News

Hackers and cybercrime prevention

• February 04, 2013 04 Feb'13

  Oracle rushes out another Java update

  Oracle has rushed out another security update for Java in the wake of a flawed update released in January

• February 04, 2013 04 Feb'13

  Twitter resets a quarter of a million accounts after hacker attack

  Twitter has reset the passwords of 250,000 accounts after detecting and shutting down a hacker attack last week.

• February 01, 2013 01 Feb'13

  Leading companies adopt new security tools

  The actual number of cyber attacks on businesses is probably five times greater than the number being reported, says RSA

• February 01, 2013 01 Feb'13

  Chinese hackers hit Wall Street Journal and New York Times

  The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times claim hackers have infiltrated their systems to monitor the newspapers' coverage of China.

• January 31, 2013 31 Jan'13

  Former US cyber czar Howard Schmidt tells business not to wait for government

  Private business must not wait for government but take the initiative in addressing cyber threats, says former US cyber czar Howard Schmidt

• January 31, 2013 31 Jan'13

  Kaspersky calls for international cooperation on cyber security

  Governments must understand that cyber weapons are extremely dangerous and have to agree not to use them

• January 31, 2013 31 Jan'13

  Blending work and personal life increasing security risks, warns global report

  Cisco finds next generations of mobile workers increase the security challenges facing CIOs because they mix work and private lives

• January 29, 2013 29 Jan'13

  Data protection tops 2013 UK security priorities

  Data protection is the top security priority for more than half of UK organisations in 2013, a survey has revealed

• January 29, 2013 29 Jan'13

  Security in virtual environments neglected, survey shows

  Survey reveals 48% of IT organisations have reported or suspect unauthorised access to files on virtual servers

• January 29, 2013 29 Jan'13

  Motion sensors could unlock smartphones, say researchers

  Smartphone motion sensors could prove a security vulnerability in helping criminals work out locking codes, say US security researchers

• January 28, 2013 28 Jan'13

  Why has NAC, like DLP, failed to take off?

  Why are organisations not investing in systems that are designed to keep malicious actors out of their networks?

• January 28, 2013 28 Jan'13

  US military plans major boost for cyber force

  The US plans a substantial expansion for its cyber security force, increasing the headcount from 900 to 4,900 in the next few years

• January 28, 2013 28 Jan'13

  Anonymous hackers hijack US agency website

  Anonymous hackers embed a video statement on a US government agency website in response to the death of digital activist Aaron Swartz

• January 25, 2013 25 Jan'13

  EC calls for action on cyber strategy at WEF meeting

  EC has called on leaders attending the World Economic Forum meeting to establish strategies to cope with and respond to cyber attacks

• January 25, 2013 25 Jan'13

  Encryption is safe bet, says SafeNet

  Encryption is the only thing that can give peace of mind to CIOs and CISOs, says Dave Hansen, president and CEO of security firm SafeNet

• January 25, 2013 25 Jan'13

  UK signs up to WEF cyber resilience plan

  The UK has signed the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) new set of principles on cyber resilience

• January 25, 2013 25 Jan'13

  ICO wins round one of penalty challenge, but can it win round two?

  The ICO has won the first appeal against a fine issued to an NHS Trust, but a second could pose a greater challenge

• January 25, 2013 25 Jan'13

  Two jailed in the UK for Anonymous cyber attacks

  Two men who carried out cyber attacks as part of the Anonymous hacktivist collective have been sentenced to jail terms in the UK

• January 24, 2013 24 Jan'13

  ICO hits Sony with £250,000 data breach penalty

  The Information Commissioner’s office (ICO) has fined Sony Computer Entertainment Europe £250,000 for breaching the Data Protection Act

• January 24, 2013 24 Jan'13

  US charges three Europeans for cyber theft

  US authorities have arrested and charged three European men with creating and distributing a computer virus

• January 24, 2013 24 Jan'13

  Government requests for user data increasing, says Google

  The rise in government requests for users’ data continued in the second half of 2012, Google has revealed in its latest Transparency Report

• January 23, 2013 23 Jan'13

  Millions could be affected by Twitter bug, says Cesar Cerrudo

  A Twitter flaw allows third-party applications to access the direct messages of users who sign in to apps using Twitter accounts

• January 22, 2013 22 Jan'13

  Why has DLP never taken off?

  Why is data loss prevention (DLP) technology not being adopted if it provides the very protection most businesses need?

• January 22, 2013 22 Jan'13

  ID theft biggest fraud threat, says Cifas

  The fraudulent use of stolen or fictitious identity details is the biggest fraud threat, according to the UK's Fraud Prevention Service, Cifas

• January 22, 2013 22 Jan'13

  Proposed EU data breach laws will require proactive security

  Proposed European Union data breach notification laws will require proactive network security, says security management firm LogRhythm

• January 22, 2013 22 Jan'13

  City of London School wins National Cipher Challenge

  A team from City of London School has triumphed over 724 other UK schools to win the 11th National Cipher Challenge

• January 21, 2013 21 Jan'13

  Cyber Security Challenge UK announces first University Challenge

  Four leading UK universities for Computer Science are taking part in a code-breaking competition as part of Cyber Security Challenge UK 2013

• January 21, 2013 21 Jan'13

  Half of UK youngsters get no online safety training, study shows

  Millions of UK youngsters are missing out on crucial online safety training, a study has shown

• January 21, 2013 21 Jan'13

  Google proposes alternative to passwords

  Google hopes to lead the scrapping of passwords by proposing what the company claims will be a more secure online authentication method

• January 21, 2013 21 Jan'13

  US general warns of Iran’s growing cyber capability

  Iran’s cyber soldiers are going to be a force to be reckoned with, the head of the US military cyber operations has warned

• January 18, 2013 18 Jan'13

  Red October exploits patched Excel and Word flaws, experts say

  The 'Red October' malware campaign uses patched Microsoft Excel and Word flaws to infect victims' computers, reveals analysis from Kaspersky

• January 18, 2013 18 Jan'13

  Businesses finally see ROI for IT security

  IT security is increasingly being regarded as an integral part of business operations, a survey has revealed

• January 18, 2013 18 Jan'13

  RSA identifies 'bouncer' phishing attack

  A phishing scam that behaves like a nightclub bouncer is among a new breed of phishing attacks, say security researchers

• January 17, 2013 17 Jan'13

  Malware hits US power plants

  Malware infected two US power plants via corrupted USB sticks in recent months, the US Cyber Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) has revealed

• January 16, 2013 16 Jan'13

  Cloud security key to BYOD, (ISC)2 study shows

  (ISC)2 says businesses welcome bring your own device (BYOD) policies for cost savings and user experience, but need the right security skills

• January 16, 2013 16 Jan'13

  Huge botnet infecting smartphones in China

  Security researchers say a huge botnet is running on the smartphones of more than a million mobiles in China

• January 16, 2013 16 Jan'13

  Campaigners oppose Nominet plans for secure .uk domain

  Digital rights campaigners have criticised Nominet's plans to create a secure .uk domain, saying it will create a monopoly of trust in UK domains

• January 15, 2013 15 Jan'13

  UK office workers swamped with phishing emails, study finds

  UK office workers are being swamped with phishing emails, a study from training firm PhishMe has revealed

• January 15, 2013 15 Jan'13

  Security firm Secarma recovers data from drives bought on eBay

  Formatting hard drives does not delete data, security firm Secarma has warned after recovering data from recycled drives bought on eBay

• January 14, 2013 14 Jan'13

  Researchers uncover advanced cyber espionage campaign

  An elusive cyber espionage campaign has been targeting diplomatic, governmental and scientific research organisations for several years, analysis by Kaspersky Lab has revealed

• January 14, 2013 14 Jan'13

  UK hackers admit stealing Michael Jackson tracks from Sony

  Two UK men have avoided jail by admitting breaking into servers at Sony Music and downloading Michael Jackson's 50,000-track back catalogue

• January 14, 2013 14 Jan'13

  Oracle rushes out patches for Java zero days

  Oracle has released two out-of-band security updates for the latest zero day vulnerabilities in Java

• January 11, 2013 11 Jan'13

  European Cybercrime Centre opens in The Hague

  Cecilia Malmström, EU commissioner for home affairs, has opened the European Cybercrime Centre (EC³) at Europol in The Hague

• January 11, 2013 11 Jan'13

  Disable Java to protect from latest zero-day

  Security researchers are warning of a zero-day vulnerability in all versions of Java, including the latest Java 7 update 10

• January 10, 2013 10 Jan'13

  Ruby on Rails flaws expose thousands of websites to attack

  More than 240,000 websites that use Ruby on Rails web applications are at risk of being exploited by attackers

• January 10, 2013 10 Jan'13

  Software piracy international in scope, says Fast

  The scale of software piracy is both international in scope and military in its execution, says the Federation Against Software Theft (Fast)

• January 10, 2013 10 Jan'13

  Drive-by and XXS attacks will increase in 2013 – but why?

  Drive-by download and cross-site scripting attacks (XSS) will remain top hacking methods in 2013. But what is their enduring appeal for hackers?

• January 09, 2013 09 Jan'13

  US military gets new software testing rules

  The US has introduced new policies for military software engineers aimed at pre-empting software supply chain attacks

• January 09, 2013 09 Jan'13

  UK military at risk of cyber attack, warn MPs

  UK military reliance on technology could leave it fatally compromised by cyber attack, says the parliamentary defence select committee

• January 08, 2013 08 Jan'13

  Misuse of social media could wreak havoc, warns World Economic Forum

  The rapid spread of false information through social media poses a growing threat to business and society, the World Economic Forum has warned

• January 08, 2013 08 Jan'13

  Businesses overconfident about cyber security, says Deloitte

  Businesses are overconfident about cyber security and should treat security breaches as inevitable, says business advisory firm Deloitte

• January 07, 2013 07 Jan'13

  Ernst & Young email keyword analysis identifies fraudsters

  Fraud investigators have revealed the most common words used in email conversations by employees engaged in rogue trading and fraud

• January 07, 2013 07 Jan'13

  Dutch government publishes security flaw disclosure guide

  The Netherlands has published guidelines to encourage the responsible release of security flaws

• January 04, 2013 04 Jan'13

  Microsoft Patch Tuesday offers no easy start to 2013

  The first Microsoft monthly security update for 2013 contains seven bulletins covering a wide variety of software

• January 03, 2013 03 Jan'13

  UK to launch public cyber security awareness campaign

  The UK government is to launch a public cyber security awareness programme early this year aimed at consumers and small businesses

• January 02, 2013 02 Jan'13

  Israel launches cyber warfare training programme

  Israel has launched a national initiative to train young people for cyber warfare

• January 02, 2013 02 Jan'13

  UK amateur is top civilian in international cyber challenge

  A 26-year-old Essex software developer has finished as the highest-ranked civilian and second overall in the 2012 DC3 Digital Forensics Challenge.

• January 02, 2013 02 Jan'13

  Microsoft issues quick fix for IE zero-day vulnerability

  Microsoft has released a workaround for a zero-day vulnerability in older versions of its Internet Explorer browser that is being exploited by attackers.

• December 28, 2012 28 Dec'12

  Top 10 cyber crime stories of 2012

  Ten articles that illustrate some of the major trends in cyber crime in 2012

• December 24, 2012 24 Dec'12

  Top 10 IT security stories of 2012

  Ten articles that illustrate some of the key challenges and strategies around information security for governments, businesses and individuals

• December 19, 2012 19 Dec'12

  Malware spammers target Android OS

  Google’s mobile operating system, Android, has been hit again by malicious malware causing devices to send out spam SMS messages

• December 14, 2012 14 Dec'12

  McKinnon will not face UK trial

  Computer hacker Gary McKinnon will not face trial in the UK after US authorities refuse to share witnesses or transfer intelligence to the CPS

• December 13, 2012 13 Dec'12

  PCeU arrests three suspected ransomware blackmailers

  The UK Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) has arrested three people in connection using ransomware, which security experts say poses a threat to businesses as well as consumers.

• December 13, 2012 13 Dec'12

  Little change to antivirus spend in 2013, survey shows

  Most organisations (71%) say spending on antivirus/antimalware technologies will not change in 2013.

• December 13, 2012 13 Dec'12

  Most IT pros do not trust cloud services with sensitive data

  Just over half of IT professionals who focus on cloud computing do not trust cloud services for any of their personal data, a survey has revealed.

• December 13, 2012 13 Dec'12

  Authorities arrest 10 suspected botnet data thieves

  Authorities in several countries have arrested a total of 10 people suspected of setting up a botnet of hijacked computers.

• December 12, 2012 12 Dec'12

  Ghost Shell hacktivists publish over a million credentials

  The Ghost Shell group, an offshoot of the Anonymous hacking collective has published the log-in details from 1.6 million accounts

• December 10, 2012 10 Dec'12

  Cloud: security threat or solution?

  Can cloud computing tackle new and emerging cyber threats – or is this just a new round of security industry marketing hype?

• December 10, 2012 10 Dec'12

  Hacktivists target MP's website

  An inquiry is underway after the website of Conservative MP David Morris was hacked at the weekend.

• December 10, 2012 10 Dec'12

  Rivals square up over internet governance at WCIT

  The future of internet governance is to be decided this week as rival groups hammer out a new international telecoms treaty.

• December 07, 2012 07 Dec'12

  UK government jobs website exploited by hackers

  Hackers have been able to exploit security flaws in a new government jobs website to steal personal information about job applicants

• December 07, 2012 07 Dec'12

  UK student convicted for Anonymous cyber attacks

  A leading player in the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks by four UK youths in the name of Anonymous in 2010 and 2011 convicted

• December 07, 2012 07 Dec'12

  Antivirus systems fail to detect unknown viruses, study shows

  Less than 5% of the top 40 antivirus systems are able to detect previously non-cataloged viruses initially, a study has revealed

• December 07, 2012 07 Dec'12

  Hackers hit UN conference debating future internet governance

  A suspected hacking attack has hit the Dubai UN meeting to discuss telecoms regulations that could alter the way the internet is governed

• November 29, 2012 29 Nov'12

  Cybergeddon unlikely, say experts

  Cybergeddon, a complete takedown of the internet, is within the power of some nation states, but unlikely, say security industry experts

• November 28, 2012 28 Nov'12

  Public sector leads on social media use, says KPMG

  The private sector’s failure to adapt to the demands of social media poses a threat to the bottom line and reputation

• November 27, 2012 27 Nov'12

  Zero-day exploit for Yahoo Mail goes on sale

  Hacker sells $700 zero-day exploit for Yahoo Mail that allows attacker to use cross-site scripting vulnerability to steal cookies and hijack accounts

• November 27, 2012 27 Nov'12

  Google among firms hit in Pakistan hack

  Technology firms including Google, Apple, eBay and Yahoo were among almost 300 companies whose websites were hit by Pakistan hack attack

• November 27, 2012 27 Nov'12

  Half of companies lack cyber threat knowledge

  Half of companies worldwide lack knowledge about potential security threats they may face, a global IT risks survey has revealed.

• November 26, 2012 26 Nov'12

  Security needs to be integral part of life, says McAfee

  The world is becoming increasingly connected and security and privacy are integral to modern society, says Raj Samani, CTO of McAfee Europe

• November 26, 2012 26 Nov'12

  Cyber attack reporting will boost defence capability, says Neelie Kroes

  The European Commission is considering making it mandatory for companies to report cyber attacks, says vice-president Neelie Kroes

• November 26, 2012 26 Nov'12

  (ISC)² information security scholarships available

  (ISC)² is inviting applications for scholarships worth a total of more than £90,000 to promote information security studies

• November 23, 2012 23 Nov'12

  Cyber Security Challenge announces second round competitions

  The UK national Cyber Security Challenge has announced four new face-to-face competitions for the next round of the current challenge

• November 23, 2012 23 Nov'12

  Four UK youths charged with PayPal £3.5m Anonymous cyber attacks

  Four UK youths acting in the name of hacker group Anonymous cost PayPal £3.5m with cyber attacks carried out 2010, a court has heard

• November 22, 2012 22 Nov'12

  Government funds biometric cyber security research at Southampton University

  A cyber security research centre focused on biometrics is to be launched at the University of Southampton, funded by government

• November 21, 2012 21 Nov'12

  India tops rankings of countries opposed to BYOD

  Nearly half of all Indian companies have security policies prohibiting staff using their own mobile devices for work, an ISACA survey reveals

• November 19, 2012 19 Nov'12

  Cyber criminals target Skype, Facebook and Windows users

  Cyber criminals targeted users of Skype, Facebook and Windows using multiple Blackhole exploits in October, according to security firm GFI Software

• November 16, 2012 16 Nov'12

  Evasion threat to critical systems goes ignored, says Stonesoft

  Many organisations continue to rely on ineffective intrusion prevention systems (IPS), says security firm Stonesoft

• November 16, 2012 16 Nov'12

  Nasa to encrypt data after latest breach

  Nasa is to encrypt all its mobile computers after the loss of a laptop containing personal information about more than 10,000 staff

• November 15, 2012 15 Nov'12

  Cyber security will change ideas of the nation state, says Stonesoft

  The lack of cyber security is a major threat to the civilised world and will change how people see the nation state, says security firm Stonesoft

• November 14, 2012 14 Nov'12

  Operation High Roller fraud puts US finance companies on red alert

  Fraud ring Operation High Roller has spread from Europe to countries including the US in recent months, says McAfee’s latest threat report

• November 13, 2012 13 Nov'12

  UK citizens back pre-emptive cyber strikes, poll shows

  Nearly two-thirds of UK citizens back pre-emptive cyber strikes on states that pose a credible threat to national security, a survey has revealed

• November 13, 2012 13 Nov'12

  Many UK firms underestimate cost of data breaches, study finds

  Many UK organisations are still failing to understand the implications and costs of data breaches, a study has revealed

• November 12, 2012 12 Nov'12

  Hacking attempts to top one billion in Q4, predicts NCC Group

  One billion hacking attempts will be made globally in the final quarter of 2012, according to information assurance firm NCC Group

• November 12, 2012 12 Nov'12

  Millions worldwide use insecure browsers, says Kaspersky

  Nearly a quarter of all internet users worldwide are running outdated browsers, creating huge gaps in online security, says Kaspersky

• November 09, 2012 09 Nov'12

  BlackBerry 10 approved for US government

  RIM's yet-to-be-launched BlackBerry 10 platform has been awarded the US government’s security certification

• November 09, 2012 09 Nov'12

  Twitter apologises for unnecessary hacking warnings

  Twitter has apologised after telling members their accounts had been hacked and forcing them to reset their passwords

• November 09, 2012 09 Nov'12

  Stuxnet hit Chevron’s systems, the energy giant admits

  US energy giant Chevron has revealed that it was hit by the Stuxnet virus in 2010

• November 07, 2012 07 Nov'12

  Dogs to have their day in mobile security campaign

  The UK Cyber Security Challenge has announced the winner of its Can You Talk Security? competition devised by BT and Get Safe Online

• November 07, 2012 07 Nov'12

  Police arrest man for DDoS attacks on Theresa May sites

  Police have arrested a 41-year-old man in connection with a cyber attack on websites connected to home secretary Theresa May