News

IT security

January 13, 2012 13 Jan'12
NHS Trust to appeal £375k data loss penalty

An NHS Trust is to appeal against a proposed monetary penalty of £375,000 after after patient records were stolen from a hospital and sold on eBay.
January 06, 2012 06 Jan'12
Ramnit worm steals 45,000 Facebook passwords

A computer worm has begun targeting Facebook accounts and has stolen at least 45,000 login credentials from users, say security researchers.
January 03, 2012 03 Jan'12
Hacktivists plan to use satellites to by-pass internet censorship

Hacker activists plan to launch communication satellites to overcome the threat of internet censorship.
December 29, 2011 29 Dec'11
Is it the end of the line for antivirus signatures?

Traditional antimalware can't keep up with the threat landscape. Are antivirus signatures destined for the rubbish bin?

December 29, 2011 29 Dec'11
Emerging 2012 security trends demand information security policy changes

2012 security trends involving cookies, fines, devices and threats will demand more skills -- and a little finesse -- from security professionals.
December 21, 2011 21 Dec'11
ICO stands by unpopular UK cookie legislation with advice, warnings

Website owners have resisted compliance with cookie legislation so the ICO has issued more guidance and warnings to nudge them along.
December 16, 2011 16 Dec'11
CIOs must trade off innovation and maintenance in 2012

CIOs face major challenges in trading off stretched budgets between innovative projects and keeping the business running as usual in 2012.
December 12, 2011 12 Dec'11
Cloud leaves many firewalls wanting – but could automation prove the silver bullet?

Most companies rely on firewalls, but the IT landscape is changing and so must approaches to security. Is there a silver bullet?
December 08, 2011 08 Dec'11
Adobe to release out-of-cycle patch for latest vulnerability

Adobe has issued a security advisory about a newly discovered and still unpatched vulnerability in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat which is being used in "limited, targeted attacks in the wild".
December 06, 2011 06 Dec'11
Four things the 2012 CIO will need to focus on

As 2011 winds to a close, CIOs will already have turned their attention to 2012. What will you be doing?

December 05, 2011 05 Dec'11
Concerned about tablet security issues? Some are, others not so much

Users love their tablets, but security pros are concerned about tablet security issues. However, though tablets bring new threats, not everyone is ringing the alarm.
December 05, 2011 05 Dec'11
One in four IT security staff abuse admin rights, survey shows

At least one in four IT security staff use their privileged login rights to look at confidential information, a survey has revealed.
November 30, 2011 30 Nov'11
United Nations Development Programme investigates hacking claims

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is investigating claims from hacker group Team Poison that it extracted over 100 e-mail addresses and login details belonging to UN staff.
November 29, 2011 29 Nov'11
Framework accelerates safety-critical defence systems development

Manufacturers and academics are collaborating in a 3.5 million project to create a software modelling framework that will speed up the development and certification of safety-critical systems used in aerospace and defence.
November 17, 2011 17 Nov'11
Forensics key to effective info security, says E&Y

Intelligence-led security strategies are the most effective in eliminating vulnerabilities and preventing IP theft through enabling informed change, says consultancy firm Ernst & Young.
November 17, 2011 17 Nov'11
IT security not always part of cloud decision, says IDC

Cloud adoption is outstripping security concerns, says Eric Domage, programme manager for IDC in Europe.
November 11, 2011 11 Nov'11
EDF fined £1.3m for hacking into Greenpeace computers

A Paris court has fined French energy firm EDF £1.3m for hacking into Greenpeace computers to find out about the environmental group’s plans to block four planned nuclear power plants in the UK.
November 07, 2011 07 Nov'11
Analysis: Intelligence key to security business case

Information security is becoming an increasingly important part of any business as the value of information assets continually grow, as do the threats from cyber crime and espionage.
November 03, 2011 03 Nov'11
US and EU hold first joint cybersecurity exercise

The US and EU are holding their first joint cybersecurity exercise in Brussels on 3 November 2011, involving more than 20 EU member states and supported by the EU's cybersecurity agency Enisa and the US Department of Homeland Security.
November 01, 2011 01 Nov'11
MoD calls on academics, industry and inventors to pitch cyber security ideas

The Ministry of Defence is calling for innovative solutions from academia and industry to protect and secure UK interests in cyberspace.
November 01, 2011 01 Nov'11
Government trials voice recognition for Universal Credit benefit claims

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is testing a voice recognition system to authenticate claimants of its flagship Universal Credits system, as part of the department's work on identity assurance (IDA).
November 01, 2011 01 Nov'11
Hague calls for collaboration to realise full potential of cyberspace

It is increasingly clear that countries with weak cyber defences and capabilities will find themselves at a serious strategic disadvantage given the rise of state-sponsored cyber attacks, according to foreign secretary William Hague.
October 31, 2011 31 Oct'11
Japan may be facing sustained cyber attack

Japan's mapping agency is the latest in a series of government agencies to be targeted by hackers, raising fears that the breaches are part of a series of sustained attacks.
October 31, 2011 31 Oct'11
Facebook admits to 600,000 cyber attacks a day

Facebook has revealed that every 24 hours it receives around 600,000 logins to the social networking website from impostors attempting to access users' messages, photos and other personal information.
October 28, 2011 28 Oct'11
UK security strategy draws on growing expertise across Whitehall

The UK's soon-to-be-released cyber security strategy includes input from policy makers across government, says Nigel Harrison of the Office of Cyber Security and Information Assurance (OCSIA).
October 12, 2011 12 Oct'11
New batch of IDS, IPS evasion techniques are hitting their targets

Stonesoft has discovered 163 new advanced evasion techniques (AET), claiming these AETs can pass below the radar of some IDS, IPS products.
October 10, 2011 10 Oct'11
Symantec uses visual maps to identify e-mail-based targeted attacks

Symantec has developed a way of detecting targeted attacks through mapping e-mail patterns to identify single gang activity.
October 07, 2011 07 Oct'11
Computer Weekly wins prestigious journalism award

Computer Weekly has won a prestigious award for its journalism. Freelance contributor and Computer Weekly blogger Mark Ballard won the Best Cybercrime Feature of the Year prize at this year's BT Information Security Journalism Awards. ...
October 07, 2011 07 Oct'11
85 sub-postmasters seek legal support in claims against Post Office computer system

Over 80 sub-postmasters are interested in taking legal action against the Post Office in relation to an allegedly faulty computer system.
October 06, 2011 06 Oct'11
UBS systems detected $2bn rogue trader fraud, admits CEO Sergio Ermotti

UBS interim CEO Sergio Ermotti has admitted systems in the banks IT infrastructure detected the unauthorised trading of the rogue trader who cost UBS over $2bn, but nothing was done about the warning signals.
October 04, 2011 04 Oct'11
Cisco patches IOS in major rollout, releases 10 security advisories

19 bugs and 10 security advisories released to address flaws in Cisco’s IOS network OS, Unified Communication Manager and Series 10000 routers.
October 04, 2011 04 Oct'11
Universal Credit deadline forced DWP to use “unproven” agile development

Tight deadlines left the Department for Work and Pensions with little choice but to use "unproven" agile methods to develop its £2bn Universal Credit (UC) system, said the Cabinet Office Major Projects Authority (MPA) in a confidential report ...
October 04, 2011 04 Oct'11
GPU cracks six-character password in four seconds

A £30 nVidia GeForce GT220 graphics card is capable of cracking strong passwords in a matter of hours.
October 03, 2011 03 Oct'11
Identifying the business value of SAM best practice frameworks and standards

Businesses are cautious when it comes to taking up best practice frameworks and standards that could help them manage their software assets more effectively.
September 29, 2011 29 Sep'11
IBM signs £525m DWP contract to provide Universal Credit systems

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has signed a seven-year contract with IBM worth £75m per year to provide systems, which will include the delivery of its flagship Universal Credit programme.
September 27, 2011 27 Sep'11
How BP made its supplier ecosystem work

Oil and gas giant BP spent 65% of its $3bn annual IT budget with 3,000 suppliers in 2008, but now it outsources to only seven and has reduced its annual IT budget by $800m as a result.
September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11
Police IT not fit for purpose, police-led ICT company needs a lot of work, says Home Office report

A Home Office report into policing has labelled police IT as not being fit for purpose and made recommendations to shake up a mess of different IT systems across 43 forces which is hindering police attempts to fight crime.
September 23, 2011 23 Sep'11
Anti-piracy group FAST applauds government business guide to navigating UK IP law

The government has published a guide to UK intellectual property law for businesses, providing information on IP policies; procurement of goods and services; reporting IP crime; and auditing IP. The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) said it ...
September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11
Government pulls plug on ailing £11bn NHS IT programme

The troubled £11bn NHS National Programme for IT is to be axed, the government is expected to announce later today.
September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11
Researchers claim to have broken SSL/TLS encryption

Two security researchers claim to have found a way of breaking the SSL/TLS encryption that is widely used to guarantee the reliability and privacy of data exchanged between web browsers and servers.
September 22, 2011 22 Sep'11
SQL injection attacks increasing in number, sophistication and potency, researchers find

The prevalence and intensity of SQL injection attacks are increasing, according to Imperva.
September 21, 2011 21 Sep'11
Gartner: Best defence against social media threats is monitoring and education

Blocking social media in the enterprise encourages bad behaviour by employees but does not prevent access, warns Gartner.
September 20, 2011 20 Sep'11
Gartner: Keep encryption simple and standardised to cut cost and complexity

Businesses should consider self-encrypting drives (SEDs) for new installations that hold significant volumes of sensitive data, says Gartner.
September 19, 2011 19 Sep'11
Defense in depth a dying philosophy: Eddie Schwartz

The approach to information security needs to evolve, says Edward Schwartz, CISO at RSA. Agility, dynamism, and fresh security paradigms a need of the hour.
September 15, 2011 15 Sep'11
Cyber attacks are becoming lethal, warns US cyber commander

Cyber attacks are escalating from large-scale theft and disruption of computer operations to more lethal attacks that destroy systems and physical equipment, according to the head of the US Cyber Command.
September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11
IT development underpinning Universal Credits comes under fire from MPs and experts

The delivery of Universal Credits is coming under fire as observers are casting an increasingly critical eye on the IT systems underpinning the politically sensitive project.
September 14, 2011 14 Sep'11
Security update: Light Microsoft Patch Tuesday with low application impact plus critical Adobe fixes

Microsoft's September Patch Tuesday security update is relatively light with only five security updates.
September 13, 2011 13 Sep'11
GlobalSign web certificate authority back online after breach by hacker

Belgian web certificate authority (CA) GlobalSign is back online after investigating claims by the hacker who breached the Dutch DigiNotar CA that its systems had also been breached.
September 08, 2011 08 Sep'11
Web security certificate breach widens

GlobalSign, the fifth largest digital certificate issuer, has suspended the issuing of authentication certificates for websites after the DigiNotar hacker claimed to have breached its systems
September 08, 2011 08 Sep'11
University challenge: using IT to improve services and reduce costs

Universities face a balancing act as they become increasingly expected to improve the experiences of more demanding students while making budgets go further, and IT is a critical tool in finding this balance.