they need to make sense of identity management.
Digital Underground podcast with Dennis Fisher
In this episode, Dennis Fisher talks with Dino Dai Zovi, a security researcher and co-author of “The Mac Hacker’s Handbook,” about the ease of exploiting Mac OS X, the value of vulnerability research and his “no more free bugs” campaign.
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