Security Breaking News

10 Microsoft research projects
A sneak peek at 10 technologies developed in Microsoft's R&D labs More..

Who's been reading my cell-phone records?
If Verizon Wireless employees could snoop into then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama's cell-phone records, as the carrier acknowledged last week, then mobile subscribers may worry how well protected they are. They should, according to some industry analysts and privacy lawyers. More..

Spammers regaining control over Srizbi botnet
The zombie computers used to send spam are coming back to life. More..

Massive botnet returns from the dead, starts spamming
A big spam-spewing botnet shut down two weeks ago has been resurrected, security researchers said Wednesday, and is again under the control of criminals. More..

Microsoft warns of malware exploiting known vulnerability
Microsoft is warning users of a rise in attacks on a vulnerability in Windows that could trigger a worm infestation on networks, and the company is encouraging companies to apply an emergency patch released in October. More..

Lenovo service disables laptops with text message
If a laptop is lost, now there is a new way to remotely shut it down -- just text it. More..

Spam levels fluctuate as crooks try to revive botnets
Two weeks after a hosting firm's shutdown sent global spam volumes plummeting, some researchers continue to claim that junk mail rates remain dramatically down, while others say spam has already bounced back. More..

Visible Ops Security, Phase 2
In the last two columns, I introduced the excellent booklet called Visible Ops Security: Achieving Common Security and IT Operations Objectives in 4 Practical Steps, by Gene Kim, Paul Love and George Spafford. Today I'm reviewing their chapter entitled, "Phase 2: Find Business Risks and Fix Fragile Artifacts." More..

Fayetteville State University troubleshoots with NAC
Since it has implemented ConSentry NAC gear, Fayetteville State University in North Carolina finds that it gives the school better visibility into network traffic that results in using the gear as a troubleshooting tool. More..

Symantec takes cybercrime snapshot with 'Underground Economy' report
The criminal market online for buying and selling stolen credit cards, pirated software and information about financial accounts is thriving, according to a Symantec report published Monday. More..

Surveillance system helps police snare shooters
A network of electronic ears is quietly monitoring more than six square miles of high-crime Boston neighborhoods, listening for the telltale sounds of gunfire ripping, booming or crackling through the air. More..

Facebook wins spam suit
Facebook won a $873 million judgment in a case against a spammer in one of the largest awards yet for a suit filed under the CAN-SPAM Act. More..

Vendor Relationship Management
Seven years ago this week I wrote something in what was then called the "Focus on Directory Services" newsletter. I didn't know it at the time, but what I was really looking for was a Vendor Relationship Management (VRM) package. Read it, then we’ll talk some more. More..

A new flaw in Vista
Researchers have stumbled on yet another vulnerability in a Windows operating system. Vista users could be at risk of having malicious code run on their system if hackers figure out how to exploit a pair of buffer overflow vulnerabilities in Vista's Device IO Controlm, according to researchers at Phion. Microsoft has yet to comment on the findings, but the next scheduled patch cycle is still two weeks away. More..

Old worm infects Department of Defense computers
Department of Defense computers have been hit with an old worm that the DoD won't discuss other than to say it is taking steps to mitigate its effects. More..

Researchers find vulnerability in Windows Vista
An Austrian security vendor has found a vulnerability in Windows Vista that it says could possibly allow an attacker to run unauthorized code on a PC. More..

Start-up offers rootkit protection, partitions virtual machines
Start-up Integrity Global Security is coming out with a businesses version of technology used on military fighters and bombers that can provide the features of virtual machines but with built-in security. More..

Visible Ops Security, Phase 1
In my last column, I introduced the excellent booklet called "Visible Ops Security: Achieving Common Security and IT Operations Objectives in 4 Practical Steps," by Gene Kim, Paul Love and George Spafford. Phase 1 provides a chilling reminder of how badly information assurance implementation can go wrong. More..

Hybrid NAC is the order of the day
Hybrid deployments of NAC seem to be the order of the day for businesses that have more than one use for the technology. More..

Linux vendors patch XML parser
Most of the major Linux vendors have released patches for a pair of bugs in libxml2, an XML C parser and toolkit developed for the Gnome project. Both bugs could be exploited in a denial of service attack against systems that rely on the libxml2 module. Ubuntu, Mandriva, rPath and Debian are all out with patches today to remedy the problem. More..

Latest robots showcase security, teaching skills
Robots, already widely found on factory floors, are increasingly encroaching on the human world and a number of robots on display at the RoboDevelopment conference in Santa Clara, Calif., were programmed to not only entertain, but to secure homes, direct lost people to stores in malls and teach English. More..

British hospitals hit with malware attack
Computer systems at three London hospitals remained down on Wednesday morning after PCs were apparently infected with malware. More..

IT sector adds jobs despite economic turmoil
Surprising new findings from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the IT profession may be in far better shape than the job market as a whole. More..

U.S. court halts sale of spyware program
A U.S. court has ordered a software company to stop selling a program that secretly records keystrokes on a person's PC, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Monday. More..

Add a staffing firm to your job search arsenal
Today's turbulent economy has made job search efforts more challenging -- and nerve-racking -- for those in IT. More..