WhitePages.com has stopped ad networks from delivering ads to its site after they were found to contain fake antivirus malware. Visitors to the Drudge Report, The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other Web sites were found to be delivering ads containing malware last year. Read the full article. [CNet]
A Cambridge University study has shown how easy it is to guess the answer to common questions, such as someone’s mother’s maiden name. It found attackers will be able to break into 1 in 80 accounts if they get three chances to guess answers. Read the full article. [BBC]
Ryan Naraine talks with Tom Ptacek of Matasano Security about the current state of the security industry and themes at the RSA Conference.
For the second time in less than six months, visitors to the Drudge
Report say they got malware in addition to the Web site’s usual
sensational headlines. Matt Drudge denied that his site was
infecting visitors, however it’s likely that the malware is coming from
ads delivered by a third-party ad network and not the site itself. Read the full article. [CNet]
PayPal is asking UK customers to download software to help identify genuine e-mails sent by the eBay unit and weed out phishing messages. Read the full article. [finextra.com]
North Carolina state researchers have modified existing speech authentication computer models and have streamlined the process so that it operates more efficiently. Read the full article. [ScienceDaily]
Organized cyber criminals stole more than $25 million from small to
mid-sized businesses in brazen e-banking heists in the 3rd quarter of
2009 alone, federal regulators said last week. Read the full article. [KrebsonSecurity]
Apache’s HTTP web server has a flaw that enables remote server access and total control of a database, according to a security researcher. Read the full article. [ZDNet Australia]
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]
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