Security

You might normally expect hackers to operate in secret, and to communicate through hidden channels. The group behind a notorious social networking virus, however, appears to be actively and publicly posting about the sites which they attack. ... Facebook has apparently tracked down what it believes to be a group of five men responsible for the notorious "Koobface" virus and has publicly named them. So far, the men have not been confirmed as under investigation by law enforcement, nor have they been formally charged. The company says it will publish further details in coming weeks to ... (view more)

Online battles between Saudi and Israeli hackers have moved from credit card hacks to the shutting down of whole websites. The online 'war' began early this month, when a hacker claiming to be from Saudi Arabia published stolen Israeli credit card ... details . The actual location of the hacker, who used the code-name xOmar 0 (and variations, such as OxOmar), remains in dispute, with some experts claiming he is in Mexico. Assertions about the number of compromised credit card accounts also vary from 15,000 to 400,000. Political Leaders Speak Out The credit card attack had political ramifications ... (view more)

A military and security intelligence firm that fell victim to a hacking attack has suffered another embarrassment, even while analysis reveals that hundreds of military and political officials had their digital details exposed by hackers. As ... reported last month , hackers struck Stratfor (or "Strategic Forecasting"), a Texas-based security consulting and analysis firm. They captured details of some 4,000 clients, cheekily using the stolen credit card information to make charitable donations. Stratfor customers recently received an email apparently sent by CEO, George Friedman, asking ... (view more)

Israelis have recently been hit with one of the largest credit card hacks in recent memory. An estimated 20,000 people in that Mid-East nation have found their financial information exposed to web users by an unknown hacker claiming to be from Saudi ... Arabia. Israeli authorities believe the attack, which officials first detected on Tuesday (January 3, 2012), qualifies as cyber-terrorism. Other experts, however, believe it's too early in the hacking cycle to determine exactly what motivated the attack or who, precisely, may have been behind it. (Source: nytimes.com ) Exposed Credit Card Accounts ... (view more)

International hacking group Anonymous has struck again, this time infiltrating a US-based security think tank. Experts believe the group made off with email, home addresses, and credit card information. The think tank in question is Stratfor (which ... stands for "Strategic Forcasting") based in Austin, Texas. It's an economic, military and political consulting group that dispenses high-level advice, reports and analyses for which a who's who list of subscribers in the security industry and elsewhere are more than willing to pay. Confidential Client List Includes Army, MSNBC Experts ... (view more)

Only days after uncovering a major international ransomware problem , Microsoft has once again issued a new security warning involving a holiday hoax. This time, scamsters are cold-call dialing people at home, claiming to be legitimate ... representatives of Microsoft. The tactic has been used before, though it involves a slightly new twist. Microsoft Affiliation Validates Scam Those affected by the swindle say that they received a cold-call from a third-party claiming to be a Microsoft representative, a Microsoft-affiliated brand, or of a third party contracted by Microsoft. The victim was asked ... (view more)

Microsoft has issued a warning about a new form of malware that locks users out of their computers. Dubbed 'ransomware,' the malicious software demands immediate financial compensation from its victims in order to get their machines working again. ... Generally, the scam is presented with a genuine-appearing on-screen message that implies the website they were trying to visit was secretly linked to illicit images of children, and that the user has already been identified as if searching for such material. A different but similar version of the scam suggests that the user has been identified as ... (view more)

A Georgia hospital was recently forced to turn ambulances away after their information systems were infected with a computer virus (malware). The problem meant staff were unable to process admissions quickly enough to cope with demand. A ... spokesperson for the Gwinnett Medical Center said that while a malicious software infection is rare, this one in particular was more severe than any before it. The virus affected the center's two facilities, located in Lawrenceville and Duluth. Hospital Admin Goes Back to the Pre-Computer Era The computer virus infection forced staff to take the details of ... (view more)

A US Senator is demanding answers from a company accused of producing smartphone spyware . The firm, Carrier IQ, denies the accusation, and claims its software is designed solely for tracking service faults on the portable phones. The software ... appears to be installed without consumer knowledge or permission on millions of the handsets. It's usually installed in rootkit form , before the customer takes possession, and is difficult for ordinary users to discover or delete. Officially, the software is intended to track activity on the phone and report back to cellular networks. When faults are ... (view more)

The controversial Wikileaks site has published documents that appear to show national governments using malicious software to carry out surveillance. The documents flesh out claims by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that private companies are ... profiting by selling the software to governments. Wikileaks has published a total of 287 files used by 160 commercial firms. It says this is only part of a larger collection that will be published, going forward. The most worrying aspect of the products detailed is that they are intentionally designed to bypass the type of security software available to ... (view more)