Brian Prince

Microsoft is planning to release six security bulletins for December’s Patch Tuesday, including one to cover the recently disclosed zero-day vulnerability affecting Internet Explorer. According to the prerelease advisory, three of the bulletins are rated critical. The remaining bulletins are rated important. All told, Microsoft will address 12 vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer and Microsoft […]

US-CERT has issued a warning about impacting dozens of clientless SSL VPN products it says can be exploited to break Web browser security. The issue is not a bug per se, but actually a security hole opened by the way the products operate. Web browsers enforce same origin policy to prevent active content from one […]

Telling Friends from Dangerous Foes in Social Network Security Maze by Brian Prince Koobface Versus Facebook Koobface has emerged as perhaps the most notorious worm affecting social networking sites. Variants of the worm have touched down on Facebook, MySpace and other sites such as hi5. Recently, the minds behind the malware discovered a way to […]

McAfee’s list of the most dangerous Web domains has a new leader. Africa’s Cameroon(.cm) domain has taken the top spot from Hong Kong(.hk) as the riskiest domain on the Web, according to McAfee’s third annual Mapping the Mal Web report (PDF). Japan(.jp) was found to be the safest country domain, and ranked among the top […]

Several security vendors are reporting a large malware campaign taking advantage of interest in H1N1 vaccinations. The e-mails claim to link to a Web page for the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention where users can register for a new “State Vaccination H1N1 Program.” However, anyone who clicks on the link ends up with the […]

Security vendor Prevx has narrowed down the cause of a “Black Screen of Death” condition affecting Microsoft Windows. According to Prevx, the issue does not appear to be connected to patches issued by Microsoft. In an update this evening to a company blog, the company said the issue seems to be “related to a characteristic […]

The so-called Black Screen of Death condition striking some Windows users is not caused by bugs in November’s Patch Tuesday updates, Microsoft stated Dec. 1. Security vendor Prevx reported on its blog Nov. 27 that Windows users were experiencing a black screen “due to a change in the Windows operating system’s lockdown of registry keys.” […]

Rumors are circulating that IBMis acquiring database security vendor Guardium for $225 million. Reports of the deal first surfaced late last week in Israeli newspaper TheMarker. Officials at IBMdeclined to comment on the rumors. If it goes forward, the deal would be a significant acquisition in the database activity monitoring space, which earlier this year […]

Bit.ly, a URL shortening service popular among Twitter users, announced partnerships Nov. 30 with security companies VeriSign, Websense and Sophos. The alliance is designed to bring a new level of security to URL shortening, which has increasingly been abused by spammers and attackers. Services like Bit.ly shorten URLs so that they fit the character limits […]

IBM officials confirmed Nov. 30 that the company has acquired Guardium for its database security and activity monitoring technology. IBM did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, but there are reports that the acquisition cost the company $225 million. The acquisition is the 28th purchase IBM has made as part of its Information […]

The British home secretary has refused to block Gary McKinnon’s extradition to the United States to face charges of hacking into U.S. military computers. According to reports, Home Secretary Alan Johnson decided new medical evidence was not sufficient cause for him to block McKinnon’s extradition. McKinnon stands accused of hacking into computers at NASA, the […]

In the past 12 months, the security industry saw a resurgence of worms, an increase in rogue antivirus software scams and much, much more. But with the sun setting on 2009, security pros are turning their eyes toward the coming year. In it, they see a future with a threat landscape not all that much […]