Infosecurity News
Bitcoinica, twice hacked in 2012, is being sued
Bitcoinica is a UK-based online trading site for the online cash alternative ‘bitcoin’. Following its second hack, Bitcoinica was taken offline and will remain off-line until a ‘transitional’ period designed to improve security is complete.
Information Please: Kaspersky Lab needs help decrypting Gauss warhead
Kaspersky Lab is asking for help from the information security community to decrypt the mysterious Gauss’ encrypted warhead suspected of targeting industrial control systems.
Marketers dis Congress over data aggregation privacy concerns
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is dismissing congressional privacy concerns about the mass aggregation of consumer data.
Groupon email scam gives victims more than they bargained for
Commtouch has detected a series of recent attacks that contain emails promising great Groupon “deals”, but deliver malware instead.
Police in Scotland have used RIPSA 85,000 times in the last 5 years
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act is used by public bodies, including the police, to obtain phone and text information on customers from telecoms companies. It was originally designed to help combat terrorism and serious crime.
iOS poses serious problems for law enforcement
MIT’s Technology Review says that Apple’s iPhone and iTab security has improved to the extent that, if used correctly, it can prove unbreakable even to law enforcement.
Citadel trojan targeting major international airport hub
The Citadel trojan is best known for its recent delivery of the Reveton ransomware. Now Trusteer has discovered a Citadel-based man-in-the-browser (MitB) attack aimed against VPN-using employees at a major international airport.
Oracle warns about privilege escalation flaw in its Database Server
Oracle is warning customers about a privilege escalation vulnerability in its Oracle Database Server that could enable an attacker to gain control of the affected server.
MacAuley-Brown gets multimillion dollar USAF cybersecurity contract
Defense contractor MacAuley-Brown (MacB) has won a multimillion dollar contract to provide cybersecurity to the US Air Force (USAF).
Anonymous 2 won’t happen, says Commander X
Christopher Mark Doyon, AKA Commander X, is the voice of the Peoples Liberation Front, and a high-profile and respected voice within Anonymous. He has now publicly debunked the idea of Anonymous 2.
Carder Christopher Schroebel gets seven years
Christopher Schroebel, a 21-year-old Maryland man, was arrested for credit card theft in November 2011. He pled guilty in June. Dutch national David Benjamin Schrooten, known as ‘Fortezza’ and ‘Xakep’, was extradited from Romania on associated charges also in June.
Bloomberg pays out to Economist Group over CQ information breach
Bloomberg has agreed to pay the Economist Group, owner of CQ, an unspecified amount of money in damages because Bloomberg employees, who were formerly employed by CQ, accessed the publication's information using their old log-ins and passwords.
FBI warns about Reveton ransomware scam
The FBI is warning about an increase in "drive-by” Reveton malware disguised as a message from law enforcement; it locks the computer and tries to extort money from the victim.
Is the Olympics Committee too heavy-handed in protecting its rights?
As the internet has learned, copyright holders can be insistent in protecting their legal rights. This now includes the London Olympic Organizing Committee (LOCOG), which has been surprisingly busy in issuing threats and warnings.
Entrust withdraws from the CAB security forum
The Certification Authority/Browser Forum is a consortium of certification authorities and browser vendors co-founded by Entrust in 2005 to ensure the security of EV SSL certificates used on the internet. Now Entrust has withdrawn.
Stalk a Democrat today: Obama for America app
Obama’s election campaign has developed and publicly released an app called ‘Obama for America’. Its purpose is to help campaign volunteers shore up votes – and tout for donations – by locating local Democrats.
South Korea leads nations in PC infections
South Korea surged to first place, vaulting past China and Taiwan, in PandaLabs’ quarterly ranking of countries with the highest percentage of infected PCs.
Reuters got caught up in a Syrian war of disinformation
Reuters has finally come clean on its hack – “a now closed vulnerability in the WordPress software” – but indicates that it is a small part of a widespread war of disinformation being waged between the two sides in Syria.
Microsoft releases internal attack surface analyzer tool
Microsoft has released to the public its internal attack surface analyzer tool, which catalogs changes made to an operating system attack surface by the installation of new software.
ISACA uncovers hidden security costs of cloud migration
In a recent white paper, global IT association ISACA identified five hidden costs of cloud migration, including a number of security-related costs.
