The number of bootkits targeting the Microsoft Windows 64-bit platform increased rapidly last year, a trend that is likely to continue this year, according to David Harley, senior research fellow at ESET UK.

Researchers Zach Lanier and Ben Nell were able to hack into the Bridge connection between the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and a BlackBerry handset, a connection that allows the user to access corporate email, calendars, and other data on the tablet.

A survey by Freeform Dynamics shows that more than half of small and a fifth of medium sized businesses in Europe lack a formal disaster recovery plan.

Reported fraud in the UK during 2011 increased by 50% to stand at more than £2bn. Both the number and average value of reported cases also rose.

The world is entering a “new and terribly dangerous era” in which cyberwar and information proliferation are converging to threaten critical infrastructure and personal privacy, warns Roger Thompson, chief emerging threat researcher at ICSA Labs.

Security firm Symantec has uncovered two pieces of Android malware, one spoofing a handful of popular games and another exploiting users’ concerns about Carrier IQ software.

Tim Berners-Lee, father of the worldwide web, has supported a group putting pressure on the US government over the proposed PIPA Act, which aims to impose restrictions and censorship on the internet.

The US government has expelled Venezuelan diplomat Livia Acosta Noguera for allegedly assisting the Iranian government in a plot to launch cyber attacks against US nuclear power plants.

Typosquatting has led to a spam site becoming one of the highest ranking sites on the internet, according to Alexa.

“I would not be surprised to see the demise of email by the end of this decade.” This surprising but potentially realistic statement was made by Graeme Codrington, a futurist at the TomorrowToday consultancy.