Security

Security firm Symantec says it has disabled roughly 500,000 computers hijacked by a major botnet. Unfortunately, the botnet -- known as ZeroAccess -- still has around 1.4 million machines under its control. A botnet is a network of machines that ... have fallen victim to malicious software. This allows the cybercriminals running the network to combine the machines to create a powerful weapon. Sometimes botnet operators will use the computers to spread more malicious software, attack a business or government agency, or bring a website down. Infected Machines Used For Bogus Ad Clicks In this case ... (view more)

Experts are growing increasingly concerned about a still-unpatched security flaw in Microsoft's popular web browser, Internet Explorer. According to recent reports, the vulnerability -- which first emerged in mid-September -- has been exploited on ... several occasions. Microsoft has called the vulnerability CVE-2013-3989. The firm first announced the flaw back on September 17 shortly after Microsoft became aware of its use in a number of attacks. In the days that followed Microsoft released a temporary "Fix It" tool that Internet Explorer users could manually download and install on their ... (view more)

Millions of Americans have had their most sensitive personal information exposed by hackers who bypassed the security of several major data companies. The attacks were launched by hackers who ultimately sold the stolen data to a group called SSNDOB, ... which stands for Social Security Numbers, Dates of Birth. The hackers infiltrated servers belonging to major data brokers, including LexisNexis, Kroll Background America, and Dun ... (view more)

Apple's new fingerprint security system for the iPhone 5S was supposed to make it harder for hackers to access a user's personal information. However, it appears hackers in Germany have already found a way to dupe the system. Germany's Chaos ... Computer Club (CCC) hacking group recently unveiled a strategy for beating the iPhone 5S' fingerprint authentication. The trick: using a customized print out of a victim's fingerprint. Victim Fingerprint, Common Home Tools All That's Required Here's how the trick works: first, a hacker must acquire a high-quality photograph of a victim's fingerprint. Next ... (view more)

Security firm McAfee has released its list of the most dangerous celebrity search terms. Essentially, it's a list of celebrity names that too often result in web surfers visiting malware-laced websites. This year the most dangerous celebrity is Lily ... Collins, daughter of famous rocker Phil Collins and star of "Mirror, Mirror" and "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones." Collins was also ranked fourth on People's 2012 list of the World's Most Beautiful People. McAfee says there's a 14.5 per cent chance that you'll end up on a malicious website if you use the web to find information about the ... (view more)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has settled a case against a firm accused of sending 42 million bogus text messages. The texts falsely claimed recipients had won gift cards. An example of the texts, published by the FTC, reads "Dear Walmart ... shopper, your purchase last month won a $1000 Walmart Gift Card, go to www.vCardSpot.com within 24 hours to claim. (NO2cancel)." Similar messages mentioned other retailers, including Best Buy and Target. Not only were the claims completely false, but the retailers mentioned had no involvement in or knowledge of the texts. (Source: nbcnews.com ) ... (view more)

Maintaining a secure PC isn't just about downloading and installing antivirus and antimalware programs. It's also about being careful about the USB devices, including smartphones, thumb drives and external hard drives, that you plug into your ... computer. Now, a new product promises to protect your devices against malware by providing an additional layer of protection. It's called the 'USB Condom'. The product, which is the creation of int3.cc, is being marketed as a way to prevent infections from spreading between a USB device and a computer. That means an infected PC won't infect a thumb drive ... (view more)

A member of international hacking group Anonymous has been sentenced to three years in prison for attacking a series of law enforcement websites. John Anthony Borell III will spend the next thirty-six months in a federal penitentiary. The ... 22-year-old Borell is a native of Ohio but the sites he targeted were based in all parts of the continental United States. During the early part of 2012 Borell hacked the websites of police agencies located in Utah, New York, and California. He also targeted a municipal government website based in Missouri. Utah Police Site Disabled For Three Months Court ... (view more)

A new security report reveals that most 'hacktivists' (or politically-motivated hackers) aren't looking to inflict long-term damage on their victims through cyberattacks. Instead, their primary goal is to draw attention to their own cause. But ... that's not necessarily a good thing -- in fact, experts say it makes devising a foolproof security strategy extremely difficult. "What we have seen with hacktivists is that attacking a website tends to be more about generating media coverage about their cause than it is about which site they targeted or what the impact was," says Michael Smith, incident ... (view more)

Fingerprint scanners, like the one included with Apple's upcoming iPhone 5S, present us with a convenient way to secure our smartphones. But there may be another way to protect your favorite touchscreen device. Illinois Institute of Technology ... researcher Cheng Bo recently unveiled 'SilentSense', a technology that uses a touchscreen smartphone's built-in sensors to identify you. Simply put, SilentSense uses these sensors to learn how you use your touchscreen device. That means it carefully measures pressure patterns, touch duration, and even fingertip size and position to determine if the user ... (view more)