Infosecurity News
Alternate data stream tool launched
RootKitAnalytics has made a tool available for discovering hidden alternate data streams. Called StreamArmor, it is designed to analyze a feature of the Windows file system that allows hidden data to be embedded in files.
ISACA survey reveals uncertainty over cloud computing security risks
Nearly half of US IT professionals surveyed by ISACA said they believe that the security risks of cloud computing outweigh the potential benefits.
Protegrity predicts rising IT security sales on back of enhanced ICO penalties for data breaches
Protegrity, the Stamford, Connecticut-based enterprise data security specialist, is quietly making its presence felt in the UK and Europe, largely thanks to a growing network of resellers handling the firm's products.
The White Lotus DDoS botnet analysed
Research just released from Arbor Networks makes the interesting assertion that a new family of distributed denial of service (DDoS) botnets has arrived on the hacker scene.
70 arrested in Romania in cybercrime ring
Seventy people were arrested in Romania this week as part of an investigation of three organised criminal groups connected with cybercrime.
Kaspersky patents code-tracing technology
Kaspersky has successfully patented technology that enables analysts to trace the activity of software code without infringing upon intellectual property.
Gracenote, Civolution in UGC fingerprinting deal
Content watermarking firm Civolution has signed an expanded long-term agreement with online music database firm Gracenote to jointly market an audio and video content identification platform that lets content owners and service providers filter and monitor content.
Riverbed and McAfee in optimization deal
McAfee has signed a deal with IT performance optimisation company Riverbed Technology to embed its firewall technology in the Riverbed Steelhead WAN optimisation appliance.
Employees unaware of massive hike in ICO penalties
This week sees the introduction of new penalties for breaches of the Data Protection Act. Regulated and enforced by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the maximum fine for an organisation found to be in breach of the act rises from just £5000 to a hefty £500 000.
Unencrypted removable storage devices pose company risk
Research just released in the US claims to show that three quarters of workers are now saving corporate data on unencrypted USB sticks and, says Origin Storage, if this data is extrapolated to the UK, it suggests there is a high risk of data leaks occurring on this side of the Atlantic.
Visa warns retailers of rising keylogger trojan problem
Visa International has taken the unusual step on advising its member financial institutions – who process card transactions for their retailer customers – that the incidence of trojans carrying keylogger malware is rising, and that retailers need to take care their EPOS (electronic point of sale) terminals do not become infected.
Korea reigns as king of malware threats
The US has lost its place atop the leader board as the chief source of malware in March, as research from Network Box indicates Korea – mainly South Korea – can now claim the top spot when phishing attempts are included in the statistics.
Weekly brief, April 6, 2010
Infosecurity rounds up the week's news
Researcher makes PDF files worm-able
A security researcher has come up with a proof-of-concept attack that enables malicious executables to be remotely injected into clean PDF files.
USB trojan tops BitDefender March e-threats report
The March report on electronic threats from BitDefender claims to show that trojans continue to get top billing – topping the IT security vendor's list with 13% of total global malware is Trojan.AutorunInf.Gen, a generic mechanism designed to spread through removable devices.
Mobile social networking needs much better policing says report
Government psychologist Tanya Byron has called for a fresh review into regular and mobile internet usage by minors, suggesting that the social networking industry should have an accepted code of conduct in order to protect under-age users.
Coalition calls for reform of electronic privacy law
Tech vendors, interest groups, and academics have formed a coalition advocating for modification of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which they claim is severely out-of-date.
Microsoft uses computing grid to weed out Office bugs
Microsoft has discovered a slew of bugs in Office 2010 by building what amounts to a legitimate botnet for software testing. Engineers within Microsoft have created a grid-style system that employs unused computing time on internal PCs to run fuzz tests against its software.
eBay comes under attack, says Red Condor
eBay is the victim of a phishing attack that uses its own compromised server, according to email filtering company Red Condor.
IBM and FAA working together on security project
IBM is working with the US Federal Aviation Administration on research to secure the US civilian aviation system from electronic attack.
