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U.S. Company is Major Source for Cybercriminals

September 2, 2008 3:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A report by several security researchers identifies Atrivo, a network provider in Concord, CA, as a major host for web services that make it easy for even novice hackers to commit cybercrimes. According to the Washington Post, the company has long been a source of spyware, adware, viruses, and fake antivirus programs. The company's founder tells the paper that he can't control the content on servers, although he's trying to clean up the company's image.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: Atrivo, internet, security, Washington Post

White House Issues Cyber Security Mandate

August 29, 2008 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All federal agencies must adopt new cyber security measures by January, under an ordered issued by the Bush administration. The Washington Post reports that the measures, which are to be applied to all dot-gov domains, are intended to fix vulnerabilities discovered in the domain name system. The fix is intended to prevent cyber crooks from pretending to send messages from an official site. Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: cyberspace, federal government, security, Washington Post

Low-Tech Method Breaks Anti-Spam Defense

August 25, 2008 6:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Software to automatically sign up for thousands of free email addresses is often thwarted by the use of CAPTCHAs, those little squiggly words you have to type in to move from one screen to the next. The Washington Post's Security Fix blog says that, while some spammers have made great strides in defeating the method, the quickest and easiest way is to hire humans to do the work. There are now websites that pay $1 for every thousand retyped CAPTCHAs sent in.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: CAPTCHAS, security, spam, Washington Post

'Lots of Technology' Deployed To Keep the Peace at the Convention

August 25, 2008 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Drew Armstrong, CQ Staff

A three-dimensional tabletop map stands before an eight-foot by eight-foot video screen displaying a map of downtown Denver at the United States Secret Service's Denver Multi Agency Communications (Command) Center. The command center will allow 62 federal and local agencies to monitor and record everything related to the Democratic National Convention. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

DENVER -- Officials are keeping a lid on the technologies they will use to keep convention-goers safe, but the city has been spending heavily on security equipment and technology ahead of the event.

"You're going to have lots of additional capabilities brought to it, lots of technology deployed throughout Denver," said P.J. Crowley, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a terrorism and security expert.

Tags: Avrio Group, Democratic Convention, Denver, Drew Armstrong, security

Continue reading 'Lots of Technology' Deployed To Keep the Peace at the Convention.

Cyber Crooks Easily Distribute Hacking Software

August 22, 2008 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Continuing his series about cyber criminals tools of the trade, Brian Krebs of the Washington Post's Security Fix blog talks about how the bad guys distribute their bad software. Whereas it used to be difficult to create a network of hacked computers, now online services make it easy for anyone with nefarious intent to spread data-stealing software around.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: internet, malware, security, Washington Post

Biometrics May Lower Identity Theft

August 20, 2008 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More powerful and inexpensive microprocessors are leading to increased use of biometrics---the use of individual physical characteristics as identifiers. Scientific American says that fingerprinting, face recognition, and iris scans are becoming more popular methods to fight identity theft, because it's not as easy to fake an eye scan as it is to steal a PIN. One issue, though, is that the error rates in some systems are still too high.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: biometrics, identity theft, Scientific American, security

Experts Warn of Coming Cyber Attacks

August 19, 2008 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week's military incursion into Georgia by Russian troops was preceded by an attack on government computers, and the same thing could happen here, experts warn. According to CNN, computer security experts say no one has devised a way to protect against online attacks on government systems. The fact that the U.S. is so dependent on the Internet makes us all the more vulnerable, they say.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: CNN, internet, security

Palm Scans Come to the U.S.

August 18, 2008 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Infrared scans that verify identity by making a map of the veins in a person's palm will be required for all people taking the Graduate Management Admissions Test next year. Discovery News says this is the first use of this technology in the United States, although ATMs in Japan have been using it for about five years. A palm scan is considered more secure than a fingerprint, because it can't be lifted from an object as easily as a fingerprint and it requires a live hand with active blood flow.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: Discovery News, Japan, palm scanners, security

After Ivins Suicide, Top Democrats Call for Bio-Lab Probe

August 13, 2008 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Matt Korade, CQ Staff

Top Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee vowed to expand their investigation of security risks at labs used to study lethal pathogens -- including a review of personnel security at Fort Detrick, Md.

Fort Detrick was the workplace of Bruce Ivins, the suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks who committee suicide last month.

Tags: anthrax, biosafety, Ft. Detrick, GAO, Ivins, security

Continue reading After Ivins Suicide, Top Democrats Call for Bio-Lab Probe .

Passport Chips Not Secure, Hackers Warn

August 11, 2008 6:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A number of governments are implanting radio frequency identification (RFID) tags into passports as a way of making them more secure. But a pair of researchers at last week's Black Hat conference in Las Vegas showed the Wall Street Journal's Business Technology Blog that they could hack into the chips and change the data. One said it took about four hours to break the encryption key and get the data contained in a passport chip.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: Black Hat conference, RFID tags, security, Wall Street Journal

Three Ways for Next President to Improve Cybersecurity

August 11, 2008 5:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Both presidential candidates have mentioned the need for security in cyberspace but have tackled few details. Now a columnist at Wired is offering some broad advice on what the next president can do. His suggestions: Use government buying power to require secure machines and software, legislate the results and not the methods to achieve security, and invest broadly in research.

Bruce Schneier writes in his "memo" to the next President: "You have the buying power to get your vendors to make serious security improvements in the products and services they sell to the government, and then we all benefit...."

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: cyberspace, security, Wired

Social Networks Vulnerable to Scams, Researchers Warn

August 8, 2008 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Facebook, MySpace, and their ilk are becoming increasing popular for identity thieves and purveyors of malicious software, several speakers at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas said this week. The Washington Post's Security Fix blog says the raft of user-created applications on these sites are prime candidates for spreading malware. On the other hand, one speaker warned that staying off such sites gives scammers the opportunity to create a fake profile for you and use it against your friends.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: Facebook, MySpace, security, Security Fix, Washington Post

Little Known Program Takes Big Chunk of U.S. Budget

July 21, 2008 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Comprehensive National Security Initiative is President Bush's single largest funding request in the fiscal 2009 intelligence budget. The program is designed to develop a plan to protect government computers against both foreign and domestic threats. But the Washington Post reports that the highly classified, multi-year, multimillion dollar program is described only vaguely, leaving questions as to what it will actually entail.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: Comprehensive National Security Initiative, computers, security, Washington Post

Obama Pushes Cyber Security

July 17, 2008 7:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Bush administration hasn't done enough to combat cyber-espionage and other online crime, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says. In a speech at Purdue University, Obama said he'll make network security a top priority, and appoint a National Cyber Advisor, according to Wired.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: Bush, internet, Obama, security

Internet Security Problem Secretly Fixed

July 14, 2008 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week several companies, such as Microsoft and Cisco Systems, simultaneously released a set of "patches" designed to correct a security flaw in the Domain Name Server system, which controls Internet addresses. CNET News talks with Dan Kaminsky, the security researcher who found the flaw and kept it secret from the public while steps were taken to correct it. CNET Columnist Robert Vamosi believes the decisions Kaminsky made are a model for dealing with such potentially high-risk security problems.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: CNET, Dan Kaminsky, internet, security

Unsafe Browsers Widespread on Internet

July 1, 2008 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A full 40 percent of people surfing the Internet are doing so with outdated versions of Web browsers that are vulnerable to attack, a study shows. The study, conducted by Google, IBM, and the Communications Systems Group in Switzerland, found 576 million people using unsafe browsers, the Washington Post reports. More than half of all Internet Explorer users had outdated versions, the report found.

Web pick posted by Neil Savage, Xconomy.com

Tags: browsers, Google, IBM, Internet Explorer, security

Human Error Causes Most Data Breaches

June 16, 2008 7:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

posted by Neil Savage, xconomy.com

High-tech attacks notwithstanding, an analysis by Verizon's Business Risk team found the vast majority of data losses come down to sloppy security. The Wall Street Journal says that over half of the attacks the team studied were committed by people with minimal technical skills. They say stupid mistakes are so common that forensics work is getting boring.

Tags: security, Verizon, Wall Street Journal

Innovations

Results tagged “security” from Innovations

U.S. Company is Major Source for Cybercriminals

White House Issues Cyber Security Mandate

Low-Tech Method Breaks Anti-Spam Defense

'Lots of Technology' Deployed To Keep the Peace at the Convention

Cyber Crooks Easily Distribute Hacking Software

Biometrics May Lower Identity Theft

Experts Warn of Coming Cyber Attacks

Palm Scans Come to the U.S.

After Ivins Suicide, Top Democrats Call for Bio-Lab Probe

Passport Chips Not Secure, Hackers Warn

Three Ways for Next President to Improve Cybersecurity

Social Networks Vulnerable to Scams, Researchers Warn

Little Known Program Takes Big Chunk of U.S. Budget

Obama Pushes Cyber Security

Internet Security Problem Secretly Fixed

Unsafe Browsers Widespread on Internet

Human Error Causes Most Data Breaches

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