Computer scientists and policy experts say that such seemingly
innocuous bits of self-revelation on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. can increasingly be collected and
reassembled by computers to help create a picture of a person’s
identity, sometimes down to the Social Security number. Read the full article. [NY Times]
A U.S. federal judge has agreed to freeze the assets of a company being accused of manipulating the stocks of 38 companies listed on the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange via compromised trading accounts. Read the full article. [CNet]
Most small business owners have no clue about the threats they face or
the liability they assume when banking online, even as the frequency
and sophistication of attacks appears to be increasing. Read the full article. [KrebsonSecurity]
In need of a fresh example that cybercriminals are actively looking for ways to monetize infected Mac OS X hosts? Early-stage discussions at several web forums, including a PoC (proof of concept, source code included) Mac OS X blocker as well as potential GUIs for the ransomware, offer an insight into the potential to monetize OS X infected hosts using SMS-based ransomware.
Criminals increasingly attempt to camouflage the traces of their malware on the internet to keep control of a hijacked server for as long as possible. However, their paths can be retraced using special tools to identify the vulnerability the malware intends to exploit to enter a system. Read the full article. [The H Security]
Through 2012, 60 percent of virtualized servers will be less secure
than the physical servers they replace, according to Gartner. Although
they expect this figure to fall to 30 percent by the end of 2015,
analysts warned that many virtualization deployment projects are being
undertaken without involving the information security team in the
initial architecture and planning stages. Read the full article. [Help Net Security]
Most attention goes to keeping hackers out. But once they’re inside, how do they extract data? Research of 200 data breaches in 24 countries examines the ways data is leaving. Read the full article. [CSO]
A bogus application that lures Facebook users by falsely offering to
show who has been viewing their profile has been exposed as a scam. A researcher warns he
has already identified 25 different copies of the same rogue app but
using different monikers such as peeppeep-pro, profile-check-online and
stalk-my-profile. Read the full article. [The Register]
The latest version of the Zeus do-it-yourself crimeware kit goes to
great lengths to thwart would-be pirates by introducing a
hardware-based product activation scheme similar to what’s found in
Microsoft Windows. Read the full article. [The Register]
Reported losses from online fraud more than doubled last year, from $265 million in 2008 to nearly $560 million in 2009, according to figures released Friday by the FBI. Read the full article. [KrebsonSecurity]
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