IT security

Budget 2011: UK public worried spending cuts will impact data security

A large proportion of the UK public is worried that government spending cuts will have a negative effect on data security, a survey has revealed. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

How to stop a DDoS attack after initiation

In this expert response, Nick Lewis explains how to stop a DDoS attack after it has been initiated. Continue Reading

By

• Nick Lewis

Shodan search engine for penetration tests: How-to

A very handy yet simple to use VA/PT tool, Shodan can be of great use to ethical hackers. Here’s a quick Shodan tutorial. Continue Reading

By

• Harikrishnan R, Contributor

What is OpenID? How to use OpenID SSO in your organisation

An OpenID SSO system allows organisations to simplify website user authentication management. But is OpenID security an issue? Expert Michael Cobb explains. Continue Reading

By

• Michael Cobb

RSA hit by advanced persistent threat attacks

RSA, the security division of EMC, has revealed that attackers have stolen information from the company's IT systems Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Twitter increases security with HTTPS encrypted tweets setting

Twitter has added a new profile setting to increase the level of security when accessing the mobile blogging site over an unsecured Wi-Fi connections. Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

Ban threat looms for Blackberry services as India demand corporate data access

India could block Research in Motion (RIM) from 31 March 2011 after government officials expressed dissatisfaction with access to Blackberry services. Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

Trusteer debuts no-software malware protection

Secure web access firm Trusteer has announced a web login and transaction monitoring service to detect malware without installing software. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

RIM urges Blackberry users to disable Javascript after web browsing vulnerability revealed

Research in Motion (RIM) is advising Blackberry smartphone users to disable Javascript to protect against a security vulnerability in its web browser. Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

IT failures blamed for immigration system faults

IT failures have been blamed for failures of the points based immigration system in a National Audit Office (NAO) report. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Adobe warns of zero-day vulnerability in Adobe Flash

Adobe has published a security advisory for a critical vulnerability in Adobe Flash that can be used to take control of an attacked machine. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Top 7 anti rootkit software for Windows

It can be quite a tough task to kick out rootkits from infected Windows systems. Our list of top anti rootkit software will prove handy. Continue Reading

By

• Aditya Lad, Contributor

Most organisations approach IAM in the wrong way, says Gartner

Most organisations are approaching identity and access management (IAM) in the wrong way, by planning deployments around technologies, says Gartner. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Advanced persistent threats - are businesses prepared?

Businesses usually attain adequate levels of IT defences at the point that it becomes more cost effective for cyber criminals to target someone else. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Industry calls on employers to say what security skills are needed

The National Skills Academy for IT is calling on employers to address the cyber security skills gap by sharing views on the most useful courses and qualifications. Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

PCI DSS compliance checklist for virtualized environments

A comprehensive Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance checklist for protection of cardholder data in virtual environments. Continue Reading

By

• Swati Sharma, contributor

Exclusive: Free software guru Richard Stallman on government IT and why he hates the cloud

The founding father of the free software movement tells Computer Weekly why government just doesn't "get it" Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

France's G20 files target of cyber attack

France's files on the G20 meetings were the target of a cyber attack, the country's finance minister has confirmed. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Western Digital bids $4.3 billion for Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

Western Digital has tabled a bid of $4.25m (£2.6bn) to acquire Hitachi Global Storage Technologies ending the Japanese HDD vendor's previous preparations for an IPO. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Kunert

HSBC uses token to secure smartphone banking

HSBC is sending four million online banking customers a security token which will enable them to log in to their online bank account wherever they are, without using a card reader. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Malvertising, pop-up ad virus problems demand more user protection

A recent pop-up ad infection on the London Stock Exchange's website highlights the growing scourge of malicious advertising, or malvertising. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Condon

Employee information awareness training: PCI policy templates

To comply with PCI DSS -- and keep cardholder data secure -- organisations must train their employees on data handling best practices. This tip explains how. Continue Reading

By

• Mathieu Gorge, VigiTrust

Intel finalises £5bn acquisition of McAfee

Intel has confirmed the completion of its $7.7bn (£5bn) acquisition of security software giant McAfee. Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

Data dedupe: A natural fit with backup

The Spring edition of Storage Europe featured articles and the lastest information on data deduplication, backup, and cloud technologies. Download it now for all this and more. Sponsored by: Hewlett-Packard Company, EMC and Dell Compellent. Continue Reading

10 identity and access management (IAM) implementation mistakes

An overview of the common issues organizations overlook while deploying an identity and access management (IAM) solution. Continue Reading

By

• Nilesh Shirke

nullcon 2011 Day Zero: Photo feature

Botnet detection, fuzzing intricacies, Zeus MitMo, VoIP attacks, and more. nullcon Day Zero saw considerable action worth the capture. Continue Reading

By

• Harshal Kallyanpur

ISC releases security fix for Bind DoS vulnerability

The Internet Systems Consortium has published an advisory and an update for the Bind domain name system software versions 9.7.1 to 9.7.2-P3. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Exxon, Shell, BP hacked in Night Dragon attacks

Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP were among the oil companies targeted by hackers working through internet servers in China, say US reports. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Microsoft fixes security flaw in malware protection engine

Microsoft has patched a flaw in its malware protection engine that could be exploited to gain control of victim's computer. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Legacy kit and lack of skills hold back digital video surveillance

A huge legacy investment in analogue equipment and a lack of data integration skills are holding back more widespread adoption of fully digital video surveillance systems, according to research just published. Continue Reading

Middle East governments stepping up internet control, study shows

The internet has proved to be a powerful tool for rallying social and political change, but Middle East governments have also recognised their capability to disrupt communications Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Information security tutorials

SearchSecurity.co.uk's tutorials offer a variety of online information security training courses you can take on your own time at your own pace specifically for UK readers. They are designed to arm you with the foundational and tactical information you need to deal with the increasingly challenging job of keeping your organization's information secure. Continue Reading

Quick and dirty Wireshark tutorial

Wireshark has become a very useful tool for many infosec pros. This hands-on Wireshark tutorial will acquaint you with the network sniffer’s capabilities. Continue Reading

By

• Karthik R and Pramod S

RSA 2011: Microsoft promotes co-ordinated vulnerability disclosure

Software producers remain largely unresponsive to input from security researchers, according to Aaron Portnoy, manager of the security research team HP TippingPoint. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

RSA 2011: Top attacks business will face in 2011

Social networking will be the attacker platform of choice in 2011, says Ed Skoudis, founder and senior security consultant with InGuardians. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

New SMB vulnerability identified in Windows XP and Server 2003

A new SMB vulnerability discovered in Windows could open systems to DoS attacks and remote access. The vulnerability, tagged as CVE-2011-0654, has been rated "critical" and confirmed on Windows Server 2003 SP2 and Microsoft Windows XP SP3. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Condon

RSA 2011: RSA, EMC and VMWare advise on defending against advanced persistent threats

Security leaders have outlined ways organisations can better defend against advanced persistent threats (APTs) in a paper published by RSA, the security division of EMC. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Optus email rejects shortened URLs

Optus has adjusted its email security regime to repel incoming emails that use URLs shortened by services like bit.ly or TinyURL. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

RSA 2011: Cybersecurity leads conference with cloud security keynote

Cybersecurity is one of the key topics at the RSA Conference 2011 taking place this week in San Francisco. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Dell rolls out services for enterprise mobility

Dell has introduced a portfolio of services to help businesses manage mobile devices and an increasingly mobile workforce. Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

Mobile hacker attacks will damage business in 2011

Businesses cannot afford to ignore mobile hacking attacks as they are proving extremely lucrative over shorter periods, a study of mobile threats has found. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

ID card database is destroyed

The National Identity Register (NIR), which was built to hold the fingerprints and personal details of millions of ID card holders, has been publicly destroyed. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

IT departments are unable to support employee devices

Security concerns are holding companies back from allowing staff to use their own technology at work. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Mobile workers practise lax security

More than half of Europeans practise unsafe networking when they work away from the office, according to research by German remote access experts NCP Engineering. Continue Reading

Microsoft's February Patch Tuesday outlines five critical vulnerabilities

Microsoft has released 12 security bulletins addressing 22 vulnerabilities in its monthly security update for February Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Post Office faces legal action over alleged accounting system failures

More than 50 postmasters are planning legal action against the Post Office to reclaim money they paid to the Post Office after being accused of theft and false accounting. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

AXA in £150m settlement for software glitch

Financial services giant AXA will be forced to pay millions of pounds to clients after it emerged that errors in trading software were hidden by three of its subsidiaries, prompting bad performance in investment portfolios. Continue Reading

By

• Angelica Mari

Businesses must learn how to defend against cyberattack, says McAfee

Cybercrime has thrived over the past decade according to recent reports from security firm McAfee, but business can expect even more dramatic change in the next ten years, researchers say. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Ten most dangerous places to offshore your IT

A report published by the Brown-Wilson Group details which locations are the most risky places to outsource. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Handle with care: Calculating and managing risk is tricky business

Faced with an ever increasing bevy of sophisticated threats, information security risk managers have a difficult job. This edition of IT in Europe: Information Security e-zine assesses the reputation of risk management, considers the role of the CISO when sharing sensitive data with third parties, and ranks the global cyberthreat. Continue Reading

Vodafone restores services to Egypt after mobile shutdown

Mobile operator, Vodafone, has restored mobile phone services in Egypt after a 24-hour shutdown. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

SMEs still lack data backup

Many small business lack data recovery plans, despite a recent uptake in cloud adoption, according to a survey. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Seven social media security best practices

This tip aims to highlight seven crucial factors to be considered while devising a strategy for optimal social media security. Continue Reading

By

• Shantanu Ghosh, Contributor 

Cybercriminals target data in transit

Cybercriminals are shifting away from basic "smash and grab" attacks targeting stored data to more complex methods of data harvesting in transit, security research reveals. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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? Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• SearchSecurity.in staff

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Top seven social media threats

Discover the top seven social media threats in the first of a two-part series on social media related security threats and preventive measures. Continue Reading

By

• Shantanu Ghosh

Biometric authentication technology curbs microfinance org’s losses

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

By

• Dhwani Pandya, Principal Correspondent

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Security Zone: The ISO/IEC 38500 IT Governance Standard

IT governance means different things to different folks, yet it is generally understood to require alignment with best practice standards and methodologies. However, it can be really hard to see the wood for the trees due to the multiple frameworks, all of which can be applicable for organisations to demonstrate good governance. Continue Reading

By

• Chris Power, Mazars UK

10 security incident management best practices

Here’s a quick tip on the security incident management processes an organization should adopt to combat the current dynamic threat scenario. Continue Reading

By

• Dinesh Bareja

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. Continue Reading

By

• SearchSecurity.in Staff

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. Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

$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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

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. Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

Phishing attack on Facebook leverages iframes

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

By

• SearchSecurity.IN Staff

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... Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

How to use the Microsoft FCIV command-line checksum tool

Downloading files from the Internet always poses a risk, but there are strategies that can make the process more secure. In this tip, Michael Cobb explains how to use the Microsoft FCIV tool to check the hash values of downloaded files and create hashes and checksums of you own. Continue Reading

By

• Michael Cobb

PODCAST: McAfee's endpoint chief on mobile internet security

Candace Worley, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Endpoint Security at McAfee explains how new endpoints like tablets and mobile phones are changing the requirements for internet security. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

Dynamic code analysis vs. static analysis source code testing

Managing vulnerabilities involves a wide array of security testing, including both dynamic and static source code analysis. Learn how the two differ, as well as how they are performed in this expert response. Continue Reading

By

• Richard Brain

How to browse the web securely

Internet users need to be on their guard for rogue web sites, phishing attacks and security holes in web browsers. Jenny Williams offers some top tips on browsing safely and securely. Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

Photos: MoD Taranis - unmanned combat aircraft

A prototype unmanned combat aircraft of the future, Taranis, has been unveiled by the MOD for the first time today. Named after the Celtic god of thunder, the concept demonstrator will test the possibility of developing the first ever autonomous stealthy Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) that would ultimately be capable of precisely striking targets at long range, even in another continent. Continue Reading

By

• Faisal Alani, UK at eBay

Using resource allocation management to prevent DoS and other attacks

Resource allocation management is an effective way to prevent denial-of-service (DoS) and other attacks. Find out how to allocate resources in order to increase the security of your organisation. Continue Reading

By

• Michael Cobb

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 errors, a confidential report reveals. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

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. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

EDS report on 'dangerous' Chinook software published for the first time

Computer Weekly is publishing, for the first time, a technical analysis of the software installed on the Chinook Mk2 helicopter, the Chinook model which featured in the RAF's worst peacetime crash. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

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. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

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. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

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...

 Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

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. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Ten IT Christmas wishes for business

The end of the year and the seasonal festivities are often a time for reflection. But what will CEOs be asking CIOs to give them for Christmas? Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

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. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Best practices for (small) botnets

Your enterprise might have a strategy to deal with a large-scale botnet attack, but how would you deal with a micro-botnet that knows how to bypass antivirus and firewalls? Get botnet help with this expert advice. Continue Reading

By

• Marcos Christodonte II

Develop a unified communication security plan

Here is a handy guide to help you develop a comprehensive unified communication (UC) security strategy which covers UC infrastructure and applications. Continue Reading

By

• Akhil Behl

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...

 Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

How to use a netstat command in Windows to watch open ports

Mike Cobb shows how a simple command line tool can provide invaluable information about what's happening on your system Continue Reading

By

• Michael Cobb

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... Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

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. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

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. Continue Reading

By

• Rebecca Thomson, Computer Weekly

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... Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

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. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

How to manage firewall testing using Nmap

Nmap includes many features that can be used to circumvent poorly implemented firewalls. Learn how the freely available tool can test your network devices. Continue Reading

By

• Mike Cobb, Contributor

How to find credit card numbers and other sensitive data on your users' computers

If you worry that important and sensitive data like credit card numbers is lurking on your users' hard drives, read on to learn how to search for and corral this information. Continue Reading

By

• Mike Chapple, University of Notre Dame

Infosec 2009: Catch up with this year's show in pictures

Infosec 2009: The story of this year's Infosec with annotated pictures, so if you weren't there, this is a great to get a flavour of the highlights. Continue Reading

By

• James Garner