Anti-virus companies don’t just block malware – they also give their customers the option to block ‘potentially unwanted apps’ or PUAs. These aren’t strictly malware, but can violate a user’s privacy. Adware can potentially be a PUA.
German Federal Government Warns on the Security Dangers of Windows 8
The problem revolves around the upcoming Trusted Platform Module v 2.0 developed by the US-dominated Trusted Computing Group, which cannot be deactivated by the user. The concern is that this provides a back door for Microsoft, and by extension, for th…
Latest Spy Law May Force Mega to Leave New Zealand
Kim Dotcom warned earlier this month that if a new bill – the Telecommunications (Interception Capability and Security) bill known as TICS – were to become law, he would move Mega’s privacy services out of New Zealand. TICS was passed yesterday in the …
The Counter-productive Effect of the Cost of Cybercrime
The cost of cybercrime is frequently used to justify the cost of security products and the implementation of new – and invariably more stringent – cyber laws. But what if those figures are wrong? Could it mean that industry, and government, gets its en…
Poison Ivy Dissected: Commodity Tool or APT Weapon?
The contradiction behind a remote access trojan (RAT) such as Poison Ivy is that while it is easy to use and widely used, it can also indicate a sophisticated – or APT-style – attack designed to exfiltrate specific data from major organizations.
NIST Updates Patching and Malware Avoidance Guides
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has updated two of its computer security guides to help system managers protect their systems from hackers and malware.
Microsoft Warns of Permanent Zero-Day Exploits for Windows XP
When Microsoft announced that it would discontinue support for Windows XP starting on April 8, 2014, many companies began the long process of transitioning to modern operating systems like Windows 7 or Windows 8. But there are others that won’t – and t…
Android Bitcoin Wallet Issue Points Out Critical Need for Mobile App Management
The previously disclosed flaw in Android’s Bitcoin wallet has now been quantified in terms of its scope: the vulnerability has left over 360,000 applications up for attack, subsequently compromising the data of thousands of users, as well as their cybe…
The Detention of David Miranda Raises Serious Issues
Over the weekend David Miranda, partner of Glen Greenwald – the Guardian journalist who published the first of a series of reports detailing United States and British mass surveillance programs, based on documents obtained by Edward Snowden – was deta…
Google Responds to British Lawsuit: UK Privacy Laws Don’t Apply
There have been two new developments in the British lawsuit against Google for allegedly overriding Safari privacy settings to track users’ internet habits: firstly the High Court granted permission to serve on Google Inc, putting the papers into the p…