Brian Prince

Facebook is calling on its 350 million-strong user base to review and update their privacy settings as it rolls out new tools to enable users to better control their information. The new features, which launch today, include: the ability to control who sees what piece of content on a user’s page, a Transition Tool and […]

The Transportation Security Administration confirmed Dec. 9 that five employees “have been placed on administrative leave” while an investigation into the posting of a security operations manual continues. More than 90 pages long, the document contained information on airport passenger screening procedures used by the TSA. A TSA news release said the material was out […]

Seven Ways to Make Your Security Budget Pay Off in 2010 Seven Ways to Make Your Security Budget Pay Off in 2010By Brian Prince Finding the Security Gaps The process begins with security pros determining what gaps exist in their security defenses. In the graph here, analyst firm IDC asked hundreds of organizations how susceptible […]

On Dec. 6, a researcher posted proof that he had compromised NASA Websites via a SQL injection. Fortunately for NASA, his motive appears to only have been to illustrate weaknesses in its sites. Other entities, however, have not been so lucky. There were of course the breaches of Heartland Payment Systems and Hannaford Brothers, but […]

Adobe Systems is planning to patch a zero-day security vulnerability affecting its Adobe Illustrator software by January. The announcement comes a week after proof-of-concept exploit code began circulating the Web. According to Adobe, the buffer overflow vulnerability in Adobe Illustrator CS4 and CS3 can be exploited via a malicious Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) file in Illustrator […]

Security service provider SecureWorks has acquired U.K.-based DNS Ltd. to expand its footprint in Europe. The acquisition, made for an undisclosed sum, expands SecureWorks global operations and service offerings to include a U.K.-based Security Operations Center; offices in London and Edinburgh; an Identity and Access Management Practice; and additional sales, security and management staff dedicated […]

Google filed a lawsuit Dec. 7 in U.S. federal court in Utah accusing a company of using its brand name in a work-from-home scam and slamming people with suspect credit card charges. According to Google, Salt Lake City-based Pacific WebWorks and several unnamed defendants offered a tool kit for stay-at-home online workers. The tool kit […]

Microsoft issued patches for 12 security vulnerabilities Dec. 8 for its final Patch Tuesday of 2009, including a fix for a zero-day bug plaguing older versions of Internet Explorer. All told Microsoft issued six security bulletins, three rated critical. The most serious of those is the Internet Explorer bulletin, which actually covers five security issues. […]

Ever wonder what percentage of people are clicking on those e-mails leading to fraudulent bank log-in pages? The answer is a very small percentage-but more than enough for phishers to still make a killing. New research from security firm (PDF) Trusteer shows that once users had been lured to a phishing site, some 45 percent […]

The 451 Group has released a survey that doesn’t bode well for MySQL. According to a survey of 347 users of open-source software, 82.1 percent of the respondents using open-source databases use MySQL today, while 78.7 percent expect to be using it in 2011. That number is expected to fall to 72.3 percent by 2014. […]

Adobe Systems is investigating reports of a new security vulnerability affecting its Illustrator software. Proof-of-concept code for an attack was publicized this week and is circulating the Web. According to Adobe, the vulnerability can be exploited via a malicious Encapsulated PostScript (.eps) file in Illustrator. “Adobe is aware of a report of a potential vulnerability […]

Much has been made about how Google Public DNS will improve the speed of the Web. But what about security? According to some, Google is on the right track-though others say the company is not exactly breaking new ground. “DNS as a protocol is pretty terrible in terms of security, but from a cursory glance […]