The federal government is tightening up hiring policies for cybersecurity professionals by launching cybersecurity competency models for its employees.

After several weeks of rumour, IBM is reported to be acquiring Guardium, the enterprise database security specialist, for $225 million.

Bit.ly the URL shortening service – which has been quietly overtaking Tiny.url, the industry first URL shortening service, over the last year – has stolen another march by adding security facilities.

Reports are coming in that hackers and malware authors have latched on to the weekend reports about golfing legend Tiger Woods being involved in a car accident close to his home.

Reports are coming in that a set of security patches for Windows XP, Vista and 7 may be causing problems for large numbers of PC users.

Infosecurity reports on the past week’s news

Botnet machines are being used as password crackers, according to data released by Microsoft on Friday.

News that the author of the first iPhone worm – Ikee – which hit tens of thousands of Australian iPhone users a few weeks ago – has been met with consternation by the IT security industry.

Allot Communications has launched WebSafe, a web filtering service targeting broadband service providers to help protect against illegal content such as child pornography.

More than 100 000 debit and credit card holders in New Zealand are reportedly having their cards replaced as a result of a potentially major fraud involving a skimming device installed at an Auckland car park.