Information Security News

Google settles Buzz privacy lawsuit

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:00:05 -0700

Google is spending US$8.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed over the rollout of its Google Buzz social-networking service.

Get a Better Battery Gauge for Your Laptop

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:00:08 -0700

Over the years, Windows has gotten progressively better at laptop power management--but it still doesn't tell you much about your battery.

3 areas where FUD needs to stop - NetworkWorld.com

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:00:15 -0700

3 areas where FUD needs to stop
NetworkWorld.com
Beware of what you see and hear about these topics, according to infosec veteran Jimmy Blake. By Joan Goodchild, CSO There is a new breed of animal ...

and more »

Texas conducting antitrust review of Google

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:00:09 -0700

Google on Friday said that the Texas Attorney General's Office is conducting an antitrust review of the search giant, following a similar investigation launched in Europe earlier this year.

Facebook glitch let spammer post to walls

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:00:05 -0700

A clever spammer found a glitch in Facebook's photo upload system and used it to post thousands of unwanted Wall messages this week.

Apple Releases Two Security Updates (One for OSX, One for iTunes) : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4312 and http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4328, (Fri, Sep 3rd)

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:00:08 -0700

-- John Bambenek bambenek at gmail /dot/ com (c) SANS Internet Storm Center. http://isc.sans.org Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

Layer 2 Data Center Interconnect options

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:00:04 -0700

For more than 20 years we have been using Layer 3 connectivity powered by dynamic routing protocols to route traffic between data centers, but adoption of virtualization and geo-clustering technologies is forcing us to re-examine our data center interconnect (DCI) models.

HP buys 3Par, Apple rolls out new gear

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:00:04 -0700

Hewlett-Packard swooped in with the better bid to overtake Dell and win 3Par, so now we can all sit back and wait for the next acquisition battle to roll around. Meanwhile, Apple debuted updated iPods and Apple TV to entertain us, among other IT news stories of the week.

Nigerian advance-fee scammer gets 12 years

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:00:07 -0700

A Nigerian advance-fee scammer, Okpako Diamreyan, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison by a federal judge.

New Apple TV is iPod Touch in sheep's clothing

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:00:07 -0700

The inside of the new Apple TV likely resembles the interior of the iPod Touch, a move that allowed Apple to dramatically cut costs, a Canadian research company said today.

Dolphin Browser HD

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:00:07 -0700

As people spend more time online with their phones and as smartphone technology improves, users continually expect better performance from their mobile Web browsers. Dolphin Browser HD (for Android 2.0 and above; use Dolphin Browser for earlier Android versions) very nearly provides desktop-quality browsing optimized for a pocketable device.

Bohemian neutrality

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:00:07 -0700

The wrangling over net neutrality deserves an opera. Gibbs obliges.

Investigators find famous DJ's credit card details for sale

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:00:07 -0700

Armin Van Buuren is one of the world's most well-known trance music DJs. He also apparently has had his credit card details stolen.

Toshiba Satellite laptops recalled for burn hazard

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:00:06 -0700

The U.S. and Canadian governments this week said that Toshiba is voluntarily recalling some Satellite laptops for posing a burn hazard to customers.

Accenture, Cisco and Sun still face kickbacks charges

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:00:06 -0700

After recent settlements by Hewlett-Packard and EMC in a long-standing government contracting fraud case, three major IT and consulting companies are still embroiled in lawsuits brought by two former insiders.

Symantec's “Hack Is Wack,” And Cybersecurity's Most Embarassing Marketing ... - Forbes (blog)

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:00:07 -0700

Symantec's “Hack Is Wack,” And Cybersecurity's Most Embarassing Marketing ...
Forbes (blog)
Even infosec vocabulary–words like “cyber,” “hacker,” “spam,” and “computer virus”–seem like frozen relics of the late 1990s. Now Symantec, with the bizarre ...

and more »

Apple had two months to fix critical QuickTime bug, says researcher

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:00:06 -0700

A critical bug in QuickTime was reported to Apple two months before a second researcher independently revealed the vulnerability this week, the director of a bug bounty program said Friday.

Twitter mobile users up 62% since April

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:00:06 -0700

Twitter's mobile user base has spiked 62% since mid-April, thanks in great part to the release of official Twitter applications for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry phones.

Latest Skype beta offers group video calls for 10

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:00:06 -0700

The latest beta version of Skype offers the ability to do group video calls with up to 10 people.

Security program automatically tracks down missing patches

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:00:09 -0700

Secunia has updated its Personal Software Inspector (PSI) with the ability to silently download and apply patches from multiple vendors soon after their release. PSI 2.0 is now available in an open beta test.

Consumer group lampoons Google CEO over privacy issues

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:00:05 -0700

Consumer Watchdog, a group that has been a sharp critic of Google's privacy practices in the past, is at it again.

Real-life IT tales and lessons learned

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:00:05 -0700

Techies share their most noteworthy IT experiences in InfoWorld's Off the Record blog

5 ways to make Android 2.1 work like Froyo

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 06:00:05 -0700

If you're still waiting for Android 2.2 -- or aren't going to get it -- here are 5 ways to get the same features without the upgrade.

Nvidia's laptop graphics cards to boost Web browsing

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 06:00:05 -0700

Nvidia on Friday announced seven new GeForce 400M series graphics cards for laptops, which could provide parallel-processing capabilities to accelerate Web browsing and 3D image rendering.

Disk storage still bouncing back, IDC says

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:00:06 -0700

The market for enterprise disk storage systems grew strongly in the second quarter, continuing to recover from a slump brought on by the economic slowdown of 2008 and 2009, research company IDC said on Friday.

Hotmail suffers outage

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:00:06 -0700

A technical problem kept an undetermined number of Windows Live Hotmail users locked out of their e-mail accounts for hours on Thursday.

Apple's 27-in. iMac 'the center of my digital universe'

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:00:08 -0700

With faster processors and updated graphics, Apple's new 27-in. iMac delivers 'everything I could want from a modern computer,' says Michael deAgonia.

Cross-subdomain Session Fixation

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:00:09 -0700

InfoSec News: Cross-subdomain Session Fixation: http://blog.skeptikal.org/2010/09/cross-subdomain-session-fixation.html
By Mike Bailey skeptikal.org September 2, 2010
Last fall I wrote a bit about cross-subdomain cookie attacks. As often as I come across more uses for them, I think that they are a much more [...]

Snoop Dogg joins cybercrime fight because 'hack is wack'

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:00:09 -0700

InfoSec News: Snoop Dogg joins cybercrime fight because 'hack is wack': http://gcn.com/articles/2010/09/02/hack-is-wack-with-snoop-dogg.aspx
By Michael Hardy GCN.com Sept 02, 2010
Hack is wack, fo' shizzle.
Ready to show off your mad freestyle rap skillz? Snoop Dogg and Symantec's Norton are teaming up to sponsor a video contest for raps [...]

Botnet takedown may yield valuable data

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:00:09 -0700

InfoSec News: Botnet takedown may yield valuable data: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9183299/Botnet_takedown_may_yield_valuable_data
By Jeremy Kirk IDG News Service September 2, 2010
Researchers are hoping to get a better insight on botnets after taking down part of Pushdo, one of the top five networks of hacked computers [...]

Russian Trojan blamed for credit card losses at US diner

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:00:09 -0700

InfoSec News: Russian Trojan blamed for credit card losses at US diner: http://news.techworld.com/security/3237726/russian-trojan-blamed-for-credit-card-losses-at-us-diner/
By John E Dunn Techworld 01 September 10
Hundreds of lunchtime customers of a diner in the US city of Memphis are believed to have had funds stolen from their debit and credit cards [...]

Secunia Weekly Summary - Issue: 2010-35

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:00:09 -0700

InfoSec News: Secunia Weekly Summary - Issue: 2010-35: ========================================================================
The Secunia Weekly Advisory Summary 2010-08-26 - 2010-09-02
This week: 82 advisories [...]

News of the World faces fresh phone hacking charge

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:00:09 -0700

InfoSec News: News of the World faces fresh phone hacking charge: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/02/news-of-the-world-phone-hacking
By Nick Davies, Vikram Dodd and Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk September 2010
The government tonight came under pressure to set up a judicial inquiry into the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World after the paper confirmed that it has suspended a journalist while it investigates new allegations of the unlawful interception of voicemail.
The prime minister's media adviser, Andy Coulson, has denied a report in the New York Times which claimed he freely discussed the use of unlawful news-gathering techniques when he was editing the paper and "actively encouraged" a named reporter to engage in illegal interception of voicemail messages. Coulson has always denied knowing of any illegal activity by his journalists.
Scotland Yard, too, found itself in the firing line after the New York Times quoted unnamed detectives alleging they had cut short their investigation because of their close relationship with the News of the World. A group of four public figures, including former deputy prime minister John Prescott, is poised to sue police over a failure to warn them they had been targeted by the private investigator at the centre of the scandal, Glenn Mulcaire.
The Guardian has learned that the Metropolitan police commissioner at the time of the original investigation, Sir Ian Blair, was among those whose names were found in material seized from Mulcaire, raising questions about whether officers who were directly involved in the investigation had discovered that they, too, had been targets of the newspaper. It is understood Blair was assured at the time that his phone had not been hacked.
[...]

Russian government email servers hacked

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:00:09 -0700

InfoSec News: Russian government email servers hacked: http://www.mn.ru/society/20100824/188002181.html
By Evgeniya Chaykovskaya The Moscow Times 24/08/2010
On Monday it turned out that the Federal Service of Protection (FSO) is not that good at protecting its own privacy. Yesterday internet forums [...]

DARPA Soliciting Bids On Insider Threat Prevention

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:00:09 -0700

InfoSec News: DARPA Soliciting Bids On Insider Threat Prevention: http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227300041
By Elizabeth Montalbano InformationWeek September 2, 2010
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched a new program aimed at quickly finding and stopping insiders from trying to [...]

Women did well on Defcon social engineering test

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:00:06 -0700

Organizers of a recent Defcon social engineering contest will release their results next week. One conclusion is that women did well in protecting corporate secrets.

Cross-subdomain Session Fixation

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:09 -0700