Infosecurity News
Belgacom Hacked; NSA Involvement Suspected
Coinciding with a report in De Standaard, Belgian telecoms firm Belgacom issued a statement yesterday saying it had successfully cleansed its internal network of "an unknown virus in a number of units in our internal IT-system."

(ISC)² Dishes Out Latest Scholarships to Combat IT Security Workforce Lag
The (ISC)² Foundation has announced the recipients of its 2013 information security scholarships.

Medical ID Fraud Costs Consumers $12bn in Out-of-Pocket Costs
With all of the debate in the US about Medicare and health insurance changes, it’s easy to overlook one big national healthcare issue that has life-threatening and hefty financial consequences: medical identity theft.

Cyber-Gang Attempts Santander Bank Heist with $20 Device
The term “bank heist” may conjure up an Ocean's 11-style strike involving laser alarms and perhaps even a contortionist or two, but the everyday reality is much more mundane. Take, for instance, the alleged plot by 12 men to steal millions from a branch of European bank Santander remotely, using a cheap and readily available keyboard video mouse device.
NSA Shown to Operate a MITM Hack in Brazil
In case any doubts remain, new Snowden revelations first published in Brazil, show that the NSA engages in economic espionage, uses mainstream hacking techniques, and spies on diplomats and the banking system.

NCC Group CEO Launches £1m Charity Campaign
Rob Cotton, the CEO of global information assurance firm NCC Group, has launched an ambitious new campaign to raise £1million for The Christie charity.

NIST Says Don't Use our Crypto Algorithm
Standing accused of NSA interference in its processes, and backdoors in its algorithms, NIST now says our crypto standards and processes are sound -- but don't use the elliptic curve algorithm.

Twitter Announces Intention to Go Public
Fittingly, Twitter tweeted its Thursday announcement: "We've confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO. This Tweet does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale.” Now, back to work, it added.

Defining and Selling Trusted Computing
A panel of industry experts and members of the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) convened at the Trusted Computing Conference in Orlando this week to discuss the value behind common, hardware-based standards and why it has thus far been a tough sell for the industry

Massive Data Breach Hits Millions of Vodafone Germany Customers
One of the world’s largest corporations has been hit with a widespread data breach: Vodafone Germany said that personal information on more than two million mobile phone customers has been stolen, possibly by a company insider.

BlackBerry Issues Four Security Advisories for BB 10 Devices
BlackBerry prides itself on its reputation as providing a secure mobile option – but it too occasionally finds flaws. The company’s Security Incident Response Team (BBSIRT) has released four security advisories having to do with Adobe Flash Player, WebKit and libexif vulnerabilities.

Massive Botnet is Behind Tor Usage Spike
Despite speculation that Operation PRISM and concerns over NSA surveillance are spurring users to take up online privacy safeguards in droves, the sudden spike in usage for the Tor browser that began in August can be attributable to pretty much one thing: a massive botnet.

Crackdown on Cybercriminals Equals Reduced Cybercrime in Russia
The latest analysis from a major Russian security firm indicates that the Russian cybercrime market has contracted by 6% - down from $2,055 million in 2011 to $1,936 million in 2012.

NSA to Recommend TPM Standard for Government Use
The US National Security Agency (NSA) will advise that all IT products purchased by government agencies to protect information on national security systems make use of hardware-based trusted platform module (TPM) chips or security devices.

Vast Majority of PCs have Java Vulnerabilities
A vast majority – 81% – of Windows machines are running an outdated version of Java, leaving their users wide open to known exploits.

War of the Trojans: 'Alien' Invasion Spreads Third-Party Malware
A nasty Android trojan, dubbed Obad.a, is being spread using botnets controlled by other criminal groups and created using a different malware – an “alien” distribution scheme that has peaked researcher interest.
Missouri S&T Combats Campus Cyberwoes with Software Donation
When it comes to cybersecurity, universities are faced with double goals: they struggle to protect their valuable intellectual property, as well as the personally identifying information of their students, faculty and staff. A recent cybersecurity deployment at the Missouri University of Science & Technology demonstrates one approach to combating the looming danger of data breaches.

Vint Cerf: Cyber-Fire Departments Should Be the First Line of Defense
The internet pioneer and chief evangelist for Google has been calling on the industry to get the next billion people connected worldwide, with ideas that range from low-orbiting satellites to cover rural areas to connectivity delivered by giant balloons in New Zealand. He’s also tackling cybersecurity in all of this, by proselytizing the idea of a “cyber-fire department” to help protect small businesses and individuals against threats to ensure that risks do not spread.

Did the NSA Subvert the Security of IPv6?
Following the Snowden leaks revealing Bullrun – the NSA program to crack the world's encryption – there is an emerging consensus that users can no longer automatically trust any security.

Clearswift Acquires Jedda Systems
Clearswift, an information governance (or data loss prevention) specialist, has announced the acquisition of the intellectual property rights of Australian firm Jedda Systems – and CEO Heath Davies says ‘watch this space’ for more acquisitions.



