Security

Last week, a buggy McAfee anti-virus update released to the public sent computers running Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) crashing to a halt . The widespread issue led to intense anger thrown in the direction of the security firm, which recently ... announced it would offer to reimburse some users affected by the problem. The issue was the result of a poisoned virus update which identified vital processes in the Windows XP operating system as being virus infected. When the antivirus program attempted to quarantine these critical files, it caused machines to crash without warning, leaving many ... (view more)

Most people believe that hackers are tech-savvy, evil geniuses who toil away hours designing sophisticated pieces of malware. In actuality, spam and other virus tactics can be simplified thanks to illicit services like those offered by a Russian ... hacker named 'Kirllos,' who claims to have up to 1.5 million hacked Facebook accounts in his possession. The typical asking price for such criminal services range from US $25-$45 per 1,000 accounts, depending on the total number of accounts hacked. Still, security researchers at Verisign's iDefense are not entirely sure if the Kirllos accounts are ... (view more)

The Lower Merion School District (LMSD) laptop spying saga continues to unfold. District investigators have finished their investigation, concluding that web cameras were activated by school district employees about 80 times in the past two school ... years, capturing nearly 56,000 images of students, their homes and copies of the programs or files running on their screens. Laptop Took Photos While Student Slept The system was allegedly used by LMSD officials to track lost and stolen laptops. However, the lawsuit filed on behalf of Blake J. Robbins by his parents claims that the teen's school- ... (view more)

Hackers have unveiled a nasty new virus that seeks to embarrass as much as harm its victims. However, have no fear if your online behavior is at a PG rating or below: the virus targets those who frequent a popular -- ahem -- skin file-sharing site. ... Kenzero, a virus that originated in Japan, is on a rampage looking to embarrass (and then steal) from users of the illicit file-sharing service "Winni". In total, Winni draws about 200 million users from across the globe. (Source: yahoo.com ) Winni customers use the site to download copies of games from the aforementioned genre. In doing so, their ... (view more)

In a recent annual security report posted on the web site of China's National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team (CNCERT), it was reported that almost 7 million Internet Protocol (IP) addresses were infected with the "Conficker B" ... worm at the end of 2009. While the number of infections fluctuated on a week-to-week basis, all but one week had at least 5 million IP infections in the country. Statistically, China represents 28 per cent of the total number of compromised computers infected with the Conficker B worm, the largest percentage world-wide. (Source: pcworld.com ) ... (view more)

Having a rootkit (virus) installed on your PC is a bad thing. That's because by definition, rootkits are specialized malware programs that are stealthy in nature and are near-impossible to detect and remove. In searching for a solution, however, ... it's understandable that infected PC owners would look to a software company like Microsoft to fix a problem affecting its operating system -- in this case, Windows XP. Unfortunately, that's not the case for many users with PCs suffering from the Alureon rootkit virus. Microsoft Update Causes Infected PCs to Crash Alureon, or Win32/Alureon.A, infects ... (view more)

We recently reported on a story in which the identities of 3.3 million loan borrowers were hacked , including the names, addresses, social security numbers of these individuals. Now, figures from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse suggest that more ... than 347 million records have been breached since 2005. So, what happens if you aren't aware that your identity has been compromised? The short answer is that someone will likely try to use your identity to commit fraud. For example, you might receive a bill for a credit card expense that you knew nothing about. It could ruin your credit score, or ... (view more)

This month's security updates from Microsoft will cover every currently supported edition of Windows. That means home users should check carefully if they don't have automatic updates switched on, while businesses will need to plan how they will ... apply the patches. As happens on the second Tuesday of every month, Microsoft will release its Patch Tuesday security fix for issues affecting the Windows operating system (OS). This month, though, there was an exception: an emergency patch released on March 30th for a serious security flaw in Internet Explorer versions 6 and 7. At the time, several ... (view more)

Jeremy Conway, a security researcher with NitroSecurity, is claiming to have found a way to spread malicious code via PDF (Portable Document Format) documents. The secret is in the way PDF file format works. More specifically, a certain flaw exists ... in the PDF file format that adds malicious data to legitimate files. This means that anyone who opens compromised PDF files instantly becomes a victim of a worm-like attack. Attack Launched Without User Consent Conway spent a great deal of time developing a technique with which to inject malicious commands into PDFs. Until now, his attacks only ... (view more)

A recent study reports that 4.4% of all Internet usage in China is done without antivirus protection. What is more disturbing is that these figures have actually increased when compared to figures from last year. The studies were conducted by the ... Chinese Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) and China's National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team (CNCERT). $2.2B In 'Service Fees' To Clean Up Attacks In 2009, Chinese Internet users spent almost 15.3 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) on service fees designed to clean up after cyber attacks. It is also reported that free ... (view more)