Infosecurity News
Infosecurity Weekly Brief - April 13 2009
Powerpoint, Porn and Twitter
It's been a Hard Day's Night for Paul McCartney's web site
The operators of Paul McCartney's web site were caught with their electronic pants down this week after the portal was found to be serving up malware.
Hispasec enhances free online malware analysis service
Hispasec Sistemas, one of Spanish-speaking world's rising IT security stars, has enhanced its online malware analysis service to accept programmes of up to 10 megabytes, as well as supporting an impressive 23 languages via its on-screen interface
Conficker methodology appears in updated Neeris worm
Even though version D of the Conficker worm failed to cause havoc - as was widely predicted - on April 1, the worm's methodology continues to cause problems in the shape of an updated version of the Neeris worm.
Samsung appoints Wick Hill as IT security distributor
Samsung, a name better known for its PC and mobile phone offerings, has signed veteran value-added distributor Wick Hill to handle its IT security products in the UK.
Infosecurity - the Week in Brief
Ghost in the machine The Information Warfare Monitor published a report on GhostNet, a cyber-espionage network that it discovered after conducting a security audit for the Dalai Lama's Tibetan Government in Exile. Almost 1300 machines were discovered in a micro-botnet controlled from servers mainly in Chinese IP blocks. The 30% of machines that it identified were of high importance to Chinese interests, it found. The Dalai Lama has condemned the whole affair, and the Chinese government is denying everything.
SQL injection attack leads to command execution
SQL injection will take a new turn later this month at Black Hat Europe, when a security researcher shows how to take control of a database server using the technique.
“Truly depressing”: GFI laments lack of insight into current IT needs from UK SMEs
Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are underestimating the security danger posed by their employees, especially in light of the current recession, according to network security software developer, GFI.
TelTech intros pay-as-you-use lie detector phone service
TelTech has launched what appears to be the industry's first pay-as-you-use telephone voice analysis (lie detection) service.
Symantec admits card data probably leaked from India
In a response to a BBC investigation into the leaking of payment card data from Indian call centres, Symantec's Indian operation has admitted that card data on three of its customers may have been leaked from its call centre contractor in India.
Infosecurity - the week in brief
Bugs, browsers, bureaucracy, backtracks and busts.
CanSecWest: lasers and electronic sniffing take over from Van Eck
If you're an IT security professional with a long memory, you'll recall a BBC TV demonstration of the Van Eck phenomenon - the process of eavesdropping on a CRT monitor at a distance of several metres using low-cost electronics in the mid-1980s following the publishing of a paper on the subject.
Grey Goose 2 ties Kremlin more closely to Georgia cyber-attacks
The follow-up to the Grey Goose cyberwar document has more closely linked Russia to the cyberwar against Georgia. The Kremlin's FSB tried to cloak its operations by mimicking the activities of loosely-connected criminal group the Russian Business Network, claims the explosive report, released today.
Russians hack Diebold ATM software
The act of ATM Card skimming and shoulder surfing - used by criminals the world over to create cloned cards from users of bank cash machines - has entered a new dimension.
Expert calls for cyberspace "Monroe doctrine"
A mixture of private sector and congressional witnesses slammed the US for a lack of cohesion in its cyber security stance this week, calling for better leadership in the defense of the country's "cyber turf".
Google Docs leaks out private data
The security rating of cloud computing has taken a battering with news that users of Google's online word processing service - Google Docs - may have shared their data with unauthorised users.
New version of L0phtCrack to be unveiled next week
Seasoned penetration testers and security experts will recall that L0phtCrack, a seriously heavy-duty password testing utility, was quietly withdrawn by Symantec in 2006, after the IT security vendor reportedly became worried about export regulations of the high-tech software from the United States.
Google: crack our native client and win $8,192 (£6,000)
Google is challenging the cracking community to rip apart its ActiveX alternative called Google Native Client.
Council staff breach security of National ID database
The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) have admitted that 33 public sector workers across 30 local authorities have accessed the Customer Information System (CIS) “without business justification”.
European Union to investigate internet telephony eavesdropping
Against a backdrop of the increasing use of internet telephony (aka voice over IP) by criminals as a way of avoiding wiretaps, the European Union has thrown its weight behind research into how to monitor internet telephony calls on a cost-effective basis.
