Brian Prince

Botnet operators are always on the lookout for ways to get around the security community-a fact that has led some to turn to Web 2.0 to gain an edge. In a new report (PDF), researchers at McAfee examine the evolution of botnets as well as examples of people using sites like Twitter and LinkedIn as […]

Adobe Systems is patching vulnerabilities impacting Adobe Reader and Acrobat to fend off attackers. Adobe is issuing the updates Oct. 5, a week ahead of its regular schedule. The first of the updates addresses a problem in Adobe Flash Player that also affects Reader versions 9.3.4 and earlier on Windows, Mac and Unix systems and […]

Security researchers have uncovered what some have called potential connections between the Stuxnet worm and Israel. Two pieces of evidence have emerged. The first is a file directory inside Stuxnet called “Myrtus,” which some consider an allusion to the Book of Esther, an Old Testament story in which the Jews thwart a Persian plot to […]

Stuxnet Worm: Nine Facts Every IT Security Pro Should Know by Brian Prince The Target Security researchers have traced Stuxnet worm to as far back as June 2009. It targeted the control systems at industrial plants, specifically Siemens’ WinCC and Step 7 software. Historic data shows that Iran (nearly 59 percent), Indonesia (18.22 percent) and […]

Microsoft released an update to SQL Server 2008 with new improvements around reporting and management. SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) includes updates for Reporting Services integration with SharePoint products. SQL Server 2008 SP2 report servers can integrate with SharePoint 2010 products, and SP2 also now provides a new add-in to support the integration […]

The Obama administration has established deadlines for federal agencies to adopt Internet Protocol Version 6. IPv6 is an update of IPv4, and includes support for several times as many addresses as IPv4-a fact that has prompted many to call for increased IPv6 adoption. Federal CIO Vivek Kundra wrote in a Sept. 28 memo (PDF) that […]

Scotland Yard has arrested 19 people in connection with a cyber-crime ring accused of stealing millions from bank accounts in Europe. Officers from the MPS (Metropolitan Police Services) Police Central e-Crime Unit arrested 15 men and four women in predawn raids Sept. 28 in London. They group is believed to be behind the theft of […]

A survey of more than 1,000 global business decision-makers in 17 countries found more than half were concerned about the security of the Web 2.0 technologies their organizations used, and rightly so. According to the report, six out of 10 organizations suffered large losses averaging $2 million each because of security incidents during the past […]

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Monday that makes it illegal to impersonate someone online with intent to harm, intimidate, threaten or defraud. Senate Bill 1411 passed the legislature unanimously. Under the legislation, “Any person who knowingly and without consent credibly impersonates another actual person through or on an Internet Web site or by other […]

Online bank fraudsters are now targeting mobile devices in an attempt to bypass two-factor authentication practices popular among banks in Europe. According to Fortinet, cyber-crooks are using mobile spyware in conjunction with the Zeus Trojan to hijack users’ bank accounts. For detection purposes, Fortinet has dubbed the spyware Zitmo. Going mobile is a necessary next […]

Microsoft issued an emergency patch Sept. 28 to address a vulnerability in ASP.NET. The fix was pushed out after reports of attacks on the issue began to surface. ASP.NET is used by developers to build Web applications and XML Web services. Demonstrated earlier this month by researchers at the ekoparty Security Conference in Buenos Aires, […]

Reports that federal law enforcement and national security officials want to create new regulations to help them intercept electronic communications raised a sense of d??«j??í vu for Cindy Cohn. Cohn, legal director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, remembers when these same issues arose in the 1990s, a time when the Clinton administration was pushing the […]