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Security News

• US cybersecurity efforts trigger privacy concerns (AP)

  AP - The federal government's plan to expand computer security protections into critical parts of private industry is raising concerns that the move will threaten Americans' civil liberties.

• Evi tops Android Apps of the Week (Appolicious)

  Appolicious - There’s been a second wave of Siri clones on the rise this week, with the launch of Evi gaining plenty of attention. While Android users seek their own version of the popular iPhone 4S artificial intelligence assistant, Evi, SimSimi and others have continued to gain traction in the Android Market. Lookout Labs unveiled a great app for visualizing mobile security threats, giving you deeper insight to malware behavior over time. Apartments.com also broke out with an Android app this week, joining the top real estate resources in the Market.

• Facebook takes on 'clickjacking' spammers in court (Reuters)

  Reuters - Facebook and the state of Washington sued a company on Thursday they accused of a practice called "clickjacking" that fools users of the world's top social network into visiting advertising sites, divulging personal information and spreading the scam to friends.

• Symantec profit, forecast in line with estimates (Reuters)

  Reuters - Symantec Corp, the top maker of computer security software, reported a higher quarterly profit and issued an outlook in line with Wall Street estimates.

• ThreatMetrix: Mobile buying less risky than desktop this holiday season (Digital Trends)

  Digital Trends - Cybercrime prevention solution provider ThreatMetrix has released their assessment of the risk levels associated with online commerce transactions during the 2011 holiday season, and finds on average mobile transactions were less risky overall than transactions conducted from desktop (or notebook) computers. From businesses’ point of view, this means that mobile transactions might be less chancy than traditional online sales; for consumers, it might mean that businesses increasingly try to shift online purchasing to mobile platforms as a way to reduce their risk.

• Megaupload founder joked about his 'hacker' past (AP)

  AP - Two years ago, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom joked in emails with his new neighbors in New Zealand about his bad-boy reputation before telling them his criminal past was behind him and he was coming to the country with good intentions.

  
  

• Nokia fined for spam texts in Australia (Reuters)

  Reuters - Australian regulators have fined Nokia, the world's largest cellphone maker by volume, A$55,000 ($58,000) for spamming customers and said the Finnish company should change its text message (SMS) marketing.

• McAfee patches flaw that turned protected systems into spam relays (Digital Trends)

  Digital Trends - Security software is an everyday necessity for most people, especially Windows users, businesses, and enterprises. But one of the ironies of security software is that, once in a while, it turns out to be the source of security problems all by itself. The latest instance involves McAfee’s SaaS Total Protection suite, a cloud-based solution designed to provide comprehensive email and and Web filtering along with centralized security management for businesses and organizations. However, McAfee has just had to issue an update to the service to block a flaw that could let attackers execute code on protected machines, and to fix another problem that could potentially enable attackers to turn protected systems into spam relays.

• McAfee software bug could turn customers' PCs into spam servers (Reuters)

  Reuters - Anti-virus software maker McAfee warned that a flaw in one of its products could make customers' PCs vulnerable to attacks in which hackers used their computers to distribute spam.

• Virus infections stop after suspects named (Reuters)

  Reuters - One of the most common sources of computer intrusions has stopped infecting new machines after security researchers working with Facebook released the names of five suspected ringleaders.

• U.S. charges Russian father and son with cyber fraud (Reuters)

  Reuters - U.S. authorities on Tuesday unsealed criminal charges accusing a father and son team, both Russian citizens, of hacking into U.S. bank accounts and illegally snatching credit card numbers and stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

• Google's 'Good to Know' campaign: Public service announcement or just PR? (Digital Trends)

  Digital Trends - Google has launched a new “Good to Know” campaign, offering simple tips on how users can maintain their online security and privacy and stay safe while they’re using Google services as well as the Internet in general. The Good to Know campaign spans both the online and traditional media world: Google has put up a website with its tips, but will also be running ads in newspapers and buying sign space in places like New York City. The idea is to educate even non-technical users on the basics of cyber-security, so they’re less likely to become victims of online scams, account hijacking, or other forms of fraud.

• Symantec says hackers stole source code in 2006 (Reuters)

  Reuters - Symantec Corp said a 2006 breach led to the theft of the source code to its flagship Norton security software, reversing its previous position that it had not been hacked.

• Google tackles online privacy in unusual ad blitz (AP)

  AP - Google is focusing on the importance of protecting personal information in an unusual marketing campaign for a company that has been blasted for its own online privacy lapses and practices.

• Hacker says to release full Norton Antivirus code on Tuesday (Reuters)

  Reuters - A hacker who goes by the name of "Yama Tough" threatened Saturday to release next week the full source code for Symantec Corp's flagship Norton Antivirus software.

• Hacked Zappos Customers: Beware Phishing Scams (Mashable)

  Mashable - As hacks go, Zappos's attack over the past weekend could have been a lot worse. If you're one of the estimated 24 million affected Zappos or 6PM.com (an affiliate site) customers, you can take solace in the fact that only the last four digits of your credit card number have been compromised. Likewise, as Zappos CEO Tony Hseih explained in an email to customers on Sunday, hackers stole a cryptographically scrambled version of users' passwords, not the actual password.

• Israel rattled as hackers hit bourse, banks, El Al (Reuters)

  Reuters - Hackers disrupted online access to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, El Al Airlines and three banks on Monday in what the government described as a cyber-offensive against Israel.

• White House comments on SOPA, won't support harmful legislation (Digital Trends)

  Digital Trends - Yesterday brought some good news for opponents of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, and other in-process legislation intended for use as a weapon against cyber-criminals. The official online voice of the White House ran a lengthy blog post detailing “what the Administration will support—and what we will not support” if/when bills like SOPA and PIPA pass through Congress and land on President Barack Obama’s Oval Office desk.

• San Fran college's computer network compromised (AP)

  AP - The computer networks of a San Francisco community college have been infected with software viruses that illegally transmitted personal data from students and employees overseas, school officials said Friday.

• New Sykipot variant targets Pentagon smart cards (Digital Trends)

  Digital Trends - A new variant in the long-standing Sykipot malware family appears to have a new trick up its sleeve. According to AlienVault, instead of just launching spear-phishing email messages, the new Sykipot variant now appears to be targeting credentials of the PC/SC x509 smart cards used by the U.S. Department of Defense and a wide range of corporations and enterprises, including defense contractors.