softsecurity.com This day highlights

Zeus botnets suffer mighty blow after ISP taken offline

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:23:57 GMT

One quarter of C&C channels vanish At least a quarter of the command and control servers linked to Zeus-related botnets have suddenly gone quiet, continuing a recent trend of takedowns hitting some of the world's most nefarious cyber operations.?Offloading malware protection to the cloud

IE zero-day flaw leaks out; Exploit code published

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:22:12 GMT

Using obvious clues from a McAfee blog post, an Israeli hacker was able to pinpoint the latest Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability and create working exploit code

Bad employee! 12% knowingly violate company IT policies

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:17:00 GMT

By now, it's practically a mantra that the biggest problem with corporate IT security is the employees themselves. However, we usually assume that's due to ignorant users or poorly enforced policies. Not so for a chunk of the US working population—according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, 12 percent admitted to knowingly violating IT policy in order to get work done. The survey of 1,347 employed adults was conducted on behalf of Fiberlink, a company that hawks services that "help enterprises connect, control and secure laptops and mobile devices." Needless to say, the survey results fit perfectly into the company's agenda, but they are hardly surprising. After all, how many of us know someone who has left a work laptop in an unattended vehicle, sent unencrypted e-mails without permission, or reused the same three passwords over and over instead of choosing new ones every 90 days? Fiberlink CEO Jim Sheward warned of the obvious. "IT departments nationwide spend a lot of time and money on their compliance, usage, and access policies, but they only work if people follow the rules," he said in an e-mailed statement. [C]ompanies could face dangerous breaches that include the loss of sensitive data, competitive intelligence, or customers’ private information." Harris' findings are supported by previous reports saying that leaky employees are a bigger threat than malware, that employees (not hackers) cause the most corporate data loss, and that employees' online activities pose the greatest threat to IT security. With 12 percent of those people actively working outside of stated IT policy (and plenty more who do so out of ignorance), IT admins certainly have their work cut out for them if they want to maintain a tight ship. Read the comments on this post

13m users worldwide affected by Mariposa botnet

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:03:35 GMT

Following the worldwide shutdown of the Mariposa botnet last week, Panda Security reported today that the massive botnet had infected 13 million computers in 190 countries and 31,901 cities. Accor...

Freshly patched Adobe PDF flaw under 'active attack'

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:52:48 GMT

Malicious hackers have pounced on a newly patched Adobe PDF Reader vulnerability to plant Trojan downloaders on tardy Windows users.

Hackers can locate and exploit the Energizer USB charger backdoor

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:21:22 GMT

Hackers using the freely available Metasploit tool can locate infected systems on the local network or gain access to a system running the Energizer backdoor.

Most malicious websites are hosted in the US

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:52:49 GMT

AVG Technologies unveiled the results of a research study which shows that � contrary to popular opinion � most malicious websites are hosted on US servers and not in other countries like China. Th...

LifeLock fined $12 million over lack of life-locking ability

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:37:00 GMT

Identity theft prevention service LifeLock is not as pristine as its reputation claims after all. The company agreed to pay out $12 million to settle charges with the Federal Trade Commission and 35 states, which had said that LifeLock's identity-theft-prevention claims were false and that the company actually made its own customer data available and unsecured from theft. As it turns out, there is no way to fully guarantee that identity theft won't happen, no matter what someone puts on the side of a truck. LifeLock has made a name for itself as the go-to service if you never want to have any part of your identity stolen, ever. The company claims to proactively protect your information against fraud, alert you to any kind of shady activity, and reduce credit card offers for $10-15 per month. Those who have seen LifeLock's trucks driving around their cities know that the company used to slap its CEO Todd Davis' social security number on the side of the vehicle along with a number of claims guaranteeing that its customers won't fall victim. (As an aside, Davis' identity allegedly ended up getting stolen in 2007.) Read the comments on this post

Google boss says something will happen in China 'soon'

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:20:08 GMT

Seven weeks and counting Google CEO Eric Schmidt has reiterated that the company is currently in negotiations with the Chinese government over its future in the country - despite the Chinese government's claims to the contrary - and he expects some sort of development "soon."?Case Study: WhatsUp keeps Legoland turnstyles ringing

Basic security measures do wonders

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:08:11 GMT

Deep down inside, we all wish for a unique solution that will protect our machine or our network completely forever and ever, preferably one that can be activated with a simple flick of a switch and t...

Adobe Reader and targeted malware attacks

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:48:47 GMT

If you're still tardy in applying security patches for the ever-present Adobe Reader software, this chart from F-Secure should jolt you into action.

Cryptome: PayPal a 'liar, cheat and a thug'

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:10:18 GMT

Account still restricted "PayPal is a fucking liar, a cheat and a thug," says Cryptome operator John Young. The eBay-owned payment service closed the Cryptome account last week, with over $5,000 of donations intended for Young in limbo.?

Twitter tackles phishing problem

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:36:41 GMT

In a bid to obstruct the phishing onslaught that has lately been targeting its users, Twitter has announced that it will rout the submitted direct messages through a new URL service called twt.tl, whe...

etc: Cheapy cable outlet Monoprice may have been hacked. Monoprice says some customers (including some of us at Ars) have reported fraudulent charges, so check your statements!

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:30:49 GMT

Cheapy cable outlet Monoprice may have been hacked. Monoprice says some customers (including some of us at Ars) have reported fraudulent charges, so check your statements! Read More: Monoprice Read the comments on this post

Online banking rip-offs go up, card fraud goes down

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:59:45 GMT

Losses due to credit and debit card fraud have fallen for the first time in 3 years, says the UK Cards Association, only to be supplanted by a rising incidence of phishing attacks aimed at stealing lo...

UK plastic fraud losses fall for first time in 3 years

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:21:31 GMT

Online banking losses up though A rise in online banking fraud losses took some of the shine off the overall fall in debit and credit fraud in the UK last year.?

Twitter adds filter to cut phishing lines

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:46:30 GMT

Every twt.tl bit helps Twitter has tightened up security procedures in order to curtail phishing attacks against users of the micro-blogging service, which have become rampant over recent weeks.?

9 million ZeuS attacks blocked in the last 6 months

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:19:55 GMT

Trend Micro has seen a recent rise in average of around 300 unique ZeuS samples per day, according to a recent threat report that examines the Eastern European criminal enterprise behind one of the wo...

Human exploit attacks surpass the software flaw approach

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:37:37 GMT

Barracuda Labs released its annual report for 2009, in which they highlight the shifts in Internet user behavior and the resulting attacker trends. Twitter Throughout 2009, Twitter experienced a...

And the winner is� FakeAV!

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:45:17 GMT

Taking advantage of the Oscar fever, criminals have poisoned search results regarding the award ceremony. Entering "oscar winners live 2010" you get this: TrendLabs reports that the majority on t...

Max Clifford takes �1m to drop hack probe

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:29:44 GMT

Kiss and don't tell Celebrity publicist Max Clifford has agreed to accept a �1m plus payoff in exchange for dropping phone hacking allegations against the News of the World.?

Suburban woman accused of using net to recruit terrorists

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:02:02 GMT

Feds cuff JihadJane A suburban Pennsylvania woman who went by the online alias JihadJane used the internet to recruit Islamic terrorists and to plot the assassination of a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Mohammed, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday.?

Voluntary Breach Disclosure Rare But Valuable

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:27:00 GMT

Most organizations won't go public about an attack unless they have to, but security experts say there are ways to collaborate without being stigmatized

Fraud-prevention service ponies up $12m for 'false' ads

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:17:58 GMT

Agrees to safeguard customer data An Arizona company that sells services designed to prevent identity theft has agreed to pay $12m to settle charges it oversold their effectiveness and didn't adequately protect sensitive customer data.?

News: Change in Focus

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Change in Focus

Eight vulnerabilities fixed, one IE 0-day warning for Patch Tuesday

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:54:48 GMT

After last month's mammoth Patch Tuesday release, administrators will be glad to know that this month Microsoft delivers only 2 bulletins that fix 8 vulnerabilities targeting Movie Maker and Office, a...

UK threatens to retaliate over cyber attacks

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:08:34 GMT

Rapidly approaching the point when retaliation against countries suspected of launching cyber attacks and engaging in cyber espionage will be ordered, the UK Government's security and counter-terroris...

Microsoft plugs dangerous Excel security holes

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:58:22 GMT

Microsoft today issued patches for seven potentially dangerous security flaws in the Microsoft Excel worksheet software

It's official: Adobe Reader is world's most-exploited app

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:33:45 GMT

The new Microsoft Adobe's ubiquitous Reader application has replaced Microsoft Word as the program that's most often targeted in malware campaigns, according to figures compiled by F-Secure.?

Log review checklist for security incidents

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:21:38 GMT

Anton Chuvakin, the well-known security expert and consultant in the field of log management and PCI DSS compliance and author of many books, and Lenny Zeltser, leader of the security consulting team ...