IT security

Buyer's Guide: How to prepare your organisation for IPv6

The switch to IPv6 – on 6 June – shows just how imminent the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is. Is your organisation ready? Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

President of European Parliament critical of Acta

After a weekend of public protests against the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Agreement (Acta), the president of the European Parliament has added his voice to those of critcs. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

IE update top priority for Patch Tuesday

Microsoft releases nine bulletins addressing 21 vulnerabilities in its monthly Patch Tuesday security update on 14 February Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Web application vulnerability statistics show security losing ground

New Web application vulnerability statistics show the number of vulnerabilities is rising, despite the use of Web application development frameworks. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Condon

UK to take part in weekend protests against Acta

Protests against the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Agreement (Acta) have been organised across Europe, with most set to take place on 11 February. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Global Disaster Recovery (DR) Index 2012

The Acronis Global Disaster Recovery (DR) index is an annual benchmark of businesses disaster recovery preparations worldwide. Continue Reading

FBI investigates Anonymous intercept of call with Scotland Yard

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is looking into how a conference call with Scotland Yard was intercepted by a member of the activist hacking group Anonymous. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Microsoft spurs Browsium to rewrite tool for running IE6 on Windows 7

Microsoft has spurred Browsium to rewrite its tool for running IE6 on Windows 7, limiting the security threat posed by continued use of IE6. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Condon

Fewer than a third of UK organisations plan mobile security projects

Despite the media hype around the adoption of mobile technologies and the need to secure them, relatively few UK organisations are planning mobile security projects, a survey has revealed Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

When X.509 security certificates fail, servers break

Why are X.509 certificates causing computers to stop dead? Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

ICO fines Midlothian Council £140K for data breaches

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has imposed its highest penalty yet of £140,000 on Midlothian Council for breaching personal data Continue Reading

MEP quits as thousands protest ACTA signing

A European MP has resigned after thousands of people in Poland protested against the international anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

EC publishes proposed data protection reforms

European Justice Commissioner, Viviane Reding, has unveiled the new European data privacy framework that includes new regulation. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Burp Suite Tutorial: Part 2 – Intruder and repeater tools

Our Burp Suite tutorial’s second part covers intruder and repeater. Use this Burp Suite tutorial to customize attacks on Web apps via SQLi and XSS bugs. Continue Reading

By

• Karthik Poojary, Amazon

Advocacy group La Quadrature du Net rallies opposition to ACTA

As controversial anti-piracy legislation stalls in the US, a European group of free internet supporters, La Quadrature du Net, calls for a halt to similar legislation in the European Union. Continue Reading

Accenture Technology Vision

Download this report from Accenture to discover the 6 IT technology trends that will impact CIOs in 2012. Continue Reading

10 Linux security tools for system administrators

Linux-based tools for security are a boon to system admins for monitoring network security. Here are 10 popular and useful Linux-based security tools. Continue Reading

By

• Karthik Poojary, Amazon

Google mortified after staff access competitor's database

Google said it is mortified after people working on a project in Kenya were found to have stolen the details of a competitor’s customers and used them to sell its own products. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Rupert Murdoch attacks Barack Obama over online piracy legislation

News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch has accused Barack Obama's administration of siding with "Silicon Valley paymasters" as two anti-piracy bills go through US Congress. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Fighting fraud in government

Cybercrime has emerged as a growing threat to public sector organisations, this research from PwC reveals. Continue Reading

Burp Suite Guide: Part I – Basic tools

Our Burp Suite guide series explains how to use Burp Suite for security testing of Web apps. For a start, we look at proxy, spider, site scope and sitemap. Continue Reading

By

• Karthik Poojary, Amazon

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

TOGAF® and SABSA® Integration

This paper by the Open Group, outlines an approach to enhance TOGAF enterprise architecture methodology using the SABSA security architecture approach Continue Reading

The cyber-savvy CEO and growing cyber threats

This report from PwC explains why CEOs need to take the lead in protecting their organisations from the surge in cyber attacks. Continue Reading

IT in Europe, Security Edition: Password security standards and trends

Passwords have long been a security problem. This IT in Europe: Security Edition looks at password trends and alternative forms of authentication. Continue Reading

By

• SearchSecurity.co.UK Staff

Hacktivists plan to use satellites to by-pass internet censorship

Hacker activists plan to launch communication satellites to overcome the threat of internet censorship. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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? Continue Reading

By

• Ron Condon

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. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Condon

Alternatives to passwords: Replacing the ubiquitous authenticator

As the relative security of passwords falters, are they destined for obscurity? Continue Reading

By

• Ron Condon

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. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Condon

Segregation of duties: Small business best practices

Segregating duties can be tough in organisations that have few staff members and resources. Get duty segregation best practices for SMBs. Continue Reading

By

• Michael Cobb

Sslstrip tutorial for penetration testers

Sslstrip is a powerful tool to extract sensitive credentials using HTTPS stripping. This sslstrip tutorial explains the working of sslstrip in-depth. Continue Reading

By

• Karthik Poojary, Amazon

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. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

CSRF attack: How hackers use trusted users for their exploits

A CSRF attack is a serious Web security threat that, combined with XSS, can be lethal. Learn about the CSRF attack’s anatomy, along with mitigation methods. Continue Reading

By

• Karthik Poojary, Amazon

How open data creates new opportunities for the UK

The use of open data could be a critical factor in determining the success or failure of the UK’s growth agenda this report from the business advisory firm Deloitte reveals. Continue Reading

Special report on EMC

This 8-page special report from Computer Weekly, packed with graphs and diagrams, is essential reading for anyone considering EMC as a supplier. Continue Reading

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? Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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". Continue Reading

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? Continue Reading

By

• Anthony Caruana

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. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Condon

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Breaking the code: Are passwords destined for obscurity?

User passwords for websites, email and social networks are often the weakest link in the security chain. The winter edition of IT in Europe: Information Security e-zine investigated the state of passwords in the UK and presented alternatives to the ubiquitous authenticator. Continue Reading

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

BackTrack 5 guide 4: How to perform stealth actions

With BackTrack 5, how to include stealth into attacks is a necessary skill for penetration testers. Our BackTrack 5 how to tutorial shows you the way Continue Reading

By

• Karthik Poojary, Amazon

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. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

Bridging the information gap

The pace at which modern business tends to move has resulted in a situation where centralised decision-making struggles to keep up. Continue Reading

By

• Andrew Buss, IDC Manufacturing Insights

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

The market landscape for print security

This report is gives an overview of the security risks of the print environment , the market landscape, best practices for a print security strategy. Continue Reading

London cybersecurity conference: a missed opportunity?

World leaders gathered in London. Our prime minister and foreign secretary hosted all the luminaries and dignitaries. Was it worth it? Continue Reading

Quocirca: The market landscape for print security

This report by Quocirca analyst Louella Fernandes provides an overview of the inherent risks when operating an insecure print environment, best practice and the current market. Continue Reading

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

The consumerisation of IT: it’s a trickle, not a tide, but you still need to be ready

If media headlines and supplier claims are to be believed, organisations today are faced with an unstoppable tide of many different types of personal device connected to the corporate network Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

The top five SME security challenges

Best practice in IT security and compliance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is often seen as a "grudge purchase", but SMEs face the same threat as larger organisations - just without their budgets. Continue Reading

By

• Lisa Kelly

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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). Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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). Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

BackTrack 5 Guide II: Exploitation tools and frameworks

Our BackTrack 5 guide looks at exploitation and privilege escalation techniques. This part of our guide will improve penetration testing skills. Continue Reading

By

• Karthik Poojary, Amazon

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. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Condon

The Metasploit Framework Tutorial PDF compendium: Your ready reckoner

Get our Metasploit Framework tutorial installments in one place, with the aid of this Metasploit tutorial PDF collection. Continue Reading

By

• SearchSecurity.in Staff

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. ... Continue Reading

By

• Computer Weekly Staff

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. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

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. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

BackTrack 5 tutorial Part I: Information gathering and VA tools

Our BackTrack 5 tutorial covers information gathering and vulnerability assessment using BackTrack 5. Continue Reading

By

• Karthik Poojary, Amazon

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. Continue Reading

By

• SearchSecurity.in Staff

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 obtained by Computer Weekly. Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

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. Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

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. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Investigations Editor

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. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

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. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Self-encrypting drives: SED the best-kept secret in hard drive encryption security

The SED solves many common data loss problems and is easy to use and manage with minimal impact on system performance – yet relatively few businesses and governments use SEDs. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

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 welcomed the initiative. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

SQL injection attacks increasing in number, sophistication and potency, researchers find

The prevalence and intensity of SQL injection attacks are increasing, according to Imperva. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Varun Haran, Reporter

Step-by-step aircrack tutorial for Wi-Fi penetration testing

Aircrack-ng is a simple tool for cracking WEP keys as part of pen tests. In this aircrack tutorial, we outline the steps involved in cracking WEP keys. Continue Reading

By

• Sanoop Thomas, Contributor

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Metasploit guide 4: Armitage cyber attack management GUI

In part four of our Metasploit guide we look at Armitage, the GUI-based cyber attack management tool. This completes the Metasploit guide series. Continue Reading

By

• Karthik Poojary, Amazon

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. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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 Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

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. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Nike+ problems demonstrate the risk of social media success

The rewards for creating a customer-focused online community are huge. But success comes at a price, as recent issues encountered by Nike's Nike+ running site illustrate. Matt Scott investigates. Continue Reading

By

• Matt Scott, TechTarget

DigiNotar certificate authority breach: Why it matters

There has been much speculation around the identity and motive of the hacker who was able to breach DigiNotar and issue fraudulent digital certificates for hundreds of websites, but putting such speculation aside, what is the broader significance of the incident? Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

ICO slams Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration for data breaches

The Information Commissioner's Office has criticised the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration for twice leaking sensitive personal information about young children in breach of the Data Protection Act. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Orange restores broadband customers' e-mail account access but loses data

A problem with Orange e-mail – which locked out broadband customers – has been partly fixed as access to the accounts is restored, but weeks of e-mails may be lost. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Facebook pays security bug bounty hunters $40,000 in three weeks

Facebook has revealed its security bug bounty initiative has paid out more than $40,000 in just three weeks – but has not revealed how many security vulnerabilities have been reported or how many have been fixed. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Lack of soft skills training is curbing IT career progression

Employers are failing to provide IT professionals with the business... Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire