Brian Prince

Quest Software is targeting the adherents of the NoSQL movement with the launch of a beta program for a new data access and management tool. The tool is called Toad for Cloud Databases, and is meant to help users unlock data stored in the cloud using either the SQL language or Toad’s visual query and […]

10 Database Security Threats Every IT Administrator Should Know by Brian Prince Default, Blank & Weak Username&47;Password • Microsoft SQL Server Blank & Default Password• Default Oracle Username and Password• IBM DB2 Default Admin Password SQL Injections • SQL Injection Vulnerability in Oracle Database “SYS.DBMS_AQIN”• SQL injection vuln in Oracle 10gR1 database using SYS.DBMS_STREAMS_AUTH• SQL […]

Just as criminals can leave fingerprints in the physical world, malware authors can leave fingerprints on their products in the digital world. Tracing those code artifacts back to attackers can lead to the minds behind the malware economy, according to HBGary CEO Greg Hoglund. In a talk at the upcoming Black Hat conference in Las […]

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is joining those calling for DNSSEC as a security blanket for the Internet. In remarks June 21 during ICANN’s 38th international meeting in Brussels, ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom contended that DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions) needs to play a key role in protecting the Web. “The […]

Trustwave has acquired web application firewall provider Breach Security. The deal, made for an undisclosed sum, will allow Trustwave to integrate Breach Security’s Web app firewall technology into its existing application security suite. Breach Security’s WebDefend application firewall appliance, features inbound and outbound inspection of Web traffic for sensitive data such as credit card information. […]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Tor Project have released a beta version of a Mozilla Firefox extension that encrypts communications between Web users and some high-profile sites. The extension, dubbed “HTTPS Everywhere,” works by rewriting all requests to the sites to HTTPS. Among the sites it works with are Google, Twitter, Wikipedia and Facebook. […]

Today’s small to midsize businesses (SMBs) are facing a growing threat from cyber-attacks, and are changing their behavior to keep up. In a May poll of 2,152 executives and IT decision makers at companies with between 10 and 499 employees, Symantec found SMBs’ computer support staff are now spending two-thirds of their time dealing with […]

Researchers at AVAST Software have listed the most infected Websites on the Internet. The security company’s first “America’s Most Wanted” roster features a number of sites with a common theme – pop culture. In particular, sites about games, celebrities, anime, and television- and movie-related domains were among May’s worst offenders. Here are some of the […]

Aster Data hopes to increase the adoption of MapReduce by enterprises dealing with big-data applications. With Aster Data Analytical Function 4.5, the company is delivering more than “30 business-ready advanced analytic packages and more than 1,000 MapReduce-ready functions” available for Aster Data nCluster 4.5 and above. The goal, the company said June 21, is to […]

Malware integrating itself into a victim’s Web browser is nothing new. Increasingly however, these man-in-the-browser attacks are being used to successfully bypass authentication mechanisms used by online banking sites, according to a security researcher. Jason Milletary, technical director for malware analysis at SecureWorks, explained banking Trojans like ZeuS, Gozi and SpyEye utilize man-in-the-browser (MITB) techniques […]

Apple has quietly slipped an update to the anti-malware security protections in its Mac OS X operating system. Earlier this week, Apple released Mac OS X 10.6.4 – the latest edition of Snow Leopard – with fixes for more than two dozen security holes. In that release, Apple added a malware signature for a Trojan […]

Breaking bad habits isn’t always easy, but failing to break them can break you. Today’s case in point is using poor passwords. According to an online survey commissioned by F-Secure of roughly 4,500 people in the United Kingdom, Sweden and Germany, about 20 percent of Internet-using respondents use the same passwords for everything from online […]