DDoS services for hire – so-called “booters” that can be hired to knock, or boot, a website offline – are making their way out of the dark shadow-world of hacker message boards and forums, instead taking payments via PayPal and advertising in mainstre…
Howard Schmidt Announces SAFECode secure software development training
At the Security Development Conference in San Francisco, Howard Schmidt, executive director, SAFECode, announced that the non-for-profit organization is tackling software development and engineering security with a set of free online training courses, …
Judge allows redacted disclosure of Reddit co-founder’s documents
The US government and MIT/JSTOR had agreed that documents concerning the prosecution of Aaron Swartz could, in part, be made public. The Swartz estate asked for the documents in full. The court has denied the estate and allowed the government and MIT/J…
Mideast sabotage threats target US energy sector
A new crop of Mideast-originated cyberattacks are targeting the American energy sector, with the intent of sabotage, not just espionage.
Surveillance software targeted British/Bahraini citizen
A witness statement filed in the high court London claims that Gamma International’s FinFisher (FinSpy) covert surveillance software targeted the computer of a leading Bahraini activist who holds dual British and Bahraini citizenship.
Telecom fraud: a Chinese variant on the Police Trojan explained
Fraud is big business in China. Last year there were more than 170,000 cases causing losses of more than $12.5 billion. New evidence suggests this might be getting worse with increasingly sophisticated cyber fraud.
Snapchat’s expired snaps are not deleted, just hidden
Snapchat doesn’t delete expired photos on Android phones – it merely tells the operating system to ignore them. That means they are still available for retrieval with the right forensic software.
Hackers looted $45 million in global ATM heist
A global gang of hackers managed to siphon off $45 million from ATMs thanks to outdated US credit card technology.
Almost half of employees admit to bypassing security controls
Security shouldn’t get in the way of doing business and closing sales, but many organizations are wrestling with data protection strategies that block employees’ ability to get the information they need to do their jobs. Almost half of all employees in…
Chrome extension briefly allows DRM-free downloads from Spotify: Encryption may not be the answer
A Chrome extension called Downloadify allowed DRM-free downloads from Spotify’s library of 20 million songs before remedial action by Spotify and withdrawal from the Chrome store by Google.