Infosecurity News
US expels Venezuelan diplomat over cyber plot against nuclear plants
The US government has expelled Venezuelan diplomat Livia Acosta Noguera for allegedly assisting the Iranian government in a plot to launch cyber attacks against US nuclear power plants.
Spam site becomes one of the most popular locations on the web
Typosquatting has led to a spam site becoming one of the highest ranking sites on the internet, according to Alexa.
Security concerns are slowing but won’t stop the growth of instant messaging
“I would not be surprised to see the demise of email by the end of this decade.” This surprising but potentially realistic statement was made by Graeme Codrington, a futurist at the TomorrowToday consultancy.
Endpoint attacks cost firms close to half a million dollars annually
Attacks against endpoints are costing the average organization around $470,000 annually, according to a survey sponsored by Symantec.
Internet action against SOPA under discussion within Net Coalition
Opposition to SOPA and PIPA (the anti online piracy acts) continues to grow. Net Coalition reports on Al Gore’s reservations, while also threatening its own internet blackout.
Pastebin shut down twice in a week by DDoS attacks
Pastebin.com, a favorite venue for hacktivists, was shut down twice this week by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
Google plugs three high-risk holes in latest Chrome browser
Google has fixed three high-risk vulnerabilities in the latest version of its Chrome browser.
Vietnam doles out fines for theft of personal information
The Vietnamese Communication Security Agency has fined three individuals for stealing personal information on millions of people and selling it online, the first time fines have been issued for such activity in the country.
New variant of Ramnit financial malware targeting Facebook users
Ramnit is not a new worm, as it was first reported back in April 2010. Last summer it evolved into financial malware. Now its developers are specifically targeting Facebook users.
BAE Systems Detica becomes a strategic partner with CEOP
BAE Systems Detica has become a strategic partner of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre. This is a special relationship reserved for organizations that have provided a real contribution toward CEOP’s role in protecting children online. Other strategic partners are Microsoft, the NSPCC and Visa Europe.
Most users have not installed security software on their smartphones, survey finds
Nearly three-quarters of Americans have never installed data protection applications or security software on their smartphones to protect against data loss or malware, according to a survey sponsored by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and McAfee.
Anonymous threatens Sony over SOPA support
Anonymous is entering the US legislative fray by targeting Sony over its support of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) being considered by the US House.
Law enforcement union calls for legislative probe into Anonymous hack
The Peace Officers of California (POC) group is demanding a legislative investigation into the handling of an Anonymous hack of the California State Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) website.
Lilupophilupop: Tongue-twister SQL injection attacks pass one million mark
The lilupophilupop.com SQL injection attacks, first analyzed by the SANS Internet Storm Center in early December, have topped one million infected pages.
WordPress 3.3 has XSS vulnerability, say Indian researchers
Indian researchers Aditya Modha and Samir Shah have uncovered a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in WordPress 3.3.
Stuxnet and Duqu were produced by the same malware team
Kaspersky’s lengthy investigation into the Duqu worm concludes that it comes from the same developers as Stuxnet. This, potentially, has serious implications.
Leveson Inquiry shows government should concentrate RIPA reforms on the media
A UK lawyer has called on the government to redirect its reforms of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) away from local authorities and toward journalism.
Care2 fails to take care of members' personal information
Online community Care2 has notified its close to 18 million members that the site’s servers were attacked, resulting in a security breach.
Hackers celebrate New Year's by breaching Philippine government websites
The PrivateX hacker group breached two Philippine government websites, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI), on New Year’s Day.
Service wipes data from government PCs with degaussing
PC Recycler provides electronics recycling services to a number of US government agencies, using degaussing to wipe data from the devices before destruction.
