09 May 2008
COBRA warns against ‘snake oil’
Nigel Brown, the lead for resilient telecommunications strategy for the Cabinet Office, discussed the technical implications facing emergency response, and warned of scaremongering at Infosecurity Europe 2008.

09 May 2008
IBM to sponsor live video Webinar on web application security
The Webinar on 'web application security in the software quality management lifecycle' will be available through the Infosecurity magazine website on Monday 19 May.

07 May 2008
Major media malware attack breaks out on file-sharing networks
McAfee has reported "the most significant malware outbreak in three years," with more than 500,000 detections of a Trojan horse masquerading as a media file.

07 May 2008
Police plan national database of CCTV images
British police forces are to explore the feasibility of a national database of CCTV images that would be on a par with the existing national databases for DNA and fingerprint samples.

06 May 2008
Russian cyberthief grabs business records
Confidential records from more than 40 global businesses have were freely available to anyone on the web after they were stolen and stored on an unprotected server by a Russian cyber thief, a security company reported today.

06 May 2008
MoD reinforces guard on 20,000 laptops
The Ministry of Defence is securing sensitive data on 20,000 RAF, Army and Navy laptops with technology from BeCrypt.

01 May 2008
Facebook applications exposed as security risk
Speculation on the security of social networking has increased amid reports that applications on Facebook are capable of collecting personal information.

24 April 2008
ISACA explains its rationale
At the Infosecurity Europe event held in London this week, Infosecurity Magazine met up with Ron Hale, the Director of Information Security Practices with ISACA, the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, along with John Mitchell, managing director of LHS Business Control and a past president of the London ISACA Chapter.

24 April 2008
Enterprise data protection under the microscope
IBM and PGP representatives were on hand to host a seminar entitled `Evolving STrategies for Enterprise Data Protection' at the Infosecurity Europe show in London this week.

24 April 2008
Schneier calls for curtains on ‘security theatre’
Vendors invent self-serving security models which make customers believe they need their product to eradicate a security threat that doesn’t exist

24 April 2008
UK association of penetration testers launched
The IT security industry has launched the first UK association of providers of penetration testing.

24 April 2008
Orchestria crowned king of the jungle
Orchestria was crowned king of the jungle by lions Ray Stanton, Colin Clark, Paul Simmonds and Tony Lock at the popular, interactive Infosecurity event, the ‘Lion’s Den’, 24 April.

23 April 2008
Infosecurity 2008: use of new technologies exposing UK firms to risk, report finds
The adoption of new technologies is exposing UK companies to high levels of risk, according to a government security survey.

23 April 2008
Infosecurity 2008: car and plant makers turn to encryption to safeguard intellectual property
Automotive and machinery manufacturers are turning to encryption technologies to protect intellectual property, it has emerged at Infosecurity 2008, which is taking place in London this week.

23 April 2008
Infosec 2008: Human element is the key to reducing data breaches
The importance of the human element in security has been highlighted at Infosecurity 2008 in London this week, with a government report showing incidents remain high despite overall improvements in controls.

23 April 2008
GrIDsure links with partners to promote pictorial PIN replacement
GrIDsure, a company that has developed a simple, but secure, pictorial
replacement for PIN-based authentication, was at the Infosecurity
Europe show in London this week, announcing a number of partnerships
to promote its technology into new areas.

23 April 2008
Jericho Forum unveils new security framework for online usage
The Jericho Forum has unveiled a new security framework for
interactive business Internet users.

23 April 2008
Sophos says infected Web site numbers soaring
At the Infosecurity Europe show, Sophos revealed that the numbers of
infected Web sites detected by its research team, has soared in the
last 12 months to a high of a new infected site appearing once every
five seconds.

23 April 2008
Interactive theatre a success at Infosecurity Europe
The interactive theatre - where the audience gets to participate by voting in the seminar - was hailed a success at this year's Infosecurity Europe show, which ran until Thursday of this week at the London Olympia centre.

22 April 2008
Govt-sponsored PwC report shows firms taking security seriously
The annual survey carried out for the opening of the Infosecurity Europe show in London today shows that, even in the face of rising IT security threats, UK companies of all sizes appear to be taking their security more seriously, as well as allocating extra funds to tackle the issue.

22 April 2008
Qualys offers Web-based security software-as-a-service
Qualys has taken the wraps off its QualysGuard offering.

22 April 2008
Veracode launches on-demand code verification service
Veracode launched an on-demand program code audit and verification service at the Infosecurity Europe show.

22 April 2008
Wick-Hill says credit crunch not affecting IT security sales
Ian Kilpatrick, the chairman of the Wick-Hill Group, says that the escalating effects of the credit crunch it not affecting sales of IT security hardware, software and systems at the veteran distributor and systems integration reseller.

16 April 2008
Customers “clamoring” for self-encrypting hard drives
Seagate Technology has debuted a new breed of self-encrypting hard drives for mission-critical servers and storage arrays.

16 April 2008
Security Officer should have more strategic role
When it comes to defining what a Chief Security Officer does in an enterprise think less of a corporate cop and more of a business enabler. That was the message at the RSA Conference from Dave Hansen, former CIO at CA and now a senior vice president and general manager of the company’s Security Management business.

15 April 2008
Federation Against Software Theft focuses on virtualisation
The Federation Against Software Theft (Fast) has begun working with the software industry to form a working group to clarify the impact of virtualisation on software licensing.

15 April 2008
Personal Data ‘Lost’ by London Councils
Thirteen London councils have admitted to losing, or inadvertently disclosing sensitive information concerning members of the public, according to a BBC survey.

14 April 2008
FaceTime first with Skype encrypted IM scanning technology
Building on its multi-year relationship with Skype's parent company eBay, FaceTime has enhanced its security software to scan encrypted instant messages (IMs) sent between users of the Skype internet telephony and messaging service.

14 April 2008
Say hello to a new cybercrime business model: CAAS
Finjan, the business web security specialist, has uncovered a new cybercrime business trend: crimeware-as-a-service or CAAS for short.

09 April 2008
UK government launches enquiry into card fraud
The UK government has launched a parliamentary inquiry into the issue of card fraud, which it says has reached near-epidemic proportions.

09 April 2008
Cyberdefence moves to the top of the Council of Europe/NATO agenda
Cybercrime defence is at last receiving the attention it is due, following a multi-pronged series of initiatives orchestrated by the Council of Europe and NATO.

04 April 2008
Microsoft joins MIT Kerberos Consortium
Microsoft has joined the MIT Kerberos Consortium as a founding sponsor, joining Sun Microsystems, Google and Apple on the consortium’s executive board.

04 April 2008
ISPs deny responsibility for online piracy
The head of Talk Talk, one of Britain’s most prominent internet service providers, has rejected demands from the music industry that it ‘police’ the growing number of illegal file-sharers.

27 March 2008
BAA suspends fingerprint biometrics security system at Heathrow Terminal 5
Fingerprint identification
Heathrow Airport owner BAA is pulling a biometric fingerprint system at the new Terminal 5 (T5) the day before the building opens to the public, after the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) raised concerns about the system.

26 March 2008
Facebook photos exposed
A security lapse on Facebook has made large libraries of private photographs, including one of Paris Hilton, available for all users to access.

26 March 2008
Secure Computing delivers new generation of email security appliances
Secure Computing has announced a new version of its on-premise email security product, Secure Mail (formerly known as IronMail).

20 March 2008
Home Office rejects request for £1.3m e-crime unit
Plans to create a national police unit to fight high-tech crime were delt a blow this week after the Home Office said it was unable to find £1.3m to fund the unit.

14 March 2008
US Department of Homeland Security holds biggest ever cybersecurity exercise
The US Department of Homeland Security is this week conducting the largest cybersecurity exercise ever organised, with the UK participating.

14 March 2008
Security and email top SMEs’ home working concerns
A survey of how the small business community uses the Internet by SME broadband provider UK Online has found that security and email management are the key concerns in a practice that SMEs' businesses depend on.

07 March 2008
ID card scheme must appeal to public to succeed, government advisor says
A national identity scheme is more likely to succeed if consumers can use it confidently and easily than if it is driven by governmental goals.

04 March 2008
Counterfeit Cisco gear threatens network security
The seizure of £38m worth of counterfeit Cisco equipment has raised concerns over the security of networks.

28 February 2008
‘Highly confidential’ Home Office laptop sold on eBay
Police are investigating a possible Home Office security breach after the discovery of an encrypted laptop containing a scrambled disc with the words ‘Home Office, highly confidential’ written on it.

25 February 2008
Three-quarters of UK firms have no contingency plans for data loss
Three-quarters of UK companies have no contingency plans for data loss, even though 90% had to recover data in the past year, according to research from Kroll Ontrack.

25 February 2008
Storm botnet takes advantage of Valentine's day
Storm looks like becoming a major vehicle for criminals, say malware researchers.

8 February 2008
Lords committee to re-open data security inquiry
Science and technology committee lambasts "vacuous, idle and irrelevant" UK government response to last report

7 February 2008
Retailers need to step up IT security, says Deloitte
Only one third plan to comply with PCI-DSS

6 February 2008
Société Générale faces government IT security probe
French finance minister wants further investigation of events around £3.6 billion loss

30 January 2008
Nationwide rolls out Chip and PIN for online transactions
Building society follows banks in issuing home hardware

29 January 2008
PCI-DSS failure could hit brands, gaming firms told
Compliance costs, but not as much as non-compliance, says Visa

28 January 2008
Marks & Spencer must encrypt all laptop hard-drives
ICO ruling after retailer lost data on 26 000 employees

28 January 2008
ICO code warns against CCTV recording sound
Seven out of ten people oppose cameras with microphones

24 January 2008
(ISC)2 offers guide to hiring IT staff
Professional association provides data on job functions, career paths and candidate traits

23 January 2008
Full-scale UK ID scheme pushed back to 2012
Accenture and BAE pull out of bidding for biometrics-based system

22 January 2008
Navy reports more stolen laptops following loss of 600 000 records
Defence secretary Des Browne says three laptops with personal data may have been stolen since 2005

21 January 2008
Open University starts computer forensics course
Course is aimed at IT professionals and others handling computer investigations

17 January 2008
Private sector must improve data protection, says Deloitte
James Alexander says failure could mean ICO's public sector powers being extended to companies

14 January 2008
ID cards for foreign nationals within a year, says UK
Home Office issues 10-point plan as part of e-Borders project

14 January 2008
SANS Institute reveals top 10 cyber threats for 2008
Trusted web sites will be exploited to spread malware, experts believe

11 January 2008
Barclays chairman victim of identity theft
Crook obtains Barclaycard, then steals £10 000, in Marcus Agius' name

9 January 2008
More than half of UK employees under IT surveillance
ESRC survey says this leads to exhaustion, anxiety and work-related worry

8 January 2008
Jeremy Clarkson driven to u-turn on CD loss
Journalist who published bank account details to show lack of danger becomes victim of identity fraud

7 January 2008
Firefox flaw allows password hack, says researcher
Israeli researcher says latest version of alternative browser has problems with log-ons

7 January 2008
Flash users hit by cross-site scripting flaw
US-Cert warns of input validation flaw

4 January 2008
Doctors encourage patients to opt-out after NHS data losses
Nine trusts report lost personal information over Christmas

4 January 2008
Lloyds TSB tells customers they have been hacked
One customer complains to ICO over bank not disclosing what personal data was breached

3 January 2008
Big data-users could fund stronger UK law enforcement
Parliament’s justice committee calls for more money and power for ICO

2 January 2008
Better job prospects for infosecurity staff, says SANS
Mobile phones, social engineering and Olympics will add to 2008 risks, according to industry

21 December 2007
Big phish-hunters make small tank vulnerable
It may not be wise to rely on crowds to verify phishing web-sites, say Cambridge academics

19 December 2007
Government to toughen Data Protection Act
Chancellor's statement comes as HMRC announces new loss of pension records

18 December 2007
Details of three million learner drivers lost in Iowa
Transport secretary Ruth Kelly announces another major breach

17 December 2007
Norwich Union Life fined £1.26m
Financial Services Authority says penalty shows it takes infosecurity seriously

17 December 2007
Home Office scraps Police Portal service
Department involved in legal dispute with supplier

14 December 2007
Northern Irish drivers agency loses data on 6000 drivers
More unencrypted discs lost in the post

13 December 2007
US-CERT: hackers are attacking flaw in Microsoft Access
Organisation warns of stack buffer overflow vulnerability

10 December 2007
A year of sophisticated web threats
MP3 attachments make their debut, finds MessageLabs' security report

7 December 2007
IBM buys Arsenal
Data protection firm follows Princeton Softech

7 December 2007
SANS: crooks turn fire on users and custom software
Top 20 highlights spear phishing danger

6 December 2007
Banks voice approval of phone biometrics
Voice Biometrics conference: BT to sell voice recognition service

6 December 2007
Fasthosts users warned of password breach
All control panel and FTP passwords reset by company

3 December 2007
Spies greater threat than terrorists to infosecurity
CPNI tells Sans Institute event that organisations must be aware of social engineering

3 December 2007
New Zealander arrested for being hacking mastermind
Teenager alleged to be head of international gang

29 November 2007
Government systems to be targeted by cyber attacks
Report says UK, US and Germany state-sector bodies are likely targets

28 November 2007
Webroot buys Email Systems
US firm promises it will support existing customers and installations

27 November 2007
Department of Health mulls overseas processing of patient data
August 2007 document refers to "current review" of foreign processing

26 November 2007
RSA standard vulnerable, says founder
Adi Shamir says flaw in a widely-used microchip could allow encryption to be "trivially broken"

26 November 2007
Banks turn monitoring software to high
Barclays says it has spotted nothing amiss on accounts affected by child benefit data breach

23 November 2007
HMRC data loss: NAO request evidence
Emails released by NAO show it asked for more security and less data, but didn't get either

21 November 2007
ICO gets right to spot check government departments in wake of HMRC privacy catastrophe
Request to criminalise serious breaches still outstanding

21 November 2007
HMRC appears to be “bang to rights” says assistant commissioner
Most serious breach in two decades

21 November 2007
Missing child benefit CDs: what went wrong, and why it would have carried on regardless
HMRC had been sending data on CD since March

20 November 2007
UK government loses data on 25m Britons
HMRC chairman resigns over computer discs lost in the post

16 November 2007
German pips Bletchley’s Colossus in cracking code
Bonn man wins decryption challenge, possibly helped by sun-spots

15 November 2007
Google enhances Postini hosted e-mail security offering
Search engine giant adds content-based policy option for message-scanning

15 November 2007
Enhanced Sophos appliances block e-mail data leaks
Hardware can scan and encrypt outbound content

14 November 2007
iPhone unfit for corporate email
Gartner and Infosecurity editorial board say Apple device lacks security; O2 says it is for consumer use

14 November 2007
ICO asks UK to criminalise severe data breaches
Regulator sees anomaly between finance and other organisations

13 November 2007
FCO breached data privacy of 50 000 visa applicants
ICO asks Foreign Office to sign formal undertaking to protect data after online visa failure

9 November 2007
Home Office reveals first projects for National Identity Scheme
Government will ask for bids for biometrics and application systems next May

9 November 2007
Browser providers should admit flaws, says Mozilla
CSI 2007: Firms must open up, Window Snyder tells conference

9 November 2007
Discipline blamed for non-compliance
CSI 2007: Log management experts say lack of budget is another excuse

7 November 2007
EU wants to fight terrorism with more passenger data
Airlines may be forced to provide passenger name records for all European flights

7 November 2007
Flawless ID doesn’t exist, says e-commerce specialist
CSI 2007: Passwords are not enough, Sanjay Bavisi tells conference

6 November 2007
Warning as first serious Apple Mac Trojan hits
Malware attacks DNS to divert web traffic

6 November 2007
HSBC to integrate its global fraud defences
Bank creates bespoke system for single view of accounts

2 November 2007
Interview: the Value of Bruce
BT Counterpane’s Bruce Schneier on why he hasn’t been fired yet

2 November 2007
Online gambling site claims remote web-security win
Victor Chandler says it can protect offices without IT infrastructure

1 November 2007
Police authorities accused of Data Protection Act breach
ICO tells four forces to delete records of minor offences, but police will appeal

26 October 2007
Doncaster school tracks pupils with RFID chips in their uniforms
Darnbro adds chips to school badges, to help with registration and security

26 October 2007
Symantec develops automated IT service system
Altiris Workflow system to be available in beta next month

26 October 2007
UK government to investigate data-sharing schemes
Justice minister Jack Straw asks information commissioner for review of public and private sector work

25 October 2007
Card issuer to adopt graphical Pin randomiser
UK start-up licences method for “saving” Chip and Pin

25 October 2007
Kiwis felt ID cards wouldn’t fly
RSA Europe 2007: New Zealand cites privacy in avoiding cards and splitting identity scheme

25 October 2007
Spyware cashes in quietly
RSA Europe 2007: What you can’t see can hurt you, says Eschelbeck

25 October 2007
Personalities required for team-building
RSA Europe 2007: infosecurity teams need personalities as well as technical skills

24 October 2007
Government gives muted welcome to secure code initiative
RSA Europe 2007: Safecode Alliance of vendors aims to improve code quality

24 October 2007
Nato meets to plan cyberdefences
RSA Europe 2007: Defence group will announce policy next year

24 October 2007
Cyberwarfare threat is growing, say experts
RSA Europe 2007: attack on Estonia could be first of many

22 October 2007
Biometrics help security trump privacy
Biometrics 2007: Speaker argues that such technology “de-humanises” society

22 October 2007
VIS: A long way to go
Biometrics 2007: European visa information system planned for end of next year

22 October 2007
Biometrics industry told to challenge UK government
Biometrics 2007: Campaigner says experts should counter ministers’ claims

22 October 2007
Joining up data would speed border checks
Biometrics 2007: Speakers tell conference how security could be co-ordinated

19 October 2007
Fingerprints fail to tackle football ‘hooligans’
Biometrics 2007: trial at Dutch clubs found biometrics were easy to spoof

19 October 2007
IPS shortlists eight for UK ID cards and passports
Five will be chosen in May 2008 to establish identity system

11 October 2007
ICO issues new guidance on data-sharing
Framework Code of Practice issued by UK data protection regulator

10 October 2007
Criminals using Skype to communicate
Swiss law enforcement expresses concerns about encrypted voice-over IP

9 October 2007
Nato defends its networks
Defence organisation spends £4.2 million to strengthen protection

9 October 2007
HMRC in identity theft scare
Laptop stolen holding data on hundreds of individuals

4 October 2007
ISSE weighs privacy against internet security
Warsaw conference considers the difficulty of finding balance in fight on cyber terrorism

4 October 2007
Websense completes SurfControl acquisition
Firm says purchase furthers intelligent content protection strategy

3 October 2007
Refusal to provide encryption key to earn five years in jail
Part III activated in Britain's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act

20 September 2007
Banks to increase security spending
Deloitte research suggests a board-level focus on security within the financial sector

19 September 2007
Security warning as NHS staff view celebrity record
More than 50 staff read supposedly protected health record

19 September 2007
Lumension sticks to specialisation
Firm will retain purchased product lines and combine them in an appliance

18 September 2007
Spend less on IT security, says Gartner
Prevention is better, and cheaper, than cure, says John Pescatore

18 September 2007
Secure software may take 50 years, says Rutkowska
"Stupid users" not to blame for all problems, Gartner conference hears

14 September 2007
Google calls for world-wide privacy standard
Peter Fleischer backs Asia-Pacific agreement as “the most promising foundation”

14 September 2007
PCI payment card body adds PIN entry device testing to portfolio
Agreement provides global standard for Chip and PIN

13 September 2007
Data taken from Loans.co.uk
UK insurer says personal information transferred outside company has been used for nothing more than marketing purposes

11 September 2007
Disaster recovery six years after 11 September
Analysis: what organisations learnt following 2001's terrorist attacks

6 September 2007
HSBC develops new security authentication system
UK bank prefers telephone ring-back system to user hardware

6 September 2007
Everyone's hacking the net, says Check Point founder
Governments, gangs and amateurs are all on the attack, he believes

3 September 2007
Zango loses case against Kaspersky Lab
US court refuses to force Kaspersky to stop blocking firm's software

31 August 2007
Jericho Forum at the crossroads
High-level security think-tank considering how to get vendors to support its guidelines

28 August 2007
280 000 New York pensioners in data theft scare
Laptop with city's pension details stolen from restaurant

24 August 2007
Interview: Sharon Lemon of Soca
Former head of National Hi-Tech Crime Unit says Soca has greater capabilities

24 August 2007
US has lessons for Britain on e-crime punishment
Analysis: as the US charges three major e-criminals, report says Britain lacks capacity in tackling such crime

24 August 2007
Biometrics move from banking to borders
San Jose state university’s Jim Wayman says usage, testing and technology have changed significantly in last decade

20 August 2007
Windows update blamed for Skype outage
48 hours downtime blamed on mass reboot after Microsoft update

20 August 2007
Seven years in jail for identity theft fraudster
US man used personal data to defraud bank customers

17 August 2007
Wal-Mart deploys new data security system
SSH provides global network encryption

14 August 2007
Government tenders for ID scheme supplier
Programme boss James Hall sticks to £5.5 billion cost estimate

14 August 2007
Naive Facebookers face fraud threat
Spoof profile of frog attracted dozens of pieces of personal data, finds Sophos

10 August 2007
Biometrics oversold, says Peter Cochrane
Former BT chief technology officer says modern biometrics are worse than those used in Second World War

10 August 2007
UK should introduce data breach notification law, say Lords
Select committee says banks should be liable for online fraud and vendors should be liable for security flaws

7 August 2007
IBM buys Princeton Softech
Data security vendor says Optim product will be maintained

7 August 2007
Microsoft picks nCipher for authentication
Cambridge firm's hardware product will be used across Microsoft's range

7 August 2007
UK state data-sharing lacks adequate security
While information commissioner offers public advice on personal data

3 August 2007
Quarter of all spam comes as attachment
While mass-mailers and trojans continue to threaten smaller organisations

31 July 2007
UK to retain telecoms traffic data for a year
Decision deferred on email, web-use and voice-over IP calls

31 July 2007
Home Office to roll out biometric technology to UK borders
But UK identity card procurement remains stalled

30 July 2007
Government IT disposal poses security breach risk
National Audit Office says 70% of departments fail to check PCs are wiped

27 July 2007
PDF spam-wave subsides
Users are not clicking on infected PDF files, says vendor

25 July 2007
IT security spending to exceed $20bn by 2010
Analyst expects 32% growth over three years, with increased use of one supplier to provide the bulk of an organisation’s protection

24 July 2007
Britons catch more viruses
Oxford Internet Institute survey finds growing privacy concerns, but more relaxed attitudes towards downloading music

23 July 2007
Flood-zone security suppliers confident of business continuity
Companies in Gloucester, Abingdon and Oxford say the likes of remote working and alternative sites will maintain services

19 July 2007
Google pushes privacy by crumbling cookies
Analysis: change makes little practical difference, but sends pro-privacy message

18 July 2007
Anti-terrorist police to use congestion charge cameras
Transport for London to give real-time access, for national security purposes

12 July 2007
Information commissioner 'horrified' at number of data breaches
UK data protection watchdog Richard Thomas tells business and political leaders to take responsibility for leaks

10 July 2007
Google buys Postini to sell infosecurity as a service
Products will fit with Google Apps for clients of all sizes, says search engine firm

3 July 2007
Government launches information assurance strategy
UK updates its framework for first time in four years

2 July 2007
VW to save £35m with global access management
Meanwhile, SAP enters the identity management market

26 June 2007
BP aligns IT with physical security
Oil multinational will bring infosecurity closer to physical and corporate security over next two years

25 June 2007
Infosec ignorance is a barrier to security in America's Cup
For the 32nd America's Cup, the Victory Challenge team introduced security into their game plan

25 June 2007
HP launches the Secure Advantage platform
Hewlett Packard has launched software to protect data on HP servers and storage for regulatory compliance.

25 June 2007
Spanish police arrest suspected mobile phone virus writer
Spanish police have arrested a man suspected of writing and distributing mobile phone viruses.

22 June 2007
PatchLink to acquire SecureWave
PatchLink have announced that terms for the acquisition of SecureWave have been agreed in an all-stock merger.

21 June 2007
New web threats gain momentum
Eighty per cent of infected websites have been compromised by a third-party hacker

20 June 2007
Renault Formula 1 deploy IRM to protect car designs
Financial infosecurity specialist hopes to build academic links

15 June 2007
Colley plans to develop (ISC)2 beyond Europe
Financial infosecurity specialist hopes to build academic links

15 June 2007
Lack of management tools slows BitLocker adoption
Organisations prefer small-scale adoptions of Microsoft disk encryption

15 June 2007
In brief
India establishes data protection body; Eden Project joins laptop-losing list

8 June 2007
Lloyds TSB turns fraud-detection software on staff
FSA keen for banks to tackle insider threat

8 June 2007
Three-quarters of organisations believe they are exposed to cybercrime
UK survey of 1200 infosecurity professionals shows fear of insiders tops other threats

8 June 2007
ICO issues policy on data sharing
UK data protection regulator provides new guidance for businesses

31 May 2007
Image spam levels tumble
Proportion falls from 56% in January to below 16% last week

31 May 2007
Corporates used partners for security
Skills shortages are the cause, says F-Secure head

29 May 2007
Nato aids Estonia in denial of service fight
International attacks represent throw-back to days of cyber-graffiti

23 May 2007
Microsoft alters Office security
Two new features designed to help secure documents

18 May 2007
LSE calls for review of UK ID cards
Academics question scheme's £800m cost-hike

17 May 2007
One gang corners the market in phish
"Rock-phish" switches web and IP addresses to avoid black-listing, say Cambridge researchers

14 May 2007
Infosecurity improving at UK organizations
Vulnerability testing finds proportion of at-risk companies falls from 61% to 32% over last year

4 May 2007
Cybercrime unreported due to reputation risks
One in ten people who make online transactions have been a victim of fraud. But at what point does it become worthwhile to report it?

27 April 2007
Police criticised on cybercrime
Panel says reluctance to report and poorly-framed law are harming its investigation

25 April 2007
Put people above technology, says (ISC)2
Professional body says its members should push staff education

24 April 2007
House of Lords call for more police involvement in internet security
Infosecurity Europe key-note: end-users should not be responsible for crime reporting and prevention

20 April 2007
Barclays and Lloyds lead online security drive
UK banks plan to send hardware to customers

11 April 2007
Microsoft gets patching
Microsoft and security researchers are investigating reports of several potentially serious bugs affecting Microsoft Office.

21 March 2007
Encryption is the new postman
Traditional methods of sending confidential data are less effective and less secure than encrypting email.

21 March 2007
Cover your back security: always one step behind
The tendency for security to always be one step behind is something which has become apparent since 9/11, says Schneier.

20 March 2007
VoIP - soon to be under attack?
Governments will learn to love encrypted voice-over IP (VoIP), even though it may curtail their ability to eavesdrop on telephone conversations.

7 March 2007
Increased collaboration between companies set to ignite new security market, says Gartner
An increasingly collaborative business community is opening organizations out to threats that will give rise to a new $10 billion market by 2012. Research house Gartner is predicting that the market that will promote and protect what it calls the ‘Communities of Trust’ could be worth at least $10 billion in five years time.

7 March 2007
ID card crackdown on immigrants
John Reid, UK Home Secretary, has today re-stated his support for a crackdown on illegal immigrants living and working in the UK.

7 March 2007
Bagle at three
The three-year old email-borne malware, known as Bagle or Beagle, continues to defeat most anti-virus technology with its distribution method.

6 March 2007
Conflicts between regulation régimes dog international infosec
Contradictory laws and compliance régimes continue to trouble European information assurance officers.

21 February 2007
One in five British companies without business continuity plan
One per cent of UK business expects never to recover from a disaster.

14 February 2007
Identity theft rises from the Third World
Cybercrime is being conducted in under developed countries due to a lack of law enforcement, according to Bruce Schneier speaking at RSA.

13 February 2007
Keeping out the bad guys makes good money for Protegrity
2006 was a breakthrough year for data security management company Protegrity, who have reported revenues twice that of the previous year.

13 February 2007
Yoggie wins innovation station at RSA 2007
At the RSA conference 2007, Yoggie security systems beat nine other companies to the post to be named winner of the most innovative new company.

8 February 2007
Technology needed to protect children online
Sexual attacks and abuse on children has entered a whole new dimension since the widespread popularity of popular social networking sites. Experts are looking to technology for solutions.

7 February 2007
Bill Gates takes leave of RSA conference
Microsoft stops counting the days since the TCI memo

1 February 2007
European communications crash imminent?
The European Commission wants to prevent a catastrophic meltdown of the continent's communications networks, which it regards as increasingly likely.

25 January 2007
Bank emails seen as ‘phishy’
Consumer trust in online banking continues to crumble, according to an annual online fraud survey. Eighty-two per cent of account-holders are less likely to respond to an e-mail from their bank due to phishing scams the RSA Security sponsored survey found.

25 January 2007
Chinese engineer charged with espionage in US
A Chinese engineer has been charged by US authorities for stealing military secrets from a Silicon Valley company, and attempting to sell them on to the People’s Republic of China and the Malaysian and Thai Air Forces.

25 January 2007
MySpace: Your risk?
Online alerts will be sent to MySpace users to help find missing children and to increase protection for the social networking site's users.

9 January 2007
Spammers use Microsoft Vista as bait
Image spam is the new big thing. Drugs promising weight loss and improved sexual performance are the usual products promoted, but spammers have new bait: reduced-price Microsoft Vista.

8 January 2007
A new year, a new security threat landscape
2006 was the year of the botnet. From January onwards, there was a huge increase in the size and use of botnets. It is now reported that botnets are controlling more than two million compromised PCs. With more than 25% of malicious attacks being attributed to botnet related activity, what does this mean for computer security in 2007?

5 January 2007
Cisco buys IronPort to feed NAC
Cisco has agreed to buy email filtering vendor IronPort for $830m. The deal is said to add some flesh and blood to the networking giant’s ‘self-defending network’ framework, of which its Network Access Control initiative is part.

5 January 2007
US defences under hacker attack
Attempts to threaten and target U.S missile systems and US defence security have risen by 43% according to a recent Pentagon report.

14 December 2006
Phishing costs UK banks £45.7m in 2006
The government's financial watchdog authority has just revealed that incidents of phishing scams have increased by more than 8,000 per cent over the last two years in the UK.

6 December 2006
Biometric trial at Heathrow
Heathrow airport has deployed a biometric system, officially launched on 06 December by UK Minister for Immigration, Liam Byrne and Heathrow Airport CEO, Tony Douglas

05 December 2006
Spam at 90% of email and set to soar
Globalization will generate more fodder for botnets in 2007 as spam sets to soar, according to research from Postini.

05 December 2006
Aviation industry IT security pros feel the pressure
IT professionals in the airline industry report are being tested with the security vulnerabilities thrown up by IP-enablement.

1 December 2006
Spyware powers 2006 cybercrime
Spyware for enterprise IP theft on the rise

23 November 2006
Banks threatened from the inside
Banks are opening their eyes to the reality that the biggest threat to their security comes from the inside.

21 November2006
35% of SANS 'top 20' new
SANS release the list of top 20 vulnerabilities of 2006

20 November2006
Check Point makes move into data security
Firewall pioneer Check Point has announced a €457m bid to buy Pointsec Mobile Technologies, a data-level security supplier, based in Sweden.

13 November2006
US and UK government documents leak confidential data
The Ministry of Defence and the US Department of Defense are inadvertently disclosing confidential information, thanks to the workings of Microsoft and Adobe software. Ronald D. Hackett, a former USAF major who works for SRS Technologies, urged authorities to take action to stem the information flow at the CSI conference in Florida last week.

9 November2006
Wikipedia just as ‘wiki’ as ever, says Wales
Wikis for music and film

27 October 2006
BT buys Counterpane to boost IT security services
The UK’s BT Group has bought network monitoring specialist Counterpane Internet Security, the company famously founded by security intellectual Bruce Schneier.

27 October 2006
Senior infosec pros shift gears from technology to management
Hardware and software have been definitively ousted by management, awareness and HR issues in the minds of infosec professionals world-wide. Such is the top-line finding of the third annual Global Information Security Workforce Study, conducted by IDC on behalf of security education and certification body (ISC)2.

24 October 2006
Verisign extends VIP tokens to Macedonia
American developing economy charity USAid has combined with Verisign to lift Macedonia out of the internet's black economy. USAid is part funding the provision of the supplier's VIP (Verisign Identity Protection) tokens to the country's Komercijalana Banka.

24 October 2006
Microsoft vaunts Vista as chance to clean up IT 'ecosystem'
Microsoft VP for its security technology unit, Ben Fathi presented Windows Vista, at RSA Europe in Nice today, as an opportunity for the IT industry to clean up its "ecosystem".

21 October 2006
Biometric scheme reduces night-time street violence in Yeovil
A biometric system for premises licensed to sell alcohol in the English rural town of Yeovil has reduced night time street disorder. Julia Bradburn, Principal Licensing Officer for South Somerset District Council told delegates at Biometrics 2006 that between May and September this year only “two major incidents” had happened in the six premises enrolled in the scheme, compared with “between 20 and 25” in the six months prior.

21 October 2006
Call for public trust in ID cards at Biometrics 2006
Joan Ryan, UK Parliamentary under Secretary of State at the Home Office, told delegates at Biometrics 2006 on Thursday 19 October that public trust was the most essential factor in ensuring the success of the mooted ID card scheme. "There are risks around the delivery of this scheme – but we must gain public trust in order to move this forward. People must understand that improvements in security will improve their everyday lives”.

16 October 2006
Norwegian BankID scheme acclaimed at ISSE 2006
The ‘BankID’ electronic identification and signature scheme that involves all banks in Norway has emerged as the 2006 winner of the eema ‘Award for Excellence in Secure Electronic Business’. Infosecurity Editor, Brian McKenna presented the award at the Information Security Solutions Europe conference (ISSE 2006) in Rome, last week.

10 October 2006
Microsoft to fore at ISSE 2006
EU Commissioner Viviane Reding exhorted the Union’s private sector to promote diversity in computing environments when opening the ISSE Conference in Rome today. “Diversity reduces risk”, she told delegates, “and introduces natural safeguards”.

5 October 2006
Security vendors barred from Microsoft’s Vista
In the Financial Times of 03 October, McAfee published a full-page advertisement addressed to ‘computer users around the world’. The ad is in response to Microsoft’s announcement that they would be denying third-party security vendors access to the kernel of Vista 64bit, in order to make their software safer. McAfee accuses Microsoft of deliberately obstructing security companies from overcoming weaknesses in Windows Vista.

29 September 2006
Bodyguard computer enters market
Israel-based Yoggie Security Systems has announced the launch of a credit-card sized computer that protects laptops. Company founder, and former Finjan CEO, Shlomo Touboul said he got the idea for the product “trying to figure out how to get round the problem of protecting the corporate mobile laptop”.

29 September 2006
(ISC)² joins forces with Childnet in internet safety campaign
Members of (ISC)² and Childnet, a charity devoted to making the internet a safe place for children, announced last week a scheme to promote internet security awareness in schools.

27 September 2006
Vendors dispute 90%-plus spam claim
Security vendors have disputed a claim from the founder of a spam blacklister that more than nine emails in ten are junk.

22 September 2006
Internet Explorer zero-day exploit less toxic than feared
The IE exploit that has drawn so much press attention this week is unlikely to impact enterprise IT. Russ Cooper, senior analyst at security firm Cybertrust, said "IT security managers need not be worried by this. Alerted, yes, but as long as they are practising good internet hygiene, this problem should not affect them”.

15 September 2006
Network operators feel the scourge of the botnet
Botnet executed distributed denial of service attacks have plagued internet service providers over the last year.

14 September 2006
Top management lack of awareness stokes insider threat
The security threat from inside companies is getting more menacing and more widespread. The Ponemon Institute, a US privacy research organization, links the increase to a lack of awareness at executive level.

13 September 2006
Jail time for software pirate and Zotob authors
Nathan Peterson, 27, has been sentenced to a record 87 months in prison and a restitution bill of $5.4million in a court case that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has called: ‘one of the largest involving internet software piracy ever prosecuted’.

12 September 2006
Stock-spammers promote themselves with spam
‘Pump and dump’ spammers, who attempt to inflate the prices of company stocks by sending emails recommending the purchase of shares, have started promoting their services to investors and company owners – through a campaign of spam, according to a security vendor.

4 September 2006
UK to track US on drug traceability
The British Department of Health is conducting a 'scoping exercise' to determine whether prescription drugs should acquire an electronic identity that guarantees their provenance.

29 August 2006
Notify UK data victims, says consumer group
A consumer group says Britons should be notified when their personal data may have been breached, as is legally required by US states, including California.

25 August 2006
ISS enters Big Blue
Not so much a summer of love as a season of wedding accouncements. Microsoft swallows Whale; EMC scoops RSA; and now Big Blue takes ISS.

25 August 2006
EMC buys RSA Security for $2bn. Have they gone mad?
Perhaps EMC wants to be the Tesco of the IT market. If so then CA, IBM and HP offer stiff competition. Documentum was an understandable purchase for the storage giant, even though document management peripheral to its business. And ControlCentre, Invista, Legato, Rainfinity, Smarts, and VMware were all sensible seeming acquisitions.

18 August 2006
Return of Ripa overshadowed by 10 August terror plot
The eighth Scrambling for Safety conference, held in London on 14 August by the Foundation for Information Policy Research, started by debating the activation of dormant powers within part III of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (Ripa), allowing government investigators to demand the decryption of information.

16 August 2006
Critics voice concern over planned UK decryption powers
The UK government’s plan to activate dormant legislation, making it an offence not to decrypt data required by government investigators, was criticised at a London conference on 14 August. However, speakers differed mainly on how such legislation should work, rather than whether it was needed.

14 August 2006
Company secrets not scoured from second hand disks
Companies are still not ‘shredding’ computer disks. Research from BT, the University of Glamorgan in Wales, and Edith Cowan University in Australia shows that significant volumes of sensitive information are still readable from second hand computer disks.

9 August 2006
Worm attack predicted for Microsoft server service vulnerability
Experts at security vendors Symantec and ISS have identified a newly announced Microsoft vulnerability as a sweet spot for malcode authors.

1 August 2006
UK plans prison terms for personal data abuse
The UK government’s plan to introduce imprisonment for those found guilty of illegally buying and selling personal data will not affect employers or officers of an organisation, as long as they did not order or encourage the breach.

27 July 2006
Microsoft ingests Whale
Microsoft has completed the acquisition of Whale Communications, first announced in May. The privately held Israel-based SSL VPN vendor was among the last of its breed swimming independently. It has been working closely with Microsoft, especially since December 2005 when it started OEM-ing ISA Server.

19 July 2006
RuBee protocol goes through walls — and human flesh
Infosecurity professionals may soon have a whole new world to worry about, thanks to a new radio communications protocol that claims to overcome signal loss problems associated with current implementations of radio frequency identity (RFID) tags.

19 July 2006
Stock promotion spam soars to 15% share
Spam that promotes company shares is booming – as do, temporarily, the prices of such shares, according to experts at security vendor Sophos.

17 July 2006
Industry guide to international law updated
The Information Security Forum's (ISF) has released version III of its legal repository, bringing together laws relevant to information security and professional legal interpretations.

13 July 2006
Secure Computing acquires CipherTrust
Secure Computing is to buy messaging security supplier CipherTrust in a deal worth $273.6 m, made up of $185 million in cash, 10 million shares of Secure Computing common stock, and a $10 million seller note that is subject to certain performance obligations.

7 July 2006
Researchers find way around Great Firewall of China
China’s system for censoring internet traffic can be by-passed through ignoring the reset instructions it sends, according to a paper by researchers at University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory.

29 June 2006
Nokia and G&D connect to turn cellphones into credit cards
Forget about swiping your credit card, remembering your PIN or losing your train ticket. Soon you'll just wave your mobile phone at a point of sale terminal to pay for goods or board the 7.34.

23 June 2006
(ISC)2 scholarship winner aims to please users
Ana Ferreira, a Portuguese information security researcher specializing in healthcare, has won an (ISC)2 scholarship to develop and implement an access control model for complex environments. She’ll do this work at the University of Kent.

23 June 2006
Hacking matures as a criminal discipline
The increasing criminalization of hacking concerned speakers at (ISC)2’s SecureLondon conference on 20 June. “It’s no longer an issue of hacking for fun and games or defacing a website,” said former eBay and Microsoft security chief Howard Schmidt in his keynote speech. Schmidt went on to detail how peer-to-peer networks are being used by criminals as a source of confidential corporate and personal information.

21 June 2006
Novell boosts SecureWave
SecureWave has announced a deal with Novell under which it will resell the ‘white-listing’ security company’s Sanctuary product suite alongside Novell ZENworks.

21 June 2006
Barclays banks gives free a-v to customers
UK-based Barclays Bank is giving online customers free anti-virus software and will send them text messages about transactions.

21 June 2006
Peer-to-peer software exposes corporate data
Criminals are using peer-to-peer (P2P) networks to find corporate and personal information held on home computers, former Microsoft and eBay security boss Howard Schmidt told a London conference on 20 June.

20 June 2006
Microsoft makes stealthy progress into security market
Microsoft has released an all-in one security package for home users to challenge traditional security vendors. The new product – OneCare, which costs nearly $50 a year, provides a firewall and tackles spyware and viruses.

14 June 2006
Can you trust your partner?
The security posture of companies’ business partners has become a bigger headache than ever because of the pressures of compliance regulations. Not only do IT security managers have to worry about their own networks being secure and in compliance, but they increasingly have to ensure auditors that their supply chain is as clean as a whistle.

8 June 2006
Removable media security time bomb
Over half of UK employees are downloading corporate information onto their memory sticks, compared with 31% last year, according to a ‘Removable Media in the Workplace’ survey. The study, conducted by Pointsec, indicates that removable media devices such as media players, memory sticks and USB flash drives are now routinely with scant regard to security.

6 June 2006
Ransomware hits Manchester
A UK case of ransomware, which encrypted the files on a nurse’s computer and demanded a payment for the key, seems to show the technique is spreading from its Russian roots.

6 June 2006
Spam – UK increase matches global decrease
Britain bucked the global spam trend in May with a two per cent increase, according to MessageLabs May Intelligence report.

25 May 2006
Real world security model for infosec, says Microsoft security guru
"Security is not about locking things up”, Microsoft security guru Butler Lampson told the SEC 2006 conference in Karlstad, Sweden. “The fundamental reason people don’t break in to most of our houses is that the risk of punishment is too great”.

25 May 2006
Ballmer: Symantec will not block our Vista
Symantec’s legal action against Microsoft will not delay the release of its Vista operating system, Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer said on 22 May.

16 May 2006
E-crime under spotlight at Infosecurity Europe 2006
Soca kicks off new game for NHTCU

16 May 2006
Five years for Californian botmaster
A 21 year-old California man is the first botmaster to go down for nearly five years for controlling 400,000 bots to send spam, conduct DDOS attacks and install adware for profit.

16 May 2006
First major Chip and PIN fraud hits Shell
Oil company, Shell last week suffered a £1 million Chip and PIN fraud in the UK that is likely at the hands of an insider. Eight people have been arrested in connection with the crime.

10 May 2006
McKinnon extradition no risk to pen testers
A judge’s decision to extradite British hacker Gary McKinnon to the US does not increase risks for penetration testers, according to a British practitioner.

10 May 2006
More UTM from Check Point
Check Point has released two new product lines focused on Unified Threat Management (UTM) and what it calls 'high performance security'.

12 April 2006
UK business careless with online data
British businesses are failing to adopt the security controls needed to protect their customers' information, according to findings from the 2006 Department of Trade and Industry's biennial 'Information Security Breaches Survey'.

12 April 2006
Fix for critical IE flaw available
As part of its monthly patch distribution, Microsoft has issued a series of new security updates, some of which are categorized as critical.

10 April 2006
Linux-Windows virus: don’t panic
A cross-platform demonstrator virus capable of infecting both Linux and Windows file formats is unlikely to lead to a real threat, according to experts.

29 March 2006
Small, targeted botnets emerge as threat
Botnet herders using zero day malcode to target small numbers of victims is emerging as a major threat du jour, Mikko Hyppönnen, chief research officer at F-Secure told delegates to Websec, in London, yesterday.

28 March 2006
Microsoft postpones more secure Windows
Microsoft’s delayed release of Windows Vista will mean a longer wait by users for what should be a more secure version of its operating system. However, one analyst said that the ideal time to move to Vista will be after the first service pack is released, regardless of improved security features.

27 March 2006
Internet-enabled workers still plague UK business
British employees are easing off on web and email abuse at work, but it's still not a pretty picture. The UK Department of Trade and Industry's biennial Information Security Breaches Survey found one employee spending six hours of each working day on online dating, while one manufacturing company lost custom to a misdirected email containing confidential information.

21 March 2006
Basel II might boost infosecurity
The Basel II banking code will give international banks a financial incentive to gather better data on infosecurity risks, according to a speaker at Isaca’s European Computer Audit Control and Security conference in London on 20 March.

21 March 2006
Security less problematic than IT staffing
Security and compliance were the least problematic IT issues for organizations last year, according to research for the IT Governance Institute (ITGI).

15 March 2006
Commissioner tells CeBit that privacy is RFID concern
The European Union will hold a series of meetings and an online consultation on the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips.

15 March 2006
Problem PINs down North Americans
A vulnerability on bank card personal identification numbers, which has led to Citibank blocking PIN transactions for its American customers in the UK, Canada and Russia, does not apply to countries which have adopted ‘Chip and PIN’ bank cards, according to the UK payment association Apacs.

10 March 2006
Days of mass destructive worms are numbered
Damaging and ubiquitous worms and viruses are on the way out, according to a new Symantec report that examined the security threats at the end of 2005.

28 February 2006
John Lewis monitors moves on CCTV
John Lewis Partnership may in future link movement analysis software to in-store CCTV cameras, according to the employee-owned store chain’s head of business protection.

28 February 2006
IISP marks official debut
The newly minted CEO of the UK-based Institute for Information Security Professionals, Nick Coleman, revealed that the organization has had 220 individual applications in the last 60 days. He also confirmed that four major professional services firms – Accenture, Atos Origin, Ernst & Young, and KPMG – have joined McAfee, the UK Cabinet Office, Vodafone, and UBS, among others, in an initial roster of corporate members.

26 February 2006
UK ID scheme: blessing or backlash for biometrics?
The British House of Commons voted on 13 February by a majority of 31 to compel anyone applying for a passport also to accept an identity card and enrol on the national identity register. This is a database which will store the facial, fingerprint and iris biometrics of its subjects, along with much other information.

15 February 2006
Gates and McNeally commit to sharing on Valentine’s Day
Industry giants crack accidental shooting jokes at RSA

14 February 2006
Fine-tuning for Olympic IT security
Contractor Atos Origin sees no attacks, just a few accidental disconnections

10 February 2006
Spyware spikes in northern Europe
2005 was the biggest year yet for spyware, with the UK and the Nordic countries having the most infected of European computers.

6 February 2006
Regulator warns banks to face up to online fraud
The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) has said that consumer confidence in the safety of online banking is now ‘fragile’. It has reported that half of all the Internet surfing public were ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ concerned about making transactions online.

1 February 2006
Euro data protector cautious on police access
Peter Hustinx, the European Data Protection Supervisor, last week signalled a cautious approach towards use of Europe-wide databases in tackling crime and terrorism, when this is not their primary purpose.

19 January 2006
eBay attacker owns up to 2003 hack
An eBay hacker has pled guilty of launching a distributed denial of service attack against the internet auction site.

19 January 2006
Bulgaria and Microsoft hook suspected phishers
The Bulgarian authorities and Microsoft have cracked a gang suspected
of sending fraudulent emails.

19 January 2006
The Shadowcrew - organized, but Organized Crime?
The mainstream and IT trade press is replete with references to 'organized crime' getting into cybercrime. Is this designation correct? And how significant are the successes of law enforcement in this area?

17 January 2006
Suppliers face risks on UK identity scheme
The risks for IT suppliers bidding to build the UK Home Office’s biometric identity card and register were highlighted this week by a parliamentary vote demanding more financial detail on the plans.

17 January 2006
Compliance points way to risk management
Recent and current pressures on IT security managers in publicly quoted companies to tick regulation boxes have about five more years to run. NetIQ security strategist Chris Pick believes that the discipline of risk management, taking companies beyond mere compliance, is "not there yet” as a driver of IT security spending, but that it will be soon.

16 January 2006
Forensic company forced to do self-analysis
Guidance Software, a computer forensic company, is embarking on a computer investigation of its own corporate systems.

16 January 2006
Focused attacks and botnets greater threat than WMF type vulns
While the Microsoft Windows Metafile vulnerability may have generated a frenzy of media attention, the real threat in the year ahead will consist of increasingly stealthy, targeted attacks.

9 January 2006
Apps under fire
Infosecurity professionals will increasingly focus on threats to applications rather than operating systems in 2006, according to experts.

22 December 2005
Skype an attack surface here to stay
For the last 18 months, Skype has blazed a trail in the Voice over IP arena, offering free calls to anyone with a broadcast connection. Its popularity hasn’t gone unnoticed by the hacker community.

22 December 2005
Hidden costs of software piracy
Organized criminal gangs are using software piracy as a cash cow to fund more complex operations.

21 December 2005
Cross-European information security poor
Europe’s culture of security with respect to information is still in its infancy. Not only is personal awareness of suitable security measures inadequate, but inter-government cooperation and harmonization activities are poor.

20 December 2005
Keep infosec special says Standard Chartered security leader
John Meakin, Group Head of Information Security at Standard Chartered, told an audience of leading information security professionals yesterday to resist a trend to “lump infosec in with other disciplines”.

9 December 2005
Infosec pros tool up with certificates
Information security professionals are stepping up training to capitalize on a new found business prominence. Worldwide, more than 43% of the IT security budget is being spent on personnel, education and training, an IDC survey conducted on behalf of (ISC)2 has found.

9 December 2005
Bank of Ireland plans two-factor authentication
Bank of Ireland is planning to introduce two-factor authentication for online banking customers within the next year. The bank will most likely issue customers with security tokens, which dynamically change numbers, for each transaction. However, it is also looking at biometrics and keystroke dynamics, said the Bank’s Manager of Group Information Security.

9 December 2005
US Financial regulator tells banks to shape up
A US regulator of financial firms has released guidelines for banks to secure online transactions with stronger authentication.

8 December 2005
Hackers turn on security systems says Sans
Hackers are attacking security applications instead of operating systems revealed a report on the top 20 vulnerabilities this year.

30 November 2005
Sober worm returns as largest outbreak of 2005
The anti-virus firm F-Secure has put the latest variant of the worm, Sober.Y, on Radar Level 1 Alert. Level 1 is the highest alert level on F-Secure’s 3-step alerting system.

25 November 2005
ID card scheme tackled at London University
John Daugman, Cambridge-based pioneer of iris recognition told an audience of sixty security professionals, lawyers, and privacy advocates last night: “it is Orwellian to base a political campaign on disinformation”. Daugman had in his sights the LSE report, published in July, critical of the UK government’s identity cards scheme.

25 November 2005
Irish Gov declares national security day
The Irish Government dedicated a day in November to IT security to tackle the lack of awareness on how to protect PCs.

18 November 2005
Internal system vulnerabilities poorly patched
Gerhard Eschelbeck, CTO of Qualys and leading vulnerabilities researcher, said that internal systems are still not being patched fast enough compared with external ones. “There is a bigger perceived risk with external vulnerabilities”, Eschelbeck told delegates at CSI 2005 in Washington earlier this week, “but the reality is otherwise”.

18 November 2005
Government infosec salaries holding up
Information security staff working in the government sector are not the Cinderellas of the profession. Thirty one per cent of them, working for the US government, earn between $100k and $125k, while most infosec pros are earning $80k to $120k.

7 November 2005
DoS attack not illegal, says London judge
A judge has decided the UK’s Computer Misuse Act (CMA) does not cover denial of service (DoS) attacks, when clearing a teenager who was accused of sending his former employer five million emails.

6 November 2005
Hi-tech Crime Unit goes on tour
UK National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) ambassadors plan to tour major British cities to teach home computer users how to keep safe on the Internet.

6 November 2005
UK data protection office says ID cards signal surveillance society
The UK Information Commissioner, Richard Thomas, has said that the large amount of personal information that the UK Government plans to collect for the ID card national register is “unwarranted and intrusive”.

3 November 2005
Espionage-linked silent exploits grow in threat potential
Ross Brown, recently appointed chief operating officer at security research and vulnerability management software firm, eEye has confirmed that zero day exploits are being increasingly used in targeted attacks on large western enterprises.

3 November 2005
Attack simulation tool aimed at Christmas market
Spirent Communications has launched a tool capable of replicating extreme digital attacks. The tool simulates network attacks by creating data packets that mimic the behaviour of viruses and worms. It was released in June in North America, and is now available elsewhere.

1 November 2005
Microsoft investigates spammers with trick computer
Microsoft has traced the source of zombie botnet masters by sacrificing a lone computer.

The computer trap enabled Microsoft to trace bot hackers in the act of compromising the PC. The Redmond giant then filed lawsuits against unidentified spammers who used remotely compromised zombie computers to send junk emails.

25 October 2005
Juniper installs infranet controller
Juniper has announced the availability of its 'Infranet Controller' 4000 and 6000 appliances, and 'Infranet Agent'. The company says these products use a combination of identity-based policy and endpoint intelligence to give enterprises real-time visibility and policy control throughout a network. The products compete with Cisco's network admission control programme, and instantiate a trend towards using originally remote security technologies to secure internal networks.

24 October 2005
Oracle rolls out biometric access controls
Oracle, the world’s second-largest software firm, has extended its use of biometrics to control access to buildings and rooms, following a successful deployment at its top-security data centre in Austin.

21 October 2005
Fingerprints fail for under-sixes
Fingerprint-based biometric technology is impractical for children under the age of six, according to research by TNO, the Dutch statutory technology research organisation. TNO found that facial recognition can be used for young children, although with adaptations to standard hardware.

21 October 2005
UK to take fingerprints from 2009
The UK plans to add digitized fingerprints to all its biometric passports and identity cards from 2009, and will begin producing passports with microchips, initially holding only a facial photograph, from next February.

18 October 2005
Infosec pros gain business influence in Europe
European information security professionals feel they are gaining influence in their businesses, says a new (ISC)2 survey.

6 October 2005
Gone phishing in Halifax
One of the UK’s largest consumer banks last month sent a marketing email to customers which showed several signs of being an attempt at ‘phishing’, without informing its security staff.

6 October 2005
Malware chases the money
Trojan-based attacks will replace traditional email phishing scams in Europe and the US, according to a report from the Information Security Forum (ISF).

5 October 2005
Exit old fashioned phishing – enter hardcore Trojans and moles
Trojan-based attacks will replace traditional email phishing scams in Europe and the US, according to a report from the Information Security Forum (ISF).

30 September 2005
European ICT leaders demand secure internet for economic growth
The head of ENISA, the Hungarian minister of informatics and communications, and a senior DTI spokesman called for a significant increase in network and information security to speed economic growth across the continent. All spoke earlier this week at the ISSE conference in Budapest.

20 September 2005
UK-based infosec institute set in train
"Project managers don’t design bridges”, BP chief security officer Paul Dorey told 83 infosec professionals at Royal Holloway College, University of London last night.

19 September 2005
Qualys clones data centre in Germany
Qualys, a vulnerability management and policy compliance vendor, has opened its first Secure Operations Centre (SOC) in Europe.

12 September 2005
nCipher launches crypto key management product
Cambridge-based cryptography company nCipher has released a product that provides an administration framework for enccyption keys. Called nCipher keyAuthority, it is a management system that consolidates and automates the management of cryptographic keys and c