Monthly IT Updates




  • June 2009
    • Week 1
    • Week 2
    • Week 3
    • Week 4

  • July 2009
    • Week 1
    • Week 2
    • Week 3
    • Week 4

  • August 2009
    • Week 1
    • Week 2
    • Week 3
    • Week 4

April Updates

Week 5

05. 01. 2009

Log toggling speeds up Cloud Antivirus - By pushing as much resource usage as possible into the clouds, Panda Security's new Cloud Antivirus aims to free up the RAM hogging that plagues many security programs ...
Cloud Antivirus speeds up

05. 01. 2009

Swine flu e-mail in Spanish links to data-stealing Trojan - An e-mail referencing a vaccine for swine flu is circulating that includes a link to a malicious file on a Mexican Web site that is designed to steal bank log-in information, security firm SonicWall ...
Swine attacks again

05. 01. 2009

Lime Wire tells Congress its P2P software is safe now - In response to the reopening of an investigation into inadvertent file sharing with peer-to-peer software, an executive for Lime Wire told Congress in a letter on Friday that the new version of the program is "the most secure file-sharing software available." ...
Lime Wire Safe???

05. 01. 2009

USPS probes possible mass security breach - The United States Postal Inspection Service is investigating a data breach at both companies that resulted in sensitive information being used in a crime ...
Breach at USPS

05. 01. 2009

Twitter's network gets breached again - Twitter has confirmed that someone broke into its network and gained access to 10 accounts, which appear to include Britney Spears and Ashton Kutcher ...
Twitter attacked

04. 30. 2009

Facebook hit by phishing attacks for a second day - Facebook stopped a phishing attack on Thursday, its second day in a row of dealing with a worm on the site that lures people to a fake Facebook page and prompts them to log in ...
Facebook attack

04. 29. 2009

Cloud Antivirus runs smooth but slow - Panda Security introduced Cloud Antivirus beta, the first fullfeatured cloud-based antivirus program. It does two things that make it competitive and unique compared with its competitors ...
Cloud antivirus runs slow

04. 29. 2009

Panda introduces cloud-based free antivirus - With threats like Conficker fresh in the public's mind, security remains a top concern for Windows users. Panda Security, publishers of Panda Internet Security and Panda Antivirus, ...
Free cloud-based Antivirus

04. 28. 2009

Finovate: Privacy is dead, long live the PIN - What's something we often use for security in the real world but not online? PIN codes. We use them at stores, banks, and ATMs, so why not use them online? For one, a QWERTY keyboard lets you create a much stronger ...
Privacy dead

04. 28. 2009

Microsoft tightens Windows 7 security for USB drives - In the wake of the Conficker worm spreading via removable storage devices among other methods, Microsoft said on Tuesday it is making a change to the way Windows 7 handles USB drives ...
USB security in Windows 7

04. 28. 2009

Phishing with Swine Flu as bait - Phishers and spammers have caught Swine Flu fever and are exploiting fears around the outbreak to try to sell pharmaceutical products or steal information, security experts said Tuesday ...
Phising with Swine

04. 28. 2009

Another Adobe Reader security hole emerges - Security experts are recommending that people disable JavaScript in Adobe Reader following reports of a vulnerability in the popular portable document format reader on Tuesday ...
Adobe security hole

04. 27. 2009

McAfee launches free online cybercrime help center - Is your computer acting funny? Are you worried that you may have visited a malicious Web site or opened an e-mail attachment with malware? ...
McAfee Help Center

04. 27. 2009

Google plugs PC power into cloud computing - The company has released experimental but still very much real software that brings in some of the power of the PC, where people often use Web applications. Google Native Client--first released in 2008 but updated ...
Google PC power into cloud

04. 27. 2009

Puerto Rico sites redirected in DNS attack - An attack on the main domain name system registrar in Puerto Rico led to the local Web sites of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Coca-Cola, and other big companies being redirected for a few hours on Sunday ...
P.R. DNS ATTACK



Week 4

04. 24. 2009

Device Identification in online banking is privacy threat - A widely used technology to authenticate users when they log in for online banking may help reduce fraud, but it does so at the expense of consumer privacy, a civil liberties attorney said during ...
Online Banking Privacy

04. 23. 2009

Conficker infected critical hospital equipment - The Conficker worm infected several hundred machines and critical medical equipment in an undisclosed number of U.S. hospitals recently ...
Conficker Strikes Again

04. 23. 2009

Google fixes severe Chrome security hole- The problem affects Google's mainstream stable version of Chrome and is fixed in the new version 1.0.154.59 (click link to download). Google has built Chrome so it updates itself automatically with no user intervention, though the software ...
Chrome Update

04. 22. 2009

Botnet expert suggests hitting cybercriminals in pocket book- Technology is not enough to help the security industry keep botnets from stealing peoples' money and committing denial-of-service attacks, a top botnet researcher said on Wednesday. His suggestion? Stop the flow of money to their coffers. ...
Hitting Cybercrimincals in Pocket Book

04. 22. 2009

To catch a (cyber) theif: It's not easy - The FBI agent whose undercover sting operation led to the dismantling of an international cybercrime ring believes that increasing transnational police cooperation is turning the tide against digital criminals. ...
Catch a Cyber Theif

04. 21. 2009

Nefarious Conficker worm racks up $9.1 billion bill - The Institute also warned against "downplaying" the worm's significance. "Because there was no major Conficker-created problems on April 1st when hijacked computers went online and began communicating with controller domains, numerous commentators are now downplaying the significance of the Conficker problem." ...
Conficker racks $$$

04. 21. 2009

Microsoft tests identity technology in schools - Microsoft is testing some of its new identity-based security technology in Washington state schools, where students and teachers will be able to securely access grades and class schedules ...
Identity Technology in School

04. 21. 2009

Gates: Cyberattacks a constant threat - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that the United States is "under cyberattack virtually all the time, every day" and that the Defense Department plans to more than quadruple the number of cyber experts it employs to ward off such attacks ...
Cyberattacks

04. 21. 2009

Finjan finds botnet of 1.9 million infected computers - Security firm Finjan has uncovered what it says is one of the largest bot networks controlled by a single cybergang, with 1.9 million infected zombie computers ...
1.9 million computers on Botnet

04. 21. 2009

Crypto pioneers differ on cloud-computing risks - A group of pioneers in the security field, whose work in encryption is used to protect Internet data and communications every day, spoke about the state of security at a cryptographer's panel ...
Cloud-Computing

04. 21. 2009

Cisco puts more security in the cloud - Cisco is set to make several cloud-related security announcements at the RSA conference on Tuesday, including the expansion of its hosted security services and the integration of security-as-a-service applications with corporate network infrastructures ...
Security in the cloud

04. 20. 2009

Botnets: Reasons It's Getting Harder to Find and Fight Them - The perpetual proliferation of botnets is hardly surprising when one considers just how easy it is for the bad guys to hijack computers without tipping off the users ...
Botnets hard to find and fight

04. 20. 2009

Symantec acquires Mi5, expands security offerings - Symantec has acquired Web security firm Mi5 Networks and announced two new security suites at the RSA security conference on Tuesday. Mi5 sells a Web security appliance that protects corporations against Web-based threats ...
Symantec acquiers Mi5

04. 20. 2009

Secure software? Experts say it's no longer a pipedream - With the Conficker worm still hot and Microsoft patching multiple software vulnerabilities last week, it might be reasonable to assume the bad guys are winning the battle to get control over Internet-connected computers ...
Software Secure???



Week 3

04. 17. 2009

Will the iPhone ever come to Verizon? - Rumors have circulated since Apple's iPhone was first launched that Verizon Wireless might get its own version of the popular device. But will the elusive iPhone ever come to Verizon's network ...
iPhone to Verizon???

04. 17. 2009

Teen Twitter worm writter gets job and spreads new worm - The teenager who takes credit for the worms that hit Twitter earlier this week has been hired by a Web application development firm and on Friday released a fifth worm ...
Twitter worm author

04. 16. 2009

The hype factor at the RSA conference - It's nearly time for that annual spring ritual: the RSA Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. ESG data tells me that, despite the recession ...
RSA Hype

04. 16. 2009

Report: Payment card data was top target in 2008 - More records were breached in 2008 than in the previous four years combined as a result of a few large breaches involving payment cards ...
Payment Cards

04. 15. 2009

Microsoft to offer hosted security for Exchange - Microsoft will begin offering its first hosted security service under the Forefront brand on Thursday, dubbed Forefront Online Security for Exchange and designed to help keep malware and spam out of e-mail in-boxes ...
Hosted Exchange

04. 15. 2009

PIN Crackers Nab Holy Grail of Bank Card Security - Hackers have crossed into new frontiers by devising sophisticated ways to steal large amounts of personal identification numbers, or PINs ...
PIN's Cracked

04. 14. 2009

Microsoft fills Excel, Windows, Word holes - Microsoft on Tuesday closed security holes in Excel, Windows, and Word that had been exploited in the wild as well as other holes for which exploit code or details exist ...
Microsoft Patch

04. 14. 2009

Why a national data breach notification law makes sense - As we await the 60-day federal cybersecurity review from Melissa Hathaway, acting senior director for cyberspace for the National Security and Homeland Security Councils ...
National Data Breach

04. 13. 2009

Symantec: Security holes, malware spike in 2008 - If you worry that the Internet is a scary place full of digital pickpockets and online identity thieves, your fears will be bolstered by the latest Symantec Internet Security Threat Report released Tuesday ...
Symantec Security Holes

04. 13. 2009

Twitter cleans up after weekend worm attack - Twitter security engineers were cleaning up on Monday following a series of worm attacks over the weekend, including at least two credited to a bored 17-year-old ...
Twitter worm attack

04. 13. 2009

How secure is the U.S. communications network? - A simple snip of a few fiber-optic communications cables left thousands of people in Silicon Valley and throughout parts of the San Francisco Bay Area without ...
U.S. Networks?



Week 2

04. 09. 2009

Microsoft to patch Excel hole and several others - Microsoft on Thursday said next week's Patch Tuesday would include eight patches, five of them critical, including one addressing a vulnerability in Excel ...
Microsoft Patch

04. 09. 2009

Researchers say Conficker is all about the money - The Conficker worm that has infected millions of Windows-based computers will likely be used to send spam and steal data much ...
All about the money

04. 08. 2009

Microsoft: Scareware, PDF exploits rise - The use of scareware and exploits that take advantage of common file formats like PDF, Excel and Word rose in the second half of last year as online scammers ...
Microsoft Scareware

04. 08. 2009

Cyberspies Launch Malware on U.S. Electrical Grid - Cyberspies from China, Russia and other countries have hacked into the U.S. electrical grid and installed malicious software ...
Malware attack on Electric Grid

04. 08. 2009

Conficker wakesup, updates via P2P, Drops payload - The Conficker worm is finally doing something, updating via peer-to-peer between infected computers and dropping a mystery payload on infected computers ...
Conficker wakesup

04. 07. 2009

Pentagon spends over $100 million on cyberattack cleanup - The Pentagon spent more than $100 million in the past six months cleaning up after Internet attacks and network issues ...
Pentagon Cyberattack

04. 07. 2009

Skipping Vista... - Despite the fact that Windows 7 is almost cooked, a leaked Microsoft memo suggests that XP may live on past its May 30, 2009 retirement date...
Skipping Vista

04. 06. 2009

Next-gen iPod Touch and iPhone to support low-power 802.11n - Wireless radio component specifications contained within beta distributions of iPhone 3.0 firmware reveal support for a new chip enabling low power 802.11n that's bound for Apple's third-generation iPod touch. It's therefore also likely to be included ...
iPod Touch and iPhone Supporting 802.11n



Week 1

04. 04. 2009

How the Conficker Problem Just Got Much Worst!!!- On the surface, April 1 came and went without a peep from the dreaded Conficker megaworm. But security experts see a frightening reality, one where Conficker is now more powerful and more dangerous ...
Conficker Problem Much Worst

04. 03. 2009

How vulnerable are the iPhone and Blackberry? VERY!!! - Simply put, there is no better time to be a wireless subscriber off a contract. In fact, the barrage of phones may make consumers pine for hassle free ...
Vulnerable iPhone and Blackberry

03. 31. 2009

Conficker Worm due to attack computer 04/01/09 - A tenacious computer worm which has wriggled its way onto machines worldwide is set to evolve on April Fool's Day ...
Conficker Worm

03. 31. 2009

Western Internet Censorship: The Beginning of the End? - Australia and Germany are the only liberal democracies proposing a mandatory internet censorship regime. All of the schemes operate, or are proposed to ...Western Internet Censorship

03. 29. 2009

Microsoft Windows Internet Explore 8 available for Windows Vista - Now you can quickly display websites that were designed for older browsers. If you’re looking at a page and the text or images aren’t lined up ...
Internet Explore 8