News

IT security

• January 25, 2011 25 Jan'11

  Spam level dips

  The recent decline in global spam was the result of a halt in the spam-sending activities of three botnets and unrest among pharmaceutical spam-sending gangs, Symantec's latest MessageLabs Intelligence Report has revealed.

• January 25, 2011 25 Jan'11

  Smart meter and smart grids: security risk or opportunity?

  A smart meter in every home in the UK by 2017 is the government plan as a first step towards a smart grid, but how can we ensure the benefits will outweigh the security risks?

• January 21, 2011 21 Jan'11

  Parliament to debate cost-sharing element of Digital Economy Act

  Secondary legislation on sharing the costs of the Digital Economy Act's measures to tackle online copyright infringement has been laid in Parliament.

• January 21, 2011 21 Jan'11

  RBI guidelines focus on fortifying IT security by banks

  RBI has issued security guidelines for the Indian banks that touch upon aspects such as IT governance, security, and cyber fraud.

• January 19, 2011 19 Jan'11

  2010 IT security threats point to priorities for 2011, says Sophos

  Cyber threats of 2010 highlight the top risks to business for 2011, including social media sites, whistleblowers, and hacktivists, warns security firm Sophos.

• January 19, 2011 19 Jan'11

  More than 1,000 patient records lost on unencrypted laptop

  A doctor is to be disciplined following the loss of 1,147 patient records on an unencrypted laptop.

• January 14, 2011 14 Jan'11

  Biometric authentication technology curbs microfinance org’s losses

  Growing Opportunity implements biometric authentication technology to overcome financial losses resulting from duplicate loan applications.

• January 12, 2011 12 Jan'11

  Microsoft January Patch Tuesday misses open security issues

  Microsoft's January 2011 Patch Tuesday security update contains only two bulletins, but misses several open security issues.

• January 12, 2011 12 Jan'11

  Government departments criticised over data sharing mistake

  Three government agencies have been criticised over a data sharing mistake that led to the wrongful disclosure of a woman's personal and financial information.

• January 07, 2011 07 Jan'11

  Microsoft to patch critical IE vulnerability to block ongoing attacks

  Microsoft will issue two security bulletins, addressing a critical vulnerability affecting all versions of WIndows.

• January 06, 2011 06 Jan'11

  Update: Who takes the blame for the Lloyds TSB duplicate payment error?

  Over 200,000 people were affected by a glitch at Lloyds TSB, when an error with its merchant system duplicated payments on New Year's Eve. Jenny Williams investigates.

• January 06, 2011 06 Jan'11

  $21m acquisition of Immunet takes Sourcefire to the cloud

  Snort creator Sourcefire has announced the $21m (£13.5m) acquisition of cloud-based anti-malware technologies firm Immunet.

• January 05, 2011 05 Jan'11

  BCS CEO David Clarke talks about the future of the IT industry

  David Clarke, CEO of the chartered institute of computing the BCS, talks to Computer Weekly about being awarded an MBE, the future of the IT profession and tackling a membership revolt against his leadership last year.

• December 22, 2010 22 Dec'10

  FTC clears £5bn Intel acquisition of McAfee

  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US has approved Intel's $7.7bn (£5bn) acquisition of security software giant, McAfee.

• December 01, 2010 01 Dec'10

  Phishing attack on Facebook leverages iframes

  Popular social networking site, Facebook being used for phishing attacks and open redirects, claims Websense Security Labs.

• November 23, 2010 23 Nov'10

  Martha Lane Fox calls for ‘revolution’ in online government services

  Digital champion Martha Lane Fox has published a report calling for a centralised government internet address to replace 750 websites. In a review...

• February 24, 2010 24 Feb'10

  Chinook Mk2's safety-critical backup system was faulty

  Software supplier EDS found so many anomalies in fuel-control software on the Chinook Mk2 helicopter that it became concerned that the Ministry of Defence and RAF would ignore the potential importance of each flaw because of the high volume of ...

• February 22, 2010 22 Feb'10

  What was the 'dangerous' flaw in safety-critical Chinook system?

  Defence contractor EDS - now part of HP - warned the Ministry of Defence that flaws in a Fadec safety-critical system fitted to the Chinook Mk2 helicopter could cause it to malfunction, months before a fatal crash on the Mull of Kintyre.

• January 12, 2010 12 Jan'10

  Senior airmen question safety of Chinook software

  Three fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society have questioned whether the Chinook Mk2, of the type which crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994, was airworthy.

• January 07, 2010 07 Jan'10

  MoD renews attack on dead Chinook pilots despite software flaw disclosures

  The Ministry of Defence has renewed its attack on the dead pilots of Chinook ZD576, after the publication of documents that revealed a "dangerous" flaw in software installed on the type of helicopter that crashed.

• January 05, 2010 05 Jan'10

  Chinook computer flaws - ex-ministers speak out

  Former Defence ministers are calling for a new inquiry into the crash of Chinook 576, after new disclosures of a "positively dangerous" flaw in software...

• January 04, 2010 04 Jan'10

  Chinook computer was 'positively dangerous' say newly-disclosed MoD documents

  A computer flaw in the type of Chinook helicopter that crashed on the Mull of Kintyre, killing all 29 on board, was known to be "positively dangerous", according to military documents that have not been published until today.

• December 07, 2009 07 Dec'09

  NHS IT scheme to be scaled back

  The Chancellor Alistair Darling and the Treasury are to scale back spending on the NHS's National Programme for IT.

• October 21, 2009 21 Oct'09

  Israel carves a niche in IT security

  IT security, risk, governance, continuity and compliance technologies are fast becoming some of Israel's top exports.

  Analysing and...

• September 03, 2009 03 Sep'09

  Labour rejects review of Chinook crash

  Defence Secretary, Bob Ainsworth, has ruled out ordering a new inquiry into the controversial Chinook crash, which left all 29 people on board dead, including...

• September 02, 2009 02 Sep'09

  Tories commit to Chinook crash review

  The Tories have made it party policy to appoint a senior judge to review a finding of gross negligence against the two deceased pilots of a Chinook Mk2 helicopter which crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in June 1994.

• July 31, 2009 31 Jul'09

  Gary McKinnon loses case to avoid extradition, could face 60 years in jail

  Hacker Gary McKinnon has failed in his last attempt to avoid extradition to the United States where he could face 60 years in prison.

• June 16, 2009 16 Jun'09

  Air France Airbus pitot sensor linked to two fatal crashes

  Faults similar to those on an Air France Airbus that crashed into the sea on 1 June were major factors in two little-noticed fatal losses of passenger...

• June 04, 2009 04 Jun'09

  Chinook crash: critical internal memo on software flaws

  Computer Weekly is publishing, in full for the first time, an MoD memo that is the clearest evidence yet that software problems made the helicopter unsafe to fly at the time of the accident.

• March 24, 2009 24 Mar'09

  Get cracking crushing Conficker

  Conficker will activate its botnet on April 1st. Sophos, Symantec, Webroot, BitDefender and other vendors say you should remove it ASAP before the real trouble starts.

• February 23, 2009 23 Feb'09

  Exclusive: Computer Weekly publishes 'secret' gateway review

  This is the first publication of an entire gateway review by an online news service.

• December 24, 2008 24 Dec'08

  Ian Yates' quite literal year in review

  Ian Yates product reviews are unique and make ideal holiday reading.

• December 10, 2008 10 Dec'08

  MoD was warned not to fly Chinook on day of crash

  A senior defence official warned the Ministry of Defence to suspend flights of a Chinook helicopter because of safety concerns on the day the aircraft crashed...

• December 08, 2008 08 Dec'08

  Chronology: The Chinook

  1985 : Almost at the start of development of the Chinook's Full Authority Digital Engine Control ( Fadec ) computer system there...

• December 08, 2008 08 Dec'08

  Chinook ZD576: How the Fadec engine control software worked and what could have gone wrong

  What follows is some of the evidence ...

• December 08, 2008 08 Dec'08

  Victory over Chinook crash after 14 years

  A brave, independent stand by the Defence Secretary John Hutton and his predecessor Des Browne, against 14 years of obfuscation and immovable arrogance by the Ministry of Defence, has led finally to justice over the notorious crash of a Chinook ...

• December 08, 2008 08 Dec'08

  Tens of thousands of IT jobs at risk in global finance sector

  The investment banking industry will see thousands of job cuts as mergers are completed and companies prepare for a slowdown in business.

• December 04, 2008 04 Dec'08

  How the Mytob virus caused havoc in the NHS

  The Mytob virus has been removed from 5,000 PCs at

• October 14, 2008 14 Oct'08

  Using Wireshark to monitor and secure your network

  Learn how to use packet analyser, Wireshark, in this illustrated tutorial.

• July 31, 2008 31 Jul'08

  Minister hails Fujitsu’s leaving NPfIT as sign of strength

  The termination of Fujitsu's...

• June 16, 2008 16 Jun'08

  Gary McKinnon broke into 73,000 US government computers, Lords told

  Self confessed British hacker Gary McKinnon, who is fighting extradition to the US, broke into more than 73,000 US government computers, including those of the US Army, Navy and Nasa, and deleted critical data, the House of Lords heard today.

• May 27, 2008 27 May'08

  New doubts raised on Chinook crash ruling

  A former senior officer who helped write rules for RAF accident inquiries has spoken publicly for the first time about his concerns over the cause of a controversial Chinook helicopter crash 14 years ago.

• April 04, 2008 04 Apr'08

  How to scope the liability clause in your software license agreement

  Standard limit of liability clauses favour the vendor. Here's how to modify them to protect your firm from IT risk.

• March 27, 2008 27 Mar'08

  Getting the best bargain on network vulnerability scanning

  When it comes to enterprise network analysis, is it best to use a commercial vulnerability scanner or an open source product? Mike Chapple explains.

• March 10, 2008 10 Mar'08

  Web 2.0 presents no new security challenges, is just marketing hype: Secure Computing

  Secure Computing's Scott Montgomery says Web 2.0 security is marketing hype, application flaws come from overworked programmers and Australia is doing better at cyber-security than the USA and Europe.

• March 06, 2008 06 Mar'08

  Losing the war to lock down networks might help enterprises innovate

  While security concerns cannot be set aside, users unwilling to leave their own applications at home might bring some innovation to the office.

• February 11, 2008 11 Feb'08

  penetration testing tutorial day one the basics

  TechTarget ANZ expert Ed Eliff explains botnets and offers advice on how to make sure your machines do not get get caught up in one.

• January 23, 2008 23 Jan'08

  Network managers: master project management to get better salaries

  Network technicians will need to learn project manager skills if corporate rollouts of wider and more advanced networks are to be successful, according to attendees at the Cisco Networkers 2008 this week.

• January 22, 2008 22 Jan'08

  Fujitsu may quit NHS National Programme for IT

  The board of an NHS trust has learned of a "significant" risk of ­Fujitsu ending its £900m contract to supply and implement hospital systems across southern England as part of the National Programme for IT.

• January 17, 2008 17 Jan'08

  Wireless network security made easy - from "The Book of PF"

  How to get wireless networks running and some options for making your wireless network more secure, including encryption for IEEE 802.11 wireless networks.