Security

Adobe is insisting that Mac and Windows users immediately update its Flash Player software. The company says it has just issued a new update designed to prevent hackers from exploiting two recently-discovered bugs. Adobe Flash is a multimedia and ... software platform often used by web browsers to display video, animations, and interactive games. Exploited Flaw Results in Crash By exploiting the bugs, hackers are causing serious problems. Reports indicate that it's possible for hackers to create websites that would trigger the bug and cause a user's computer to crash. That's a problem for ... (view more)

An estimated 40,000 businesses and organizations could find themselves legally bound to report any cyber security breaches they've suffered. The idea is to share information about cyber threats and increase the chances of catching hackers. The rules ... have been proposed by the European Union and would affect organizations across that continent. Companies from the United States and other countries that operate in Europe might also be covered by the rules. (Source: europa.eu ) The firms involved include banks, power companies, and medical facilities. The European Union has determined that a ... (view more)

The President of the United States has the right to authorize an online attack on another nation if he has credible evidence to suggest that country plans to attack the US. That's the conclusion of a secret review of rules governing the US ... military's online behavior. Officials are said to be planning the first comprehensive set of guidelines for the military's online activities, though the rules themselves will be classified. The review was prompted by concerns over the current division between the military and intelligence services. For example, the armed forces are only allowed to launch ... (view more)

The US Federal Reserve has confirmed that it recently suffered a cyber attack that resulted in personal data being lost. It's also possible that this information has already been published online. A spokesman for the Federal Reserve said the attack ... was made possible by hackers "exploiting a temporary vulnerability in a website vendor product." That problem was quickly fixed once officials became aware of it. The spokesman didn't publicly confirm what information was stolen, but did say that the attack failed to negatively impact critical operations. There's no indication the hacking ... (view more)

The United States Department of Energy has been attacked by hackers. The unknown assailants reportedly gained access to employee personal information. News agency Reuters recently acquired a letter between the US Department of Energy (DOE) and its ... employees. In that letter, the DOE admits that the attack "resulted in the unauthorized disclosure of employee and contractor Personally Identifiable Information." Employee Personal Data Lost to Hacker The letter indicated that employee and contractor personal information was lost. However, it also noted that none of the stolen information was ... (view more)

Hackers have reportedly breached Twitter security defenses. According to the social networking site, it's possible that up to a quarter of a million accounts were affected by the attack. Twitter director of information security, Bob Lord, announced ... on Friday afternoon that the site had been under attack throughout the day. An investigation by Twitter's security team discovered that the attackers had in fact bypassed site security and had gained access to a large amount of user data. That user data reportedly contained user names, email addresses, and encrypted passwords. Passwords Reset, ... (view more)

In the past, someone upset by a newspaper article would write a letter of complaint to the editor. But The New York Times (NYT) says Chinese hackers have unleashed a campaign of cyber attacks in response to an article about Chinese leader Wen Jiabo. ... Though the hackers haven't publicly explained their actions, NYT staff believe the attacks are a response to an article published in October 2012 about Jiabao. The story reported that his relatives had made billions of dollars in business deals. (Source: nytimes.com ) The attackers gained access to New York Times computers through malicious ... (view more)

Printers using server software offered by Hewlett-Packard (HP) are reportedly vulnerable to attack. In fact, it's possible for a hacker to use the flaw to bypass security defenses, steal documents, and crash every machine connected to the same ... network. Security researcher Sebastian Guerrero says the problem affects printers using HP's JetDirect software. That software is used for print servers, meaning it can handle any printing request made by a network-connected computer. Hackers Could Bypass Security Defenses Guerrero says that a flaw in the JetDirect software could allow an attacker to ... (view more)

Three Eastern European men now stand accused of operating a global scam designed to steal "tens of millions" of dollars from banks by means of a special virus known as "Gozi." The same virus is also said to have compromised about 190 computers at ... NASA during a five year period, revealing confidential log-in information and instant messaging transcripts. Gozi Virus Infects 1 Million PCs The prosecutors in the case claim the Gozi virus infected more than a million computers worldwide, including large numbers in such countries as Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Turkey and the ... (view more)

Two men claiming to belong to the loosely-organized international 'hacktivist' group Anonymous have now been sentenced to jail terms in England. The men were convicted of carrying out distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in support of ... WikiLeaks. The convicted men include 22-year-old Christopher Weatherhead and 28-year-old Ashley Rhodes. They were found guilty of conspiring to impair the operation of computers. Weatherhead received an 18-month jail term, while Rhodes was sentenced to seven months behind bars. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) PayPal 'Stung' by DDoS Attack According to British ... (view more)