Google announces latest round of government takedowns
By now you know the routine, though none of us really seems to understand what we should think of it. We all have opinions of course, but I'll refrain from repeating the old adage about those. In the end, we can only report what the companies reveal to us, and that most recent unveiling comes from Google.
The latest Transparency Report reveals the notices the search giant received during the period spanning January through June of this year. The numbers are not particularly encouraging -- Google says it has received "3,846 government requests to remove 24,737 pieces of content". The company also states that this number represents a substantial increase over 2012, rising by a staggering 68-percent.
Target warns of unauthorized access to payment card data
If you've recently used your payment card in a Target store in the US you might want to check your statements carefully. In a statement on its website the company warns that "guests" who made card purchases in its stores between November 27 and December 15 may have had their card data compromised.
My colleague Brian Fagioli who bought his iPad at Target on the December 14 is now anxiously biting his nails as his could be one of the estimated 40 million cards that may have been affected.
Adaptiva’s enterprise IT predictions for 2014 [Q&A]
This is the time of year when people like to get out their crystal balls and try to imagine what the landscape of the coming 12 months will look like. IT efficiency and system management systems provider Adaptiva has announced its predictions for enterprise systems in 2014. The company has identified three key trends which it believes will shape the landscape for the next year: that BYOD will fail to live up to its hype, that lack of WAN bandwidth will hamper infrastructure plans, and that the continued use of Windows XP will cause significant security issues.
We spoke to the company's Chief Technology Officer and founder Deepak Kumar about the trends he sees shaping the enterprise IT landscape next year.
Should we be outbidding the cyber criminals to keep our systems safe?
We increasingly rely on technology for the success of our businesses and even of our national economies. Yet that technology is under more and more threat from cyber criminals who adapt quickly to exploit any weaknesses. The resulting financial losses worldwide are estimated to amount to billions of dollars each year.
In a new report from NSS Labs, research director Dr Stefan Frei advocates an innovative approach to deprive criminals of access to vulnerabilities. He suggests that governments and security vendors could join together to create an International Vulnerability Purchase Program (IVPP) to buy vulnerabilities -- paying at or above black market prices -- to keep them from the hands of malicious attackers.
herdProtect scans your PC for threats with 68 anti-malware engines
Your PC has been behaving strangely for the past few days. You’re wondering if it’s been infected by malware, but your antivirus package hasn’t raised any alerts. And so it could be time to call in herdProtect, which checks your PC with 68 anti-malware engines and warns you of any threats.
The program is extremely straightforward to use. There’s no awkward interface no navigate, no complex options to consider: just manually launch it and click "Scan".
AVG enters Mac anti-malware market with AVG AntiVirus for Mac Free
Czech security developer AVG has launched AVG AntiVirus for Mac Free Edition 14.0, its first major foray into the increasingly crowded Mac anti-malware market. The new release comes with the promise of "triple protection" against not just Mac malware, but Windows and Android malware too.
The release is a no-frills affair, with real-time protection, a simple on-demand file scanner and automatic updates the sum of the application’s whole.
Kaspersky Internet Security 2014 tops latest AV Comparatives 'real-world' test
Security software testing lab AV Comparatives has released its August-November 2013 "real-world" protection report, which assesses the accuracy of leading antivirus tools when confronted by a range of malicious files and websites.
Topping the tables this time was Kaspersky Internet Security 2014, with the package achieving a detection rate of 99.9 percent without blocking a single legitimate domain or file.
Social networking and cyber crime worries -- another day at the small business
Many surveys of how employees use technology focus on larger companies, but the latest 2013 Small Business Employee Survey from GFI Software looks only at firms with between two and 99 employees.
The survey of more than 1,100 employees across the US asked about job satisfaction, use of social media, connecting to company networks, attitudes to cyber crime and more. The results are interesting. While the majority of employees (75 percent) believe that mobile computing has improved their lives because they can work from anywhere, they’re also concerned about privacy and data protection. The other 25 percent said that it had made their lives more stressful because it made escaping work harder.
99 percent of mobile financial malware writers prefer Android
A new report by information research specialist NSS Labs focuses on the evolving landscape of mobile financial malware. It concludes that cyber criminals are adapting to the use of mobile apps to authorize transactions and that 99 percent of current mobile malware is aimed at the Android platform.
As banks add extra functionality to their apps they open up greater capabilities for both customers and the cyber criminals. Many mobile banking apps are based on HTML code making them especially vulnerable to exploits. The report's author, NSS Labs Research Vice President Ken Baylor, says this should prompt more banks to develop secure native apps for mobiles, incorporating fraud-resistant features, if their customers are to stay secure.
Sneaky Android malware calls premium rate numbers when you’re not looking
You might think that dialer malware went out with dial-up modems and that in these days of broadband you don't need to worry about viruses that call premium rate numbers in order to earn criminals money.
But researchers at mobile security specialist Lookout have uncovered a new piece of malware called Mouabad.p that tries to make money by making calls from your Android smartphone. Of course smartphone fraud involving premium SMS messages isn't new but making calls represents a step up in the malware's functionality.
'Perfect Crime' vulnerability uncovered in Office 2013
California-based SaaS security specialist Adallom has revealed the existence of an Office 365 token flaw in Office 2013 that could allow malicious web servers to intercept authentication tokens and remotely access a SharePoint site without any alerts being raised.
Writing on the company's blog Noam Liran, Adallom's chief software architect describes the attack as an "ice dagger" because it's the perfect weapon, leaving no trace. He says, "The vulnerability we've found and the security incident that used it have all the makings of a great crime mystery. Only through months of diligent research were we and the Microsoft Security Response Team able to piece together the elements of what might otherwise have been a perfect crime, totally invisible to existing perimeter and endpoint protection defenses".
Microsoft accounts get stronger and smarter security
In the midst of the Snowden leaks, computer users are feeling very violated. After all, a personal computer is personal -- we want to feel that our data and privacy is secure. Microsoft says it best by saying "people won't use technology they don't trust".
While many may feel that the company is just supplying lip service, today the software giant announces that it is walking the walk too. Microsoft accounts are getting stronger and smarter security.
The most popular stories on BetaNews this past week -- December 1 - 7
The tech world seems to be slowling down slightly in the run up to Christmas, but there have still been a lot of stories over the past seven days. There are sure to be a whole new raft of sales to look forward to both before and after Christmas, but if the Thanksgiving sales are anything to go by they may not offer as good a deal as first appearances would have you believe. Whether you bag a bargain or not, it looks as though tech presents are going to be as popular as ever this year -- and if you buy a Windows device, you'll get a free gift card.
After Microsoft tried comparing the Surface to the iPad Air, Amazon decided to follow suit -- guess which was more popular! Microsoft kept its fire trained on Google, taking a swipe at the Chromebook. Tablet makers may be pushing their product in the run up to Christmas, but PC shipments have suffered the largest decline ever. New computers will have an updated USB connection in the near future. USB type C brings to an end a problem that has plagued anyone who has ever plugged in a USB cable -- this generation can be plugged in either way up!
Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit successfully disrupts the ZeroAccess botnet
Three weeks ago Microsoft unveiled its new Cybercrime Center. Housed in a unit on the tech giant’s campus in Redmond, Wash. the center was created to tackle a wide range of internet crimes including malware, botnets, intellectual property theft and online child exploitation.
Working with Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), the FBI, and A10 Networks, Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit has just claimed a major victory, successfully disrupting the Sirefef botnet, also known as ZeroAccess.
I'm returning my PS4 -- Sony secretive on PlayStation Network 'irregular activity'
I'm returning my PlayStation 4. It's a shame because I love it very much. The games are wonderful and the streaming video capabilities are very useful. However, I simply cannot trust the PlayStation Network. The old saying is "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me". After the first PSN hack, I should have known not to trust it. But here I am in 2013 with a PlayStation 4 -- shame on me.
Today, I received an email from Sony that says, "the Sony Entertainment Network team routinely monitors for any irregular activity, and if such activity is detected, we may sometimes reset passwords of affected accounts to protect consumers and their account information. Your account password was recently reset as part of this process". Oh my. Surely a call to Sony will give me more details right? Wrong.
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