Antivirus, firewall and IDS products

Virus could cut 20,000 UK computers from web on Monday, FBI warns

The DNS Changer virus could cause 20,000 computers in the UK – of 350,000 worldwide - to lose web access on 9 July, the FBI has warned Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

BT extends cyber security agreement with MoD

BT is to extend its cyber security agreement with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in a deal to expand its cyber defence service Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

White House cyber security coordinator Howard Schmidt joins Qualys

Former White House cyber security coordinator Howard Schmidt is to join the board of security and compliance company Qualys Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Network security: Is new technology bypassing traditional controls?

Network security practices are among the most mature, but can businesses be sure network traffic is not sneaking past traditional controls? Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Ethiopian government blocks Tor Network online anonymity

The Ethiopian government is blocking access to the Tor Network that enables online anonymity, according to Reporters Without Borders Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Flame malware gets kill command

The controllers of Flame, the most powerful cyber weapon discovered to date, have recently sent a kill command that removes the malware from some infected computers Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

eHarmony, Last.fm join LinkedIn with password leaks

Online dating site eHarmony and Last.fm have joined LinkedIn with password leaks, as hackers focus on social networks Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Enabling rapid and effective IT recovery

This report from analyst, Freeform Dynamics, offers 7 key enablers of effective IT disaster recovery for IT department's in small and medium companies. Continue Reading

Top 10 tips for IPv6 security

Many organisations are being misled about the complexities surrounding IPv6 security, according to security firm Stonesoft Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Security researchers discover powerful cyber espionage weapon 'Flame'

Security researchers have discovered a cyber espionage weapon, dubbed 'Flame', with a functionality greater than any other known threat Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

UK regulator PhonepayPlus shuts down Angry Birds smartphone scam

UK users of Android smartphones have been targeted by premium-rate phone scams masquerading as popular apps such as Angry Birds Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Mobile threats demand focus on data protection, says Websense

Business needs to focus on data protection as cyber criminals turn to mobile malware, says Websense. Continue Reading

The Pirate Bay is latest site to be hit by DDoS attack

The Pirate Bay has become the latest high-profile website to be hit by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

InfoSecurity Europe: Odd Bugs

A selection of photos showing how far exhibitors will go to get people to their stands at InfoSecurity Europe 2012... Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Half of UK networks vulnerable to APTs

Many UK corporate networks are vulnerable to advanced persistent threats (APTs), a survey has revealed. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Essar’s WAN encryption strategy to secure data in motion: In focus

Indian conglomerate Essar puts WAN encryption in place using Cisco’s GET VPN to protect data flows between remote locations. A closer look. Continue Reading

By

• Varun Haran, Reporter

Infosec 2012: Unscrubbed hard drives a threat to business, says ICO

Unscrubbed hard drives on computers that are decommissioned and sold on represent a significant risk to business Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Infosec 2012: Patching alone can deliver 80% protection

Keeping software up to date with security patches can deliver 80% protection from cyber threats, says security firm Secunia. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Infosec 2012: Cloud enables security expertise for SME

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) typically face the same threats as bigger organisations, but lack the same level of expertise and other security resources. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Infosecurity Europe

With 300 exhibitors and hundreds of delegates, security is still hot on the IT agenda. Cliff Saran presents the highlights of infosecurity Europe Continue Reading

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• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

2012 Information Security Breaches Survey

Security breaches cost the UK billions over the last 12 months as cyber attacks reached record levels. Continue Reading

UK firms see competitors as greater cyber attack risk than criminals

More than half of UK firms expect a cyber attack in the next six months, but see competitors as a greater risk than criminals Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

UK business fears impact of new EU data protection framework

More than half of senior UK IT managers in large enterprises believe the proposed new EU data protection framework will cost their business more money, a survey has revealed Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Fighting Economic Crime in the Financial Services sector

PwC examines the impact of Cybercrime on the financial services industry. Continue Reading

UK hacktivist cases should spur business to action, says lawyer

The last of four alleged UK members of hacktivist group LulzSec has appeared in Westminster magistrates court in London Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

BBC cyber attacks highlight difficulty of attribution

The BBC has said it is was targeted by cyber attacks following a campaign by Iran against its Persian service, but stopped short of accusing Tehran of ordering the cyber attacks Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

2012 security outlook

This report, based on extensive research from chief information security officers, identifies the top 10 security imperatives for 2012. Continue Reading

RSA 2012: IT security experts urge enterprises to ban smartphone BYOD schemes

Enterprises should ban employees from using their own smartphones for work, a panel of IT security practitioners told the RSA Conference 2012 Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

IT departments risk losing responsibility for IT security

IT security professionals can no longer take it for granted that IT security will continue as part of the IT function Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

OSSIM update enables cyber threat intelligence sharing

The latest update to the Open Source Security Information Management (OSSIM) base system includes a mechanism for sharing cyber threat intelligence. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Fewer than a third of UK organisations plan mobile security projects

Despite the media hype around the adoption of mobile technologies and the need to secure them, relatively few UK organisations are planning mobile security projects, a survey has revealed Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

The cyber-savvy CEO and growing cyber threats

This report from PwC explains why CEOs need to take the lead in protecting their organisations from the surge in cyber attacks. Continue Reading

Cloud leaves many firewalls wanting – but could automation prove the silver bullet?

Most companies rely on firewalls, but the IT landscape is changing and so must approaches to security. Is there a silver bullet? Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

MoD calls on academics, industry and inventors to pitch cyber security ideas

The Ministry of Defence is calling for innovative solutions from academia and industry to protect and secure UK interests in cyberspace. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

GPU cracks six-character password in four seconds

A £30 nVidia GeForce GT220 graphics card is capable of cracking strong passwords in a matter of hours. Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Self-encrypting drives: SED the best-kept secret in hard drive encryption security

The SED solves many common data loss problems and is easy to use and manage with minimal impact on system performance – yet relatively few businesses and governments use SEDs. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Researchers claim to have broken SSL/TLS encryption

Two security researchers claim to have found a way of breaking the SSL/TLS encryption that is widely used to guarantee the reliability and privacy of data exchanged between web browsers and servers. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Gartner: Keep encryption simple and standardised to cut cost and complexity

Businesses should consider self-encrypting drives (SEDs) for new installations that hold significant volumes of sensitive data, says Gartner. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Government must change the way it stores citizens' personal data, calls the EHRC

The government must bring in changes to better protect personal information, calls the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall

Case Study: Data encryption at the Salvation Army

The Salvation Army in the UK supports flexible working from home using laptops owned by the charity, but says finding a good way of protecting data was a challenge. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford

Automated web application attacks are the top security threat, study reveals

Websites are attacked about 27 times an hour or once every two minutes on average, peaking at 25,000 attacks a minute or seven a second, according to research... Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford

E-mail accounts of senior US officials targeted in Chinese hack attack

Chinese hackers have accessed the accounts of hundreds of Gmail users, including senior US officials, Chinese political activists, military personnel, journalists and officials in several Asian countries, Google has said. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Case study: Invensys saves £546,000 with SMS tokens for 150,000 users

Engineering firm Invensys is embarking on a global roll-out of software-based tokens from SecurEnvoy to replace physical token-based authentication. Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

DWP prepares alternative to identity cards for Universal Credit

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is grooming a British tech start-up to play a key role in its £2bn Universal Credit benefits system. Continue Reading

By

• Mark Ballard

The computers that won the war: Bletchley Park's codebreaking equipment is rebuilt

The Tunny Gallery, opened at The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park on 26 May 2011, tells the incredible story of the interception and decryption of German High Command radio teleprinter messages during World War Two. Continue Reading

Apple issues Max OS X update to remove fake AV MacDefender malware

Apple is to release a Mac OS X update to tackle fake antivirus software or "scareware" known as MacDefender, MacSecurity and MacProtector. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Government vigilance steps up after George Osborne reveals extent of cyber attacks

Security experts have called for UK government departments to be vigilant after chancellor George Osborne revealed that 20,000 e-mails are sent by hostile intelligence agencies to the UK government each month. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Oracle JDeveloper review

Tim Anderson finds that Oracle's home-grown tool for Java development, JDeveloper, may have a traditional feel, but its smart editor and productivity tools make it particularly useful if you are working with the powerful Oracle ADF. Continue Reading

By

• Tim Anderson

Admins face huge April Patch Tuesday security update from Microsoft

Microsoft has announced that it will release 17 security bulletins to address 64 vulnerabilities Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Microsoft publishes report on its Security Development Lifecycle

Microsoft has published a new report that outlines nine years of progress in developing, improving and sharing the Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) process. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Twitter increases security with HTTPS encrypted tweets setting

Twitter has added a new profile setting to increase the level of security when accessing the mobile blogging site over an unsecured Wi-Fi connections. Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

Trusteer debuts no-software malware protection

Secure web access firm Trusteer has announced a web login and transaction monitoring service to detect malware without installing software. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Western Digital bids $4.3 billion for Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

Western Digital has tabled a bid of $4.25m (£2.6bn) to acquire Hitachi Global Storage Technologies ending the Japanese HDD vendor's previous preparations for an IPO. Continue Reading

By

• Paul Kunert

HSBC uses token to secure smartphone banking

HSBC is sending four million online banking customers a security token which will enable them to log in to their online bank account wherever they are, without using a card reader. Continue Reading

By

• Karl Flinders, Chief reporter and senior editor EMEA

Intel finalises £5bn acquisition of McAfee

Intel has confirmed the completion of its $7.7bn (£5bn) acquisition of security software giant McAfee. Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

Microsoft fixes security flaw in malware protection engine

Microsoft has patched a flaw in its malware protection engine that could be exploited to gain control of victim's computer. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Legacy kit and lack of skills hold back digital video surveillance

A huge legacy investment in analogue equipment and a lack of data integration skills are holding back more widespread adoption of fully digital video surveillance systems, according to research just published. Continue Reading

RSA 2011: Top attacks business will face in 2011

Social networking will be the attacker platform of choice in 2011, says Ed Skoudis, founder and senior security consultant with InGuardians. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Mobile workers practise lax security

More than half of Europeans practise unsafe networking when they work away from the office, according to research by German remote access experts NCP Engineering. Continue Reading

2010 IT security threats point to priorities for 2011, says Sophos

Cyber threats of 2010 highlight the top risks to business for 2011, including social media sites, whistleblowers, and hacktivists, warns security firm Sophos. Continue Reading

By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

More than 1,000 patient records lost on unencrypted laptop

A doctor is to be disciplined following the loss of 1,147 patient records on an unencrypted laptop. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

BCS CEO David Clarke talks about the future of the IT industry

David Clarke, CEO of the chartered institute of computing the BCS, talks to Computer Weekly about being awarded an MBE, the future of the IT profession and tackling a membership revolt against his leadership last year. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

FTC clears £5bn Intel acquisition of McAfee

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US has approved Intel's $7.7bn (£5bn) acquisition of security software giant, McAfee. Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

How to browse the web securely

Internet users need to be on their guard for rogue web sites, phishing attacks and security holes in web browsers. Jenny Williams offers some top tips on browsing safely and securely. Continue Reading

By

• Jenny Williams, University of Gloucestershire

Photos: MoD Taranis - unmanned combat aircraft

A prototype unmanned combat aircraft of the future, Taranis, has been unveiled by the MOD for the first time today. Named after the Celtic god of thunder, the concept demonstrator will test the possibility of developing the first ever autonomous stealthy Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) that would ultimately be capable of precisely striking targets at long range, even in another continent. Continue Reading

By

• Faisal Alani, UK at eBay

Chinook Mk2's safety-critical backup system was faulty

Software supplier EDS found so many anomalies in fuel-control software on the Chinook Mk2 helicopter that it became concerned that the Ministry of Defence and RAF would ignore the potential importance of each flaw because of the high volume of errors, a confidential report reveals. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

EDS report on 'dangerous' Chinook software published for the first time

Computer Weekly is publishing, for the first time, a technical analysis of the software installed on the Chinook Mk2 helicopter, the Chinook model which featured in the RAF's worst peacetime crash. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Senior airmen question safety of Chinook software

Three fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society have questioned whether the Chinook Mk2, of the type which crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994, was airworthy. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Chinook computer flaws - ex-ministers speak out

Former Defence ministers are calling for a new inquiry into the crash of Chinook 576, after new disclosures of a "positively dangerous" flaw in software...

 Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Israel carves a niche in IT security

IT security, risk, governance, continuity and compliance technologies are fast becoming some of Israel's top exports.

Analysing and...

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By

• Warwick Ashford, Senior analyst

Gary McKinnon loses case to avoid extradition, could face 60 years in jail

Hacker Gary McKinnon has failed in his last attempt to avoid extradition to the United States where he could face 60 years in prison. Continue Reading

By

• Rebecca Thomson, Computer Weekly

Chinook crash: critical internal memo on software flaws

Computer Weekly is publishing, in full for the first time, an MoD memo that is the clearest evidence yet that software problems made the helicopter unsafe to fly at the time of the accident. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Photos: What went on at Infosec 2009

If you missed Infosec 2009, have a look at our photo story and it will feel like you were there! Continue Reading

By

• Faisal Alani, UK at eBay

Get cracking crushing Conficker

Conficker will activate its botnet on April 1st. Sophos, Symantec, Webroot, BitDefender and other vendors say you should remove it ASAP before the real trouble starts. Continue Reading

By

• Ron Condon

Photos: Top ten cybersquatter cases

Here's our top ten cybersquatting cases. Continue Reading

By

• Faisal Alani, UK at eBay

Chinook ZD576: How the Fadec engine control software worked and what could have gone wrong

What follows is some of the evidence ... Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Facing up to security perils of outbound traffic

What about the threat from within and, more specifically, the security issues that arise from outbound traffic risks? Continue Reading

By

• Steve Gold

Chinook helicopter disaster - computer software failure or pilot error?

Chinook helicopter crash: was it computer software failure or a cause we'll never know? This article gives the background to the Chinook helicopter disaster with links to all the relevant articles published by ComputerWeekly and other useful web links. Continue Reading

By

• Tony Collins

Unified communications considerations for 2008

Unified communications (UC) created awareness and confusion in 2007. Next year, UC will reach the masses and be used to its full potential. Continue Reading

By

• Andrew R. Hickey

SNW Preview: Data protection makes a stand

Led by EMC's integration of data deduplication and CDP into its backup software, data protection products are prominent at Storage Networking World. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo, News Director; Beth Pariseau, News Writer

Checklist for purchasing hardware-based encryption

Encryption appliances sit inline on a network and use specially designed electronics to encrypt data at line speeds, essentially eliminating the performance penalty imposed by encryption software running on a general server. While software-based encryption is typically handled as a specific event or process (e.g., encrypting data during a backup process), appliance-based encryption normally can handle any quantity of data in flight. Continue Reading

Podcast: the true cost of IT security

In this interview, Cliff Saran speaks to Martin Sadler, director of HP's Trusted Systems Lab, about how much should we be expected to spend and how much security is enough. Hackers are getting smarter and Martin believes newly trained IT professionals are ill-equipped to deal with the sophisticated nature of modern attacks due to limitations in the current way IT security is taught. Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Microsoft releases Windows Server 2008 RC0

Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate 0 (RC0) is now available for customer review. Continue Reading

By

• Antony Savvas

How to purchase a data encryption product

Data security is now a critical problem for every company, regardless of size. This buying guide explores the factors involved in purchasing data encryption hardware and software products. Continue Reading

PCI council adds Pin security to remit

The PCI Security Standards Council has added Pin Entry Device (PED) security technology to its payments industry testing portfolio to streamline standardisation. Continue Reading

By

• Computer Weekly Staff

Government warns of dangerous QuickBooks Online flaw

Attackers could exploit two flaws in the popular Intuit QuickBooks Online Edition to cause buffer overflows and download or upload files in arbitrary locations, US-CERT warned. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Brenner

Cybercriminals employ toolkits in rising numbers to steal data

The market is increasing for crimeware toolkits that help cybercriminals avoid detection and exploit flaws, according to new research from security vendor, Finjan. Continue Reading

By

• Robert Westervelt, TechTarget

Understanding VoWLAN

Like VoIP, VoWLAN contributes to cost efficiency. Because calls can be routed over the data network internally or over the Internet externally, mobile telephony costs can be eliminated or decreased significantly. In the long term, VoWLAN deployment is a significant step toward interoperability and seamless mobile connectivity between private WLANs and public wireless and cellular networks. Continue Reading

NAC switches, appliances help track users, malware

Some vendors are offering switches and appliances to monitor traffic for malware and unauthorized access, as the NAC market including Cisco NAC and Microsoft NAP sorts itself out. Continue Reading

By

• Neil Roiter, TechTarget

Firefox security issues persist despite update

Despite Mozilla's recent Firefox security update, researchers say there's another way attackers could exploit the browser for malicious purposes. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Brenner

Rootkit found in older Sony USB device

F-Secure says it discovered rootkit technology in Sony's Micro Vault USM-F fingerprint reader software. The find comes two years after controversy over Sony's DRM technology. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Brenner

SANS: Attackers may be attempting Trend Micro exploits

The SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC) warns that attackers may be attempting to exploit flaws in Trend Micro products to hijack computer systems. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Brenner

Experts: IDS is here to stay

IDS technology has survived predictions that it would be replaced by IPS. One expert says it will remain a separate product while IPS is folded into firewalls. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Brenner

Trend Micro fixes flaws in ServerProtect, PC-cillin

Attackers could tamper with servers and run malicious code by exploiting flaws in Trend Micro's ServerProtect, Anti-Spyware and PC-cillin products. But fixes are available. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Brenner

Microsoft adds CA vets to anti-malware team

Microsoft has hired Jakub Kaminski, one of CA's more talented and well-regarded antivirus researchers, and three of his colleagues from CA's Australian lab. Continue Reading

By

• Dennis Fisher

Sourcefire acquires open source ClamAV

Sourcefire, maker of the popular Snort open source IDS tool, has acquired ClamAV, an open source email gateway scanning tool. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Brenner

VMware acquires HIPS provider Determina

VMware, the leader in virtualization software, has acquired Determina, a provider of host IPS technology. Continue Reading

By

• Dennis Fisher

College campuses prepare for Microsoft Vista challenges

With new Vista machines coming to campus, the IT shops of academia have no choice but to embrace the latest Windows OS and its security implications. Continue Reading

By

• Bill Brenner

Wal-Mart deploys new data security system

Wal-Mart Stores has deployed a data security and encryption system to secure data going over its global network. Continue Reading

By

• Antony Savvas

TJX profit takes hit over data breach

TJX says it has spent $256 million responding to the massive data breach that exposed 45 million customers to identity fraud, and the bottom line has suffered as a result. Continue Reading

By

• SearchSecurity.com Staff