Week in review: cloud computing security, black hat hacking, identity theft
Here’s an overview of some of last week’s most interesting news, reviews and articles:
Cloud computing not as safe as they want you to think
Cloud computing has been touted as the perfect solution for our increasingly mobile life-style – everything we need is always online and always accessible. Mike Elgan thinks that it’s time to stop and reevaluate this “headlong rush into the cloud”.
Beware of Chinese bearing gifts
UK businessmen have been warned by the British security service against using “gifts” such as memory sticks or cameras given to them when attending exhibitions or doing business in China.
A closer look at Gili USB Stick Encryption 2.0
Gili USB Stick Encryption allows you to password protect USB drives, thumb drives, memory sticks, pen drives, jump drives and flash drives, so that the data contained in them doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
Facebook tops the list of risky social networking sites
Social networks may represent one of the most common infection and data loss vectors today, but it’s patently obvious that they are here to stay.
IDS legacy is institutionalized failure
I know of not a SINGLE enterprise network that is not being repeatedly compromised with a deluge of malicious code. Can you imagine a world where we expected our anti-virus to actually protect us?
XSS vulnerability in Cisco Security Tools
Core Security issued an advisory disclosing a vulnerability that could affect large numbers of organizations using Cisco’s Secure Desktop security package and leave users of the product open to potential XSS attacks.
73% share online banking password
The vast majority of online banking customers reuse their login credentials to access non-financial and much less secure websites.
The truth about identity theft
Identity Finder dispels common misconceptions to educate consumers on how to protect themselves from identity theft.
(IN)SECURE Magazine issue 24 released
(IN)SECURE Magazine is a free digital security publication discussing some of the hottest information security topics.
Inside Cyber Warfare: Mapping the Cyber Underworld
This book will give you a complete and in-depth overview of the current situation in this domain and an understanding of the many variables that shape the emerging battlefield that is cyberspace.
Google applicants targeted by phony job application response
People who have applied for a position at Google are in danger of being duped by a malicious email purporting to come from Google, thanking the recipients for sending in their CV and asking them to review their application found in the attachment.
iPhone OS 3.1.3 patches security issues
iPhone OS 3.1.3 deals with several security issues regarding CoreAudio, ImageIO, Recovery Mode and WebKit.
Black hat hackers on demand
Everybody knows that malicious hacking is illegal, but there are services out there that seem not very concerned with the fact.
Off-Twitter phishing attack explained
The mystery of the off-Twitter phishing attack, due to which some account passwords have been reset by the service, has been solved.
Life of a Chinese hacker
Majia is in his early twenties, and is a college graduate with a degree in engineering. During the day, he works at a government agency. But at night, he is free to follow his passion: hacking.
Police push for fast access to ISP data
According to the answers given by a 100 police investigators, they are not very satisfied with the speed with which they are able to access company documents during investigations.
A closer look at File Encryption XP 1.5
File Encryption XP is a file and folder encryption program that uses the Blowfish algorithm with a 384-bit key. The files are completely self-contained – if you have the correct password, you can view your encrypted files on any Windows PC and you do not need to install any other encryption software.
Google and NSA team up to fend off future attacks
Google and the NSA reached an agreement that will see the security agency helping with the investigation of the latest attack of the Internet giant that supposedly carried out by Chinese hackers.
Cybercriminals focus on targeted attacks
In their latest report, Websense note that they’ve seen the number of compromised Web sites fall off. Yet, even though this seems like the rare glimpse of something encouraging, it actually means that malicious hackers have become smarter and decided to target their activities more carefully.
First man ever charged with hacking VoIP providers
Edwin Pena, 27, a Venezuelan citizen, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit computer hacking and wire fraud, and one count of wire fraud.
Infected Firefox add-ons pulled off official site
Two infected Firefox add-ons managed to avoid detection and were put online, available to download, on Firefox’s official add-on download site.